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There are a couple different accents in that feature, but the only speakers that are definitely identified as Kansas City and northeast Kansas natives have “neutral” accents.
Not really. I would say it is about an even split of somewhat neutral and southern accents from all the locals they interviewed in the feature in 1982. Since the 1980s, accents in KC metro have changed somewhat with more "western" accents replacing some southern accents in younger people under age 35.
I consider Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to be the Midwest (maybe Iowa). To me, as a New Yorker, the dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, etc have always been considered plains states, not the Midwest. The Midwest has always been anchored around Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Kentucky has always been considered the south/Appalachia, same with West Virginia. Pennsylvania is always considered the northeast. The kid-Atlantic is New York, Nj, pa, de and md and D.C for that matter. Iowa was always a border state and The St. Louis area has always felt midwestern to me versus the Ozarks which are certainly southern. Also Kansas City is not midwestern. It is plains/frontier west almost. It is interesting how different people have different perspectives on this. The heart of the Midwest has always been Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to me. Even Minnesota is debatable. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the up of Michigan have always been called Midwest or Great Lakes. This is all coming from a New Yorker so feel free to disagree.
Minnesota has been called "the Northwest" by many as late as the 1960s. (Yes, they know about Seattle and Portland. It's just a holdover from the days before the Dakotas achieved statehood in the late 19th century). To this day, many old businesses in the Twin Cities still carry the Northwest moniker.
Minnesota has been called "the Northwest" by many as late as the 1960s. (Yes, they know about Seattle and Portland. It's just a holdover from the days before the Dakotas achieved statehood in the late 19th century). To this day, many old businesses in the Twin Cities still carry the Northwest moniker.
I still remember Northwest Orient Airlines, based in Minneapolis.
Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin. Basically the old Rust Belt. It has a strong agricultural bent but the economic lifeblood was industry given advantages conferred by the Great Lakes.
Plains: Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota (transitional), Missouri (transitional), Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota. I consider these farming states with wide expanses and little history of industry outside of a few select cities (Duluth, Minneapolis, Saint Louis).
Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin. Basically the old Rust Belt. It has a strong agricultural bent but the economic lifeblood was industry given advantages conferred by the Great Lakes.
Plains: Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota (transitional), Missouri (transitional), Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota. I consider these farming states with wide expanses and little history of industry outside of a few select cities (Duluth, Minneapolis, Saint Louis).
Midwest + Plains = Heartland.
Kansas City's historical rep may be that of a cowtown, but it too had significant industry: it was home to Missouri's only steel mill and the site of the first branch assembly plant built by a Detroit automaker; in the 1960s, it was second only to Detroit in motor vehicle (car and truck) production and third behind Detroit and St. Louis in car production.
Wichita has historically been the center of small-aircraft production in the country.
I don't think either WV or Kentucky is midwestern, ANY MORE. But the fact is that the original usage of the term "Middle West" refers to the middle (on a North-South axis) of what was then "the West":
West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Missouri
Kansas territory (which extended to Denver)
Nope. Midwest is what the Northwest territory was.
Kentucky used to be part of Virginia and is literally ONE state away from the Atlantic. LOL @ Kentucky being Midwest. Just stop
Political conservatism is part of the Midwest identity in the rural areas. This isn't New England. Cincinnati and St. Louis may be a bit conservative but so is Indy. Conservatism does not make anything Southern. People need to stop calling conservative Midwest metros as Southern. Southern is a culture. Cincinnati and St. Louis are not culturally Southern so please stop grouping them with the South. If you think conservative = Southern then I guess Betsy DeVos is a Southern girl.
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