Idiolect Teachers

Yuna Goda

For me, learning a language has always been about listening. It is about at first sounding different but practising to sound closer. It requires listening to their tongue movement, nasal/ oral breathing, and vocal straining. It requires listening to your own voice, to compare it with the other sounds.

A person’s accent speaks of their hometown and the following life story, travelling around the world. About all the sounds they have unconsciously picked up from their friends, teachers, and stars.

All becomes collected into an idiolect.

An idiolect is the individual way of speech, encompassing the sonic characteristic(like accents), the linguistic characteristic (like the wording of dialects), and personal habits.

This project asks various people to become ‘Idiolect Teachers’.

I designed a method where I film people displaying their pronunciation skills and techniques, proving the craftsmanship of their Idiolects. The videos explain how different routes inform different idiolects. They are so intricately layered, that I, the Idiolect Learner, cannot immediately copy them.

Despite their craftsmanship, accented idiolects are sometimes misinterpreted as ‘immature’ or ‘wrong’. This project celebrates the uniqueness of idiolects, for all those who unconsciously undervalue the ‘difference’ of their sounds: including the self-deprecative speakers of minor dialects.

Instagram: @yuna.goda
Email: yuna.goda@gmail.com

Idiolect Teachers

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