United States regional accents
I was wondering if anyone could tell which region, and more specifically state, I'm from judging solely from my accent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wuyYqWmfK8
I'd also like to see others post videos or MP3s, WAVs, etc., of the way they speak and have others try figure out what part of the world they hail from.
Ray's "My American Accent" post (http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t11627.htm) got me interested in having a sort of "show and tell" discussion of accents.
@Milton:
I grew up in the northern part of Wisconsin, about 100 miles NW of Wausau, but my parents were from the Sheboygan/Manitowoc area. It's weird that I never notice when others say bæg but they seem to notice when I say beɪg.
@Un:
You seem to be cot-caught merged. I picked up on that right away, but there are numerous regions where this occurs so I can't be sure of the area. I'm sure someone more familiar with accents than myself can further pinpoint your region.
Sounded a bit Canadian.
I agree with Milton. Inland North.
And to take a guess: Matt, you're from Michigan.
>> You seem to be cot-caught merged. <<
What's that?
>> And to take a guess: Matt, you're from Michigan. <<
No, he's from Wisconsin. He said so above. Which state do you think I'm from?
>> No, he's from Wisconsin. He said so above. Which state do you think I'm from?
No offense, but let me dare to say English is not your native language. Your accent is very clear, almost perfect, but there was something that made me doubt (too fast? too soft?... sorry, I can't tell. I'm not a linguist).
It sounds like you pronounced "sick" as "sink".
>> No offense, but let me dare to say English is not your native language. <<
This comment has been made in every "Guess my accent" topic here, particularly to people from the Upper Midwest. While it is sometimes the case, most often it's not. To me he definitely sounds like a native speaker. And anyway, most non-native speakers end up with an odd mixed accent that is not easy to pinpoint, whereas this speaker clearly has a distinctly regional accent.
<<Well, here's mine. Although I speak plain, unaccented American English.>>
There's no such thing as "unaccented" as a language is a collection of dialects. Unfortunately, I'm at work, so I can't check the file... But if you think you don't have an accent then you're probably from a larger city outside of the midwest.
>>>> No offense, but let me dare to say English is not your native language. <<
This comment has been made in every "Guess my accent" topic here, particularly to people from the Upper Midwest. While it is sometimes the case, most often it's not. To me he definitely sounds like a native speaker. And anyway, most non-native speakers end up with an odd mixed accent that is not easy to pinpoint, whereas this speaker clearly has a distinctly regional accent.<<
I have gotten practically the same sorts of comments in response to my own speech samples, even though the dialect here in Milwaukee combines both Inland North and Upper Midwest features.
@Un: I would guess that you're from either Pennsylvania, or the West, or the Midwest, or Alaska, or somewhere like Virginia or Maryland, or West Virginia, or a city like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, or Miami. I can't pin it down any more than that.
>> Sounded a bit Canadian. <<
In what way did Matt's speech sound Canadian? It wasn't even cot-caught merged.
"In what way did Matt's speech sound Canadian? It wasn't even cot-caught merged."
I wondered the same thing myself :)