What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Apologies to non-American Ricochet members for this quiz, which is only for Americans. I was surprised by my results, seeing as I did not grow up in the inland north, and in fact have been to the inland north only once, and that only for a weekend.
I once spoke to a professional linguist who astonished me by tracing my accent not only to the Upper West Side, but to the block I grew up on. My family left New York when I was eight years old and moved to Seattle, but apparently you can still hear the imprint.
Unless it was a lucky guess.
I have the sense that accent in America now is not only a factor of geography but of age. Young people speak with a different intonation from their parents, it seems to me. Of course, as a conservative, I disapprove.
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Jan '11
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Liberty Dude: Midland.
I was trying to figure out how one would phonetically differentiate "merry" from "marry," but couldn't figure out how to do it. Any tips from non midlanders? · 48 minutes ago
does ... worry, cherry, berry, and merry ... all sound the same to you?
does ... Larry, Harry, carry, and marry ... all sound the same?
Sep '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
It put me in the Northeast, which is where I grew up. I live in West Michigan now, which puts me near some Chicagoans as well. Hearing them say "roof" or even better, "theater" (3 syllables!) is amusing.
May '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
It got me wrong as well. I scored Midland, but my accent is a thick mix of Texan and Southern drawl — thick enough that even someone from my hometown once said, "Whoa! Where are you from?" after I spoke just a few words.
I don't think that the test is heavily weighted toward one region so much as it's just too short to be very accurate.
It's interesting, though. It got me to recognize the difference in how I say "collar" versus "caller". I pronounce the vowels exactly the same, but pronounce the double-L differently. The first is spoken with the front of my tongue ("col-lar", as in "call Linda") and the second with the back of my tongue ("call-er", as in "gall" or "gull").
May '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Here's a fun game. "Can you guess where my accent is from?" (international edition)
May '11
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
It would be interesting to see a list of regional terms and words. I looked briefly on line. I am familiar with the term pop of course but everything here is a coke even if it is a pepsi. I write with an ink pen and water my garden with the hose pipe.
Jul '11
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
I lived in 6 different states and a foreign country before I was 10, so I was naturally curious what accent I may have:
The West
Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
Soooo.... mutt. Figures.
-E
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Me too! Not sure how I ended up with a North Central/Minnesota accent on this quiz after living my entire life in Northern California...
Mar '11
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
That's Minnesota. I've never known anyone from Wisconsin to say "pop".
Apr '11
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Yeah, it pegged me too. Despite being born in Africa and growing up in Florida, having a Canadian mom set me up as North Central.
Jan '12
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Apparently I have the Inland North accent, which is accurate in that I have lived in Chicago most of my life. However, it still surprises me because I've been told multiple times by people all over the country that I don't have an accent. Perhaps it's just not as strong as most people from that part of the country.
Nov '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Me too! Not sure how I ended up with a North Central/Minnesota accent on this quiz after living my entire life in Northern California... · 24 minutes ago
Maybe we Californians are too diverse (oh, that word) for this test. It tagged me as Inland North, and I am a second generation native and life-long resident of Northern California. Philadelphia came as a strong second with The West coming near the bottom.
Aug '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Midland - the description of which exactly matches what I have been told my entire life.
Jun '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
John Ammirati
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Me too! Not sure how I ended up with a North Central/Minnesota accent on this quiz after living my entire life in Northern California... · 24 minutes ago
Maybe we Californians are too diverse (oh, that word) for this test. It tagged me as Inland North, and I am a second generation native and life-long resident of Northern California. Philadelphia came as a strong second with The West coming near the bottom. · 1 hour ago
I'm a life-long Northern Californian too, and I got The West with The Midland second.
Jun '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Matthew Bartle
James Of England
Dawn rhymes with lawn, pawn, mourn, prawn, torn (both Rip and sundering), brawn, etc.
James,
I was with you until "mourn" and "torn". In my neck of the woods they sound very different from "dawn". They rhyme with corn, born, and the first syllable of "ornery". Not at all like lawn or pawn. · 4 hours ago
Ok, I realize English is not a strictly phonetic language, but this one isn't that difficult: Dawn, lawn, pawn, prawn, and brawn all have the same "a" sound, while mourn, torn, corn, and born all have the same "o" sound.
I don't mean to say any other pronunciation is wrong, but at least mine has the virtue of being consistent with the spelling...
Edited on April 16, 2012 at 10:01pmJan '12
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Not bad.
The nearest part of the US to where I live is the North East and Northeast is my accent - apparently.
Nov '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Invalidated the whole quiz for me; I do the same thing.
It gave me Midland, though it and The West look to have almost the same description. (I'm Californian, and have only been east of the Mississippi twice in my life.)
Just for fun, I took the How California Are You? quiz, and it gave me only 54%. It was heavily weighted for the Los Angeles area, very specifically (only one question had anything to do with NorCal). The answer it gave me was pretty accurate though:
Emphasis mine - that's not far off.
Jun '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
It said I'm Inland North. I spent most of my childhood in New England, then moved out to Northern California as a teenager where I've been ever since. I don't talk like a surfer dude, but no one out here thinks I have a specific accent.
It's a fair cop.
Jun '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Interestingly, Australians tend to be better than the British at imitating American accents. They don't overcorrect as much. (You hear it when someone British is not doing a very good job and says Rs too much when trying to mimic American English.)
Edited on April 16, 2012 at 11:11pmJun '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
James Of England
... Dawn rhymes with lawn, pawn, mourn, prawn, torn (both Rip and sundering), brawn, etc. ... · 7 hours ago
Remember, these are about different accents, so there is variation. Lots of people who make the distinction between the "oh/ohr" and "aw" sound don't pronounce these -orn sounds the same way.
Oct '10
Re: What Kind of American Accent do You Have?
Fail. It said I have a midland accent, but I'm from Texas. The only place in Texas it said I might be from is Dallas (a big city), but everyone here knows that Texas accents are the thickest up in Dallas. One of the questions should have been: do you use the word "y'all" as the plural form of "you"? I do, but I have basically no accent otherwise.