NationStates Jolt Archive

I have a terrible accent. Nobody can understand me when I talk, and I don't even know what region it is! My mother claims it's New York, and that I got it from my grandmother. I have a bad tendancy to talk REALLY fast, and that dosen't exactly help. So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

everyone has an accent. Mine is a cross of Central Connecticut, Long Island, and Boston.

I'm about as close to "neutral" American english as anyone could get.

Depends on the language I am speaking. I have a standard American accent, A French Parisian accent and a Moroccan-Arabic accent.

I dont hardly have anything, like, I can fake many accents, I was called a Welshmen by a Briton on XBox Live, lol...

But, my family always comments that i dont have the Southern Accent like they do...

i have a slight downeast accent that gets more pronounced when im around family.

I don't have an accent, it's everybody else who talks funny and can't understand plain English when it's slurred at them.

French being my first language, I have an uber-accent when I speak english. In French, well, I'm French Canadian, so most French people from France probably don't get half of what I say.

In Montreal, some people who hang with me often notice I have an accent that is slightly different from the one people usually use around here; no one knows where it comes from. It sounds a little french from france (compared to usual québec-french). Anyways, it's kind of musical. It appears when I'm tired the most.

I'm told I have pronounced 'north of Chicago' accent. (whatever the hell that means...) I'm from Michigan, but not a yooper.

French being my first language, I have an uber-accent when I speak english. In French, well, I'm French Canadian, so most French people from France probably don't get half of what I say.

In Montreal, some people who hang with me often notice I have an accent that is slightly different from the one people usually use around here; no one knows where it comes from. It sounds a little french from france (compared to usual québec-french). Anyways, it's kind of musical. It appears when I'm tired the most.
You're from Montreal?


*pelts with hockey pucks*


*is from Boston and is bitter*

I'm about as close to "neutral" American english as anyone could get.

I felt the same way. Then I went down south a few times. Then I got the "Hey y'all must be from wensconsen because of your accent" and I am like what accent. Then I realized that everyone has an accent when they go to an area where people talk differently.

Apparently I've been told that when I'm excited or talking really quickly I tend to have a little bit of a Cockney accent. O_o

I felt the same way. Then I went down south a few times. Then I got the "Hey y'all must be from wensconsen because of your accent" and I am like what accent. Then I realized that everyone has an accent when they go to an area where people talk differently.

When I lived in missouri, I got people asking me if I'm from England. Nowadays, I tend to slip in and out of British accents pretty much for the hell of it, but not so much in college. And I swear in British, but again, not in college. That confused me...

I've got whatever the hell Ohio and the rest of the Midwest has.

I can speak in any number of accents from Cockney, Australian, Indian, American southwest, Russian....

Yarrgh! I be havin a terrible Piratish accent meharties! Sure, it gets me by when buyin' parrots or peg legs, but it be terrible in job interviews! Avast!

I felt the same way. Then I went down south a few times. Then I got the "Hey y'all must be from wensconsen because of your accent" and I am like what accent. Then I realized that everyone has an accent when they go to an area where people talk differently.

Listen to the Northwestern accent, then listen to what people consider "neutral". They sound the same to me.

I've got whatever the hell Ohio and the rest of the Midwest has.
Syphilis?

I use some regional words, but my accent is pretty close to general American.

I've always felt sorry for people from California. They sound dumb, even if they aren't.

I have a slight NorCal accent that changes and/or thickens depending on who I'm talking to. I can speak in an upstate New York accent, an Oakland accent, and Singaporean accent.

I use some regional words, but my accent is pretty close to general American.

I've always felt sorry for people from California. They sound dumb, even if they aren't.

Like, totally dude.

I only have a very slight Southern American accent, but I try to train myself to have more of a neutral midwest accent because I personally think southern accents make people sound unintelligent.

I use some regional words, but my accent is pretty close to general American.

I've always felt sorry for people from California. They sound dumb, even if they aren't.

California accents sound dumb? Are you generalizing from the rarely-heard "valley girl" accent, or do we all sound that way to you?

General American. I cut myself anytime I hear a hint of a southern accent in my voice. If I say a word like "y'all" or "you-ins" or "Sweeat Tay" I slam my face in the oven to punish myself.

Southern accents = No.

I was asked once where I was from because she thought I sounded very "proper". People just don't talk like me she said. Except me apparently.

I think that's more of a lack of dialect though, and it has probably evolved (or perhaps more accurately devolved) from lack of practice.

I've been told that the 'English' accent is the world's standard 'lack of accent', which make sense, but now I'm wondering what part of England...anywho.

I'm enough of an avid Doctor Who fan to recognize Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, and...'nothern' accents...wherever 'north' is...

And I can recognize some others from other languages. (shrugs) I don't know that I could fake any of them very well--I'm too self-conscious to try. XD

(Oh, and I live in Virginia, and have neither a southern nor a northern accent, though I basically lack any kind of drawl that I know of...)

California accents sound dumb? Are you generalizing from the rarely-heard "valley girl" accent, or do we all sound that way to you?I don't know what the regional accents from California are, but I know I've met many people from California who end every sentence, as if it was, like, a question?

I have a slight NorCal accent that changes and/or thickens depending on who I'm talking to. I can speak in an upstate New York accent, an Oakland accent, and Singaporean accent.

As an upstate New Yorker...

I'm curious, what does an upstate new york accent sound like? I've never really thought of myself as having an accent.

Americans usually tell me I sound like I should be reading the news. Dunno, maybe American TV hires a lot of Canadian anchors.

My sister, on the other hand, lived in Chicago for a year and inexplicably picked up a West Virginia twang. Go figure.

I don't think I do, but when I visit other states people there tell me I do.

We pronounce 'water' as 'wooter.' That's about the extent of my accent. I'm working on developing my British accent, and possibly expanding my Philly dialect.

