Where is this speaker from?

Kirk   Tue Oct 18, 2005 4:21 am GMT
<<Wow. I just listened to some of the Californian samples.>>

From what site?

<<They sound similar to Washington, but there is definitely an accent there. The Oregon and British Columbia samples didn't sound any different than we speak here in Washington. I'm thinking maybe it's the California Vowel Shift that makes California sound a little different.>>

Yes, that probably as a lot to do with it, along with other assorted differences. As you say, West Coast dialects have many things in common with each other but it's clear that as time goes on regional differences have begun to emerge and will continue to do so as well as grow stronger.
Seattle   Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:28 pm GMT
>>From what site?<<
From the Speech Accent Archive.

I listened to the speaker from Eastern Washington and was surprised to find that he had an accent different from what we have in Seattle. I found this from Wikipedia:
>>The Western Washington accent, notably the Puget Sound region, has more in common with the rest of the west coast, whereas more rural eastern parts of the state have accents closer to that of Idaho and Montana.<<

Which makes sense because it did sound more similar to Idaho and Montana. Idaho and Montana, and Eastern Washington must be a different accent region of their own then... More accents are cropping up in what used to be that huge "West" section of the map, eh?

I also found this:
>>[ɪl] is often pronounced as [ɛl]: milk becomes [mɛlk]<<
Hmm. Doesn't everyone do this? How else would it be pronounced? with an "i" sound? That would be very peculiar sounding.
Kirk   Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:51 pm GMT
<<Which makes sense because it did sound more similar to Idaho and Montana. Idaho and Montana, and Eastern Washington must be a different accent region of their own then... More accents are cropping up in what used to be that huge "West" section of the map, eh? >>

Exactly. As time goes on they will continue to grow. It makes sense that linguists used to classify the entire West as being one mostly homogenous dialect region but as people have settled there and significant amounts of people have stayed there for a couple generations these differences have naturally started to arise.

<<Hmm. Doesn't everyone do this? How else would it be pronounced? with an "i" sound? That would be very peculiar sounding.>>

I also say "melk," which is a pretty common pronunciation here, but occasionally I do hear a "milk." "Melk" sounds most natural to me and that's how I grew up saying it. My parents are both California natives and say "melk" most of the time as well.
Kirk   Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:50 pm GMT
Also, I keep on saying it but in comparing accents there truly are noticeable differences between how people read (as in the speech accent archive) and how people talk in normal conversation. It should always be kept in mind that scripted reading examples are certainly not always the best representation of the natural speech for a given area.

For example, I just made a recording of myself reading off a text (from the wikipedia article on San Diego) and another one of me talking spontaneously with a friend who just came over (I clicked the 'record' button and then let it do its thing while we were talking). You'll probably notice some differences between my "reading voice" and how I normally talk.

me reading a text:

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/360088.wav

me talking with a friend:

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/360080.wav
Travis   Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:15 am GMT
>>I also found this:
>>[ɪl] is often pronounced as [ɛl]: milk becomes [mɛlk]<<
Hmm. Doesn't everyone do this? How else would it be pronounced? with an "i" sound? That would be very peculiar sounding.<<

I'm normally used to the pronunciation /mIlk/ -> [mI5k] for "milk", even though some people here (here being southeastern and southern Wisconsin), such as my mom, do use the pronunciation /mElk/ -> [mE5k] for "milk".
Seattle   Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:29 am GMT
I just played your sample to my friend (and asked her to guess). She immediately guessed California. If I didn't know it was California I would have guessed Utah, because it sounds very similiar to some people I knew from Utah. (The tone you used when you said "hmm" sounded exactly like them (here we don't draw out the hmm as much, and don't sound as suspicious)), and saying "like" so much, because people here don't say "like" very often, and they use a different tone of voice when they say it.) Also it extremely very casual sounding--the person I knew from Utah spoke very casually, and used expressions like "bust out". People from here would never use that expression.
Kirk   Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:52 am GMT
<<I just played your sample to my friend (and asked her to guess). She immediately guessed California. If I didn't know it was California I would have guessed Utah, because it sounds very similiar to some people I knew from Utah. (The tone you used when you said "hmm" sounded exactly like them (here we don't draw out the hmm as much, and don't sound as suspicious)), and saying "like" so much, because people here don't say "like" very often, and they use a different tone of voice when they say it.) Also it extremely very casual sounding--the person I knew from Utah spoke very casually, and used expressions like "bust out". People from here would never use that expression.>>

Interesting! Well of course that was a very casual setting so my speech was just everyday normal informal stuff. Since my friend is my age (21) obviously we'll use terms which each other that we wouldn't necessarily use with our grandparents or in a formal business setting---the "bust out" is an example of that ;) Yes, I hadn't been consciously aware of it but I did use 'like' about 10 times--it comes natural in my everyday speech but as with the "bust out" you won't hear me using that very often in more formal speech or in the written language. It's funny you commented on the "hmm." I hadn't imagined that would be anything noteworthy! Anyway, thanks for your comments :)
Rom   Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:21 am GMT
Hello from Portland, Oregon! I've been in Portland this week visiting my aunt. I recorded a conversation of my aunt and me having a convsersation for you guys to listen to. (Although my aunt does most of the talking.) You're right, people do speak differently when reading as opposed to just having a conversation. So, what do you think of Oregon's accent?

The URL is http://site1.afraid.org/~rom/

just click on conversation.wav
Rom   Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:26 am GMT
btw, I forgot to mention, my voice sounds a little funny today because I have a slight cold.
Rom   Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:58 pm GMT
I also recorded myself reading the San Diego text. Go to http://site1.afraid.org/~rom/ then click on the San_Diego file. I'll also get my aunt to do it later on.
Rom   Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:36 am GMT
>>/æ/ before m and n raises to [eə].<<
Kirk, I think I heard some of the California shift in your recording. When the female speaker said "man!" it sounded like "may-un". Here we would just say "maaaaan".
Seattle   Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:17 pm GMT
Can people from California distinguish the Utah accent from the Californian one?
Kirk   Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:37 pm GMT
<<Kirk, I think I heard some of the California shift in your recording. When the female speaker said "man!" it sounded like "may-un". Here we would just say "maaaaan".>>

Yup, as I mentioned on unilang, she happens to be a pretty progressive California Vowel Shift spreaker.

<<an people from California distinguish the Utah accent from the Californian one?>>

I don't have a lot of contact with people from Utah so I can't say for sure, but there would probably be some things I'd pick up on. For instance, I think one feature more common in Utah is /Il/--> [E5] or the merger of /Il/ and /El/ to [E5]. The only word I have this in is "milk," but for some speakers (not from California) this applies to many or all "il" words, like "vanilla," "pillow" "windowsill," "silk," etc, where I only have /Il/ --> [I5].
Seattle   Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:57 pm GMT
I pronounce them:
melk
vanella
window-si-ull
pillow
silk
Kirk   Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:54 am GMT
<<I pronounce them:
melk
vanella
window-si-ull
pillow
silk>>

That's interesting. I only have [E5] for "milk" while I have [I5] for all the other words you listed. I have heard people use all the pronunciations you use, however.