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My accent is pretty much northeastern New England, based on growing up in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Although there are a few instances in the recording, I rarely drop my Rs - R-dropping has become increasingly less common with the younger generations in eastern New England. This is probably what threw you guys off from the right path.
I thought my pronunciation of "aunt" would be a strong clue, but I guess not!
We pronounce "aunt" the same way in Minnesota. The lack of dropped r's threw me off. I sort of eliminated everything else, so I guessed inland New England, skipped over your state, though.
I'm shocked how similar your accent is to ours here in the Upper Midwest. I thought you were from Minneapolis at first (watered-down MN accent). When I think of "New England," I think of the Boston accent, "pahk ya kah in Hahvahd Yahd."
We pronounce "aunt" the same way in Minnesota. The lack of dropped r's threw me off. I sort of eliminated everything else, so I guessed inland New England, skipped over your state, though.
I'm shocked how similar your accent is to ours here in the Upper Midwest. I thought you were from Minneapolis at first (watered-down MN accent). When I think of "New England," I think of the Boston accent, "pahk ya kah in Hahvahd Yahd."
The same pronunciation holds true for Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine, but it is becoming increasingly rare. People aged 70 and over tend to drop their Rs close to 100% of the time, whereas most people under 30 almost never drop their Rs. The dialect has changed dramatically within 40 years.
My accent is pretty much northeastern New England, based on growing up in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Although there are a few instances in the recording, I rarely drop my Rs - R-dropping has become increasingly less common with the younger generations in eastern New England. This is probably what threw you guys off from the right path.
I thought my pronunciation of "aunt" would be a strong clue, but I guess not!
For comparison, here are some recordings I made for my dialect research in New Hampshire:
A 94-year-old woman (http://www.noerf.com/irk/MarianeIntro.mp3 - broken link) vs.
A 16-year-old girl (http://www.noerf.com/irk/MariaIntro.mp3 - broken link)
The old lady sounds New England, while the young girl could be from Minneapolis, St. Paul or Edina. Wow.
Is this due to the effect of mass media? Do you think that all Americans will eventually end up speaking with a generic Midwestern dialect?
It's not so much the effect of the media itself. Research has shown that exposure to mass media actually has very little influence on the development of one's accent (but it is very effective at introducing new words and expressions).
It has more to do with the societal implications underlying the fact that there is a standard General American dialect to begin with. This particular dialect gained a tremendous amount of prestige around the end of World War II, in part because the Midland / Midwestern speech was seen as 'wholly American' in a period of surging patriotism.
Well-educated individuals began abandoning certain regional features of their dialects in favor of this new national standard, as such regionalisms were suddenly seen as quaint, antiquated, and even unintelligent. General American English became extremely vogue and if you wanted to climb the social ladder, it was in your best interest to sound "all-American." Granted, this change was incremental and largely below the level of consciousness. Language is a lot like fashion: people don't really know why they stop liking certain styles and start liking others, but the collective taste is constantly changing.
The same social pressure to sound "neutral" still exists today. If you speak with a heavy southern drawl or constantly drop your R's, some will automatically assume that you are not intelligent, since General American English is so closely associated with a high level of education and these regional dialect features are not. In fact, popular culture of the post-WWII era has constantly reinforced negative stereotypes associated with speakers of strong regional dialects.
So mass media has certainly played its role, but it is not the underlying cause of the change. In addition to social mobility, geographic mobility has also played a large part: as people from various dialect regions began intermingling more and more, a natural "levelling" effect led to people favoring General American English features, if only to understand each other better. It is an easy common denominator because everyone is familiar with it.
A much more mobile and well-educated American population than that of 100 years ago means that regional dialects will probably continue to lose some of their distinctive features, but it is very unlikely that we will ever reach total homogeneity. In fact, the dialects of the South and Upper Midwest continued to become increasingly distinct well after WWII, but it seems that this trend has perhaps now reversed itself, at least in urban areas.
Linguists do have some ideas about what changes are likely to happen in the near future in American English, but I'll save those for another post.
I read (or heard, not remember) that the New England accent carried some prestige, especially in movies from the 1930's-1950's. If you listen to actresses back in the era, many sound like Bette Davis.
As far as my accent is concerned, it is pure southern, but I'm too shy to post it on here. But I've been told I sound like a more polished version of Boomhauer from King of the Hill.
I was raised in west Georgia but moved around some to northeast Alabama and eastern Tennessee.
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