Introduction
Understanding the history and culture in which the accent is heard is necessary in order to create an honest representation of a human being rather than a stereotype or caricature. To do this, you'll need to do some background research and look beyond manuals and instructional materials for mastering a particular accent or dialect.
This page collects suggestions for finding articles related to accents and dialects as well as recommended reading and listening to guide you.
Finding Articles
If you're looking for articles - scholarly articles, news articles, as well as interviews and profiles - relating to accents and dialects and their acquisition, try exploring some of the Library's performing arts databases. We've collected several best bets below to get you started.
If you aren't sure what to search by, try some of the keywords listed below and see what you can find!
- Accents, Accentuation
- Language, Linguistics, Speech
- Voice-overs, Voice culture
- Phonology, Phonetics
- Dialects
- Syntax
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowThe database currently includes almost a million records, the majority from the most recent ten years of each journal. Performing Arts Periodicals Database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more.
- International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text contains all of the content available in International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance as well as full text for 100 titles, including Canadian Theatre Review, Dance Chronicle, Dance Teacher, Modern Drama, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Research in Dance Education, Research in Drama Education, Studies in Theatre and Performance, TDR: The Drama Review, Theater, and many more. Additional full text available includes more than 50 books & monographs.
- Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) This link opens in a new windowThis database abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Documents indexed include journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters, dissertations and working papers.
Selected Resources
Recommended readings:
- Articles by Dudley Knight and Philip ThompsonThree articles outlining their approach, including "Standard Speech: The Ongoing Debate" and "Standards" by Dudley Knight and "Phonetics and Perception: The Deep Case for Phonetics Training" by Philip Thompson.
Recommended listening:
- "In a Manner of Speaking" PodcastPaul Meier’s podcast that tackles a different topic each month related to the spoken word. Topics include idiolects, news reading, pragmatics, code-switching, Original Pronunciation, phonetics, dialect clichés and stereotypes, and dialects of indigenous peoples.
- "American Accents" by Dig: A History PodcastWhen you produce a podcast, you become hyper-aware of the ways that your fellow hosts speak – those nasally “a” sounds and dropped t’s and g’s really stand out when you’re editing. Where did American accents come from? Dan, Sarah, and Marissa talk about the history of North American accents.