What Kind of American Accent Do You Have?

The Economic Policy Journal ^ | 11-24-2011 | By Xavier Kun

[blam]

What Kind of American Accent Do You Have?

November 24, 2011
Xavier Kun

To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they "don't have an accent."

Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is.

1. What is your age? Under 18 Years Old 18 to 24 Years Old 25 to 30 Years Old 31 to 40 Years Old 41 to 50 Years Old 51 to 60 Years Old Over 60 Years Old 2. What is your gender? Male Female

3. We're going to start with two ordinary words, "cot" and "caught." Do you think those words sound the same or different? Same Different Same, no wait I mean different, well, I don't know...

4. What about "don" and "dawn"? Same Different Same...ish. Maybe a little different.

5. OK, what about "stock" and "stalk"? Same Different Almost, but not quite, the same

6. Now then how do "collar" and "caller" sound? Same Different Almost, but not quite, the same

7. Do you think the word "on" rhymes with "dawn" or with "don"? dawn don Well, I don't think don and dawn sound any different in the first place so on would obviously rhyme with both

8. Moving on, what do you think about "Mary," "merry," and "marry"? All 3 sound different Mary and merry sound the same but marry is different from them All 3 sound the same

9. Our next word is "horrible." How does that first vowel sound? It's just like in the word "whore." It's the same "o" sound as in "hot." Neither one

10. Now for "pen" and "pin." Don't worry about what others say is correct, just tell us how they come out in an ordinary conversation. Same Different Close. Pen sounds almost, but not quite, like pin.

11. What about "feel" and "fill"? Same Different Well, I think they're different even though they sound very, very similar almost to the point of being the same

12. When you say "about," does the "ou" sound like the "ou" in "loud"? No Yes

13. Last question. When you say "bag" does it rhyme with "vague"? Yes No

[grayeagle]

Narrative said I was Midland; from Pennsylvania or Ohio but maybe Florida or Texas???

But the graph got it about right -- The West was first, twice as long as second. I am from the West.

[House Atreides]

I was born in Madrid, Spain. I know I have a very strong accent, it is something that I need to be very aware of when I am teaching. But the test says I have Midlands accent and calls it “no accent”. LOL!!!!
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That’s because you likely have a very good ear for “correct” English pronunciation that you emulate (as best you can not being a native speaker).

I’m a central Pennsylvania native and the test pegged me correctly. My mother was from Mississippi and Dad from Pennsylvania. We kids grew up calling carbonated beverages “soda-pop”—I guess incorporating a “standard” from each parent.

If they added questions such as how you say (or at least said when you were a kid) the plural of ‘you’ (in the part of Pennsylvania where I was raised they said ‘youens’ as in “Where are youens going?”) they could have narrowed it down further.

[Erasmus]

Normally, it takes long-term ingestion of the waters of the Charles River to induce the migration of your “r”s to the ends of your words.

[dforest]

I am from Indy, but the result was Philly accent.

[Erasmus]

I’m intrigued by certain “quirks” (to my ears) coming from various people I have heard:

“Chimbly” (Midweswtern Uncle)
“Missoura” (Missourians)
“Winda” (East Texan NASA engineer)

“What are you going do düe?” (Virgina and North Carolina)
Alternative attempt at spelling: “duay.”

I have found no good way to illustrate this through spelling.

It begins with the lips pursed (thus the umlaut approximation) and curls its way into a long “e” sound. It stretches out the final sound to about 1.18 syllables.

[Erasmus]

If you live on Austin’s north side, it’s:

“On Rundberg, Rutland, and Rutherford,
Rurricanes Rardly Rappen.”