Oregon Accent

Hutch   Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:51 pm GMT
I'd love to visit the Pacific Northwest. Particularly Oregon. What does the Portland, Ore. accent sound like?
Desk   Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:28 am GMT
They sound like this:

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=597

Nothing too noticeably different from GenAm.
Shatnerian   Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:42 pm GMT
This may seem odd, but I don't think this girl is a good example of the accent from the Portland area. It says that she is from Hillsboro, and that is a suburb of Portland.

She sounds more like an Eastern Oregonian or perhaps someone from Idaho. There is a slight twang in her voice when she says the words "bring", "things", and "store". Her pronunciation of the word "bags" is also different.

The Portland accent isn't that much different from the Seattle accent. However, it seems that Portland has acquired a lot more influences from California, and many younger Portlanders speak identical to Californians--even the ones that have never lived there.

Sally Struthers is probably a good example of someone that speaks with a Portland accent. You could also watch and listen to clips of Bill Gates on YouTube. His accent is very typical of the Seattle area, and he could easily pass as a Portland native.
Guest   Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:23 pm GMT
>> There is a slight twang in her voice when she says the words "bring", "things", and "store". <<

What do you mean by a twang? How does she say them differently?
Shatnerian   Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:17 pm GMT
There is an odd, twangy sound when she says "ing". I don't know exactly how to explain it, but the way she says "store" also seems different to my ears.
Goose   Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:36 pm GMT
>> She sounds more like an Eastern Oregonian or perhaps someone from Idaho. <<

No I don't think so. It's interesting how different people have different impressions of accents. She speaks exactly like I do (and I'm from Portland), and it does not sound at all like an Idaho accent in my opinion, if the sample on that website of the speaker from Idaho is any indication of how Idahoans sound.