California accents sound dumb? Are you generalizing from the rarely-heard "valley girl" accent, or do we all sound that way to you?

Californians Can talk? crazy...Well i guess if MS can learn to read, anythings possible, lol...

Errr...I mix two... a midwestern and a Pennsylvanian. more midwestern. But it's "mum" "Soda" "Illinoy" "Missour-E" and there is no "r" in wash.

I say 'aint' and 'fixin to' and all the other southern mannerisms i just dont have the accompanying accent...

I am sure that I do have an accent, but of course I am unaware of it, its just normal speech to me...

everyone has an accent. Mine is a cross of Central Connecticut, Long Island, and Boston.

Agreed. People don't think they do because their accent is normal to them. I have a Northern California, specifically San Francisco Bay Area accent. You notice your own accent more if you're surrounded by people with a different one. It seems that the SF accent, or at least the one I have, consists of running our words together and replacing as many vowel sounds as possible with a sort of generic, clipped vowel sound, only a bridge between consonants.

San Francisco, spoken in one of its own accents, is pronounced more like: S(a)nFr'nc'sco. One word, with the vowels barely pronounced at all. Similarly, Oakland is pronounced more like "Oke-l'nd," and Berkeley as "B'rkly"

I first noticed the fact that I have an accent myself when I was in Chicago, talking to a group of Chicagoans and some people from Minnesota who were also visiting. I noted their accents, and then wondered if to them I had an accent. I then asked them, and they said yes, nodding as if it should have been obvious to me.

Agreed. People don't think they do because their accent is normal to them.

I disagree, i go all over the country with my dad, cause he's a Truck Driver, and he has a Thick Southern Accent...and, well, in the Midwest they have a habit of being Dicks to anyone who speaks with a Southern accent, yet even though they are prejudiced towards my dad, i get nothing from them, cause i have a very neutral accent, you couldnt tell where im from just by hearing me talk...

Unless i use a characteristic word like "fixin to" but i dont have an accent when i say it...

I think I have a pretty generic American accent but some people have told me that I speak with a California accent. I don't know, I sound like a lot of other people around the country.

I disagree, i go all over the country with my dad, cause he's a Truck Driver, and he has a Thick Southern Accent...and, well, in the Midwest they have a habit of being Dicks to anyone who speaks with a Southern accent, yet even though they are prejudiced towards my dad, i get nothing from them, cause i have a very neutral accent, you couldnt tell where im from just by hearing me talk...

Unless i use a characteristic word like "fixin to" but i dont have an accent when i say it...

Yours is just more mild. Especially right next to your dad's. If I heard you talk, I might not be able to place your accent, but I could tell it was different from mine.

I don't like either southern accents or midwest accents, to be honest.

I think I have a pretty generic American accent but some people have told me that I speak with a California accent. I don't know, I sound like a lot of other people around the country.

Which California accent? There are several.

I don't know what the regional accents from California are, but I know I've met many people from California who end every sentence, as if it was, like, a question?

That's a so-cal thing. More specifically a San Fernando valley/LA thing. I don't know anyone who talks like that, personally.

I never thought I did untill I moved halfway across the country, where people pick up on it all the time but that is because South Australians still speak with a plum in their mouth. Whenever I have been overseas it is noticed too, so I suppose that all people have an accent it is just that while you are around your own kind you don't notice it

everyone has an accent. Mine is a fairly even mixture of Estuary and Recieved Pronunciation.

As has been mentioned previously, it's impossible not to have an accent. Everyone has one -- it's just a matter of how close that accent is to the 'prestige dialect' -- that is, the manner of speaking which is considered mainstream in a country (which, we ought to remember, is in and of itself an accent). These prestige dialects have a history of changing as one or another becomes prevalent in the media. It also ought to be remembered that our opinions of these accents are shaped more than anything by their portrayal in mass media and our own personal experiences.

Myself, I have a fairly typical accent for San Diego county, so much so that my accent can be identified over the phone by people I've never met. It is also apparently superficially similar to a British Columbian accent; I had quite a time once convincing this woman that I was, in fact, not Canadian and felt quite at home when I visited Victoria.

New yorkers claim i sound Texan, southern people think i sound British, British people think i sound welsh, Australians think i sound Canadian.

You decide.

I have a neutral American accent. It's pretty distinctly American, but not specific to a region. I used to have a Boston accent, but I lost it.

On the flip side, I'm pretty good at penetrating accents. It's probably because most of the schools I've gone to have sizeable foreign contigents. In high school, there were several Israeli students (and two Poles), plus my biology teacher had a very strong French accent. In college, my calculus GSA is Chinese, and many of my classmates are Saudi, Indian, or Caribbean. Also, I lived in England for two years.

I guess I have a midwest accent. When I was little I had a southern (Georgian) accent, but moved to Kansas and lost it.

So yeah, I guess midwest accent it is.

around michigan it's just a kind of really loud mumbling.

Yeah I grew up on the border of New York City and I've lived in the Bronx now for almost 3 years. What accent? Accent? Nah you just don't know how to talk. You got a problem?

I've been told that the 'English' accent is the world's standard 'lack of accent', which make sense, but now I'm wondering what part of England...anywho.

Which is a lie.

Everyone has an accent. In the "Neutral English"(You know, the one you hear on the news in the US), is an accent. That accent is just the one that is the least "offensive", if you will, to the most amount of people, and is really just a mesh-pot of all the various dialects and accents as people settled westward across the US. Anyone who tells you that anything is unaccented is lying, and doesn't know a damn thing about accents.

I have an apparently enigmatic accent. Most people from around here think I'm from New York, most people from outside of hear can't make heads or tails of why I don't speak "Minnesoooootan", plus it doesn't help matters that I like to screw with people by changing accents mid-sentence. :D

I still get Chicago sometimes. I deny it, and people believe me so long as I pronounce "Chicago" with a neutral "a." Works every time. :p

I don't think I have much of an accent at all, except that "th" comes out more like "d" or a hard "t." But that could be non-regional.

