Accents -- Where and Why?: Kathryn Campbell-Kibler at TEDxOhioStateUniversity

Kathryn Campbell-Kibler is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at The Ohio State University. She received her BA and MA in linguistics from the University of Chicago, and her PhD in linguistics from Stanford University. Her research investigates how people develop social ideas about each other from their speech. Her recent work has focused on how Ohioans think about language difference within Ohio and how OSU students change their speech when they come to college. With a group of PhD students, she has developed OhioSpeaks, an integrated research and teaching project using real sociolinguistic data to improve courses university-wide.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@user-xv4he4mt4x]

1. Mute the sound of this video 2. Play the muted video alone with your favorite hip hop song

[@Dmdrums7]

This TED talk is fascinating. Professor Campbell-Kibler's perspective and ability to convey the nuances of accents provides an incredible insight into how people perceive accents.

[@gortroe2]

One of my favorite topics! Growing up inNYC, I was always fascinated by the different sounds. Would also be interesting to look at how/why actors were trained in Hollywood--especially for the pre-50's movies where rich people always sounded Mid-Atlantic. Also, how pop singers in many countries so often sound African American now, regardless of their race. Lots of data for understanding ourselves and our societies in just sociolingustics alone! Onward, Kathryn....The Hoekstras

[@dela2612]

As a non native English speaker I actually thought Ohioans had a very strong accent when I first started watching a TV series located in Ohio. It sounded pretty different to the "standard English" I had made up in my head based on the different accents I've been exposed to while learning this language

[@dela2612]

Also, is this woman from Ohio?? Are you seriously telling me she supposedly doesn't have an accent am I the only one hearing it

[@dokont12]

Hey, I need someone's help. I've got a quiz based on this lecture and one of the questions is "One of the differences between the speech of people from Columbus, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio is: a. is in how they pronounce nasal vowels. b. is in how they pronounce in words like , , . c. is in how they pronounce in words like , , " In my opinion it's answer "a", what do you think? :D

[@patrykmarek3029]

Poznań here XD

[@cameronsereno9413]

You could just watch the video

[@dmillet0311]

b

[@lelmdrWHO]

can i just have her job??? i love accents and studying them and comparing them, but so far only in a very non-academic way. being from a rural community i've also found that i make very quick judgements on folks with accents but since i've started college i've been losing some of my 'appalachian' accent :( different ways of speaking and the stereotypes atteched just facanate me

[@Monkeyland03]

i just found out that on KZbin there is a small video about the history of Southern accents. It talks about it having a strong relation with the British upper class accent!

[@annnee6409]

lelmdrWHO She's a linguist. I don't know how this would be studied non-academically.

[@CoherentChimp]

Don't lose your own regional dialect, that's the way to letting them die. The English language is richer by having lots of dialects and regional words.

[@JohnnyJenkins]

Never noticed my southern accent until i listened to myself on a voice recording lol

[@craigbowen3475]

I wanna see the Ted X on Southern Ohio accents. Since it's not up here there is several there is the "actual" accent which is a mixture of several Appalachia dialects, which would be considered the old one I suppose then in the South Eastern part of the State it's heavily influenced by West Virginia and has you start to move west there is more of an Kentucky influence. I have seen videos on here where they discuss "the Appalachian dialect" like there's just one lol it will all sound the same to say a native Californian but there are many.

[@whakabuti]

As a non American I really don't like the current standard American accent. But all those old accents like the Boston, NY accents are absolutely delicious to listen to.

[@Calikid331]

Like she said, the reason the standard American accent became the standard American accent is because, at the time, it was the most clear and easily understood accent in the country.

[@davidmitchell0722]

That's interesting! What variety of English do you speak?

[@MatthewJohnHadodo]

@@Calikid331 That's actually not what she said. She said that xenophobes decided to use a way of speaking associated with a predominantly white "Nordic" group of people.

[@isaiahaskew777]

Powerful

[@shaynemross]

Little confused because Walter Cronkite was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, not Ohio.

[@KateGladstone]

No, Matthew, she MEANT the Danes - the Danes, not the Norwegians, owned Iceland when it declared its independence.

[@yedhcas]

I like Rs

[@BookFreakyTube]

Is there any people in the world who actually do not have an accent?

[@MsZitra]

BookFreakyTube no

[@plantagenetsurvivor8771]

I could barely focus on what she was saying with all that Tigger bouncing

[@ronaldhealy8998]

I have to agree. Her bouncing around was distracting. Ditto some of her folksy locutions. But still the substance was mostly informative.

[@kongspeaks4778]

Appreciate how gently she avoids saying things that will blow the audience's mind too much. I would've just started with "everyone has an accent and here's what I mean"

[@yurismir1]

God and Walter Cronkite :)

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

When she was talking about the Icelanders in relation to the Danes, she meant the Norwegians.

[@TangomanX2008]

I once had a bizarre conversation with someone who was convinced and didn't see the Irony of her belief that people in the UK spoke English with an "accent" but she, an American, did not.

[@armandodelacruz3794]

bell bottoms?

[@swapmeetsheriffdonknottexp3046]

To much fluff

[@craighoyer6543]

Will trump's exposure to populace cause imitation of his poor communication style, or will exposure to his execrable thinking prompt a change in behavior for the better? The former, I think.

[@javiercs006]

Craig Hoyer Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive. And frankly, the President's accent and syntax is actually rather common in the Outer Boroughs of New York Citt. There are millions of people, most of whom are not Trump supporters, who speak almost exactly like him!

[@acsfivepall1261]

Too much caffeine, a less than professional appearance, nothing meaningful to say.