Western Accent
The primary influences on the accent are Scottish Gaelic and Scots. The rhythm of speech is generally quick-paced, with unstressed syllables often completely elided. Examples can be found with the speaking voices of performance artists The Rankins, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, or the comedy duo Hughie and Allan.
Some characteristics:
- the s sound can be overstressed, almost approaching a soft th sound.
- the a sound can be shortened- the name John Allan can be pronounced junall'n.
- the a sound resembles the broad a type, similar to some English dialects
Read more about this topic: Cape Breton Accent
Famous quotes containing the words western and/or accent:
“For twenty-five centuries, Western knowledge has tried to look upon the world. It has failed to understand that the world is not for the beholding. It is for hearing. It is not legible, but audible. Our science has always desired to monitor, measure, abstract, and castrate meaning, forgetting that life is full of noise and that death alone is silent: work noise, noise of man, and noise of beast. Noise bought, sold, or prohibited. Nothing essential happens in the absence of noise.”
—Jacques Attali (b. 1943)
“An accent mark, perhaps, instead of a whole western accent—a point of punctuation rather than a uniform twang. That is how it should be worn: as a quiet point of character reference, an apt phrase of sartorial allusion—macho, sotto voce.”
—Phil Patton (b. 1953)