118 replies to this topic

[Red Frog]

jsulbyrne said:

That quiz was right on in correctly identifying me as a Bostonian.  

However, the "Northeast" designation, lumping Jersey, New York, CT, and RI together, makes no sense whatsoever.  RI is more like Bostonian while CT doesn't have a dialect of its own.  (Just as half of it is one, big Boston suburb and roots for the Sox while the other half is one, big NYC suburb and roots for the Yanks.)  Jersey is similarly split with north (NYC) and south (Philly).  Some dialectologists (including me - I have a post-grad degree in linguistics) find the South Jersey/Philly dialect more similar to southern dialects (like DelMarVa, for instance) than to northeast dialects.  New York itself can be split into at least two dialect groups: Upstate (akin to the Great Lakes dialects - Cleveland, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) and NYC/LI.

Anyone out there pronounce "reverse" with the accent on the initial syllable as JMS does in Wanted to Be Wrong?

I'd take exception with a few groupings here...Northern Jersey isn't terribly similar to some of the NYC accents (though it seems each borough and Long Island have their own), and Upstate New York isn't really similar to the Wisconsin/Minnesota...this I know because I work in between people from Wasau, WI and Syracuse, NY and they've got little crossover.

[In the Corner]

Red Frog said:

I'd take exception with a few groupings here....

Me too.  There doesn't seem to be a separate group for east Texas as opposed to west Texas, and those are very different.  I asked two coworkers today, both native Texans, if I have a "prototypical Texas accent" and they both said "no".  One said I sound more Southern, the other said east Texas, both of which are correct.   I was born and raised in east Texas to parents who immigrated from Mississippi.

[Red Frog]

In the Corner said:

Me too.  There doesn't seem to be a separate group for east Texas as opposed to west Texas, and those are very different.  I asked two coworkers today, both native Texans, if I have a "prototypical Texas accent" and they both said "no".  One said I sound more Southern, the other said east Texas, both of which are correct.   I was born and raised in east Texas to parents who immigrated from Mississippi.

If it helps, I don't like to consider Texas part of the United States.

[In the Corner]

Red Frog said:

If it helps, I don't like to consider Texas part of the United States.

I understand.  Heather seems to think she needs a passport to come visit. :(

[Corpus]

In the Corner said:

Me too.  There doesn't seem to be a separate group for east Texas as opposed to west Texas, and those are very different.  I asked two coworkers today, both native Texans, if I have a "prototypical Texas accent" and they both said "no".  One said I sound more Southern, the other said east Texas, both of which are correct.   I was born and raised in east Texas to parents who immigrated from Mississippi.

I had no idea this was such a sensitive topic.  Either way, you have a lovely accent.  I hear it when I read your posts.  :*

[In the Corner]

Corpus said:

I had no idea this was such a sensitive topic.  Either way, you have a lovely accent.  I hear it when I read your posts.  :*

Well, west Texans sound just downright awful and it makes me sad to think anyone thinks I sound like them!  

I think I can let go of this issue now.

:D

Sweetie-pie.

[Corpus]

In the Corner said:

Well, west Texans sound just downright awful and it makes me sad to think anyone thinks I sound like them!  

I think I can let go of this issue now.

:D

Sweetie-pie.

Just keep this one important fact in mnd:

I have no idea what the 'protoypical Texas accent' really is.

[NearWildHeather]

What about the tendency to insert 'r' sounds into words that don't inherently have them? For example: 'warsh the dishes'.

[In the Corner]

Corpus said:

Just keep this one important fact in mnd:

I have no idea what the 'protoypical Texas accent' really is.

Yeah, I sorta figured that out.  :p

@ heather - ewwwwww!  Say that again and I'll "warsh" your mouth out with soap!

[Sam]

<table style="width: 320px; border: 1px solid gray; font: normal 12px arial, verdana, sans-serif; background-color: white;"><tr><td colspan="2" style="background: white; color: black; padding: 5px;"><b style="font: bold 20px 'Times New Roman', serif; display: block; margin-bottom: 8px;">What American accent do you have?</b> <div style="font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 4px;">Your Result: <b>North Central</b></div><div style="width: 200px; background: white; border: 1px solid black;"><div style="width: 80%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div><p style="margin: 10px; border: none; background: white; color: black;">"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent.  If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary.  Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.</p></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">The Midland</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 75%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">The West</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 73%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">Boston</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 56%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">The Inland North</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 41%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 20%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">The South</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 19%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="color: black; background: white; padding: 3px;">The Northeast</td><td style="background: white; padding: 3px;"><div style="width: 100px; background: white; border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 4px;"><div style="width: 15%; background: red; font-size: 8px; line-height: 8px;"> </div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; padding: 8px;"><a href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have"><b>What American accent do you have?</b></a><br><a href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz</a></td></tr></table>

100% correct.  But trust me, people in the Twin Cities sound nothing like people in northern Minnesota.  Southerners and Easterners might think we sound like "Fargo", but trust me.  We don't hold a candle to those people.

[Driver Nate]

As I mentioned in a previous post PBS occasionally airs a special called North Carolina Voices which examines all of the different dialects spoken here since there's not just one.

[bflood]

I also have the Midland accent even though I have lived in Texas my whole life.  I guess a big factor in my not having much of a Texas accent is that my mom was born and grew up in Germany and my dad was born and grew up in New York City.  

I think it is pretty difficult under any circumstances to pick up the Texas accent in places like Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin because of the large percentage of residents who are transplants or 1st generation Texans.

[Daysleeper_UP]

I'm not going to take too much stock in the results of this quiz.

It states that I have an accent similar to Illinois/Great Lakes area people.