I don't know what the regional accents from California are, but I know I've met many people from California who end every sentence, as if it was, like, a question?

Yeah, as Callisdrun said, that's a San Fernando Valley thing, and it's really not as pronounced as the parodies of it. I've met plenty of people who "up-talk" (tone rising at the end of the sentence, like a question) but never anyone who actually sounded like what most people think of as a "Valley girl".

As an upstate New Yorker...

I'm curious, what does an upstate new york accent sound like? I've never really thought of myself as having an accent.

Well, my mom and her family are from a small town near Rochester, so that's the accent I can do. It's a combination of a broad, nasal accent and words specific to that region (maybe just that county? dunno) such as "hamburg" and "cheeseburg" instead of hamburger, "fried cake" for donut, etc. Also a tendency to say something's "five dollar" or "thirty year" instead of five dollars and thirty years. The accent itself is hard to describe I guess.

Californians Can talk? crazy...Well i guess if MS can learn to read, anythings possible, lol...

Haaarsh. Guess who's not invited when the West Coast secedes and becomes its own rockin' republic? That's right, you! :p

It seems that the SF accent, or at least the one I have, consists of running our words together and replacing as many vowel sounds as possible with a sort of generic, clipped vowel sound, only a bridge between consonants.

San Francisco, spoken in one of its own accents, is pronounced more like: S(a)nFr'nc'sco. One word, with the vowels barely pronounced at all. Similarly, Oakland is pronounced more like "Oke-l'nd," and Berkeley as "B'rkly"

I never really thought of that before, but it's true. I do that with all kinds of words, especially when I'm talking very quickly. In fact, I leave out whole words sometimes in the starts of my sentences... like, "Fuck m'I s'posed to do 'bout it?" Innnnteresting!

I grew up in the Northern Midwest and have that accent. You know, calling "Soda", Pop and all that jazz.

Since I live outside Richmond, Virginia, I have an accent to everyone here, but to me, everyone here has an accent.

Midwesterners don't have accents. Although I've heard that us Michiganders have something of an accent. But I donno.

*Points to South Islands location*

I was born in Michigan ... East Lansing to be exact. My parents both wen to MSU. =)

*Points to South Islands location*

I was born in Michigan ... East Lansing to be exact. My parents both wen to MSU. =)

Go Green.

But I'm not a native of East Lansing. Just here for school. I'm a Yooper. So I guess I naturally have an accent. But when you can switch in and out of it, is it really an accent? I say no.

I can switch in and out of a Southern accent, but even when I try to not sound like I'm from the midwest-area, I still get people who say to me, "God I love your accent, where are you from?"

I have a vague sort of accent, but I didn't grow up around anywhere that it was ever actually spoken aside from my mother. I can control it, as long as long as I'm aware of what I'm saying, but I tend to ramble at times.

I spend a lot of time abroad, so I try to have as neutral an American accent as humanly possible. My Japanese is pretty standard Tokyo accent as far as I can tell, my French is probably centred somewhere around Bonne, my German is all Berlin because that's where I studied it and my Ewe is what's spoken in the Volta Region of Ghana.

I speak with a western/"high" Australian accent. Picture steve irwin's eastern/rural accent, but with an american vocabulary, less pronounced vowels and a slight british tilt. I have been mistaken for an american by an african who had lived in australia for several months, and for a londoner by some americans, although other australians just think I sound "cultured", whatever that means.

I have a terrible accent. Nobody can understand me when I talk, and I don't even know what region it is! My mother claims it's New York, and that I got it from my grandmother. I have a bad tendancy to talk REALLY fast, and that dosen't exactly help. So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

by god do I ever? I'm Australian and a lot of foreigns comment on how strong it is

Stupid bloody question. Everyone who can talk has an accent. Your accent means "how you talk," so the question is utterly meaningless. Everyone on Earth (who can speak) has an American accent, English accent, Scottish accent, or whatever.

Nope, Midwest=none.

Totally, I have a "posh" accent.

It means i can talk down to all of you, peasants.

So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

My fiancee says I've got a german accent when I speak english (you know, 8 years of german at school + self-taught english...)

In italian, I speak with a strong milanese accent - this means that many times I mix the "open" "e" and "o" with their closed counterparts, and get some "z" wrong (example: I read "zio" as "(dz)io" instead of the correct "(ts)io", also my double "z" sometimes drift towards double "s")

In german, my teacher used to say that I've got a "rheinisch" accent.

As for russian, I've had a teacher from Leningrad and another from Moscow, so I guess my accent is somewhere in between.

I have a terrible accent. Nobody can understand me when I talk, and I don't even know what region it is! My mother claims it's New York, and that I got it from my grandmother. I have a bad tendancy to talk REALLY fast, and that dosen't exactly help. So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?My German is the standard "accent-free" High German, but my English has a non-descript American accent.

Nope, Midwest=none.

That is naive. Though not as telltale as a southern accent, midwesterners obviously still have one.

I have a weird combination of Chinese, British, and American accents. :)

Given that I've lived all my life in Kildare I have a Kildare accent. Though I can pull off a variety of passable Dublin accents, and a pretty good Cork one, among others.

I've never been told I have an accent, just neutral English, sort of thing you get on the national news. Clearly, if I go up to Yorkshire they will say I'm from the South, but people can't place my accent accurately.

I much prefer to listen to reasonably neutral accents as well, though that'll be a combination of ease-of-listening and what I've been used to growing up.

