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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Hmmm I think the Valley girl accent of the 80s is pretty much dead, like Moon Unit in the song 'Valley Girl', the 'valley girl' accent today is kind of like the gay 'accent', it's more just a ditzy, tonal way of speaking standard American than a true accent.
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.
People from Iowa and Nebraska sound less flatter and more nasal than West Coasters. Many Iowans have a NCVS influence in thier speech.
Many Nebraskans have a bit of a hickish twang and say words like "Warsh" and "Crick".
Compare both of these videos. The Nebraskan sounds a bit more nasally compared to the Californian.
Not really. Listen more closely, and you'll probably find that most of us will unselfconsciously say oreegin or oruhgin. Gin, not gun. Just don't ask us how to say it, because that seems to throw us for some reason. We think about it too hard and you get some odd pronunciations.
I agree that it's not common at all, but the only time I hear Warshington is people over 50. The same people also tend to add an L to the end of Hillsboro. It's weird.
There's a girl from Oklahoma that works in a local business. She just moved here a few months ago and her accent is like sprinkling sugar on every word. Its so much more pleasing to the ear the the typical, nasally accent girls in California tend to be using now. California speech pattens (at least for people under the age of 30 - especially women/girls) sound like they're trying to do a Valley Girl accent through their nose. When they do move it down out of their noses for certain words they speak so far back in their mouths its sounds like they have a mouthful of marbles. Ugly and annoying. It seems they're all trying to sound like Kim Kardashian.
Not really. Listen more closely, and you'll probably find that most of us will unselfconsciously say oreegin or oruhgin. Gin, not gun. Just don't ask us how to say it, because that seems to throw us for some reason. We think about it too hard and you get some odd pronunciations.
I agree that it's not common at all, but the only time I hear Warshington is people over 50. The same people also tend to add an L to the end of Hillsboro. It's weird.
I disagree. Strongly. Minervah has it right. I've lived here all my life, and it's Ory-gun or Orah-gun (which to my ear, both sound the same). The only time anyone says oree-gun (still, not "gin") is when singing the state song ... because the tune needs the extra syllable.
Hillsboro is not my side of town (though I did have family who lived there in my youth), but I've never, ever heard anyone put an "L" on the end of it.
As a non-American, I love Californian accents on guys over all the other US accents, there's just a really chilled, laid-back sound to them.. (mind you not that bloke in the video above, he just sounds dorky) Think more west-coast 'rocker sound'; Scott Weiland, Anthony Kiedis, Eddie Vedder etc...
In general I find though a lot of US men's accents are softer, a lot of female accents in the US can be so grating, esp. CA and Chicago.
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