--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Patrick King <abrasax93@...> wrote:
> The idea that any writer might come up with a sentence in English
"that would never be uttered by a native American." Seems like a broad
stroke to me. I trust by "native American," you mean someone born or
at least brought up somewhere in the United States, not specifically a
so-called American Indian.<<
Yes, I was referring to a competent speaker of American.
>>The United States is a vast landscape. Here in New England
colloquial expressions and dialects change from town to town, never
mind state to state. These colloquial difference expand dramatically
as you head south and west. I doubt even an American Henry Higgins
could state credibly he knows all of them. Certainly there is a social
group throughout the north east, from Baltimore to Boston, who affect
an English intonation and whose speaking voices are referred to as
"fog" by the more down-to-earth denizens of these cities.<<
Yes, there are many dialects, but a writer rarely has true command of
more than one. And the dialects make musical genre of sorts. As to
sentences that would never be uttered within this musical genre, it
would be easy to give examples from Highsmith's novels. I have them
packed away, though, except for a former library copy of Strangers on
a Train, where the issue does not arise.
Best,
mrt
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