I have a terrible accent. Nobody can understand me when I talk, and I don't even know what region it is! My mother claims it's New York, and that I got it from my grandmother. I have a bad tendancy to talk REALLY fast, and that dosen't exactly help. So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

What would you call an "unusual" accent?
I'm German, and have lived in Canada for a bit and now in Ireland for the past 5 years, moving from Dublin to Co Cork recently, living with an English boyfriend.

My accent is all of that.

I have a pretty mild Northern Irish accent. Not a Belfast accent and not a complete country accent (which is a miracle considering my dad has the broadest accent i've ever heard)

Vhat is zis akzent you are talkink about?

I have a very proper, very southern accent, and in that I'm blessed. It's not my fault no one else can speak decent English.

Yep I speak lke a right cockney SE Londoner, umm perhaps thats coz that is what I am.

That is naive. Though not as telltale as a southern accent, midwesterners obviously still have one.

I have noticed that many times myself, especially when it comes to words like down and the like. They most definitely have an accent, and they are so used to it they don't notice it.

Not really, unless you count "Australian". I also have tiny hints of German I got from my mom, and when I'm drunk I can revert back to Ukrainian.

When I speak English I have a Californian accent [lived in San Diego for almost my entire life] and when I speak Spanish I have a Spanish accent. When I try to speak anything else I have a hardcore American accent.

When I speak normally, I speak with an American accent (probably New York, but I've never been there; I'm just told it sounds that way). When I get excited and talk faster, American friends say I'm speaking in a mix of British and Chinese accents, while the British guys will say I'll speak like an American or a German (bingo).

I have a slight Southern accent... It gets a lot thicker when I'm pissed off though.

Nope, Midwest=none.

That's funny - you sound like an American to me.

So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

Canadian eh?

;)


When I'm just talking I just have a midwest-southern accent. But when I get pissed off or excited my Canadian accent comes out.

I've been told that the 'English' accent is the world's standard 'lack of accent', which make sense, but now I'm wondering what part of England...anywho.


The Queen's English lacks an accent, because it's the only langauage in the world to speak PROP-ER-LY. ;)


I'm enough of an avid Doctor Who fan to recognize Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, and...'nothern' accents...wherever 'north' is....


Er.....north is generally north where I come from, but to be precise, Lancashire and Yorkshire and nearby surrounding areas.

I have an accent, I can make it go away most of the time because they made me learn how to do that when I was in broadcasting. It gets really thick when I am angry though, and the more frustrated I get the worse my accent becomes.

I would record it but I have to think about something that frustrates me to talk about so you can get the full effect.

*shrugs* Midwestern USA? Actually, my bigger issue is I tend to talk reallyreallyfast, especially when I get frustrated or excited about something. Often I will have to back up about 30 seconds and try again.

Yes, I do have an accent. I'm from Spain, so I lisp when I speak. You can appreciate it better when I utter the "S" sound or the "Z" sound. In Asturian, my native dialect, I sound a bit more tough.

In English, I have a slight lisp when I speak, but nothing otherwordly.

I have an accent somewhere between Australian and English. It often accentuates depending on what or who or where I'm speaking. When I speak to family members or older people, teachers etc I tend to sound more Australian, whereas if I'm chatting with my mates or if I'm irritated or if I'm emphasising something, I tend to sound more English.

Listen to the Northwestern accent, then listen to what people consider "neutral". They sound the same to me.

*nods*

I've been told we have a very bland accent.

I’ve been told we have a very bland accent.
Only from the point of view of (some) Americans.

To me, you guys have a very distinct accent, and while, compared with my peers, I have only a slight accent, from your perspective my Scottish lilt is probably really noticeable.

Yes. Clichedly middle class.

I have a small Southern Ontario accent, with kind of a mix of Toronto. Like, I would say Toronto as "Tronno" and Southern Ontario as "Suddern Ontario". The general Canadian accent slips into my speech every once in a while, and I'm pretty sure I'm a victim of a phenomenon called canadian raising, which lifts the sound of vowels.

Very slightly scottish. I can't tell, but apparently I do.

My english relatives die of laughter at the use of such fun words as "wee" and "aye".

My husband makes fun of me because I speak with an Ottawa Valley twang. It's only noticeable when you hear me talking to people who spent almost their whole lives in Toronto. The key difference is in the enunciation.

everyone has an accent. Mine is a cross of Central Connecticut, Long Island, and Boston.

Not true, people in the midwest often speak unaccented American English. Though I suppose you could try to claim it's a generic American accent.

no i don't have an accent though maybe i should as i live in north yorkshire and have family in scotland

Not true, people in the midwest often speak unaccented American English. Though I suppose you could try to claim it's a generic American accent.

It is still an accent.

I have a mild Mancunian accent. But it gets stronger if I'm angry/tired/drunk.

I have a lisp that people think is a weird accent. XD

I have a mix of a little NYC and a little bit of Tennessee. My parents are from very different areas of the US as you can see by that omission.

Don't have one - can't afford it.

But I plan on using my economic stimulus check to make a down payment. I've had my eye on a Cornish accent for years (a fella can dream can't he?), but I'll probably have to settle for BBC Radio 3...

cool i like putting on a us accent

cool i like putting on a us accent

Go away Joss Stone

hey im pretty good

hey im pretty good

More of a Hugh Laurie?

who the heck are they???

For all of those of you claiming that 'midwestern america' does not have a difference, where exactly is this mythical 'midwest?' Is it (starting from the east) the Appalachian of West By-God Virginia and parts of Kentucky, the hoosier talk of Indiana, fans of 'da bears', people from Wis-cawn-sin, or are we getting out into the huskers?

Again, everyone has an accent.

k

who the heck are they???

people who put on a US accent

oh like me?

South east england accent. Everyone i no says im well spoken. I dont use words such as 'one' when talking bout ppl though.

No accent here. I simply speak English the way it was intended by the inventor of English, Sir Alfred English.

I'm not sure how you'd describe my accent actually, maybe West London. It has been influenced a little by the American accent now.

