American standar accent

caught/cot merger is spreading :)

(look what happened with which/witch merger...)

Restistance is Futile ;)

<<hmm. Interesting. When I hear someone without the cot-caught merger, I usually ask 'Where are you from?' To me, it sounds quite accented to not have this. It also bothers me when I hear it on tv. 100% of the news stations and the shows that are produced in this region do not have the distinction, and when I hear someone, like for example, Peter Funt from Candid Camera, he definitely soudns like he has an accent because he does not have the merger. I've also never heard voicemail systems and telephone operators that don't have the merger. In other regions, do they actually speak without the merger on TV?>>

If you listen carefully to national broadcasts you'll hear plenty of non "c-c" mergers. I understand what you're saying as non-merged people sound "other" to me too, but at least half the US doesn't merge the two. If you listen to NPR it seems their national newscasters are heavily weighted towards East Coast accents which don't merge the two, and they definitely sound different to me. When NPR has local programming on everyone merges "c-c" as that's the norm here in California.

<<caught/cot merger is spreading :)

(look what happened with which/witch merger...)

Restistance is Futile ;)>>

While the "cot-caught" merger has been spreading it's unlikely to replace some non-merged dialects. Specifically, Northern Cities dialects resist the "cot-caught" merger naturally by the way their vowels are positioned.

<<Well, yes, ''General American'' as described above, would sound a bit accented to people from western UStates...I've read that the most accentless American English is spoken in Colorado (but they merge Cot/Caught, Don/Dawn)...>>

Haha. That's highly arbitrary as to what's "accentless" especially since everyone has an accent.

good topic! im from england and to me all americans sound the same exept perphaps those from the deep south.i was wondering how americans got their acccent.from the irish? anyway the diversity of accents in britain is very wide and it always makes me laugh when i watch american films with englishman talking like their part of the royal family when in fact i've met maybe 20 person who talks like that.

Does General American have -ag tensing? I know that most of the midwest has it...at least now. Or is it a recent innovation not considered standard?

<<Does General American have -ag tensing? I know that most of the midwest has it...at least now. Or is it a recent innovation not considered standard?>>

Some have "-ag" raising (or /{g/ raising, using XSAMPA). This may especially be found in the Northern Midwest and over to the Northern Pacific Northwest. It's not found in California, but "-eg" raising (so, /Eg/ raising) is not uncommonly heard in California (I have it). Thus, as I pronounce them, "egg" and "vague" have the same vowel. Compare these examples from my speech:

"edge" [E:dZ]
"ebb" [E:b]
"egg" [e:g]
"vague" [ve:g]

"back" [b{k]
"bag" [b{:g]
"beg" [be:g]
"Beck" [bEk]

And to me, being a cot-caught unmerged person, merged people sound "other."

We say [Eg] and [vEg] where I'm from.

There is no -eg or -ag raising in my dialect:

ebb - [Eb]
egg - [Eg]
vague - [veIg]

back - [b{k]
bag - [b{g]
beg - [bEg]
Beck - [bEk]

Egg and vague having the same vowel? I've never heard of that (you always surprise me, Kirk!) I don't think that is a common feature of most American accents, Guest.

I myself also lack such raising, only raising historical /{N/ and /EN/ to /eN/ (note that /{N/ and /EN/ do not exist within individual words in my dialect).

I often hear people say [eg] and [veg] and [leg] for egg, vague and leg.

It's fairly common in Western Pennsylvania. Does anyone know where else -eg raising occurs?

<<<You're speaking GAE if Americans do not ask "hey, where are you from?" upon hearing you speak>>>

Why is that Americans are one of the few nationals who ask that question?
Seriously, I've been travelling all around the globe for many years now and the only place I am asked the question is USA. In no other place on earth I get the question.

<<Egg and vague having the same vowel? I've never heard of that (you always surprise me, Kirk!) I don't think that is a common feature of most American accents, Guest.>>

Aha! Another area where our vowel phenomena don't sync! I'd never realized some people *didn't* rhyme "egg" with "vague" till a few years ago when I started learning about other American dialects besides my own.

<<I often hear people say [eg] and [veg] and [leg] for egg, vague and leg.

It's fairly common in Western Pennsylvania. Does anyone know where else -eg raising occurs?>>

That's interesting it occurs there, as well. It's typically known as a Western US feature but that by no means all people in the West have it or that it's restricted to just the West. You can read some about it on the Wikipedia article "Phonological history of English vowels." It's under the first section, "Tense-lax neutralisation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_vowels#Tense-lax_neutralisation

I made a chart explaining my pronunciation of vowels before certain conditioners (like /g/ or /N/) in comparison to General American and the Pacific Northwest dialect of a friend of mine originally from Seattle. I would post it here but Antimoon doesn't allow for bbc code or chart formats (lest anyone think I'm trying to plug another site):

http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=286

Typo above: not "bbc code" but "BBCode."