A phonetic analysis of accents in North American film and television: how they vary and how they have changed.

Charles Boberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is a coauthor of the Atlas of North American English and the Handbook of Dialectology and author of The English Language in Canada. His current research focuses on variation and change in Canadian English and on accents in North American film and television.

1. Introduction; 2. Method; 3. The emergence of general North American English: eight decades of sound change; 4. Sex differences in general North American English; 5. New York city English in film and television; 6. Other regional accents in North American film and television; 7. Ethnic accents in North American film and television; 8. Summary and conclusions; Appendices.