Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:38 am Post subject: American (USA/Canada) Accent survey & map
I don't know if the phenomenon has reached you yet, but there's several "What American accent do you have" quizzes floating around there getting taken thousands of times a day.
Now here's the latest twist: I'm trying to make a map based on the results of these quizzes. After you take a quiz, go to this page: http://freeshells.ch/~xavier/accentmap/pageone.htm and when you're there, click the spot on the map where you grew up. Then on the next screen, select the result that the quiz gave you and hit Submit. A few hundred responses later we'll have a North American accent map.
Mine came out as a midland accent, though they explained that it wasn't a geographic reference but referred to a more neutral American accent. Though I grew up in the South I haven't lived there for a long time. People used to say they could tell when I had visited home because I'd aquired a southern accent. You can still tell I grew up there however when I pronounce hurricane as "hair i kane" or use the term sliding board instead of slide or crawdad for crayfish.
"New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less."
"New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less."
That's interesting. Do you think you sound like a New Yorker?
Like Midland, Western is a default, neutral, sounds-good-on-the-evening-news accent. So you might not actually be from the West (but you probably are).
Yup.
Of course, I've sounded like this all my life, and I only moved to the west at the age of 18, so I think "neutral" is probably more the reason for my accent. _________________ An apple a day....
What's the world's first - I have a New York accent, too! I think it's AAVE at best - at least it's non-rhotic. (Just kidding.) _________________ Az alvástól megéhezem. Az evéstől elálmosodom. Az élet szép.
"New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less."
That's interesting. Do you think you sound like a New Yorker?
I don't really know what a New Yorker sounds like. Unlike many Europeans that speak English, I use an American accent instead of a British one. _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
You probably don't sound like a New Yorker. The quiz only has North American accents as results. Most British and Australians get "Northeastern" because of how they answer the questions. With continental Europeans, it can sometimes be different.
You probably don't sound like a New Yorker. The quiz only has North American accents as results. Most British and Australians get "Northeastern" because of how they answer the questions. With continental Europeans, it can sometimes be different.
That's why I've done it because I thought it would be fun, even though it's not realistic for me. _________________ Az alvástól megéhezem. Az evéstől elálmosodom. Az élet szép.
I also took it for fun and my result was Midland. I wouldn't take that very seriously, though, since my accent changes a bit depending on who I'm talking to etc.
fab wrote:
bu the way Liz, your photo is really beautiful, you're very pretty !
It's not her, man! It's somebody that she apparently looks like.
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:55 pm Post subject:
fab wrote:
I don't know what could it means for an non-anglophone, but if we believe the pool I would have a sort of southern accent.
This is just a guess. If you have a stereotypical French accent, you might sometimes pronounce the word "I" something like "ah", which is probably a key factor in the test for identifying southern accents.
I, by the way, was identified as a westerner -- no surprise. The only question that threw me was the one about the vowel in "roof" being like the one in "foot" or "food". I know that when I was a kid, I said it like "foot", but now I'm not sure, and, try as I might, I couldn't just say it out loud and know that it was my current natural pronunciation. So I decided to say that I still pronounce it like "foot". I don't know how that affected the test.
my accent changes a bit depending on who I'm talking to etc.
Intentionally?
No. My accent is American-influenced which is no big surprise, and it is and will always be rhotic. However, my intonation varies as well as my pronunciation; in Ireland I as well as the guy I traveled with pretty soon began to talk more like people do there. For instance, I pronounced the 'u's i words like "Dublin" the Irish way i.e. not DAblin, but DUblin, you know. I'm not saying I acquired an Irish accent, though (how could I - I was only there for 9 days); a guy who worked at a hostel we lived in said he loved our (Swedish) accent(s). I've noticed when I've told about the trip to Ireland at work that I sometimes pronounce "Dublin" the Irish way, and sometimes the American way, if you will. Since I have not lived in an English-speaking country I don't have a specific accent that's stuck with me.
Speaking of accents... on my last night in Ireland I was without me mate and I went to an Asian burger place and ordered a burger with fries. The guy there had the strongest Asian accent ever, and when he asked me if I wanted salt on my fries I didn't understand him at first, as he kept saying "sarr?", "sarr?".
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I think it's AAVE at best - at least it's non-rhotic. (Just kidding.)