American Accent

[burningyen]

I'm fascinated by what's happened with Mel Gibson's and Anthony Hopkins' real life accents.

[CrayZee]

I hate to break it to you but Americans don't have accents...at least the west coast ones.

Oh wait.

[Chump Change]

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Quasi-inspired by El D's thread where some British guys are talking about the way they pronounce words...

There are several British actors who play roles that require an American Accent, Colin Ferrel and the guy who plays on House come to mind. For any non-American OOT'ers, what would you alter when trying to do an American accent? I've never really thought about it, and am curious.

Also, if you're from America, as most of us are, feel free to chime in with any thoughts.

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Hugh Laurie (House) was saying in an interview that certain consonant combinations are particularly tricky, and he'll practice for days or find a plausible synonym or replacement.
I'll post the link if I find it.
That said, Hugh Laurie is teh nuts. He's an amazing actor.

[The Glidd]

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on a sidenote...what happens to accents when people start singing?? (bands like inxs, u2, def leppard, jet) Anybody else notice how the accent doesnt really come through in the songs (as opposed to interviews and such)

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I think this has more to do with conventions in musical
vocal enunciation. Vocalists (whether they know it or not) place emphasis on the vowel sounds when they sing. They also (usually) try and achieve as open a sound as possible, which includes shape of the lips, tongue position, and glottal openness.

This is especially true with opera singers, where vocalists fall in love with the sound of their vowels to the extent that they fall beats behind the orchestra.

Through the centuries, some of these sonic conventions have been inherited by pop groups.

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We Americans don't pronounce our "T"s at all. We pronounce them closer to d's.

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Time has a hard T. Bottle doesn't.

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Did you ever see 'six degrees of separation'?

'Not boddle, bot-tle. Bot-tle of beer'