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Accents and Regional Things. Let's compare!
zombiegirl
beating the drum of the lifelessin a dry wasteland Veteran
So, this is stupid, but I just learned that I had an accent compared to the rest of the US. But I find these sort of things interesting, soo...
Being from rural Western Michigan, I always knew there were a few words I said weird. Living on the East side of the state now, my friends always make fun of me for the words "roof" and "root"... I pronounce them r-uh-f and r-uh-t.
I don't say it, but my mother and many people I have known pronounce "milk" as "melk"
I learned that the rest of the US apparently pronounces their T's, where as we prefer to leave them out. It's called a glottal stop.
Detroit, is pronounced "detroi" with an abrupt stop of forced breath that ALMOST makes a T.
Kittens is "kih'ihns"
Mittens is "mih'ens"
Button is "buh'ohn"
T's are also, often pronounced like D's. Apparently, we hate T's here.
City is "ciddy"
Pretty is "priddy"
For an audio example, this girl sounds just like me... valley girl and all:
One thing she pointed out, which I found interesting, is the fact that people from Western Michigan always say "You guys" as a gender neutral thing. I have been corrected, even on this forum, for saying "you guys" when not referring to "guys"...and it always confused me because I thought everyone understood that was gender neutral! lol
She also does some very Michigan things like, pointing to her hand to show where she's from like it's a map. Since our state looks like a mitten...
Also, at 1:45 in the video she says "balance" exactly how I say balance... how else could one pronounce balance? I am really confused on that one.
And for a really weird regional thing, my girlfriend said that someone once told her that it's strange that people in MI measure distance in time. If someone asked me, "How far is Detroit from Grand Rapids?" I would respond, "About 2 and a half hours." Apparently, in other places, they would answer the amount of miles since the question was not "How long would it take to get from..." Is this true?
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of an accent do W. Michiganders really have compared to the rest of the US?
Also, try and see if you can point out a few regional accents of your own and maybe even find a video. There's this thing going around youtube (what the girl is reading from in the video) called the "Accent Challenge" where people read off certain words that tend to have different pronunciations.
Being from rural Western Michigan, I always knew there were a few words I said weird. Living on the East side of the state now, my friends always make fun of me for the words "roof" and "root"... I pronounce them r-uh-f and r-uh-t.
I don't say it, but my mother and many people I have known pronounce "milk" as "melk"
I learned that the rest of the US apparently pronounces their T's, where as we prefer to leave them out. It's called a glottal stop.
Detroit, is pronounced "detroi" with an abrupt stop of forced breath that ALMOST makes a T.
Kittens is "kih'ihns"
Mittens is "mih'ens"
Button is "buh'ohn"
T's are also, often pronounced like D's. Apparently, we hate T's here.
City is "ciddy"
Pretty is "priddy"
For an audio example, this girl sounds just like me... valley girl and all:
One thing she pointed out, which I found interesting, is the fact that people from Western Michigan always say "You guys" as a gender neutral thing. I have been corrected, even on this forum, for saying "you guys" when not referring to "guys"...and it always confused me because I thought everyone understood that was gender neutral! lol
She also does some very Michigan things like, pointing to her hand to show where she's from like it's a map. Since our state looks like a mitten...
Also, at 1:45 in the video she says "balance" exactly how I say balance... how else could one pronounce balance? I am really confused on that one.
And for a really weird regional thing, my girlfriend said that someone once told her that it's strange that people in MI measure distance in time. If someone asked me, "How far is Detroit from Grand Rapids?" I would respond, "About 2 and a half hours." Apparently, in other places, they would answer the amount of miles since the question was not "How long would it take to get from..." Is this true?
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of an accent do W. Michiganders really have compared to the rest of the US?
Also, try and see if you can point out a few regional accents of your own and maybe even find a video. There's this thing going around youtube (what the girl is reading from in the video) called the "Accent Challenge" where people read off certain words that tend to have different pronunciations.
