In a Manner of Speaking

Curtis Ford The May 2020 podcast focuses on the Russian language and Russian accents, and features Paul Meier’s special guest, Professor Curtis Ford. Curt and Paul discuss a variety of topics related to Russian speech, including the challenges Russians face when speaking English and the challenges English-speaking actors face when playing Russian characters. The YouTube Russian grammar channel references in the podcast can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/russiangrammar. And please visit https://americanvoicesapp.com/about-this-project to learn more about Curt’s American Voices app. (See https://americanvoicesapp.com/connected-speech for Curt’s analysis of connected speech.) (Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)The post Episode 28 (Russian Language & Accents) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

As we practice social distancing and schools transition to online learning during the coronavirus pandemic, Paul explores the power of the spoken word and the necessity of communication, specifically the importance of secret languages. In this month’s podcast (April 2020), Paul discusses Polari, Ob, Pig-Latin, Efe, Pe, Verlan, and similar linguistic traditions. (Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)The post Episode 27 (Secret Languages) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Micha Espinosa Paul’s guest for the March 2020 edition of his podcast is Micha Espinosa, a vocal coach, artist, activist, IDEA associate editor, and professor of voice and acting at Arizona State University. Micha and Paul discuss all things related to the Spanish language, including Spanish linguistics and dialects, and Hispanic, Latino/a/x, and Chicano culture and identity. For more information on Professor Espinosa, visit her IDEA and VASTA biographies. (Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)The post Episode 26 (Spanishes) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Ros Steen February’s podcast focuses on Scotland, specifically all its rich dialects, accents, and languages. Paul’s guest is Ros Steen, IDEA associate editor, and emeritus professor and fellow of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Formerly she was head of Drama Research and the Centre for Voice in Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she established Nadine George Voice Work as the core spoken technique for the Centre’s teaching, practice, and research agendas. For more about Professor Steen, visit her IDEA profile. The texts you hear demonstrated by Professor Steen: 1. Scottish English: “It’s a fine auld machine,” I assured him then slipped in a quick commercial which glossed over the typewriter’s crucial lack of the letter I. “I’ll give you a wee demo if you like.” Adjusting the creased sheet of paper I briskly typed. “There. How’s that?” He shrugged his skinny shoulders. “Hanged if I know. Havnae got ma readin specs.” He tugged from his pocket a hankie, so clatty it would’ve been the talk of the steamie. 2. Scots Lennie Buchan wis harrigal-thin, his knees as knobbly as twa piz stuck doon a pair o’ drinkin straws. A forced plant, wha’s breenged up ower seen tae greet the sun, he ay lookit peely-wally, as if affrontit o’ his prodigious growth. He hunched hissel up fin he traivelled; his neb dreeped, his een wattered, and his skimpit grey schule brikks wis gad-sake-glued wi’dauds o’ bubblegum. Stains o’ suspicious broon clung aboot the lirks’ o’ his doup, an’ gin aa this wisna enough tae damn the craitur frae favour foriver, he hid skyrie reid hair peppered wi dandruff, a ploukie face, wee bauld bits on his heid and a niff. From A Nippick o’ Nor’ East Tales: A Doric Hairst by Sheena Blackhall harrigal/entrail   breenged/bounded   daubs/pieces   lirks/folds   doub/backside   skyrie/gaudy   ploukie/spotty   niff/smell 3. Shetland NEIL: Two years – is it that long? This’ll be a big New Year for you, then. Are you going down to the Market Cross for midnight? RONA: I’m too old for that. I’d be the only one over eighteen. NEIL: True enough. Mind, we were just the same. RONA: We were never that bad. NEIL: Oh really? From Auld Lang Syne, by Grace Barnes. Premiered at the Traverse Theatre, 1999. 4. Northeast Scots Now fin I hear folk speakin’ that wey…I jist go aa’ the braidest Doric that I could possibly gie them…..so that….lats them see that I’m nae cairin’ a dyte….aboot their English… that…I’m a native o’ this bit…o’ Scotland an’ I’d very much like to keep wir native tongue alive……an’ there’s naething….bothers me mair…fin I’m in company tae hear….my ain folk….comin’ awa with great lang gashes….o English mair or less… Text from a radio interview with Duncan Muirden 5. Borders accent Did you like the uniform? No, really, I didnae. Ah didnae like the hat. Why? I didnae ken, ah didnae…didnae fancy the hat. Did you get rid of it as much as you could? I did. I hid it off as much as I could…well the summer you hid tae… And were you meant to wear them? I mean did somebody… Well, that was jist a’, a’ the fashion you see for, for the Bondagers and there were…you got new rigoot for the harvest…that was your new rigoot…eh…for the harvest. Text from an interview with Agnes Grey, who was a Bondager 6. New Testament in Scots  This is the storie o the birth o Jesus Christ. His mither Mary wis trystit til Joseph, but afore they war mairriet she wis fund tae be wi bairn bi the Halie Spírit. Her husband Joseph, honest man, hed nae mind tae affront her afore the warld an wis for brakkin aff their tryst hidlinweys; an sae he wis een ettlin tae dae, whan an angel o the Lord kythed til him in a draim an said til him, “Joseph, son o Dauvit, be nane feared tae tak Mary your trystit wife intil your hame; the bairn she is cairrein is o the Halie Spírit. She will beir a son, an the name ye ar tae gíe him is Jesus, for he will sauf his fowk frae their sins.” Aa this happent at the wurd spokken bi the Lord throu the Prophet micht be fulfilled: Behaud, the virgin wil bouk an beir a son, an they will caa his name Immanuel – that is, “God wi us”. Whan he hed waukit frae his sleep, Joseph did as the angel hed bidden him, an tuik his trystit wife hame wi him. But he bedditna wi her or she buir a son; an he caa’d the bairn Jesus. 7. Winnie-the-Pooh in Scots  Pooh aye liked a wee sneyster at eleeven o clock on the mornin, and he wis gey please tae see Rabbit bringin oot the plates and tassies; and when Rabbit said, ‘Hinny or condensed mulk wi yer breid?’ he wis that kittled up he said, “Baith,” and syne, sae he didna seem grabbie, he added, “But dinna fash aboot the breid, if ye wull.” And for a lang while efter yon he didna say ocht…till, at last, bummin tae himsel in a claggy kind o voice, he got up, coshly shook Rabbit by the loof, and said he had tae be gettin alang. “Dae ye hae tae?” Rabbit spiered politely. “Weel,” said Pooh, “I could bide a bittie langer if it – if ye…” and he tried gey hard to keek in the airt o the pantry. “As a maitter o fact,” said Rabbit, “ I wis jist gaun oot masel the noo.” From Winnie-the-Pooh in Scots, translated by James Robertson. Itchy Coo, 2008. Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.The post Episode 25 (Tongues of Scotland) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Jill McCullough Paul’s first guest of 2020 is renowned dialect coach Jill McCullough. Co-author of the popular Comma Gets a Cure elicitation passage and dialect coach to dozens of film and television actors, Jill is one of the top professionals in her field. She and Paul discuss all things related to accent and dialect coaching for the entertainment industry. Her many film credits include the Star Wars films, Jojo Rabbit, The Informer, Yesterday, Baby Driver, The Theory of Everything, Skyfall, Anna Karenina, and The Iron Lady. Visit her IMDB page for her full list of credits.The post Episode 24 (Dialect-Coaching Film & TV) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Elspeth Morrison For the final podcast of 2019, Paul’s guest is UK-based Elspeth Morrison, who, as well as helping actors learn accents and dialects, works on voice and delivery with the entire spectrum of on-air talent at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and elsewhere. Paul and Elspeth discuss all things related to broadcast journalism, speech training for on-air presenters, and accents and dialects in the context of British television news. Elspeth is a former BBC producer who escaped the corporation over 20 years ago to gain an MA in Voice Studies at Central School of Speech and Drama in London. As well as being a lead voice coach there, she has also worked for broadcasters such as CNN, Al Jazeera, and the Weather Network. For more information on Elspeth, visit https://www.vasta.org/professional-index/profile/elspeth-morrison.The post Episode 23 (Coaching BBC Presenters) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