I have an accent, but no one knows what it is. I was born and raised in California, but everyone thinks I'm Canadian (except, of course, Canadians), or from New England (except them), or Michigan (and so on), or Wisconsin (and on), or anywhere but where I'm from.

*nods*

I've been told we have a very bland accent.

What part of the midwest do you hail from? I always hear accounts from midswesterners about how they have no accent, yet you can hear the difference between an Illinois accent, an Ohio accent, a Wisconsin accent, etc. At least, I can.

Not true, people in the midwest often speak unaccented American English. Though I suppose you could try to claim it's a generic American accent.

The same claim is made by many Californians. Yet we can hear your accents, and you can probably hear ours, so I don't think either claim holds water.

I have a slight accent. WYTYG said it was "american cool" a while back IIRC. Which means Midwest (Austin Texas).

I'm got a variable accent as I move up and down the country. In London and Essex, I'm more RP; in Sheffield, I'm slightly RP, but mostly Yerkshire. I prefer Sheffield.

Not that anyone will get this, but I've a Kildare accent mixed with a South Dublin accent - but without the negative aspects and connotations of both.

I have a slight accent. WYTYG said it was "american cool" a while back IIRC. Which means Midwest (Austin Texas).

Since when is Austin in the Midwest?? Unless you're referring to actual geography, in which case most of what's considered the "midwest" is really the mideast. But I've always thought Texas was its own area separate of the west and south, and Austin its own area inside Texas (you know, the good part of it :p).

Not really, I speak in clipped tones, with a trace of Estuary English (although if I talk to anyone Scottish for more than about 0.3 seconds, I pick up a Scottish accent for about a week). I can affect any accent I like within reason, mind.

no i don't have an accent though maybe i should as i live in north yorkshire and have family in scotland
That's exactly my position, I think that's probably why we don't have accents. Everyone can understand accent-less English, even if they think you sound like a prick for talking in that way.

São Paulo city + São Paulo countryside Portuguese

And an Australian living in London once told me I speak English with a "non-UK European accent", whatever that means.

I'm enough of an avid Doctor Who fan to recognize Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, and...'nothern' accents...wherever 'north' is...

Lots of planets have a north, you know.

Myself, I was born in Toronto, but(by the grace of God)my father moved the family down to the South very shortly thereafter. I spent the next 25+ years bouncing around Dixie, and always thought I spoke general English, until I moved up to Minnesota, and people up here couldn't hardly understand me. I say "y'all" and "fixin' to" and "I be go to hell" and all the other colloquialisms. I tell you what, the chicks up here like it, so I'm uninclined to go out of my way to change.

I don't have an accent, I sound the way you're supposed to when you say things properly

Not that anyone will get this, but I've a Kildare accent mixed with a South Dublin accent - but without the negative aspects and connotations of both.

Though I am an American with long ties to this country, I still have family in Kildare and other parts of Ireland, and I definitely notice a major difference in the way they talk and pronounce things. The sad part is, when they come to visit and stay in Savannah, no one looks at them funny when they talk.

You're from Montreal?


*pelts with hockey pucks*


*is from Boston and is bitter*


*laughs cruelly*

no seriously, i think it was all fair game. your team played very well. this was just a great season for us.

back on subject.

Which is a lie.

Everyone has an accent. In the "Neutral English"(You know, the one you hear on the news in the US), is an accent. That accent is just the one that is the least "offensive", if you will, to the most amount of people, and is really just a mesh-pot of all the various dialects and accents as people settled westward across the US. Anyone who tells you that anything is unaccented is lying, and doesn't know a damn thing about accents.

I have an apparently enigmatic accent. Most people from around here think I'm from New York, most people from outside of hear can't make heads or tails of why I don't speak "Minnesoooootan", plus it doesn't help matters that I like to screw with people by changing accents mid-sentence. :D

I'm like that, well, kind of.

I spent my formative years in Port Aransas (I moved there when I was three, and left when I was six), which is a small island town just East of Corpus Christi, Texas. It's full of people from all over the Northeast and Midwest, and I can only remember a few people who actually spoke with Southern accents in that town, and it was still that way when I visited again in 2005.

Most of the people I spent time around were from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. I continued to develop a very "Northern" way of talking (though I never really spoke any other way, and as far back as I can remember I always spoke this way --- must be the influence of television), and people who spoke with Southern accents sounded wonky and confusing. They still sound wonky to me, and they probably always will.

What I've got is a bunch of Northern accents all boiled into one... And pretty much everybody I meet thinks I'm from Canada right off the bat. Who knows, maybe they're on to something, but judge for yourself.

http://media.putfile.com/Basic-Irritation

This is an excerpt from a conversation I was having about "Illegal Mexicans". Needless to say, it stirred memories of the rednecks and white trash in this area who would come through my line at the supermarket and spew their filth, not regarding anybody else around them.

my accent is hard to place apparently. that's what comes of growing up in a place where every other person has a different accent and then working with a bunch of ozzies and foreigners for the last 4 years. plus having a completely wayward manner of speech that misses out grammar and sentence structure. basically it's the queen's english been gang raped by booze, neglect and foreigners. i like it.

my accent is hard to place apparently. that's what comes of growing up in a place where every other person has a different accent and then working with a bunch of ozzies and foreigners for the last 4 years. plus having a completely wayward manner of speech that misses out grammar and sentence structure. basically it's the queen's english been gang raped by booze, neglect and foreigners. i like it.

What about neglected, boozed-up foreigners?

I've been told I have a slight accent by those around me, though I think this is more from being lazy and running my words together when I'm tired or bored.

Though, I have been known to let the occasional 'eh' slip out, much to the glee of my american friends.

