North Dakota vs Western accent

Accent   Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:47 pm GMT
How does the accent of North Dakota differ from that of the Western dialect?
Ryan   Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:22 am GMT
Monopthongal /o/ is one way. In the west, it tends to be a diphthong that sounds like /ou/, which is considered standard American.
Accent   Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:25 am GMT
I've heard the monophthongal /o/ in the West too though.
Ryan   Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:42 am GMT
Well, if you've heard it, it probably sounds more monopthongal in North Dakota. It's definitely noticeable.

Labov has drawn an isogloss about it in his American Dialect survey, so it has been measured, of course.