David Crystal Paul’s guest for November 2019 is eminent linguist David Crystal. Paul and David discuss the history of Received Pronunciation (RP), also known as the Queen’s English, BBC English, and Standard British English. They also discuss the newer dialect often referred to as Estuary. For more information about David, visit DavidCrystal.com, OriginalPronunciation.com, and ShakespearesWords.com. Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.  The post Episode 22 (Received Pronunciation) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Cameron Meier Paul’s guest for October 2019 is his son, Cameron, who serves as vice president of Paul Meier Dialect Services and executive editor of the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA). But for purposes of this month’s conversation, Cameron is a film critic for The Orlando Weekly, Euclid Media and MeierMovies, in addition to being a member of the Florida Film Critics Circle. Read more about Cameron at MeierMovies.com. For information about the upcoming New York production of The Glass Menagerie that Paul references, please visit TheGlassMenageriePlay.com and use promo code MENAGERIE for a discount. The fair-use audio clips you heard in this month’s podcast are as follows: the interview with Tennessee Williams is copyright Dick Cavett and ABC; Pinocchio and Mary Poppins are copyright the Walt Disney Company; How Green Was My Valley is copyright Twentieth Century Fox; Casablanca is copyright Warner Brothers; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is copyright Warner Brothers and Morgan Creek Entertainment; The Iron Lady is copyright DJ Films, Film4 and the Weinstein Company; and Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is copyright Columbia Pictures and Hawk Films.The post Episode 21 (Movie Dialects) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Laraine Newman For his September 2019 podcast, Paul talks to comedy icon Laraine Newman about acting, improv, and the art of the voiceover performer. For more than 40 years — from Saturday Night Live to the present — Laraine Newman has been making us laugh. For the September podcast, Paul and Laraine discuss her career, acting, improv, and the art of the voiceover performer. For a list of Laraine’s numerous credits, visit her IMDB page and LaraineNewman.com.The post Episode 20 (Laraine Newman) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Joan Hall The August 2019 podcast is all about The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). Paul’s guest is DARE’s editor, Joan Hall. Having lived in Ohio, California, Idaho, Georgia, Oregon, Maine, and Wisconsin, Joan Houston Hall is uniquely suited to her job as editor of DARE. Joan has a Ph.D in English from Emory University, and she joined the staff of DARE in 1975.  She became associate editor in 1979 and was named chief editor in 2000 following the death of Frederic Cassidy. Joan has been president of the American Dialect Society and the Dictionary Society of North America, and she has served on advisory boards for Oxford University Press, National Public Radio’s A Way with Words, the National Museum of Language, and the journals American Speech, the Journal of English Linguistics, and Verbatim. For more information on the origin of the word “chippie,” which Joan discusses in the podcast, click here. And for an article about dialect coaches who use DARE’s recordings, go here.The post Episode 19 (DARE) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.