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West coast accent sounds normal to me.
Like when I watch TMZ, they sound pretty standard.
It sounds normal because of its privileged place in society. If Hollywood happened to be located in St. John's, a Newfie accent would sound 'standard' and 'normal'.
The 'standard' US accent doesn't exist, except on television and among people such as military brats who have lived in many different locales in America throughout their lives.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Does the 'standard accent' you're imagining even exist on TV, though?
I mean what I hear is a general american accent, both IRL and on TV, but with subtle regional 'flavours.' If you're saying the typical West Coast US accent is not Gen Am I disagree. I've heard it said Iowa is close to the 'most' neutral accent though, but the LA accent is definitely the vanilla accent with a few twists, hardly as different as say a NY accent of course.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,047,835 times
Reputation: 11862
Does the 'standard accent' you're imagining even exist on TV, though?
I mean what I hear is a general american accent, both IRL and on TV, but with subtle regional 'flavours.' If you're saying the typical West Coast US accent is not Gen Am I disagree. I've heard it said Iowa is close to the 'most' neutral accent though, but the LA accent is definitely the vanilla accent with a few twists, hardly as different as say a NY accent of course.
Does the 'standard accent' you're imagining even exist on TV, though?
I mean what I hear is a general american accent, both IRL and on TV, but with subtle regional 'flavours.' If you're saying the typical West Coast US accent is not Gen Am I disagree. I've heard it said Iowa is close to the 'most' neutral accent though, but the LA accent is definitely the vanilla accent with a few twists, hardly as different as say a NY accent of course.
I've actually been to Iowa and people there do talk a little bit differently. I can't put a finger on what it is, maybe the speech is a bit less tonal than California talk? Or maybe the a sound is a bit different, like here in the West the vowel sound in 'father' is a bit more rounded, like 'bother', in the Midwest it sounds a tad closer to how I'd say 'gather'.
I think the west of the West actually sounds very informal, it's little like the posh news-speak you hear on television, though put anyone in front of a camera and on a podium and their speech will sub-consciously become more 'academic' and formal.
I absolutely agree with the OP. Many people from all parts of the country seem to think the California and PNW accents are standard (Valley speak excepted), and in many respects they are similar to the standard, but with some practice, it is easy to pick West Coasters out.
Most Americans don't sound like that because they don't have the "general American" accent. But there are probably more "general American" speakers than any other accent (Boston, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Chicago, New Orleans, Brooklyn, etc.)
Does the 'standard accent' you're imagining even exist on TV, though?
I mean what I hear is a general american accent, both IRL and on TV, but with subtle regional 'flavours.' If you're saying the typical West Coast US accent is not Gen Am I disagree. I've heard it said Iowa is close to the 'most' neutral accent though, but the LA accent is definitely the vanilla accent with a few twists, hardly as different as say a NY accent of course.
To be fair, your IRL experience of American accents was a two week vacation where you managed to miss the majority of America....including Iowa...
Um....that's not too convincing. You're accent sounds entirely standard to me.
You are right in the sense that everybody has an accent. But there are certainly more Americans that sound pretty close to you than there are speakers of any of the truly regional accents...
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