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by Littlemisswallflower on September 10th, 2006

Littlemisswallflower

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Why is it that people say that Americans have accents yet when a lot of foreign people sing, they lose their accent and sound American? Doesn't that mean that we really don't have an accent?

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  • by Nulinvoid on September 24th, 2006

    Nulinvoid

    Only mutes do not have accents. Everyone on earth has an accent. In general most people think of an accent as speech that sounds different from their own or what they are accustomed to hearing. This isn't really correct. The truth is we just don't notice or think about accent untill we hear one different from our own. It is very common for singers to emulate various accents when singing, but it is not always so. I find Lady Fushia's comment about the Beatles fascinating. It's interesting because she is British (no?) and she feels that the Beatles sang with American accents. I'm American, and I have always felt the beatles had a British accent even when singing. I never thought they were even trying to sing with American accents. It goes to show that perspective plays a big role in determining whether someone thinks someone else has an accent. I remember during the early seventies it became very popular for rockers to emmulate accents from the southern states. Southern rock was extremely popular at the time.

    An interesting thing about singers is that many of them speak with heavy accents and yet seem to sing with none. Of course all they are really doing is singing with a different accent than the one they speak with. Jim Neighbors comes to mind. He played Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith show. He had a thick southern accent, yet when he sang, it was undetectable.

    So, in short, when you hear someone from another country singing and "sounding American", it most certainly does NOT mean that "we" do not have an accent. It only means they are using our accent when they sing.

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  • by Anonymous on September 10th, 2006

    Anonymous

    A lot of pop singers put on an American accent when they sing because pop music in general began in America (think Elvis, Buddy Holly et al). When singers from other countries discovered the style and decided to emulate and develop it (e.g. the Beatles) they took on the American accent in order to reproduce the sound. We've grown so used to that now that when we hear a pop singer using their own accent it sounds peculiar, unsuited to the music, even ridiculous. However, if you listen to folk music, even sung by modern singers, the person singing will normally retain their native accent- try listening to Kate Rusby (english) or Runrig (Scottish) or traditional Eastern European or Asian music and you'll see what I mean.

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  • by Tom on September 10th, 2006

    Tom

    No it's because they are singing in an American accent. Please don't make Americans sound ignorant by suggesting you don't have accents.

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  • by Stella on November 28th, 2009

    Stella

    idk i was just wondering the same thing yesterday

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  • by Sid on October 18th, 2009

    Sid

    I think that it is a bit of a myth that people sing in an American accent, I think that most people (though not all) lose their accent when they sing and have a neutral accent, but Americans do have accents, you just maybe have to be an outsider to hear them.

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  • by Teresa on October 18th, 2009

    Teresa

    Maybe when they sing they try and sound American, because the American music industry dominates over other music industries.

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  • by Ullyses on September 24th, 2006

    Ullyses

    An accent helps to place you geographically. Someone who is trained in accents can usually place someone to at least their county, if not even their town. To suggest that there is anywhere at all without an accent is wrong. It is the difference in how people speak. Now I, a Scotsman can roll my Rs and pronouce my CHs in such words as 'loch'. Most English people can't. Most Americans also find this difficult. It doesn't mean that I have an accent, or no accent, but only that I pronounce my words differently from you. When singing, people also don't sing in American English, they sing with their own accent. You do not want to suggest that the Cheeky Girls sound like Tammy Wynette, now, do you?, or that Enriqué Inglaises sounds like Johnny Cash?

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  • by LynfromNM on September 24th, 2006

    LynfromNM

    I can't even count how many accents I have heard Americans speak with -- the delightful Southern drawl, the Bostonian missing "r", the New Yorkers adding on an "r" at the end of many words, Midwesterners inserting their "r" into the middle of words like "Warshington", the Texas twang, the Southwesterners leaving out the letter "t" (innernet instead of internet)the Northern states saying "aboot" instead of "about". Those accents rarely come across in singing either, but Americans definitely have accents. A lot of them.

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  • by itinary on October 14th, 2009

    itinary

    Everyone have their own accent.

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  • by Roger Kovaciny on September 11th, 2006

    Roger Kovaciny

    Musicians are just about the only people who are taught to reproduce sounds exactly, so they can sing without an accent.

    What is an accent? It is the sum total of the way you pronounce the sounds of that language. For example, you don't trill your R like Italians and Russians do, so if you spoke Italian or Russian it would be with an American accent. Well, when Italians or Russians speak American, they do trill their R's so they speak with an Italian or Russian accent. You don't trill your R's in English--so you speak English with an American accent.

    I live in Ukraine, and sometimes want to play dumb if I know I'll have trouble understanding someone. So I speak Ukrainian with an American accent. That way they know I'm a foreigner, and speak slower and use smaller words and no slang.

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