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I cannot for the life of me pronounce the word aluminum, if I ever have to use it I just say it the British way.
Aussie
Welsh
English
Kiwi
South African
Sri lanken <~~ this one I nearly rally don't
Everyone I know does that. When I ask people how far they have to drive to work they say "about half an hour"
I also mispronounce my T's a lot, which is something I actively work on since as a former actress, enunciation was always a big deal for me. I also notice that a lot of people around here place the improper emphasis on certain words. My sister says TACO bell instead of taco BELL which I think sounds funny.
My dad was born in north bay but lived in michigan most of his life and I'm not sure if he does it on purpose or not but he always pronounces vase "v-ah-z" and garage "gare-edge" which is kind of weird lol
I was raised in the lower third central part of your hand, otherwise known as Kalamazoo. I have had people try to correct me on the 'guys' thing as well, I truly had no clue they guys means males. Hmm, when I first moved to Colorado I had a few words that people really noticed but I have lived in Colorado and California for about 30 years now.
Live in Breckenridge for one season a few years back. Born in Santa Barbara, CA.
for my part, I speak a generic middle-england 'posh' english - I suppose its English without an accent... not quite a bounder but certainly quite stereotypically British... I know nothing about American accents other than I suppose I could pick out a new york one and maybe a generic southern one from a line up!
The infinitive form to be is not used in certain contexts. For example, one would not say An important phrase for the visitor to know is "Where you'ns at?" which means "Where are you [plural] located?" The singular forms: "Whurzee'at?" (see below for the dropped h), "Wherez she'at?" and "Whurzit'at?".
The terms gram, pap, and mum are often used in place of grandma, grandpa, and mom, respectively.
The term "You guys" as being gender neutral.
Use of the term one, where German phrases use the word eins, einen or eine. For example "Ich schlage dir gleich einen.", is literally translated as "I'm about to slap you one." The literal translation has become common, even though most Central Pennsylvanian speakers no longer speak German, or have learned it in school rather than home. The phrase is usually rendered as, "I'm about to slap you one upside the head."
Use of the term redd or redd up to mean "to tidy". For example, "You've got to redd up before you can go outside." This is from the old Norse by way of Middle English and probably arrived with the Scots-Irish.
Use of the word goonie. A goonie is a largish rock but still small enough to be thrown. If a rock is too big to be thrown, it is not a goonie.
Use of the word "ignorant" [ˈɪɡnərnt] to mean "rude."
The caught–cot merger is firmly in place. Caught and cot, and Dawn and Don are homophones.
Him, her, them and me replace the Standard English he, she, they and I as the subjects of a sentence, but only in sentences with a compound subject. For example, one would say "Him and Mike went to the store." instead of "He and Mike went to the store." However, one would never hear "Him went to the store." Likewise, one hears "Mike and them are coming to the party," but one would seldom hear "Them are coming to the party."
Verb placement is sometimes derived from German, rather than following Standard English verb order. For example, "I saw him walking in town.", in German is "Ich sah ihn in der Stadt gehen." In the Central Pennsylvanian dialect, the sentence would be "I seen him in town walking."
The word creek is pronounced crick [ˈkrɪk].
Use of the term let in place of leave in other dialects. For example, one in Central Pennsylvania would say, "Should I just let it on the table?"
Leave may also be used in place of let or allow. For example, someone may ask, "You going to leave us go play?"
The phrase in standard English, "What are you doing?" would be "Whatchya doin?", if said fast "Chya doin?" [ˈwʌtʃə], [ˈwʌtʃjə], or [tʃjə].
People of Central Pennsylvania often don't pronounce the "g" on verbs ending in "ing". For example, "Eating" would be pronounced "eaten". "Hunting" would be pronounced "hunten".
"A while" is often used to refer to the present time. Ex. "Do you want money a while?" Translation. "Do you want money now?"