I guess I have a slight accent. It wasn't really any different from the one my cousins in Michigan have, although they say "pop" and I say "soda". But the way I pronounce things and the way I talk isn't much different from the way the people in Michigan talk and pronounce things as far as I heard. So probably just one of the not as noticeable accents, compared to the accent my friend who came from Louisiana has or the accents people here who moved from New York have.

everyone has an accent.

This is what I always tell people when the subject comes up. When I first moved to America other children sometimes asked if I could talk without an accent like they do and I pointed out that they had American accents. They never seemed to understand the point. I chalked it up to the intellectual incapacities of 10 year olds.

Years later I was talking to a cousin of mine from England and she asked to be introduced to my girlfriend, so I put her on the phone. I only heard my girlfriends side of the conversation, but it went.
"I don't have an accent!"
"I don't have an accent."
"I don't have an accent."

I nearly fell over laughing.

Everyone in the world has an accent. The only widely known person who could arguably claim not to have an accent is Stephen Hawking. And when he meets new people he apologizes for his American accent.

Though I am an American with long ties to this country, I still have family in Kildare and other parts of Ireland, and I definitely notice a major difference in the way they talk and pronounce things. The sad part is, when they come to visit and stay in Savannah, no one looks at them funny when they talk.


*impressed*

Everyone has an accent, so yes. I'm partial to Jamaican accents myself, though tis not mine.

For all of those of you claiming that 'midwestern america' does not have a difference, where exactly is this mythical 'midwest?' Is it (starting from the east) the Appalachian of West By-God Virginia and parts of Kentucky, the hoosier talk of Indiana, fans of 'da bears', people from Wis-cawn-sin, or are we getting out into the huskers?

Again, everyone has an accent.

Midwest = Illinois and some lesser states around it. And no one says "Wis-cawn-sin," unless they're from Boston or something. :p The stereotype of a Wisconsin accent would be more like W's-cahn-s'n, with a long, nasal "ah" in the center.

I've been told that the 'English' accent is the world's standard 'lack of accent', which make sense, but now I'm wondering what part of England...anywho.

I'm enough of an avid Doctor Who fan to recognize Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, and...'nothern' accents...wherever 'north' is...

And I can recognize some others from other languages. (shrugs) I don't know that I could fake any of them very well--I'm too self-conscious to try. XD

(Oh, and I live in Virginia, and have neither a southern nor a northern accent, though I basically lack any kind of drawl that I know of...)

LOL

Theres loads of different english accents Cockney,Posh etc etc

Me im just normal english not posh or anything:D;)

Midwest = Illinois and some lesser states around it. And no one says "Wis-cawn-sin," unless they're from Boston or something. :p The stereotype of a Wisconsin accent would be more like W's-cahn-s'n, with a long, nasal "ah" in the center.

Anyone who says midwesterners don't have accents is completely full of shit. Though their accent is often subtle, it's still very noticeable to me.

I love women with accents. It's so...sexy. Almost any kind will do, even the moderate Southern drawl. Except for the Boston accent. And the stereotypical New Yorker. And Eastern Long Island. Blah.

Have lived on LI for the vast majority of my life but I have what people here call a pronounced Cali-surfer accent. I notice it's also mixed with the usual Lawnguyland tinge.

mine is southern english, which, to me, means no accent. its kinda queens english, but way less posh :P

I'm from the West Midlands, so my accent should be either "Oo Ar, Oo Ar" Farmer speech, or "Byur-ming-'um" Brummie.

Luckily I have an accent that those who live near me describe as "Cheltonian" (Honestly have no idea how to describe it) and people from neighbouring areas describe as "A little bit Gay".

I've been told that the 'English' accent is the world's standard 'lack of accent', which make sense, but now I'm wondering what part of England...anywho.

I'm enough of an avid Doctor Who fan to recognize Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, and...'nothern' accents...wherever 'north' is...


this is my take on it:

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/7320/northsouthcopybu7.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=northsouthcopybu7.jpg)
(i put the text for scotland too low down...)

but wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-South_divide_in_the_United_Kingdom) seems to disagree with me. and note that Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-South_divide_in_the_United_Kingdom#North-South_divide_in_Wales) is a case unto itself, kinda like Ireland.

there's also a fair bit of variation east/west as well, particularly in the south. the southeast (apart from east anglia) is generally regarded as the 'default' or 'no accent' around which other accents are varied.


http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html (recordings are a bit old, for the south at least)
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects/


this is me http://www.hlj.me.uk/ns/pm%20300606%20mp3.mp3 :D

SNIP

This (http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/ni/downpatrick/) isn't too far off my accent. The variations I hear between myself and this speaker would probably be hard to pick up anyway

This (http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/ni/downpatrick/) isn't too far off my accent. The variations I hear between myself and this speaker would probably be hard to pick up anyway

i've always liked the irish accent, north or south :)

though that guy sounds a bit miserable...

i've always liked the irish accent, north or south :)

though that guy sounds a bit miserable...

Yeah he's very monotone in the clip.

Edit: And your accent is a lot more.....refined....than I had expected. Perhaps 'more precise' would be potentially less insulting as a description :p

South east england accent. Everyone i no says im well spoken. I dont use words such as 'one' when talking bout ppl though.

Apparently, being "well spoken" does not immediatly confer an ability to write properly upon one though. Pathetic.

Yeah he's very monotone in the clip.

Edit: And your accent is a lot more.....refined....than I had expected. Perhaps 'more precise' would be potentially less insulting as a description :p

lol, no i don't mind either of those :p

a posh accent doesn't make me a posh nonce though... even if i am a little bit posh ;)

No, I don't have an accent.
But I know someone called Ertüğrül, so he has three. Can I borrow one from him, can I, can I?

No, I don't have an accent.
But I know someone called Ertüğrül, so he has three. Can I borrow one from him, can I, can I?

