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
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland
"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The Northeast |
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| The Inland North |
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| The South |
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| Boston |
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| The West |
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| North Central |
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| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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It pegged me right, “The West.” The results read:
“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.”
Payback for westerners referring to everything east of the Mississippi as "back east?"
Southern..I am a Texan so it fits.
For me its everything east of the Rockies.
“What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North”
Born and raised in Nashville, Tn. Inland North.
True. Then it fits back east. Thanks! (From MI, lived in AZ for 30 years)
I only did 58% on the Philly quiz, missed a number of the street questions and a couple of those foolish slogan questions. I don’t live there, and I try to avoid going there.
Me too! Transplanted to the mid-south 4 years ago...says I am from someplace where I would respect the New England Patriots....that just ain't right, right there...don't care who ya are.
I big confusing dialect map if you’re interested.
http://robotmonkeys.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110101_AmericanEnglishDialects.gif
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland
"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. |
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| The West |
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| The South |
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| The Inland North |
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| The Northeast |
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| Philadelphia |
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| Boston |
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| North Central |
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| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
|
Is this a weird way of saying Texas?
“You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.”
Odd, as I am a California lifer. I recall watching a talk show featuring a linguist who could listen to just a few sentences and pinpoint the community in which a person was raised. It was eerie - he specified which side of the mountain ranges etc. in which a person had been raised. It meant he had to learn as many community accents as he could in the US and he was British.
It’s big, all right.
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: North Central
“North Central” is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw “Fargo” you probably didn’t think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
Result Breakdown:
86% North Central
84% The West
75% The Midland
63% Boston
30% The Inland North
23% The South
13% Philadelphia
9% The Northeast
Quiz URL: http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have
The farthest east I have “lived” is Arizona., California before that.
| 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. |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The Inland North |
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| The Midland |
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| The South |
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| Boston |
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| The West |
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| North Central |
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| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
|
Respect the New England patriots? Lol. That is just so wrong.
It hit the nail on the head... and yes I do call “soda” “pop”..LOL
I was 20 when I left my native country and immigrated to US of A. Now, every time I go back to the native country for a visit, they tell me I speak with a funny accent!
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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