I remember the first weekend arranged to promote the 'Ulster-Scots'
language (I still class it as a dialect NOT a language, but who am I to say? maybe this could be another thread)and a very refined lady with a VERY refined 'awfully nice' accent (quite posh to say the least)was reading a passage from a book, in Ulster-Scots.
This was to show the folk how these word were to be pronounced, a friend of mine from Larne, Co Antrim (a natural Ulster-Scots speaker)stood in the company and corrected her and was told "Now that dialect you are using is not bad, BUT you need to practice more to perfect it." So I suppose it makes you wonder, who is the pupil and who is the teacher?
So then is it acceptable to make 'perfect' a dialect for each area you learn a song from and sing it as one of the locals and then sing in a different dialect,a song from yet again another area?

songsmith