topic Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT in Community Chat

PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Oznell — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 12:28:12 GMT

Do you like accents? Sometimes I like to take online quizzes that purport to define our accents.

Usually, I get the result "Midland" accent. If the test emphasizes "dialect" more than "accent", I get a different result. Just took the Babbel test, and it pinned me as "Northeast".

As far as accent, I think "Midland" is pretty close- it's supposed to be one of the most "neutral" (that's questionable) U.S. accents.

But, I think I have aspects also of an Upper Midwestern, and also Great Lakes accent- or what is now called "Inland Northern", thrown in there too.

It's fun to confuse them. Although born in Arizona, the first accents I heard and absorbed from my parents and siblings were all Canadian. Later, when I lived in Arizona again, and Louisiana, some of my Canadian sound was planed away, like the famous "abote" for "about", etc. Other aspects remain.

Another quirk that they always look for in these quizzes is:

Do you pronounce "Mary, marry and merry" all the same, or differently? By that standard, I'm right in there with a lot of Midwesterners and Far Westerners, who make no real difference in the pronunciation of all three words. That always freaks Easterners out, or at least, Eastern Seaboarders out!

How do you say Mary marry and merry? How about "caught" and "cot".

What's your accent? If you've taken a quiz, are the results wrong, or accurate?

Later, edited to add: I can't find the best quiz I took, which identified me as "Midland". The Babbel one, for me, wasn't accurate. Here's one to try-- it's too short, but I think better than Babbel, and does concentrate on the sounds of words and syllables you make-- "hoar i ble" vs. "haw ri ble", etc.

Google Voices What American Accent Do You Have?

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Alsace Gal — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 01:53:14 GMT

@Oznell

I've never taken one of those quizzes.

I'm a Californian, and all three Mary, Merry amd marry sound different to me, meaning I pronounce them different from each other, at least I think I do.

Caught ifs more drawn out and Cot is short.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Tori3569 — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:15:58 GMT

NYC born and raised, so I think I sound like a typical New Yorker, even though when I travel, people don't believe I'm from NYC for some odd reason. Mary, marry and merry are pronounced very differently here. Caught and cot too-different sounds.

Adding that I took the Babbel quiz and it said Northeast of course. The "soda" was a dead giveaway. 😁

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

deepwaterdotter — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 01:59:33 GMT

Upper Midwestern, doncha' know?

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

KBEANS — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:01:58 GMT

I have the same accent as Bugs Bunny. Need I say more? 😝

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

aroc3435 — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:08:24 GMT

@Oznell My accent is New York/New Jersey/East Coast /New England--Connecticut--per the Babbel test, which was fun and accurate for me.

And I read the follow up articles and listened to the New England and Northeastern videos.

Fun topic. Thank you for posting.

aroc3435

Washington, DC

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Malcontent — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:11:16 GMT

@Oznell

I don’t have an ‘accent’, my American family does.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

VanSleepy — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:11:55 GMT

Born and lived in Chicago until my late 20s, so yes, I say Mary, merry, marry and Barry, berry, bury all the same. Have lived in NJ since then and it is always words that have the short "a" sound that makes people ask, "Where are you from?" I have, though, trained myself to say roof and root beer the New Jersey way ☺

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Mersha — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:17:48 GMT

I still have a very distinct Pittsburgh accent even though I have not lived in the area for decades.

I think once you have one, it is always with you.

For instance: Are ya go'n dahntahn ta watch da Stillers play after ya wirsh the clothes and red up da room?

Everything must be slurred together also.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Oznell — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:21:56 GMT

Oh, I love these anomalies! Thanks for sharing your pronunciations, @Alsace Gal , and @Tori3569 .

I was just reading a "Business Insider" article, that said, about 57% of Americans say "Mary marry and merry" the same, 17% pronounce all three of them differently, like you, @Alsace Gal , and 26% pronounce two of them the same, with the third different.

The ones like me, who say them the same, are participating in something called 'vowel merging'. I can definitely hear the differences that you and @Tori3569 , and @aroc3435 (as an Easterner, I'm assuming you pronounce the three differently too ), enunciate when you say them. It's neat, like ringing different tones on church bells...

The whole subject is ultra fascinating. I'm no linguist, obviously, but love this stuff. There have been big vowel shifts in English going on for quite a while, according to language specialists.

The Inland Northern group, has interesting "a" vowels especially, bending the "a" so that in some words, it has virtually two syllables, rather than one.

Inland Northern accent kind of follows the Great Lakes, from Syracuse, thru Rochester, Buffalo, to some extent, Cleveland (although Cleveland is a bit different) and Chicago, of course (again with a variation), to Milwaukee, etc.

I've said here before, I love the way Chicagoans say "Bob"-- "Baab". Is that close? It's not quite that, but...

Ironically, my husband is a Chicagoan, and doesn't have the accent, although he does have that pronunciation of "roof". Not like the long 'oo' sound in tooth, but shorter --- "ruuf". Love that!

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

smoochy — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:24:15 GMT

@Mersha wrote:
I still have a very distinct Pittsburgh accent even though I have not lived in the area for decades.

I think once you have one, it is always with you.

For instance: Are ya go'n dahntahn ta watch da Stillers play after ya wirsh the clothes and red up da room?

Everything must be slurred together also.

your example is a hoot! Yes that's how Pittsburghers sound to me. No one else "reds up a room" except for you guys either so fun!

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

smoochy — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:25:46 GMT

@deepwaterdotter wrote:
Upper Midwestern, doncha' know?

Minnesota? Wisconsin? Yooper?

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Malcontent — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:25:50 GMT

In honor of the Canadians: EH?

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Mersha — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:27:04 GMT

@smoochy Not many know red up the room unless you know Pittsburghese.

We are also known for our pop, shopping buggy and gum bands.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Oznell — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:27:12 GMT

@KBEANS , I'd love to know what a Bugs Bunny accent is? Let's see, he talks fast.... but .... fill us in, please!

@VanSleepy , I'm sorry you trained yourself out of your classic Chicago-isms! They're all good.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

smoochy — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:30:53 GMT

@Oznell Native Michiganders also pronounce roof as ruhf.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

ALRATIBA — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:34:59 GMT

NYer here ... we don't have any accent.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Sage04 — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:40:36 GMT

Born in NY but my parents decided to retire and move back to the Caribbean. I was around 8 or 9 and my three other siblings were younger. The older ones stayed in NY.

I tried so much to talk like the folks there but it didn't sound too good. The King and Queen paid a visit and I was asked to say a recitation (poem) I was so good at doing that especially with my American accent. I also gave her a bouquet of flowers.

At 14 I left to attend high school in NY. Met my Baltimore born husband at 22. The funny thing is when I got upset at him I would talk real fast and the Caribbean accent would come. He would laugh and I would forget why I was upset. I think sometimes he got me upset for that reason.

It's difficult to say what my accent is because when I talk on Whattsapp with my friends back home it's mixed. Lived in NY, NJ, Fl and now Georgia so all I can say is that my accent is all blended together.

Oh when I lived in NJ and asked for the eating utensil with 4 prongs the Caribbean accent came out and I really had to change my pronounciation.

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

VanSleepy — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:43:12 GMT

Well I just took two different accent quizzes. The Babbel one came out Pacific Northwest which makes no sense. The second one was correct with Midwest - probably because they had gym shoes on that one lol

Re: PLEASE SHARE YOUR ACCENT

Tori3569 — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:44:19 GMT

@Mersha I need to know what a "gum band" is? 😃