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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site laidbak.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!clyde!ihnp4!laidbak!tsmith
From: tsmith@laidbak.UUCP (Tim Smith)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Quack, quack, Im an American
Message-ID: <175@laidbak.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Oct-83 00:30:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: laidbak.175
Posted: Sat Oct 15 00:30:24 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Oct-83 13:29:17 EDT
Organization: LAI, Westmont, IL
Lines: 16


I have just returned from a few weeks in France. For the first time
in my European travels, I was with a large group of Americans. What
can be annoying is not, for the most part, <accent> in the sense of
how vowels and consonants are pronounced, or how the pitch of the
voice is varied. It seems to be a matter of overall amplitude. 
Europeans learn to speak to individuals, and to small groups, and to
reserve max gain for special occasions. For us the addressed unit
is the room, no matter how large. Very embarrassing in a
large restaurant. 

Perhaps it is a matter of high population density vs. the wide open
plains...?

Tim Smith (...!laidbak!tsmith)