Crystal Sargent, of Middletown, is a speech pathologist, and one of the instructors in an accent- reduction class. Here, she observes herself talking.

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The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

In Roe Dyelin, we drive kahs, drink kawfee and eat paster, and we have a distinct way of talking.

Wikipedia, the free and some might call flawed online encyclopedia, says that many describe the Rhode Island accent as a cross between New York and Boston, with our dropped and surplus “R’s.”

While it might be a badge of honor for some, others with a wicked strong accent might want to get rid of it.

Whether considered an impediment to clear business interaction or a source of embarrassment, many Ocean Staters have turned to an accent-reduction class offered by the community-based education network, Learning Connection.

The popular class has drawn more than 100 people over the last four sessions, said Learning Connections Executive Director Kathy Brady-Romanelli, and is offered again next month.

For $45, certified speech pathologists Jacqueline Gorman and Crystal Sargent will spend two hours helping participants modify their distinctive speech patterns and replace them with the more universal, yet dull-sounding, “generalized American accent” spoken by the majority of the population in the West and states with a heavy influx of outsiders, such as Florida.

“First of all, we need to listen to the person talk in a conversational manner and identify the speech patterns and sounds,” Sargent said. “[Then] we provide a model on the tape recorder that they are supposed to bring to class.”

Sargent, who will be teaching the Rhode Island accent class for the first time, said the majority of her students have taken the class to improve their communication skills for business.

Job success, especially in fields such as sales, can suffer if customers cannot clearly ascertain what the seller is saying, Brady-Romanelli said.

“The Great RI Accent Reduction Program” is just one of hundreds of courses offered by The Learning Connection, which teaches a wide variety of topics from burlesque to advice for marketing an invention.

Begun in 1981, the collaborative enrolls about 10,000 students a year, holds the majority of its classes in Providence and New Bedford and releases a new catalog every two months.

Brady-Romanelli said Learning Connection builds its course list two ways: researching current cultural trends to match the public’s interests and fielding requests from instructors looking to hold a class in their respective area of expertise.

All instructors meet with Brady-Romanelli before they are given approval to teach, she said, and must cover topics that are out of the ordinary.

“Our spin on things is that it needs to be a little different and unique,” Brady-Romanelli said. “Often we are the only place in Rhode Island offering the class.”

THE RHODE ISLAND accent has long been a distinct regional marker for New Englanders who call the nation’s smallest state home, often the subject of affectionate mockery from both native speakers and their frequently confused listeners.

The pronunciation of some words are clearly linked their standard derivative (“lobsta” or “reglah” or “chowdah”) and others seem to aggressively veer away from the English language (“P.S.D.S.,” also known as pierced ears).

Sargent, who has lived in Rhode Island for 25 years and has a speech therapy practice in Middletown, has identified a few common Rhode Island speech patterns that depart from “general” American English:

•Dropping or omitting an “R” where it should be — “bahbah” (barber) and “hod” (hard).

•Adding an “R” where it should not be — “idear” and “soder.”

•Distorting vowels by elongating them — “yee-uh” (year) and “Creeanstin” (Cranston).

The class, one two-hour session, works to identify the problem areas that participants would like to fix, record the proper pronunciation and practice it at home.

Just how long one would have to practice to drop the accent depends largely on the determination of the individual, with good listening skills and using a mirror to see the shape their mouth makes when forming crucial “R” and vowel sounds, Sargent said.

“If they want to make a change, they are to be credited,” Sargent said.

For more information on this and other classes, call (800) 432-5520 or visit www.learnconnect.com. For a list of Rhode Island language guide, visit www.quahog.org/factsfolklore, and click on “Quahog.org Guide to Rhode Island Language Stuff.”

ngarcia@projo.com