Chicano influences in California English

Skippy   Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:14 am GMT
People from Nor Cal don't sound any different aside from hella and hecka. These are my observations, take them or leave them... No need to get so worked up though.
Victoria   Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:16 pm GMT
Hi
This is so funny. When I am in Sweden we do the jokes about the Norwegian accent. I have no idea you boys get so worked up with the different accent. In Sweden we have the TV programme Dallas many times. No surfer dudes on there. Does Skippy where the cowboy hat?
Sarcastic Northwesterner   Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:31 pm GMT
I think that one is perceived as sounding like a Valley Girl/Surfer dude: is 1) slang like "dude" and "like" used frequently. 2) a Western accent + the California vowel shift.

Those 2 features are *all* you have to have to be pegged as a VG/SD.
CaliGirl   Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:12 pm GMT
"I think that one is perceived as sounding like a Valley Girl/Surfer dude: is 1) slang like "dude" and "like" used frequently. 2) a Western accent + the California vowel shift.

Those 2 features are *all* you have to have to be pegged as a VG/SD."

Then every person under the age of 18 must be a Valley Girl/Surfer dude, if your statement is true. Dude and like are the words of this century, my friend. It's spreading like a plague (rather,

I've been New York for a couple weeks, and most of the kids over here say dude and like more than I do. And they do not sound "VG/SD" at ALL.

And...um...are you saying we Californians have a Western acccent? Doan y'all no that aint the way we speak on the Paceefic coast? ;)
CaliGirl   Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:14 pm GMT
"I think that one is perceived as sounding like a Valley Girl/Surfer dude: is 1) slang like "dude" and "like" used frequently. 2) a Western accent + the California vowel shift.

Those 2 features are *all* you have to have to be pegged as a VG/SD."

Then every person under the age of 18 must be a Valley Girl/Surfer dude, if your statement is true. Dude and like are the words of this century, my friend. It's spreading like a plague (rather,

I've been New York for a couple weeks, and most of the kids over here say dude and like more than I do. And they do not sound "VG/SD" at ALL.

And...um...are you saying we Californians have a Western acccent? Doan y'all no that aint the way we speak on the Paceefic coast? ;)
Sarcastic Californian   Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:37 pm GMT
<<<<<Does Skippy where the cowboy hat?>>>>>

Lmao!! Yes, do you, Skippy?
Victoria   Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:18 pm GMT
What is Lmao?. It is not in my dictionary. Is Californian being Sarcastic? (I just learn the word sarcastic). Hi Californian, why are you so bitter?. Do you have the tensions?.
Skippy   Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:50 pm GMT
Lol I don't have a Cowboy hat... I do have cowboy boots, but I haven't worn them in years... I usually wear my vans, chucks, or airwalks...

No horse, no guns... SoCal don't take kindly to them folks 'round here... lol
Skippy   Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:52 pm GMT
Oh, and I've actually never seen a full episode of Dallas in my life... I watch King of the Hill all the time though lol... My girlfriend (from Los Angeles) and my roommates (all from SoCal) think it's funny... They don't understand why I'd actually buy it though...
Sarcastic Northwesterner   Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:30 am GMT
>> And...um...are you saying we Californians have a Western acccent? Doan y'all no that aint the way we speak on the Paceefic coast? ;) <<

yes of course you have a Western accent. A Western accent is *not* a Texas accent. The Western accent is the accent found throughout the Western US, according to William Labov. You Californians sound more like Arizonans and New Mexicans than you sound like Northwesterners. There is not a separate "Paceefic [sic] coast" accent. Texas is not part of the West. The West peters out somewhere inside New Mexico, and there *very* slowly transitions into a Texas accent, found in Eastern Texas.

>> Then every person under the age of 18 must be a Valley Girl/Surfer dude, if your statement is true.<<

That's exactly what I'm saying. (But you left out the 2nd condition: the California vowel shift, which as far as I know doesn't exist outside of California, except perhaps in Arizona, but I haven't heard it much there at all.) And by Valley Girl/Surfer dude, I don't mean someone from the Valley, or a surfer, just what the dialect/lingo sounds like to others.

>> I've been New York for a couple weeks, and most of the kids over here say dude and like more than I do. And they do not sound "VG/SD" at ALL. <<

Well, they aren't speaking a Western dialect, and don't have the California vowel shift.
Victoria   Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:49 am GMT
I am watching the film "Bill and Ted" this morning. Are they SD?. They say Dude and like. I am not understand why they are saying bogus.

So King of the Hill is on English TV also. I see the advertisement. Is this good cartoon for the children?. I help with the looking after for the peoples children.

To Skippy: You are not wearing the hat -this is pity. I like the strong cowboy. For me, I am not wearing the Viking hat.
Sarcastic Northwesterner   Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:44 pm GMT
>> I am watching the film "Bill and Ted" this morning. Are they SD?<<

By my definition, certainly. That doesn't mean that they're surfers though.
Rene   Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:22 pm GMT
Sorry to rewind a little, but someone said that Californians would pronounce dull and dole the same. That is absolutely not true. They have two different vowels for us.
Sarcastic Northwesterner   Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:25 pm GMT
>> Sorry to rewind a little, but someone said that Californians would pronounce dull and dole the same. That is absolutely not true. They have two different vowels for us. <<

Which vowels do you have in those? I've heard many Californians pronounce "dull" as "dole".

Also, which vowels do you have in "culture", "difficult" and "hull"?

I have cahlture; difficohlt and huhll
Skippy   Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:26 pm GMT
I'd definitely let my kids watch King of the Hill... The swearing is minimal, they talk about some important issues... I think it's extremely well written...

But that's just me :-) keep in mind it's from the same guy that did "Beavis and Butthead" (which I probably wouldn't let my kids watch) and "Office Space" (which is a classic)