Please tell me what accent this is

markjones8   Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:06 pm GMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlh8gSF_hhE

The voice is so pleasant and attractive, I already like Midwestern and Southern, but I don't think this is one of these.
Anonymous1   Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:46 am GMT
It sounds like an American speaking so that they don't have an accent.
Anonymous1   Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:47 am GMT
What I mean to say is that she is trying to speak in a neutral voice so that no accent shows. People sometimes try to get rid of their accents to seem more professional.
feati   Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:39 am GMT
I'd say it's a Pacific Northwest Accent.

She seems to have the cot-caught-merger, so "launch" and "desktop" both have the vowel [A]. The vowel /{/ is retracted in "tab" but raised to [e@] in the words "manager" and "arrow". She also exhibits Canadian Raising ([6@`] in "start", "bookmark" and [6I] "typing", "right" and "site").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-sampa
Johnny   Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:04 pm GMT
2:41 = ...to ACCESS the link from your bookmarks bar

/æksɪs/ like "axis", instead of /æksɛs/.
I hope it's not just me who keeps hearing such "reductions". Commint, aksint, and now aksis. What kind of feature is this? Seems like the secondary stress is lost (even though for "comment" and "accent" the explanation might be a partial pin-pen merger).
Northwesterner   Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:58 pm GMT
>> What I mean to say is that she is trying to speak in a neutral voice so that no accent shows. People sometimes try to get rid of their accents to seem more professional. <<

I doubt it. It sounds like her native accent. Like Feati said, it's pretty much a Northwestern accent. It's exactly how people sound here.