Seattle Accent

mo_769   Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:15 am GMT
I was wondering what are the characteristics of the accent in Seattle. How does it differ from other cities? Is it true that this is the newscaster's accent?
Kaeops   Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:20 am GMT
-Is it true that this is the newscaster's accent? -

No, these are newscasters-like cities:
1. Omaha
2. Columbus
3. Denver

National newscasters don't pronounce bag as [beig], and they don't use a rounded vowel in words like dOllar, pOlitics, cOllege.
een   Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:19 pm GMT
Word that end in -ing are pronounced as -een by some. Such as running --> runneen; driving --> driveen (but king == king).

I think some other places do something similar. Like in like California running --> runneeng; king --> keeng, etc.
newscaster   Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:21 pm GMT
In my opinion the Seattle accent sounds just like a newscaster accent--a Canadian newscaster accent--where they do have -ag raising, a rounded cot-caught vowel, etc.
Trawicks   Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:21 pm GMT
It's a little hard to define a Seattle accent, for the same reason it's hard to define an Atlanta or Dallas or San Francisco accent--all the transplants tend to drown out whatever vestiges of a "local accent" there may have once been.

Bill Gates is a native of Seattle, and he uses a rounded vowel for the COT-CAUGHT phoneme. This is generally the case with most natives of the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California upward. But like I said, the metropolitan nature of a lot of US urban centers makes it pretty hard to pin them down dialectically. You can often find people who grew up in a large US city who have accents totally unlike the traditional "local" speech.
newscaster   Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:52 pm GMT
Yes, it's amazing how future descendants are not affected by their parents' accent.
Seattle   Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:08 am GMT
Does the accent in Seattle stick out to people from different areas? Is it easy to pick out a Seattle accent, like it is to pick out, say, a Chicago accent, or a California accent? Or is it often confused for a different accent, like say a California accent?
Milton   Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:28 am GMT
To me, this Seattle newscaster sounds like someone from Denver CO or St. John's Canada or Tucson AZ because she uses the unrounded vowel /A/ in Paula [pAl@]...I guess the local accent would prefer the rounded vowel here /Q/: [pQl@]. So I guess, Seattle newscaster's accent is different from the Seattle local accent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZsZdwVa9s
Milton   Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:35 am GMT
Seattle-born Amy Walker, 25, posted a clever video on the Internet of her performing 21 English-language accents not long after moving to Philadelphia recently. Last weekend, someone put the video on the Web site Break.com and it has since generated 1 million views across the Internet and mainstream media interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBIrfnvv0pE
cot   Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:05 pm GMT
Is it jarring when people pronounce "cot" as "caught", and "tot" as "taught"?
sorry   Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:21 pm GMT
What's the correct pronunciation of the word "sorry". I pronounce it as "sari", but my grandpa pronounces it as "sohrry". Is he just weird, or is that really the correct pronunciation? We are both from Washington state.
Milton   Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:33 pm GMT
[sQri] (sohrry, sawry) is more Canadian, [sAri] is more (General) American.
I've never heard a Canadian pronounce it as ['sAri], but I've heard [t@'mAro(U)] pronounced by Canadians many times...
sorry   Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:25 pm GMT
What about "borrow"?
Milton   Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:55 am GMT
I don't know about BORROW. Let's wait for a Canadian answer. )
Wikipedia   Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:06 pm GMT
According to Wkpda it appears to be with /O/: /bOro(U)/