"Then" is used at the end of sentences. For example: "Will that be all for you, then?"
-- Although, I switch between this accent and a non-accent accent subconsciously, depending on the setting.
I would bet money that I have one of the most strangest accents in the English speaking world. I'm a Geordie; even English non-Geordie-speaking people can struggle to understand us.
"Hi Guys" would be "How yee" (Hey you!) in Geordie speak.
"Thats-a-canny-baallgoon-your-lass-is-gorron" is 'That's a delightful dress your young lady is wearing'.
Here's some kids explaining Geordie:
Here I sit muscles flexin'
Just gave birth to a Texan
(I don't mean to offend; it just made me smile).
"You guys" as gender-neutral is fairly universal in the US, isn't it? I've never been corrected here for using that.
"Melk"--isn't that Scandinavian for milk? Doesn't Michigan, like Wisconsin, have a lot of Norwegians and Swedes?
I've always read that West Coast-speak is the closest to dictionary-correct pronunciation of any regional accent in the US.
What... the... :eek2:
I usually pride myself on being able to understand different accents when speaking English, but.. damn.
I'm born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I don't know what I sound like. But when I was travelling abroad, some Americans asked if my gf and I came from the Midwest/Chicago. Then one of my friends travelled to the States and got asked the same thing.
So I guess we sound like Midwesterners? I have no clue.
I pronounce "bag" like "bayg" more than "beh-g."
"Roof" not "ruf."
"Tronno" not "Tor-on-to."
"Milk" not "melk."
"Sem-ee" not "sem-eye"
"Muhnday" and not "Mohnday"
"Wensday" and not "Wed-nes-day."
"Ant" not "awnt."
"Root" not "rowt."
"Sked-yool" not "sched-yool"
"Care-mel" not "cah-rah-mel"
"Pop" not "Soda."
This is the same for me and most of my friends that grew up in Vancouver! Also, "Mouh'ihn" not "Moun-tin"
EDIT: This girl pretty much sounds like what most people here sound like.
@Bekenze Thanks for all the specific examples! It was fun to read. I find this sort of stuff so interesting.
@Dakini Hm, I didn't know if Scandinavians pronounce milk as melk... but that could be, my mother's side is the Swedish side. In Western Michigan, we mostly have a lot of Dutch. "Holland, MI" is called that for a reason. My whole school was full of Vanders and Vans and Dykes (this sounds like a joke, but it's not. Vandyke, Dykehouse, etc...)
@AMH Well if you're from Kalamazoo, this girl says she is from Grand Rapids.. so it's likely that you wouldn't notice the accent. I can tell the accent in "kitten", I mentioned the glottal stop in my original post... I just never really noticed before, for some reason.
@Invincible_summer I think Canadian accents are somewhat similar to the Midwest. Living in Detroit, I know quite a few Canadians and really... there are very few words that sound different than our pronunciation (at least, those coming from Windsor area)
Nobody has told me what's wrong with the way she says "balance" though
Lancashire! I've lost some of my accent though, since I've been living daan saaf for 12 years.
I have a silent hankering for the Brummie accent..
Do animals have accents?
However, I've been listening to some of the posted youtube clips and conclude that Canadians sound just like 'mericans! Is that right?
...we made bush, junior.
His daddy lives a few miles away.
I'm
Also, Danish = Denmark. Dutch = Netherlands/Holland
I can really hear the Nordic influence in the intonation and pronunciation of the Geordies. I'm glad you mentioned that, @Tosh. Probably the further north you go, the more Viking the speech gets.
The strongest regional accents in Canada are (obviously) Quebec and also the Maritimes- the French/Acadian and Irish influences are still quite strong.
GSP's got a pretty good Quebecois accent:
Here's an example of the accent found in Newfoundland (most eastern Maritime province):
What is funny about this comedian's take on our accent is that he is spot on ... if anyone wants to check pm me and we can chat on skype
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie