Distinction between different accents in the Western U.S (areas, cities)
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Most of the large cities in the Western parts of the US sound mostly similar to each other and speak with neutral type accents, but there are distinguishable accents in the rural areas and smaller cities. I've heard a few people from Eastern Washington when I was in Seattle speak in a twang that was Southern like, and the San Joaquin Valley still has a Southern influenced accent from the Dust Bowl migrants. The people in the rural southwest in Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California tend to speak drawly, and Northern Californians in the smaller towns have a nasal Midwestern type of speaking.
The most distinguishable western accent has to go to Utah, because it has a more settled population. It's like they don't prounouce thier T's in the middle of words, and the vowel sounds are muddled up.
One of the more universal things I've noticed about how people in the Western parts speak is that Milk sounds like Melk, and Mirror sounds like Meer. I've heard this in all parts of the Western US.
I wonder if people in Western parts of the US can distinguish accents in this region.
I think what you'll notice with the West is not so much that everyone sounds the same but rather, the range of idiolects is more diverse. While most people in Boston and Chicago talk about the same with strong distinctive regional accents, in the West you'll find some people who sound somewhat southern, some who could pass for Canadian, some with a bit of that Minnesota type twang, depending on their social circles and where their families came from. It's not that we all have boring newcaster accents it's just this region hasn't been settled long enough for there to be predictable patterns in people's speech.
Here in the West it's not uncommon for people to have parents or grandparents from more easterly states, so that would influence the idiolects of many of the people here. The West hasn't had large numbers of non-native people for all that long, just a little longer than a life time so we haven't really had time for distinct regional patterns to develop.
I would argue that California has a distinct accent though, and maybe Utah as well.
I think what you'll notice with the West is not so much that everyone sounds the same but rather, the range of idiolects is more diverse. While most people in Boston and Chicago talk about the same with strong distinctive regional accents, in the West you'll find some people who sound somewhat southern, some who could pass for Canadian, some with a bit of that Minnesota type twang, depending on their social circles and where their families came from. It's not that we all have boring newcaster accents it's just this region hasn't been settled long enough for there to be predictable patterns in people's speech.
Here in the West it's not uncommon for people to have parents or grandparents from more easterly states, so that would influence the idiolects of many of the people here. The West hasn't had large numbers of non-native people for all that long, just a little longer than a life time so we haven't really had time for distinct regional patterns to develop.
I would argue that California has a distinct accent though, and maybe Utah as well.
You hit the nail on the head. Cities like Denver, Portland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, and San Francisco are cities where the majority of people aren't born in the city or even the state. When people say they don't hear an accent in those cites, they just don't hear a distinguishable accent from that city because the folks in those cities come from all over the U.S.
You hit the nail on the head. Cities like Denver, Portland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, and San Francisco are cities where the majority of people aren't born in the city or even the state. When people say they don't hear an accent in those cites, they just don't hear a distinguishable accent from that city because the folks in those cities come from all over the U.S.
Yup. I'd also argue there is more of a recognizable accent in the smaller cities and rural parts of the West. It sounds a bit similar to a Midland accent, a bit of a twang not to the extent of the south though. Fairly similar to a light Texan accent I guess.
Yup. I'd also argue there is more of a recognizable accent in the smaller cities and rural parts of the West. It sounds a bit similar to a Midland accent, a bit of a twang not to the extent of the south though. Fairly similar to a light Texan accent I guess.
Metallica guitarist James Hetfield(Born and raised in Downey) has that Western twang I hear sometimes So Cal.
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