But how does one pronounce (while singing) a word that is spelled in its dialect form? Seems to me someone pronouncing it in their native Omaha dialect would sound much sillier than that same singer trying to pronounce it (while singing) as it was meant to be pronounced...I should also say I do not personally "try to affect a fake accent" when I sing...it seems to arise quite naturally when I sing this style of music. And I am often asked when people have heard me sing before they have heard me speak if indeed I am irish or Scottish or what have you...I don't know if that is good or bad...but I know I am not trying to use the same sort of deliberate speech I employ when, as menioned earlier, I consciously *speak* with an accent to escape being thought an American tourist. Speaking in such a way requires much more effort for me than singing in any sort of accent. I am not sure why.

I maintain: it is not pleasant to hear this sort of thing when it is done badly. But if done well, where is the harm? It does sound like there is much more prejudice against Americans singing British Isle or Celtic-derived songs in a "fake" accent than, for example, Brits singing country music or blues in a "fake" accent which, it seems to me, would not sound ridiculous if they do not do so with parody in mind...

There is a sort of *neutral speech* often employed by those who have studied dialects and acting (like myself)--who tend to leave behind the regional dialect of their upbringing when speaking (in my case, the broad, flat vowels of wetsren NY state and, more recently, the provincial r-less accent of Boston). It seems to me there is also a sort of neutral "speech" employed in singing...and this includes, in folk and celtic music, pronouncing dipthongs that would be an absolute no-no in classical singing (which I have also studied and which has soem very specific constraints for production of English vowels and consonants--not to mention Italian and German).

Then again, plenty of English-speaking actors of stage and screen play quite convincingly in other dialects while retaining their own (Scottish or Australian, etc.) in normal everyday speech...