Distinguishing Western accents

Guest   Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:51 pm GMT
How do you tell the difference between the accents in Western North America. I can't really hear the difference between say, someone from Montana verses someone from California. Are there any ways to tell the difference?
Guest   Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:59 pm GMT
West Coast has (some) elements of Californian Vowel Shift, which began in San Fernando Valley and spread all over the Western Coast. Not everybody born on the WestCoast has the shift tho', but many people (especially girls) do.

in Washington (State), ''bag'' is pronounced with a [E] vowel, while
it's [b{g] or [bag] in California.

in Montana, the accent is more traditional, caught/cot merged, but no CVS or heavy L-coloring (so doll, dollar, call, caller all have [A] while in Californian surfers dude speech doll and call may have [Q] but dollar and caller have [A]; girls prefer [A] in all these words)...in Western nonCoastal US, the accent is more traditional, low back merger but no CVS (or very slight), less L coloring, and [ou] (which is realized almost as [@u] in Vallspeak, is [o] or [ou])

There are regional dialects, people in Boise and Sacramento still use [hw] in ''while, why'', and people in Bakersfield have some features of Southern US English (like pin pen merger).
Trawicks   Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:27 pm GMT
<<in Washington (State), ''bag'' is pronounced with a [E] vowel, while
it's [b{g] or [bag] in California>>

Not all of California. It's actually pronounced that way in numerous parts of the West--I have definitely heard it in the speech of a friend of mine from San Francisco, somebody I know from New Mexico, and a friend from Alberta, Canada. It's quite widespread.

The largest difference between Western accents is in the vowel used in the caught-cot merger. Southern California and much of the Southwest is quite variable, but typically uses [A]. Northern California, Oregon, and Washington all uniformly use [O] or [Q].

The mountain states are notoriously all over the place, dialect-wise, with dialects that can sound alternately southern, midwestern or Canadian depending on where you are.
JohnnyC   Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:44 pm GMT
<<The mountain states are notoriously all over the place, dialect-wise, with dialects that can sound alternately southern, midwestern or Canadian depending on where you are. >>

In the last 50 years people have moved around a lot in the US, with a very large percentage of that migration going from East to West, carrying their accents with them of course. This is why you find people in Bakersfield, CA speakign with Okie accents.
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:46 pm GMT
>> Southern California and much of the Southwest is quite variable, but typically uses [A]. Northern California, Oregon, and Washington all uniformly use [O] or [Q]. <<

Really? One would think the opposite, since the California vowel shift supposedly exists all over the state; and since WA and OR don't have the California vowel shift.
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:44 am GMT
[Q] is accented speech, even in California. Most girls prefer [A] even in words like fall, call, doll anyway (fear of Valspeak?)
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:17 am GMT
>> [Q] is accented speech, even in California <<

I don't think so. Since California is c-c merged, [A] and [Q] sound pretty well identical. If you had a speaker that consistently used [O], then people might think they had an accent, but not [Q]. I've found that I use [Q] a lot of the time rather than [A]. I'm c-c merged, and until I read this website I never noticed the difference between the two of them at all.
Same Guest as Above   Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:19 am GMT
Oh, but I forgot to mention. I'm a guy.
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:04 am GMT
In Tucson, Arizona there is a LOW CENTRAL MERGER,
Don and dawn are both [da:n] (a = low central vowel)


source: ANAE by prof. Labov
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:05 am GMT
-I don't think so. Since California is c-c merged, [A] and [Q] sound pretty well identical. If you had a speaker that consistently used [O], then people might think they had an accent, but not [Q]. I've found that I use [Q] a lot of the time rather than [A]. I'm c-c merged, and until I read this website I never noticed the difference between the two of them at all.-


Do you use [A] or [Q] in doll, call, fall, dollar, caller, collar?
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:55 pm GMT
>>
Do you use [A] or [Q] in doll, call, fall, dollar, caller, collar? <<

I use both. But I remember someone from Minnesota commenting on how I pronounced "dollar". I thought their's sounded pretty funny too: daller.
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:09 pm GMT
>> In Tucson, Arizona there is a LOW CENTRAL MERGER,
Don and dawn are both [da:n] (a = low central vowel)


source: ANAE by prof. Labov <<

Hmm. I don't see that. Which chapter? I looked through the chapter titled "The West" and I only see Tucson mentioned in about 3 or 4 contexts, none of which mention such an unusual phenomenon.
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:20 pm GMT
''which mention such an unusual phenomenon.''

Why would this phenomenon be unusual? In most Hollywood movies, when a cot caught merged accent is used, a low central unrounded vowel is featured, the fully back unroundedvowel sounds somewhat accented (Californian?) and fully back rounded is even worse (too Bostonian/Canadian/Pittsburghese)...Low central vowel is close to Midwestern merged vowel (used in Indianapolis, Columbus, Erie and Minnesota) and is shared by some East Coast accents (like the Vermontese).
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:24 pm GMT
''which mention such an unusual phenomenon.''

Why would this phenomenon be unusual? In most Hollywood movies, when a cot caught merged accent is used, a low central unrounded vowel is featured, the fully back unrounded vowel sounds somewhat accented (Californian?) and the fully back rounded is even worse (too Bostonian/Canadian/Pittsburghese)...Low central vowel is close to the Midwestern merged vowel (used in Indianapolis, Columbus, Erie and Minnesota) and is shared by some East Coast accents (like the Vermontese).

In Columbus and Indianapolis they speak much more GA-like (standard) than in California (although the cot/caught merger is present in everyone born after 1940)
Guest   Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:25 pm GMT
From another forum:

''There are many transplants in the Seattle area, but most people will speak the "General American" accent common in the midwest but mixed in with some flat California-style pronunciations. Nothing out of the ordinary here, in terms of accents.

We may be close to the Canadian border but we do not speak like them at all, we sound pretty much like people in Colorado, for instance. The instant you step across the borders you can tell the difference.''

source: http://www.city-data.com/forum/general-u-s/244995-seattle-accent.html