What kind of American accent does he have?
I've just read in Wikipedia that he grew up in a rural area outside Albany, New York in a town called Duanesburg and he now lives in New York City.
Maybe he has a New York accent?
max is right [at least in the provided examples]
he has consistent /æ/ phonemic split and his /ɔ/ is fairly dipthonged, like when he says "law" "daughter" and "thought" in the video
though he tends to front /oʊ/ alot, which isnt usually seen as part of a ny accent though
so that hits as a new york accent
though to my californian ears didn't sound too heavy
It's not the classic, old-fashioned New York City (or Long Island) accent, though. To me, he doesn't have any accent, but I live only 65 miles or so from Albany NY.
Is Duanesburg really rural? It's only a few miles outside Rotterdam, and much closer in than places like Cobleskill, Richmondville, Schoharie, and Middleburg.
When I think of a "New York accent" I think of the various accents found in the greater New York City area and don't include those from upstate. They're completely different accents. Infact, I've met people from New York City who don't have what I would consider to be a New York City accent.
If I were to meet this guy in an airport and knew nothing about him I would have difficulty placing his accent within the U.S.. I grew up in Florida and my accent is *almost* identical to his. However, it's quite possible others having sharper ears than I do.
Thanks for your answers.
So I think we can reasonably conclude that his accent is very close to GAE and that many people would say he doesn't have any accent at all.
However, as Mtti: stated, his pronunciations of certain vowels such as /æ/, /ɔ/, and /oʊ/ may not be perceived as features of GAE. Also, I have noticed that his pronunciations of /aI/ as in like and life sound more like /ʌI/. (I may be wrong. Can anyone confirm or refute this?)
>>Max Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:13 am GMT
>I have noticed that his pronunciations of /aI/ as in like and life sound more like /ʌI/. Can anyone confirm or refute this?
You're right. It's called Canadian raising.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raising
He sounds accented (Back East accent).
There are really no GA-like accents on the EastCoast, the closest accents (to GA) are found in urban Vermont.
I like Brooke Shields and Lady Gaga's Western accent, they were born and raised in NYC, but they sound like they're from Denver, Phoenix or Long Beach.