Awww ain't you acute

a posh accent doesn't make me a posh nonce though... even if i am a little bit posh ;)

Oh I know that but the other half gets very upset if I call her posh so i'm wary with using the word :)

It's her own fault really though with all the times she starts saying "Sweety darling" when drinking. Yay for being a bit of rough :p

Awww ain't you acute

Yep, acute to the grave! :p

Yep, acute to the grave! :p

Well you can't make an umlaut without breaking eggs...

My accent is Bristolian/west country, and no i don't go 'oo arr' nor am i a famer or country bumkin (well i hope not)- its quite strong depending on the word (like somerset) and situation but you can't tell usually.

mostly r becomes arr and sometimes t's and h's go missing but its still good....right?

Cheers me dears and later my loves :P

My accent is Bristolian/west country, and no i don't go 'oo arr' nor am i a famer or country bumkin (well i hope not)- its quite strong depending on the word (like somerset) and situation but you can't tell usually.

mostly r becomes arr and sometimes t's and h's go missing but its still good....right?

Cheers me dears and later my loves :P

Saw this yesterday - do you recognise any of the words?
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25212/25212-h/25212-h.htm

Well you can't make an umlaut without breaking eggs...

No, to be breve, umlauts give me diaeresis, I'd rather have a macron.

I have a really strong Lancashire accent. I also use a lot of Lancashire/Mancunian slang. When I went down to London, no one could understand me, it got so bad, I had to actually write down what I was saying on paper. (That`s only ever happened in London though). But up here in Manchester, everyone can understand me perfectly.

I had to actually write down what I was saying on paper.

Same thing happened to me in Canada. The way I say "eight" seemed to confuse people a lot

I have a really strong Lancashire accent. I also use a lot of Lancashire/Mancunian slang. When I went down to London, no one could understand me, it got so bad, I had to actually write down what I was saying on paper. (That`s only ever happened in London though). But up here in Manchester, everyone can understand me perfectly.

Did the note say "This is a robbery"

*slaps myself for such outrageous stereotyping of Mancunians*

Did the note say "This is a robbery"

*slaps myself for such outrageous stereotyping of Mancunians*

:p

The way I say "eight" seemed to confuse people a lot
Has anyone tried using the Post Office parcel tracker phoneline? None of my northern friends can get it to understand them, even when we try to speak really clearly. It doesn't like how I say "one", "four", or "yes".

"is this the correct number?"
"yes"
"please enter the number on your reciept"
"I just did! I hate you! *cry*"

Has anyone tried using the Post Office parcel tracker phoneline? None of my northern friends can get it to understand them, even when we try to speak really clearly. It doesn't like how I say "one", "four", or "yes".

"is this the correct number?"
"yes"
"please enter the number on your reciept"
"I just did! I hate you! *cry*"

It doesn't understand either when I put on my best southern English accent.

My accent can change depending on who i talk too.
I usually mince my words for a while until i've got my thoughts sorted on what i'm going to say.
A sort of borders/English deep voice, although i can also speak in other accents such as an Australian tinge when i'm reading something, i only use American ones if i'm trying to show my stupidity.
So it varies.

I try very hard to use precise pronunciation when I speak. That was probably inevitable, since I lived in a few different places in the US and around the world growing up. I never had the chance to pick up a particular local style, and in an effort to best communicate with the greatest number, I've become a bit zealous when it comes to speech.

Part Stafford, part Bristol, part standard English. I say words like after the way they look, not like arfter. I still don't understand why Southerners, asides from the the South West, say things with that long a sound.

It doesn't understand either when I put on my best southern English accent.
I wonder what accent it's supposed to work with then...

Maybe it just doesn't work full stop, and exists only to frustrate people :p

Everyone has an accent to someone with a different accent.

I also tend to 'mirror'. It's a terrible habit I can't break. When I'm around Spanish speakers, my English becomes peppered with poor spanish-to-english translations, and I definitely have 'an accent'. I speak differently when I'm with other native people than I do when I'm with non-natives. Some of that is because of the Cree words we often use...like Spanglish there is also Creelish. But part of it is the cadence of our speech...though we're mostly speaking in English, we fall into Cree cadence. I do the same when I'm with Francophones. One good side to this is that I have very little understanding people who have little or even no English. I mean, not complicated instructions like how to disarm a bomb, but general concepts get through very easily.

Has anyone tried using the Post Office parcel tracker phoneline? None of my northern friends can get it to understand them, even when we try to speak really clearly. It doesn't like how I say "one", "four", or "yes".

"is this the correct number?"
"yes"
"please enter the number on your reciept"
"I just did! I hate you! *cry*"

I have trouble with my Nintendo DS, when games want me to speak, it doesn't understand me. Oklahoma accent is just too much for it I guess.

Part Stafford, part Bristol, part standard English. I say words like after the way they look, not like arfter. I still don't understand why Southerners, asides from the the South West, say things with that long a sound.

Yeah, I say words like 'grass' - 'grarss' and it is silly really.

I think it sounds much nicer with the Northern pronunciation of saying them how they look.

Saying it the Southern way has a tendency to make you look like a posh barstad when you're up North.

I have trouble with my Nintendo DS, when games want me to speak, it doesn't understand me. Oklahoma accent is just too much for it I guess.
Hee hee!

No offence, I just found that funny!

I have trouble with my Nintendo DS, when games want me to speak, it doesn't understand me. Oklahoma accent is just too much for it I guess.
Sometimes my DS doesn't like it when I say "Red". I think I don't pronounce my Rs properly.

So fellow NSGers, any of you got accents?

I speak proper British English (almost).

Of course not. The way I speak is, by definition, "normal". An "accent" is any deviation from the way that I speak.

I have a slight New Jersey accent according to some friends and family, which is odd considering I'm born and raised in Southern California...

I don't have an accent. Everyone else has an accent.

I don't have an accent. Everyone else has an accent.

