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

[Jeff Chandler]

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.

The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast

[Slip18]

Too many words. Ask for a “cola.”

[RegulatorCountry]

Nope, rurnt. Rhymes with burnt.

[Slip18]

What the heck dictionary were you using?

[Slip18]

I was a surfer from So. Cal. and that test said I was from the Northeast. Never been there!

[beaversmom]

Dictionary.com, but Meriam-Webster has the same thing. One shows wawk and the other shows wok for walk.

[beaversmom]

Does sound rather medicinal or something you would put on your hair.

[beaversmom]

Well I looked up almond on Meriam Webster and it said both versions of it (awmund and allmund) are correct. I have that trouble with pecan pie. Several times I’ve asked for “peecan” pie in a restaurant only to be told, “oh you mean puhcahn pie”. I should correct them back and say, “no peecan pie”. There are actually three acceptable versions of pecan according to Meriam Webster: peecan, puhcahn, and puhcan. My favorite pie is peecan—tastes different than the other two :)

[csense]

You definitely have a Boston accent...

Nailed me.

[beaversmom]

Maybe because of my mom and her relatives, I can understand most English accents without much problem. After 50+ years, my mom has taken on the American version of most pronunciations I think. For instance, she doesn’t call a “vie-tuh-min” a “vitt-uh-min or “uh-loo-muh-nim” “al-you-min-ee-um”. I remember when I was 10 and visiting over there and I thought I was pretty cute. My great granddad asked me what I wanted to be and I told him a model. He couldn’t understand what I was trying to say and after several attempts of me saying over and over a model thinking he couldn’t hear me, I got quite embarrassed and flustered. Finally my mom came to my rescue and a great aunt explained to him that I wanted to be a mannequin.

[RepublicanChick]

Chicago born and raised. “Inland North” and yes, I call soda, pop! Pretty amazing.

[wardaddy]

Im cotton state southern of many generations but ive acquired some TN HIGHLAND RIM nasal chop

Lived overseas so much I lost some but back now strong

I detest southerners ashamed of our accent and who pretend to talk like they are from Denver

Will take test

[wardaddy]

Im cotton state southern of many generations but ive acquired some TN HIGHLAND RIM nasal chop

Lived overseas so much I lost some but back now strong

I detest southerners ashamed of our accent and who pretend to talk like they are from Denver

Will take test

[wardaddy]

Im cotton state southern of many generations but ive acquired some TN HIGHLAND RIM nasal chop

Lived overseas so much I lost some but back now strong

I detest southerners ashamed of our accent and who pretend to talk like they are from Denver

Will take test

[wardaddy]

Southern...with the red bar 90%

Thank u Lord....would hate to offend my ancestors and sound uppity

[Bender2]

Gadzooks, did they ever blow it with my results!

The test results says I have an 'Inland North' accent but I know for a fact I have a very, very... Texas Drawl in my real life--

But a "Booming Know-it-all-wiseguy from New New York From the Future" one... when in my Bender2 mode.

The problem with this test is that it does not take into consideration the taker's education. The Speech-Drama element of my higher education gave me the knowledge to both know the difference in world sounds and the ability to hear and speak the differences.

One of my skills as an actor was to be able to speak three different yet distinct forms of the Queens' English. These accents I produced with the British accent coming from the middle of my mouth while the South African accent came from the front of the mouth and lastly, the Australian one came from the back of the mouth.

The test therefore graded me on my knowledge of knowing how the words sound instead of how they are spoken.

In any event, I feel like John Kennedy when he said, "It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree."

Of course that was back in the day when an Ivy league education was worth a damn other than giving the holder a dangerous liberal bent on life.

So, I will take my knows the difference... but sound like a hick accent over a East Coast Degree not worth the match it would take to burn it.

[Bender2]

See post #236

[Windcatcher]

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast   Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia	 
The Inland North	 
The Midland	 
The South	 
Boston	 
The West	 
North Central	 
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Lived in VA for 4 years, NYC for 3, and Philly suburbs for the rest, so I'd say they got it right.

[Windcatcher]

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast   Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia	87%
The Inland North	85%
The Midland	60%
The South	54%
Boston	44%
The West	18%
North Central	2%
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Lived in VA for 4 years, NYC for 3, and Philly suburbs for the rest, so I'd say they got it right.

Darned HTML...

[RockinRight]

Inland North. Makes sense as I was born and raised in Akron.