accent or mispronounciation? (was RE: [thechat] Chile's tennis fighting for the medals)

[Madhu Menon]

Caught this message just as I was heading out, so brief answer now...

At 19:58 22/08/2004, Joel D Canfield wrote:
> > I want to know why the American commentator pronounces Chile
> > as "chilli" :)
>
>An honest question, not antagonism ('cause I prefer to pronounce it
>'cheelay' but not quite): how would someone of average education and
>intelligence in your neighborhood pronounce it, Madhu?

I dunno, Joel. I have neither average education nor average intelligence.
One's less and the other is more. ;)


>I've never heard
>you speak, so I don't know how close your accent or apparent lack
>thereof (from my perspective) matches any of the folks I work with who
>are from India.

The only two evolters I've "spoken" to have been Isaac (at length) and 
.jeff (on yahoo messenger.)
I can do several accents (including Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo [1] ), but my 
"natural" one would be a stiff British type, tainted a bit by my Aussie 
influence.

But the main question was:


>Does 'chilli' fall under the purview of mispronunciation or accent?

In this specific case, I call it mispronunciation.
Why? Because this bloke is not your average Joe. He's a sports commentator 
who's *supposed* to know better. I'm more disapproving of a professional 
whose job involves getting these details right.


>feeling in me) and others have medium to strong accents which thoroughly
>alter the pronounciation of some words.

You have an accent, I have an accent, we all have some accent or the other. :)

Later,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
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