Does Cleveland have a distinctive accent? (Dayton, Youngstown: home, school, area)

[CTownNative]

I was born in Euclid and lived there for 13 years and now live in Colorado. People tell me I have an accent all the time, so I guess Clevelanders have an accent.

[WeSoHood]

It varies. I am not from Cleveland - but have lived here for a bit now. Most Eastern Europeans - or 'traditional' Europeans have a VERY midwest accent. The rest are pretty similar to say California or Maryland or Virginia (although I can distinguish the differences myself)

CTownNative - Accents are all relative. To other areas -- Clevelanders certainly have an accent. It's the fact that people from the area believe they don't because of the News channels.

[MimzyMusic]

Yeah it's a bit like Noo Yawk.

[CincyExpert]

I'm from Cincinnati but attend school in Toledo and can definitely identify the "Great Lakes" accent among my friends from SE Michigan, Toledo and Cleveland. It's a bit Canadian sounding with the "oh" and "aw" vowels. Nothing like a New York accent though.

[fgreen]

i grew up near Cleveland in bedford 2 years, maple heights 2 years. and 11 years in Twinsburg and moved to Stow lived there for 5 years til my brothers and sisters moved out, then my parents and i moved to Massillon for 5 years but i stayed for 18 months and i then moved to key West, Fl for 20 years and am moving back. to Cleveland.
i never knew i had a Cleveland accent until i moved to Key West, Fl, everyone thought i was from Boston, Mass/ Mariland area. now after 20 years in Fl, my family thinks i have a subtle accent., more like W. Virginia/Carolina/ Georga. i guess how i pronounce words like instad of 'thing' i would say 'thiang', ect.
so, i sound strange to my family as my family sounds strange to me.
acually i can't hear any accent.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Every region has an accent of sorts. The question is, do they have an obnoxious one? Unlike others, I would have to say that the Cleveland/Chicago/Detroit/Buffalo accent is among the least obnoxious.

[rockyriver]

Yes, Cleveland has an accent. The accent is shared with cities along the great lakes including Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo and Rochester. The accent has been called "The Northern City Shift" and has only come about since the 1950's. You hear this more in younger people than older and you hear it much much more prevalent in young women than men. I moved here from Pittsburgh and noticed it right away (Pittsburgh also has it's own accent, yins!). It is a long A sound like bus = bAs and god = gAd. some girls are pretty bad with it. you don't hear it as much with men. find out more here:

Northern cities vowel shift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American Accent Undergoing Great Vowel Shift : NPR
Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Midwest | PBS

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

Every region has an accent of sorts. The question is, do they have an obnoxious one? Unlike others, I would have to say that the Cleveland/Chicago/Detroit/Buffalo accent is among the least obnoxious.

If you're talking about Dennis Kucinich or Barack Obama, sure. If you're talking about the fat lady in the Tweety Bird coat eeeasking for a refund at Parmatown, I'm not sure it gets much worse.

[jam40jeff]

Originally Posted by OhioNative

I never thought I had an accent until I moved away from NE Ohio - I now live in GA. Now, I can spot an NE Ohio accent a mile away (although it's really not easy to differentiate from Detroit or Buffalo). When I talk to my brother in Cleveland, I think "geez, he sounds like a Clevelander." Everyone at work (which includes people from all over the country) makes fun of how I say the names "Don" and "Donna", and they really laugh when I say the word "pop!" It is sort of a "clipped" vowel sound that is hard to describe. Google "northern vowel drift" or "Great Lakes accent" for some interesting articles.

It always amuses me when people from the South make fun of our "accent".

And, no, accents are not relative. There is an accepted American English dialect, and an accent is anything that differs from it. Supposedly, the area from Canton to Youngstown has the least accent of any in the country, and as you move closer to the lake (Cleveland, Erie, Chicago, Toledo, etc.) you pick up the Great Lakes Accent, which is not very noticable but definitely a small vowel shift. If someone from the South thinks you sound like you're from Boston or Chicago (which sound NOTHING alike) it's simply because they are so used to hearing a Southern drawl that they just recognize you are not from the South.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Youngstahn has the least accent of anybody in the country? That's a pretty shaky assumption. I can pick out a Youngstown accent (Jim Tressel, James Traficant, every high school football coach in the Mahoning Valley) out a mile away.

And a lot of northerners get Southern accents, such as, say, East Texas and West Virginia, mixed up, when Southerners hear those accents as not remotely alike. It's the same phenomenon, it just depends on where you're standing. Or, in other words, accents are relative.