'This is Alabama; we speak English,' governor candidate says

‘This is Alabama; we speak English,’ governor candidate says

Politics • 10/12/10 7:27:58 pm • Views: 574

news.yahoo.com

Campaign aid claiming that offering the driver’s license exam in just 1 language will save money and plus “this is America, you wanna live here, learn it.”

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7 comments

ClaudeMonet Tue, Oct 12, 2010 11:06:13pm

While I understand the sentiment and can see his point, I’m not sure that I can call what they speak in Alabama “English”.

Shiplord Kirel Wed, Oct 13, 2010 1:11:41am

The Alabama drawl is actually closer linguistically to the Scots-Irish dialect of the 17th century than most regional accents are to their roots. There is a heavy overlay of African influence. Washington and Jefferson would have no trouble understanding the average Alabamian while Californish and standard midwestern might sound like contorted gibberish to them.

Shiplord Kirel Wed, Oct 13, 2010 1:19:02am

The relative ease with which southern actors switch between native and British accents is a clue to how close the former are in basic phonetics to their ancestral dialect. A Texas drawl doesn’t sound much like Oxford English to the unpracticed ear but it is actually quite easy to make the transition. A great example of this is John Hillerman, a native of Dennison Texas who played the stereotypically English Higgins on Magnum PI. At one point, Hillerman played a dual role, appearing as a distant Higgins relative from Oklahoma. The “Okie”/North Texas drawl he used in this role is in fact his natural, everyday accent.

Michael Orion Powell Wed, Oct 13, 2010 2:13:14am

This sort of rhetoric is why it is so laughable for conservatives to claim to be venerating the constitution. The First Amendment is pretty darn clear about freedom of speech.

steve_davis Wed, Oct 13, 2010 3:15:54am

re: #3 Shiplord Kirel

The relative ease with which southern actors switch between native and British accents is a clue to how close the former are in basic phonetics to their ancestral dialect. A Texas drawl doesn’t sound much like Oxford English to the unpracticed ear but it is actually quite easy to make the transition. A great example of this is John Hillerman, a native of Dennison Texas who played the stereotypically English Higgins on Magnum PI. At one point, Hillerman played a dual role, appearing as a distant Higgins relative from Oklahoma. The “Okie”/North Texas drawl he used in this role is in fact his natural, everyday accent.

Absolutely. In fact, more than once I’ve thought when I had the radio turned down low and I heard one of my local southern radio announcers talk that it is VERY easy to mistake my local area of southern English with British English.

Decatur Deb Wed, Oct 13, 2010 7:16:14am

Noi Alabami parliamo Vicentino anche. (This guy is over since the primary. Our gov. candidates now are “Pro Bingo vs Anti-Bingo”. Fur Reel.)

jordash1212 Wed, Oct 13, 2010 10:10:24am

On another note, this article is pretty old (almost 6 months) and the candidate placed 3rd in primaries — so he’s a nonissue. However irrelevant he might seem, I still think there’s an impending threat against the 1st Amendment by many GOP candidates.

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