I know I promised another posting on determiners, but here are just a couple of items that I want to slip in between posts:
1. Benjamin Zimmer points out the linguistic issues that are allegedly related to the Prince William-Kate Middleton break-up over on Language Log today. The post and the links from that post touch on many topics that we've already discussed here. Jan Freeman of the Boston Globe has blogged on this too--linking to my humble blog here. Thanks, Jan!
2. Another notch on the Canadian Count belt. A vendor at the Portobello Market asked me if I was Canadian. Her response to my Americanness was "Your accent is very soft." I've had that one before too...
two quick notes
Apr 18, 2007
Posts
And now Ben Zimmer has back-linked to me. What caring-sharing blogging!
ReplyDeleteI get this sometimes too. It always amuses me because, to my American ears, the difference between standard Canadian and US accents is very small. Maybe I'll ask the next person what they think the differences are.
ReplyDeleteIf they say that your accent is 'soft', then the answer to your question is that they think Americans are usually 'more twangy' than you. But most of the reason they guess you're Canadian is that they're afraid of offending Canadians. (Hit the 'Canadian count' tag for previous discussion!)
ReplyDelete