I work in customer service, and when my clients speak with me, they usually think that I'm from California.

When I travel to Europe, people tell me that I have no accent, other than American.  Europeans will occasionally guess California as well.

Interesting.

[bizaleth]

Sam said:

100% correct.  But trust me, people in the Twin Cities sound nothing like people in northern Minnesota.  Southerners and Easterners might think we sound like "Fargo", but trust me.  We don't hold a candle to those people.

Very true. I tried to tell someone the other day that you would be hardpressed to find a Fargo-like accent in the Twin Cities. She disagreed. But she's a southerner and thinks we all sound like Fargo. Same goes for Wisconsin. Some of those accents in northern Wisconsin are just messed up. (Sorry, Mary.)

[bizaleth]

NearWildHeather said:

What about the tendency to insert 'r' sounds into words that don't inherently have them? For example: 'warsh the dishes'.

My dad did that. My mom does it occasionally. Drives me crazy. My grandparents  pronounced Colorado, "Colaraduh." Ugh.

[Mary]

NearWildHeather said:

What about the tendency to insert 'r' sounds into words that don't inherently have them? For example: 'warsh the dishes'.

Oooh, weirdly enough, I heard that out in Montana on several occasions--"warsh" the dishes, and also "garsh" instead of "gosh."  It wasn't super-common by any means, but I do remember it catching my attention once in a while.  Wonder if those were native Montanans or transplants, now that I think about it...hmm.

bizaleth said:

Very true. I tried to tell someone the other day that you would be hardpressed to find a Fargo-like accent in the Twin Cities. She disagreed. But she's a southerner and thinks we all sound like Fargo. Same goes for Wisconsin. Some of those accents in northern Wisconsin are just messed up. (Sorry, Mary.)

Oh, I agree.   haha  

This very morning, I've caught myself saying "ya" ("Oh, ya, we got some snow last night"), "dere" ("Dere's a lot of guys out fishing today"), and "da" ("Ya, I think da ice is thick enough for snowmobiles").  :o   I know my accent comes & goes (and I can flatten it out almost entirely if I concentrate, or if I'm away from here for a while), but if I'm bad, then yes, surely some of the old-timers up here must be practically unintelligible to the tourists.  ;)

[Sam]

bizaleth said:

Very true. I tried to tell someone the other day that you would be hardpressed to find a Fargo-like accent in the Twin Cities. She disagreed. But she's a southerner and thinks we all sound like Fargo. Same goes for Wisconsin. Some of those accents in northern Wisconsin are just messed up. (Sorry, Mary.)

As I type this post, I am sitting in my office, three blocks from the St. Croix River and looking into Wisconsin.  I will tell you just driving over the bridge, I can pick up some slight deviations of accent between my side of the river and theirs.  In the larger town of Hudson, Wisconsin its not noticeable.  A lot of Minnesotans go over there, and many Hudsonites come into the Twin Cities to work (20 minutes to downtown St. Paul).  But if I go ten minutes further into the small towns, its there.  Its subtle, but its there.  If someone asked me to explain the difference I couldn't, but trust me.  I can hear it.

On a similar note, my father grew up a 1/2 mile south of Manitoba, Canada (in Minnesota).  There is a very noticeable difference between a Canadian speaker and a Minnesota speaker from his area.  I think my dad's family had a noticeable accent compared to myself who grew up in the Twin Cities, but they were nothing compared to Canadians.  You could pick a Canadian out of a group of speakers up there with absolutely no difficulty.  Pretty amazing considering the only thing between my dad's house and the Canadian houselights on the horizon was a 1/2 mile of sugar beet field.

[bizaleth]

Mary said:

This very morning, I've caught myself saying "ya" ("Oh, ya, we got some snow last night"), "dere" ("Dere's a lot of guys out fishing today"), and "da" ("Ya, I think da ice is thick enough for snowmobiles").  :o   I know my accent comes & goes (and I can flatten it out almost entirely if I concentrate, or if I'm away from here for a while), but if I'm bad, then yes, surely some of the old-timers up here must be practically unintelligible to the tourists.  ;)

Same thing with me. And mine isn't a native accent since I'm not from Wisconsin. I have always had a slight midwestern accent (whatever that is) but the Fargo-ish part of it didn't come out until I moved Up Nort'.

[bizaleth]

Sam said:

As I type this post, I am sitting in my office, three blocks from the St. Croix River and looking into Wisconsin.  I will tell you just driving over the bridge, I can pick up some slight deviations of accent between my side of the river and theirs.  In the larger town of Hudson, Wisconsin its not noticeable.  A lot of Minnesotans go over there, and many Hudsonites come into the Twin Cities to work (20 minutes to downtown St. Paul).  But if I go ten minutes further into the small towns, its there.  Its subtle, but its there.  If someone asked me to explain the difference I couldn't, but trust me.  I can hear it.

On a similar note, my father grew up a 1/2 mile south of Manitoba, Canada (in Minnesota).  There is a very noticeable difference between a Canadian speaker and a Minnesota speaker from his area.  I think my dad's family had a noticeable accent compared to growing up in the Twin Cities, but they were nothing compared to Canadians.  You could pick a Canadian out of a group of speakers up there with absolutely no difficulty.  Pretty amazing considering the only thing between my dad's house and the Canadian houselights in the horizon was a 1/2 mile of sugar beet field.

There is a difference between a Minnesota accent and a Wisconsin accent. I can hear it, but those not from that area, can't. A Minnesota accent is sing-songier. A Wisconsin accent is harsher -- and it gets harsher the closer you get to Lake Michigan.

How come I can't figure out how to use the dame multiple quote thingee?