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Baltimore is more similar to Philly than NYC, Baltimore is a slightly more southern influenced version of the Philadelphia accent (of which there are some southern influences in the Philly accent non existent in the NY accent)
Little nitpick -- it's not "Southern influence;" it's slight dialectical similarities with the Southern dialect. It has to do with the "drawling" of certain vowels, but the dialects of cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore evolved from several European influences.
From the perspective of someone on the East Coast, it's hard to discern the speech patterns of the West. The East is such a unique hodgepodge of distinct accents in such close proximity to each other, whereas the West comes off more uniform. I do detect certain elongation of vowels from California natives, though.
Little nitpick -- it's not "Southern influence;" it's slight dialectical similarities with the Southern dialect. It has to do with the "drawling" of certain vowels.
From the perspective of someone on the East Coast, it's hard to discern the speech patterns of the West. The East is such a unique hodgepodge of distinct accents in such close proximity to each other, whereas the West comes off more uniform. I do detect certain elongation of vowels from California natives, though.
Fair enough
What is the Pittsburgh accent most similar to? East coast, Appalachian or Midwestern? It seems to me it may be most appalachian
What is the Pittsburgh accent most similar to? East coast, Appalachian or Midwestern? It seems to me it may be most appalachian
Yeah, Pittsburgh definitely has some dialectical similarities with Appalachia, but it's still a far cry from something you'd hear in Kentucky or West Virginia. It has far more German and even Eastern European influences, which makes it very distinct.
Strange to say but i was born in the south, Louisiana and never knew i had an accent until 2005 when i moved to Florida for 3 years ( im back now ). I was in 4th grade then and all the kids were asking me are you from New York, or a Caribbean island. Really i never was asked whether or not i was from New Orleans. I guess they never heard a native New Orleanian speak beyond the country accent that hollywood protrays we have.
They got a few hints though when i would speak a few words differently, and say things in French that i never really paid any attention to until they addressed it.
The most similar accent to South Louisiana would be a French - American speaking English but replacing his French pronunciation and usage of R's with the Spanish roll, thats probably the best representation. Its very drawl-ish and flowing English added with many of the Louisiana French, Native and Spanish terms we use.
North Louisiana has a more typical southern accent though, its most of the states Mid-to-Southern regions that have that French-Spanish-English mix ( theres also many other linguistic traits as well i.e. : German, Irish, African and Native influences as you go into certain areas ) but really thats only in South Louisiana, not North.
Even with an already present South Louisiana accent surrounding it New Orleans has a unique accent of its own that has uncommon terms and ways of saying certain things e.g.: Sink is said Zink ( like the element ), Toilet is pronounced Turlet, and of course we never say: NEW ORleenS nor does anyone say that horrible N'awlins thing that people are using we say New Or - lens ( like a eyeglass lens ) or even New OIL - lens for some older people i've heard, but never for the love of God say that NEW ORleenS or N'awlins crap.
Some "both" Louisiana and New Orleans terms :
Lagniappe: most English speakers can't even pronounce this, ( Lan - yap ) like a little gift or something.
or
Cia le vie: Louisiana French for: ( Thats Life ). I say things all the time just like my Paw Paw ( a grandfarther )
So basically South Louisiana does not have that typical Southern accent; like the Media and Hollywood is trying to make you all believe.
Everything west of the Rockies sounds about the same for the most part (I'm from out there so I would know).
Texans run the gamut from fully Southern to "accentless" but I'll be damned if I can distinguish a Texas accent. It's just Southern to me, if it's present at all.
Great Lakes--all about the same for the most part.
Northeast--I can kind of hear the differences, but it'll take a minute or two, and even then I might get it wrong. And to further complicate things, some Northeasterners sound Great Lakes-ish, and vice versa.
Lower Midwest--just sounds Southern to me, but perhaps "drier" than a real Southerner?
Everything west of the Rockies sounds about the same for the most part (I'm from out there so I would know).
Texans run the gamut from fully Southern to "accentless" but I'll be damned if I can distinguish a Texas accent. It's just Southern to me, if it's present at all.
Great Lakes--all about the same for the most part.
Northeast--I can kind of hear the differences, but it'll take a minute or two, and even then I might get it wrong. And to further complicate things, some Northeasterners sound Great Lakes-ish, and vice versa.
Lower Midwest--just sounds Southern to me, but perhaps "drier" than a real Southerner?
And yes, North Central sounds pretty Canadian.
From my personal experience most people outside the Northeast have a hard time telling the difference between the New York accent and the Philly accent.
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