Beat me to it, i was going to say the exact same thing...

I have an American midwest accent, really close to standard American english, however, I also have some other sort of accent. I dont notice it, but other people do. I am always getting asked what country I come from. I tell them America and they get confused before asking me again.

I have a slight New Jersey accent according to some friends and family, which is odd considering I'm born and raised in Southern California...

Because your brain automatically (fortunately and correctly) decided that the typical so-cal accent sounded too retarded to allow you to speak.

Everyone has an accent. There is no such thing as no accent.

I have an Australian accent.

Apparently I have a weird Anglo/Parisien hybrid accent when I speak French. Personally, I think it's flawless! :p

I speak with an English Accent... :/
I have a Yorkshire twist to it, but it's sort of diluted because i'm in Oxford.

Is there such a thing as a California accent? Non-Californians have complimented me about it on the phone. I guess that's what I have. They probably only think I have an accent because I know how to pronounce words like "Nevada" and "San Marcos" correctly.

Born in California, raised in Houston, worked in New York, educated in Britain.

I have an Irish accent, with American-Italian inflections, as well as a sharp New York burr that occurs when I'm angry.

My girlfriend says that, when I do get mad, I sound like a poodle.

Is there such a thing as a California accent?
Yes, everyone has an accent...
They probably only think I have an accent because I know how to pronounce words like "Nevada" and "San Marcos" correctly.
According to your own standards...
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation of a language. Accents can be confused with dialects which are varieties of language differing in vocabulary and syntax as well as pronunciation. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or social status.

1: an articulative effort giving prominence to one syllable over adjacent syllables; also : the prominence thus given a syllable
2: a distinctive manner of expression: as a: an individual's distinctive or characteristic inflection, tone, or choice of words —usually used in plural b: a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and especially of the natives or residents of a region.
As has been said already:
Everyone has an accent.

I will have to disagree. Although most people do have an accent, it is possible to have no accent. The defination, musically speaking, is "to have an emphasis". That is what accent means when referring to language as well, but the definition seems to have changed to "variations in ways someone speaks."

Most people add a certain emphasis on letters, syllables, or sounds in a letter or word. Most languages have a natural accent if you speak them the proper way such as French, German, Spanish etc. When it comes to English however, if spoken how it's supposed to be spoken it's very plain and can be spoken without an accent and sound normal. If any of these other languages were spoken without an accent, they probably wouldn't understand you. However, if someone doesn't have an accent, the person is usually monotone and boring to listen to, and you find yourself having to ask the person to ask them to repeat himself because the lack of accent makes it hard to recognize and differentiate words.

I will have to disagree. Although most people do have an accent, it is possible to have no accent. The defination, musically speaking, is "to have an emphasis". That is what accent means when referring to language as well, but the definition seems to have changed to "variations in ways someone speaks."

Most people add a certain emphasis on letters, syllables, or sounds in a letter or word. Most languages have a natural accent if you speak them the proper way such as French, German, Spanish etc. When it comes to English however, if spoken how it's supposed to be spoken it's very plain and can be spoken without an accent and sound normal. If any of these other languages were spoken without an accent, they probably wouldn't understand you. However, if someone doesn't have an accent, the person is usually monotone and boring to listen to, and you find yourself having to ask the person to ask them to repeat himself because the lack of accent makes it hard to recognize and differentiate words.

No, everyone has an accent. An accent is also how you pronounce words, the specific sounds you make.

For example, as an Australian, I pronounce the word new as nyoo, whereas an American would say noo. These are different sounds, hence different accents.

I will have to disagree. <SNIP>

And you would have to be wrong.

Is there such a thing as a California accent? Non-Californians have complimented me about it on the phone. I guess that's what I have. They probably only think I have an accent because I know how to pronounce words like "Nevada" and "San Marcos" correctly.

There are many California accents. The most distinct groups are, unsurprisingly, the Northern California accents and the Southern California accents.

"Nevada" is correctly pronounced, if we are referring to the state, with the first "a" sounding as it does in "apple" or "gas." Unless you are presuming to tell someone how to pronounce the name of their own state. If you go by that logic, Arnold's pronunciation of California as "Caleeforneeya" is correct.

Yes, everyone has an accent...

As has been said already:
Everyone has an accent.Pedantry aside, yes, I do realize everyone has an accent. I was merely asking if Californians have a distinct accent, or do they belong to a larger American subset ... a question Callisdrun has answered most skillfully.

"Nevada" is correctly pronounced, if we are referring to the state, with the first "a" sounding as it does in "apple" or "gas." Unless you are presuming to tell someone how to pronounce the name of their own state. If you go by that logic, Arnold's pronunciation of California as "Caleeforneeya" is correct.YES!! That's exactly what I mean. It's like nails down a chalkboard to hear East Coasters pronounce it "Nevahda" on the news. I have a theory that John Kerry lost Nevada because he couldn't pronounce it. :p

Pedantry aside, yes, I do realize everyone has an accent. I was merely asking if Californians have a distinct accent, or do they belong to a larger American subset ... a question Callisdrun has answered most skillfully.

YES!! That's exactly what I mean. It's like nails down a chalkboard to hear East Coasters pronounce it "Nevahda" on the news. I have a theory that John Kerry lost Nevada because he couldn't pronounce it. :p

The same. Nevadans really don't like it when you pronounce the name of their state incorrectly.

Anyway, just making sure that what you meant by "correct" was the same as what the residents of Nevada themselves view as correct.

But yes, while the accents of Northern and Southern California are more similar to each other than either is to say, a southern accent or a Boston accent, they are distinct. Southern Californians (generally speaking), stress the vowels more (in comparison to people from Nor-Cal), especially in the LA area, whereas Northern Californians, especially in the Bay Area, tend to clip the vowels as short as possible and squish all their words together.