[Magdalen] Enjoying a colleague's accent

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/19/2015 11:08:11 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jay.weigel at gmail.com writes:

​You  should come to Pennsylvania (or Indiana, or Ohio, or Wisconsin, or  
any
other Amish stronghold) and see what sense you can make of "Deitsch",  the
German dialect spoken by the Amish. I was around the dialect spoken  near
Sheboygan, WI, for a couple of years, which is a variant of  Plattdeutsch,
and I can't make head or tail out of Deitsch.  ​
>>>>>>>>
 
The Amish have bought up a lot of farmland in West Central Wisconsin.
Some friends of mine who owned a hobby farm there had, through the
years, modernized the large farmhouse and the adjacent farm buildings
with up-to-date electric wiring and water/sewer systems.  Then  they
retired, and sold it to the Amish who busied themselves ripping out  all
the modern improvements.  My friends were happy to get their  asking
price, but dismayed when they saw what the Amish were doing.






<<<Now if you ask me to speak East Tennessee, I can, and  that right 
fluently!
I worked in home health care in rural east Tennessee  for over six years,
and I had to learn the language spoken by my patients.  Yes, it's English,
but there are ways of saying things that are just as  different from
standard American English as any dialect in the UK. As a  friend of mine,
born and raised in Bulls Gap, TN once said, "I'm  bilingual--I speak English
and East Tennessee  both!">>>>>
 
 
 
The eastern half of the USA, especially (but not exclusively) is chock full 
 of
regional accents.  This seems to get more diverse and complex as one  
travels
east.  Both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have a half-dozen or so  regional
accents, some remarkably different from their neighbors.  The local  "coal
cracker" accent is an example with it's nasal vowels and frequent, even  
bizarre
use of the word, "anymore".  All of PA is rhotic, but New Jersey  is about 
half
and half rhotic and non-rhotic.  
 
 
David Strang.