If people who lived in Detroit or Cleveland had any self-awareness they would have hanged themselves in shame a long time ago.
Wikipedia Northern cities vowel shift.
Map of the infected regions.
That’s eerie...
I’ve been told that we have a somewhat southern accent in extreme southern Michigan. Mostly central and east. However Michigan is actually a large state with some petty distant corners.
I use the term “winder” out of habit.
I have been watching the Little League World Series playoffs, and when the team from Tennessee played, each player looked into the camera and stated his name, position and favorite pro baseball player.
Not one kid from the Tennessee team had a Tennessee accent, or any kind of Southern sounding accent.
If people who lived in Detroit or Cleveland had any self-awareness they would have hanged themselves in shame a long time ago.
Wikipedia Northern cities vowel shift.
Map of the infected regions.
SNL has skit about a shop called “Jack’s Back Pack Shack” that highlighted an extreme version of the Great Lakes accent. Kinda like Dan Ackroyd’s Elwood Blues accent on steroids.
I’ve lived, and my family has lived, in SE Lower MI for over 150 years. I’ve been told that I have a Cleveland accent. What’s really odd about this: that’s the area from which my family moved those 150, or so, years ago.
My DH says I speak, “Monroe-vian.”
Blame Canada!
In North Dakota, people keep their money in a beenk, and send their kids to skoo-wull.
I’m from central MN and I don’t get it. after reading the article, it mentions the vowel sounds which often sound like 2 vowels instead of 1. I don’t recall hearing that type of dialect in my town.
There are, however, small towns which still retain some of the immigrant accents of northern Europeans. That is mostly amongst the older folks though.
In my area, we do have sme idiosyncracies regarding certain words, I’ve been told one such word is “aunt”. This word can be pronounced differently in areas of the country. It can be “aahhnt”, or “ont” or “ant”. I have always thought the difference may come from the ethnicity of the area, as the German word for “Aunt” is Tante - which is pronounced as “tahn’ta”. Since my town has a lot of German descendants, the prevailing pronounciation here is “aahhnt”.
Well, somebody’s got to git ‘er dun....
How Americans near the Great Lakes are radically changing the sound of English
All i can say is “ever been to fon du lac WI” Ay ?
lol
Great post, thanks! I’ve always been fascinated with the subject of language and how it evolves.
And Cajun Land still is doing fine. The land where consonants are used as if they cost a a hundred dollars a letter. (In my book there is nothing better than listening to a Southern Gal talk!)
Down where I live its "O-hi-ah"
I’ve traveled the world over, yet always seem to return to Wisconsin, the only place I’ve found where the people have no accent.
I would suggest that the great lakes area has always been a melting pot.
My mom was from MI and my dad moved there from the Bootheel when he was about 4 years old. They married and moved to FL where I was born. On top of that I had to go to speech classes in school to get rid of the Jersey “r” I picked up from my sister that also was born in FL.
Now I am in MO and lets just say my accent and pronunciation of words are wide and varied. I also use different sayings that I am not sure of where they came from originally. Some I know are from MI.
I have been known to switch accents mid sentence and not just staying with U.S accents but I use Brit, Irish and Scots just as easy.
I am one of those people that can easily pick up accents and sayings when I hear them. I even do it mentally when reading books.
Growing up as an Army brat, it was always interesting to hear the varied accents whenever we moved to a new place. As a result, my accent is peppered with small hints of my travels.
My family, for several generations back, was originally from the midwest area near Omaha, which has been described as the area with the most clear enunciation of words.
I always believed that Barack Obama’s quick rise in politics owed a lot to the fact that he really had a Kansas accent from his mother and grandparents. The accent gave him the sound of middle America, which most Americans find non-threatening, and this threw people off.
If we could give him an accent coinciding with his political beliefs, it would definitly be Russian .... USSR commie-style. Or better yet, old school Mao Chinese.