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The most thorough and systematically-defined classification of American dialects we have to date can be found in the Atlas of North American English by Labov et al. Even though the overarching geographic classifications ignore some important regional dialects due to insufficient data in the survey (e.g. New Orleans & Cajun), each region can be demarcated by a bundle of linguistic isoglosses. The boundaries shown below are not precise because of the ambitious undertaking it would require to collect and analyze enough geographic data (the project that led to this atlas lasted over a decade). Hopefully, collaboration between dialectologists working in various regions of America will eventually yield more exact dialect definitions.
Any simple explanation with a southern drawl.
Where it originated from and why?
I have noticed traveling the South the variations are distinct.
In addition living in the Midwest accents vary
Wisconsin, MN, Parts of Michigan have a very distinct sound
Parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois almost sound southern but not like the southern variations in SC, TN
I have also wondered on occasion if people in France , Germany and other countries have a dialect and if the foreign people notice our dialect variations or if it all just sounds the same to them.
I can answer that for you. I have a close friend who is Swedish, born and raised in southern Sweden. When I speak Swedish, they laugh and say I have a "Stockholmer" accent. I didnt know what they meant because i am American, born and raised in Ohio and the only Swedish i had ever heard spoken was my friend and the people in her part of Sweden. When she and I traveled to Stockholm together, I was shocked to find that the Swedish spoken there was VERY different and that she had a difficult time being understood even as a native Swede. I learned that her Swedish accent was the equivalent of a Kentucky accent to someone who lives in California. I also noticed that i could tell when someone was speaking Swedish with an American accent. When my friend speaks english, she speaks it with a british accent but her daughter speaks it with a more american accent (while still sounding foreign to American ears, most Americans would probably think she was German). Also, when I visited Germany, the northern Germans could not understand the southern Germans though they were both speaking German. In China and Arabic speaking countries, the dialects are so many that the cannot communicate with each other at all or not without a lot of hand gesturing.
Another interesting thing is that my Swedish friend has visited me here in Ohio many times and usually can understand everything. But a few years ago, we took her family to South Carolina and I warned her that she might not be able to understand so easily. She scoffed at me until we went into a little diner and the server said "hey y'all wan sum swee tea?" She looked at me panicked having NO idea what was said
Any simple explanation with a southern drawl.
Where it originated from and why?
I have noticed traveling the South the variations are distinct.
In addition living in the Midwest accents vary
Wisconsin, MN, Parts of Michigan have a very distinct sound
Parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois almost sound southern but not like the southern variations in SC, TN
I have also wondered on occasion if people in France , Germany and other countries have a dialect and if the foreign people notice our dialect variations or if it all just sounds the same to them.
There are dialects in most countries, but in France (I'm French currently living in the Paris area, but from the French Riviera originally) there are almost NO regional accent anymore. I am in my first year in a engineering school and students come from all parts of France and no one has an accent. In French there is a right pronunciation for every word, and no accentuation , so basically people speak all the same way. There might be minor differences between the north and the south, and it's very subtle and most of the time I couldn't tell where a person is from.
But this is something very specific to the French language.
Canadian French is different. It sounds a bit retarded in France (no offence but really it sounds like they can't speak properly French, I would say that at least 80% of the French find the Canadian accent ridiculous, also because of the words they use).
I have myself been to Quebec and honestly I loved Montreal (but Quebec city kinda sucks when you're from Europe IMO), but sometimes I couldn't understand what they were saying, especially when you're not close to a major city. Also what is rather surprising is that they want to translate EVERYTHING in french (even the "stop" signs) but they also use american expressions translated in "their" French.
But this is a country far away from France so it's normal they don't speak like in Europe. Basically it's the same thing between British English and American English, except that AE has become the major "version" of English.
Recently, I've taken up an interest in different accents, and I just want to hear what other people have to say about it, and how certain things are pronounced in your part of the country. Most people have said that people here, in Colorado (along with most of the Midwest) have the most 'neutral' American accent. Is that true? If there's somewhere else this should have been posted, I apologize.
Well, this is a good question.
There is NYC of course, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, North/South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee-Kentucky, Alabama-Mississippi-N.Louisiana, S. Louisiana, New Orleans, Texas, S.Dakota-Michigan-Wisconsin-Minnesota, Chicago....those are the ones that I can recognize when people talk. So that would make, all together fifteen.
20yrsinBranson
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