What is your American dialect?

Gene Expression ^ | 16 Sept 2013 | Razib Khan

[Theoria]

Razib’s Dialect Similarity

Language dialect is something that we often pick up unconsciously, so I find it an interesting if narcissistic project to query my own dialect affinities. The above was generated using a 140 question test (warning: server often slow). In case you were curious, my most ‘similar’ city (to my dialect) is Sunnyvale, California. Though most of my life has been spent on the West coast of the United States, I did spend my elementary age years in upstate New York. You can see evidence of that in the heat-map. There are particular words I use and pronunciations that I have which I know are probably relics of my formative years, but it was a little surprising that this survey picked up on that, as I thought most of them had disappeared.

[Bigg Red]

Ah ‘preciate ‘at ping, hon.

[gusty]

New York City area, which includes where I grew up Bergen County NJ, has 4 distinct accents. The upper crust like you describe has their’s. The other three divided along ethnic lines. There are Irish NY, Italian NY, and Jewish NY. Examples being Peter King (Irish NY), Paul Sorvino (Italian NY), and Michael Savage (Jewish NY). Interestingly, thou neither is Irish, Rudy Guiliani and Charlie Rangel both speak with an Irish NY accent.

[cva66snipe]

I live in the South (suburb of New Orleans)and I notice that black people pronounce “bedroom” as “bayroom”, “jewelry” as “jury”, and “children” as cheeren”. And when I listen to reality TV such as court shows and hear black people speak on those shows, they pronounce these words the same, so I don’t think it’s regional.

My wife lived part of her childhood in southeastern Arkansas and still has the accent LOL. She remembers a young black kid going a nearby store and saying Mr Tibbs I need some pepper. He asked what kind of pepper black pepper, white pepper etc. He said no not that kinda pepper we need toilet pepper. LOL

[Jeff Chandler]

He didn’t correctly guess where I grew up. His guess was a location 3,0000 miles from where I grew up and happened to be where my parents grew up. My parents’ dialect came through to the next generation. And it wasn’t a strong accent, like a Texas or New York or New England accent.

[VRWCer]

Trying to wait for the server to get “unbusy” so I can try it (fun!), and I’m interested to see what it will say. I grew up in NYC and the eastern end of Long Island, but even there people used to ask me why I didn’t have an accent. Now that I live in the Deep South, people always know that I “ain’t from around here” but can never tell where I AM from, and when I tell them NY, they say, “Well, you don’t sound like it.” I blame it on the nuns who taught me while I lived in NYC, because they never let us have one! We were corrected mercilessly.
When I’m in Europe, they always know I’m American but not where I’m from, but when I am talking to someone with a strong accent that I’m not used to, my own voice starts to become noticeable to me, and I sound, to my own ears, like almost a caricature of a very very American person, if that makes any sense.
Can’t wait to see what my map looks like!

[Jeff Chandler]

do you then happen to be a Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius?

You can't guess my sign.

; )

[rockrr]

Some folks find the weirdest thangs to get their knickers in a knot over... ;')

[cva66snipe]

I said “extreme backwoods southern accents.” While there probably are “extreme northern backwoods accents,” I don’t recall ever running into them. Some people in all regions sound uneducated, but that has little, as such, to do with accent. Many southerners sound highly cultured, more so than most other Americans. I think of Shelby Foote

I watch the show Mountain Men on History and the guy from Maine is very hard to understand due to a local dialect. I can understand the others though. I've lived in East Tennessee all my life except four years Navy in Norfolk. A few years ago I located a shipmate I rented and apartment with my last year in the Navy. He lives in Scranton, PA. I couldn't hardly understand a word that he said over the phone. Another shipmate from West Virginia I no problem understanding though. I did notice this after a couple months in the service you can understand anyone. But I've been out since 1980.

Now personally just to agitate my wife I'll start talking like Mountain Man on Duck Dynasty or Bill Clinton LOL.

[NKP_Vet]

Virginia has very different Southern dialects. Stonewall Jackson was from Clarkburg, VA, which is now West VA. So I guess old Stonewall would have a pretty think Southern accent.

[Windflier]

He didn’t correctly guess where I grew up. His guess was a location 3,0000 miles from where I grew up and happened to be where my parents grew up.

Interesting. Kids normally adopt the accent of the community they grow up in - not their parents' accent. Perhaps your accent has a touch of your parents in it.

[Windflier]

California is especially noted for not having an accent

That's the impression I had for decades, but I was surrounded by other Californians. Sort of like a fish that doesn't know it's wet, you know? People from far outside that state can easily hear it.

[Billthedrill]

Great stuff, and thanks for posting. I was astonished at how perfectly the survey and the resulting map captured (1) where I grew up for the first 12 years, (2) where in the West I've lived once we moved out here, and (3) where I'm living now. Very impressive.

I remarked to a friend that I couldn't tell, taking it, whether I was a hopeless language pedant or a hopeless rube. He said, "both, probably." I'm going to let the air out of his tires...

[CatherineofAragon]

"he had some interesting takes on the Southern dialect which he stated was closer to the mother tongue of our British fore bearers than that “Mediterranean and Kraut bastardized mush spoken up North. "

I've heard that, too, and I believe it. As a rule, British actors pull off the best and most realistic Southern accents. American actors tend to mangle them or make them cartoonish.

[Red Boots]

Interesting point. Australians sound like Americans to Brits, and like Brits to Americans
___________________________

Our daughter married an Englishman and spent a year working in England- on a phone help desk- so she talked to people all over the UK. They almost always thought she was from Canada!

[Jeff Chandler]

Perhaps your accent has a touch of your parents in it.

Both they and I grew up in areas without distinct regional accents, areas with so-called American "Broadcast" accents, so it would probably be more accurate to say my dialect has a touch of my parents in it.

[sasportas]

I am an Alaskan and have driven through Canada numerous times. I have observed except for “aboot” for about, and “eh,” there is very little difference in the speech of an American and a Canadian (not the French Canadians, of course).

[Sherman Logan]

Finally got through the slow server. It picked out quite accurately, within couple hundred miles in each case, where I spent first 22 years of my life and the three places I’ve lived longest since.

[Tax-chick]

We can always recognize people who are really from around here.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks Theoria, it’s loading even slower than FR is. :’)

http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/DialectQuizFull/

[Pelham]

I remember taking this test or something very like it.

I was amazed at how it picked up where I grew up (south of Washington DC) and it also picked up where my parents are from in two distinct parts of the South.

Oddly enough every so often I get asked if I’m from Canada. Apparently my residual Tidewater Virginia accent shares a few words with the Canucks- we both say “out” and “about” a bit funny.