Posted on 11/25/2011 4:19:03 PM PST by 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
Agreed. This test was highly inaccurate in IMHO. Yes, I am originally from N.Y., but when I return to that area, they can definitely hear that I spent most of my time elsewhere. Likewise, I can hear that NY accent clearly a mile away. So, basically, according to this test, if you correctly differential sounds between different words, you are a Yankee. If you can’t hear the difference between words like “stalk” and “stock” that makes you inland North....nope, I aint buyin’ it.
Inland North
You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
Not much of fan of Tom Brokaw’s accent, but like the voices of reporters Keith Morrison and Bill Curtis. They could read menus and make it sound interesting.
Okay, now an excuse to post Bill Hader of SNL as Keith Morrison:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/45818/saturday-night-live-dateline
It nailed us...is it possible that they can read your ISP address and predict you that way? I hate to be so cynical...but I can’t help it.
My dad says it that way. He also pronounces the car make "Buick" as "Byurk" (one syllable).
I’m from W. Pa. I got “West” on the test. Nobody I ever met in the rest of Pa ever thought I sounded like them. Hubby from CT got “inland north”. We’ve lived in upstate NY for forty years, and people think we sound funny. The kids have a funny Syracuse accent, where job is jab and feel is fill. Everyone thinks they have no accent.
On a somewhat related note, was observing my daughter’s classroom a couple of weeks back and the teacher said the word “talk” was “tawk”—that the “l” sound was silent. I thought she was wrong, but when I looked it up it on dictionary.com they said the pronunciation was indeed “tawk”. As well as walk as “wawk” and chalk as “chawk”, but I’ve always put the “l” sound in those words.
In the mountains of NC, it's called a dope.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West
Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta. |
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| The Midland |
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| Boston |
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| North Central |
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| The Inland North |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The South |
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| The Northeast |
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| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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Here’s another one on pronunciation. Had two friends, one that grew up in Nebraska and one that grew up in Missouri. Both didn’t pronounce the “l” in words such as cold, Colfax, and shoulder i.e. shoulder would be showder, cold was code.
Got me right - the West. Born and raised in California.
Do you pronounce the ‘L’ in ‘salmon’?
A North Carolina hillbilly here. It says I have a Midland accent. I grew up in the military, moving all over the place. But folks tell me I’ve got a Southern accent.
I believe I say that word as sammon.
Whenever I travel abroad and spend time with the restless natives there, I return speaking English with their damn accent!
I guess we’re often mimic the people we’re with. There is even a theory supporting such observation.
My result was Northeast, but I’m from New Orleans.
Haven’t heard “Buick” pronounced in that way. What geographic region does your dad call home?
As a youngster in the early 1970’s, my family lived in the suburbs of Boston for a few years.
I walked into a cafeteria-style restaurant in Boston, and I saw the word TONIC on the large movable-type menu hanging high on the wall. I had no idea what to make of “Tonic.”
It sounded like some sort of home-made medicine that Granny gave to Jethro on “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
Eventually, I found out that “Tonic” was soda.
As far as accents, my English mom said that the Welsh accent is so strong that if you spent any time with them, you would end up with their accent. When I went to Wales as a little girl, I didn't start talking like my Aunt (by marriage)--mostly because I couldn't understand a darned word she was saying.
Don’t care what it says, I speek Pittsburghease. And proud of it.
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