diggerop wrote:

So, ye wuid nae say a braw bricht moonlicht nicht, the nicht then?

Aye, I canna. Interestingly, I can /hear/ the words as I read them - but
my tongue and palate conspire to prevent proper rendition.

Kids are amazingly adaptable. We had my father with his trace of Irish
accent, and daily use of the Irish way of expression, my Grandmother
with her soft Scottish burr, and my mother with her everyday Ausie
accent. We had no idea at all that each of them spoke in a different
manner. We could understand them, therefore there was no difference to
us as kids.

One thing that did click with me in later years was the realisation that
I unconciously adopted each of their accents when speaking to them. So
that a scottish burr comes naturally to me. Or irish expression.

I wonderful bit of learning, that! I hear them as musical, to be heard
and enjoyed, but beyond my ability to reproduce. Probably because of my
grandmother, I warm to the Scottish burr - and I understand why the
Irish write poetry and seem to enjoy hearing themselves speak. :-))

It happened that the burr stood me in very good stead in learning Bahasa
Indonesia. They roll their r's just as the Scots do, something that
doesn't come easily to Aussies.

Nor, I think to most Americans. A clerk in a Paris bookstore tried for
some 15 minutes to coach a rolled 'R' from me so that I could say
"Louvrrrre" properly, then (apparently in total frustration) switched to
English and asked that I do the same.

I do a pretty good pirate "Arr!", though.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/