I'm going to Oregon soon. Anything I should listen for in the accent?
Going to Oregon
And they say that Americans have bad geographic skills. Oregon is a state in the US just north of California.
This will not be true for everyone, but in general, here is a list.
Mergers: LOT-THOUGHT, FATHER-BOTHER, MARY-MARRY-MERRY, and sometimes FLAG-PLAGUE.
The first O in Oregon uses [O] and the final O is usually [@]. The final O is never [A], [Q], or [O].
Possible elements of either the Canadian or California Vowel Shift. The absense of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
Most people say "coast" instead of beach or shore. "Spendy" instead of expensive is also common. It also common to hear individuals insert a posessive S when referring to specific companies such as Fred Meyer (Fred Meyer's), Nordstrom (Nordstrom's), and Blockbuster (Blockbuster's). This does not seem to occur in Safeway, Target, or Walmart.
Mergers: LOT-THOUGHT, FATHER-BOTHER, MARY-MARRY-MERRY, and sometimes FLAG-PLAGUE.
The first O in Oregon uses [O] and the final O is usually [@]. The final O is never [A], [Q], or [O].
Possible elements of either the Canadian or California Vowel Shift. The absense of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
Most people say "coast" instead of beach or shore. "Spendy" instead of expensive is also common. It also common to hear individuals insert a posessive S when referring to specific companies such as Fred Meyer (Fred Meyer's), Nordstrom (Nordstrom's), and Blockbuster (Blockbuster's). This does not seem to occur in Safeway, Target, or Walmart.
I don't like Oregon accent. It's very bland and boring.
I prefer Southwestern (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada).
I prefer Southwestern (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada).
Many Southwesterners sound identical to Oregonians. I've met many people from AZ that had a fairly conservative accent--very back and rounded /u/'s and /o/'s, and no California vowel shift. I've also met many Oregonians that had an extreme California vowel shift, and no stereotypical Northwestern features like -ag raising (bag->beg), and Canadian raising, or Canadian-like pronounciations of "-or" words. So, because of this, I highly doubt you would be able to distinguish many Oregonians from Californians and people from California and Arizona, because they overlap too much.