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"Accent is identity. It's a way of encoding and signaling - almost completely at an unconscious level for most people - who they feel like they are, who they want to be seen as, what group they feel like they belong to.

"Accent is identity. It's a way of encoding and signaling - almost completely at an unconscious level for most people - who they feel like they are, who they want to be seen as, what group they feel like they belong to."

The marvellous podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz investigates how accents have evolved in the UK and USA. Hear more of their episodes at 20k.org.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:

Here's a map of your mouth and where it produces sounds.
More about the Xhosa language.
Rhoticity.
How to learn accents and dialects like a champ.
If you watched the last few episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return, perhaps you spotted the English-ish accent of Freddie-with-the-glove - it's up there with Dick van Dyke's in Mary Poppins. The actor Jake Wardle IS in fact a Brit, and he came to David Lynch's attention with his YouTube videos in which he demonstrates dozens of accents.
And here's a spoilery Reddit thread about what Freddie's hammy accent might MEAN.
There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/accents.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
naiant

CREDITS:

This episode originally appeared on Twenty Thousand Hertz. It was produced by Kevin Edds and Dallas Taylor, with Sam Schneble and Jai Berger.
The episode featured Hollywood dialect coach Erik Singer and linguistics professor Dr Walt Wolfram.
Visit 20k.org/episodes/accents for more about the episode, and subscribe to the show via 20k.org.
The Allusionist theme and other original music is by Martin Austwick of Pale Bird Music.
Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/helenzaltzman.