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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ogre
C'm'on . . . Trimac's from Australia, and is trying to learn about the U.S. The fact that he is unfamiliar with the U.S. is the reason he sometimes asks questions with answers that seem obvious to Americans. Give the guy a break. I mean, how many of us know all the local flavor in different regions of Switzerland, Russia, Indonesia, or Australia for that matter? Many of us would ask similar questions if we were trying to learn about these countries. I for one am kind of flattered that someone has enough interest in our country to want to learn about us.
*steps down from soapbox*
Okay, I'm not so familiar with the West, but I can tell you that east of the Mississippi there are very local accents. I live in the Boston area. Despite the fact that the "Boston accent" is very distinctive, it is really a collection of accents that share similar traits, with variations in the details depending on what part of the Boston metro area the person speaking is from. This seems to be true in different sections of NYC and its metro area as well. I can't tell you about specific accents in the West, but I'm sure there must be similar localizations of the accents there as well.
Hey, by the way, got a laugh out of the line about how the "hippie drawl" resulted from the, um, "local vegetation."
Lol, yes, the 'hippie drawl' seems to still be spoken among some of the older generation, especially around San Francisco.
I'm just really interested in languages, accents, dialects and linguistics, not to mention American culture. If I can't discuss such questions here, then I guess I can't discuss 'em anywhere lol.
Native San Franciscans don't have an accent necessarily, but they have an interesting lingo. I heard them saying "hella" in place of "very", as in "That's hella cool" or "It's hella cold out here". Can anyone back me up on this?
Lol, yes, the 'hippie drawl' seems to still be spoken among some of the older generation, especially around San Francisco.
I'm just really interested in languages, accents, dialects and linguistics, not to mention American culture. If I can't discuss such questions here, then I guess I can't discuss 'em anywhere lol.
Discuss all you want. If someone doesn't care for your questions, he always has the option of not reading your posts/threads.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by ogre
Discuss all you want. If someone doesn't care for your questions, he always has the option of not reading your posts/threads.
Too right mate!... Although I should be a tad less presumptious about things, as if I'm an American. I just do a lot of reading up about it etc., I've just been fascinated with it my entire life and am saving up to go on a big trip there. Will probably live there in a couple of years...I'm sure all this research will help me understand the place better. I very rarely get to meet Americans in real life so it's good.
Native San Franciscans don't have an accent necessarily, but they have an interesting lingo. I heard them saying "hella" in place of "very", as in "That's hella cool" or "It's hella cold out here". Can anyone back me up on this?
It's not limited to San Fran. I never lived a day of my life in California and I say hella in ordinary speech. It's really just a "young people" thing more than anything.
And trimac, there are some different accents in the Western U.S. The "valley girl/surfer dude" accent is still found in parts of Southern California and includes the "California vowel shift" which can be found in parts of Oregon too where there are lots of former Californians.
You also have the Chicano accent spoken by Americans of Mexican descent who live in Southern California. It's more clipped and some people, when hearing this accent, confuse the speakers for being ESL speakers, when in reality they may not know even a single word of Spanish! They just sound like they have a Mexican accent, but are native English speakers. My family in LA all talk like that. Another feature is that they will say "fool" instead of "dude." Like, "Hey, what's up, fool?"
In Southern Oregon you may find people who've grown up there will pronounce their O's more like the Minnesota/Canadian accent and also "front their vowels" like Southern Californians. So they may sound like a weird mix of Canadian/Californian/general American, but they're hard to find with the massive influx of Californians to the region. Southern Oregonians generally say "ki'en" or "moun'ain" rather than "kiTTen" or "mounTain."
In Portland and up into Washington they speak "softer" than other Westerners, and some may have a little bit of vowel-fronting like SoCal, which is where they pronounce 'move' "mi-oove" rather than "moove" and "geh-o" rather than "go" and 'and' becomes "ay-und" for example. And all Northwesterners, especially young people, are more likely to use what's called "creaky voice."
I hear that Utah has some unique accents also. The rest of the West (including Northern California) sounds pretty similar to one another and plain, as far as I've read and experienced, sounding basically like they speak General American for the most part.
Native San Franciscans don't have an accent necessarily, but they have an interesting lingo. I heard them saying "hella" in place of "very", as in "That's hella cool" or "It's hella cold out here". Can anyone back me up on this?
Haha yes "Hella" comes from Northern California not just SF..some Southern Californians use it but most make there hate of it well known.
And the "valley girl/surfer dude" thing affects CA as a whole.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by backdrifter
It's not limited to San Fran. I never lived a day of my life in California and I say hella in ordinary speech. It's really just a "young people" thing more than anything.
And trimac, there are some different accents in the Western U.S. The "valley girl/surfer dude" accent is still found in parts of Southern California and includes the "California vowel shift" which can be found in parts of Oregon too where there are lots of former Californians.
You also have the Chicano accent spoken by Americans of Mexican descent who live in Southern California. It's more clipped and some people, when hearing this accent, confuse the speakers for being ESL speakers, when in reality they may not know even a single word of Spanish! They just sound like they have a Mexican accent, but are native English speakers. My family in LA all talk like that. Another feature is that they will say "fool" instead of "dude." Like, "Hey, what's up, fool?"
In Southern Oregon you may find people who've grown up there will pronounce their O's more like the Minnesota/Canadian accent and also "front their vowels" like Southern Californians. So they may sound like a weird mix of Canadian/Californian/general American, but they're hard to find with the massive influx of Californians to the region. Southern Oregonians generally say "ki'en" or "moun'ain" rather than "kiTTen" or "mounTain."
In Portland and up into Washington they speak "softer" than other Westerners, and some may have a little bit of vowel-fronting like SoCal, which is where they pronounce 'move' "mi-oove" rather than "moove" and "geh-o" rather than "go" and 'and' becomes "ay-und" for example. And all Northwesterners, especially young people, are more likely to use what's called "creaky voice."
I hear that Utah has some unique accents also. The rest of the West (including Northern California) sounds pretty similar to one another and plain, as far as I've read and experienced, sounding basically like they speak General American for the most part.
I'm curious, what's a 'creaky voice?' I think of an old person with a high, croaky voice .
The most noticeable thing about the 'Surfer Dude' accent, which say, the members of Blink 182 and Jack Black have, is the way they say the 'a'
sound in 'hand'.
Not related to the WC, but apparently Jennifer Lopez could not speak Spanish until into adulthood, yet she has quite a Hispanic accent.
Too right mate!... Although I should be a tad less presumptious about things, as if I'm an American. I just do a lot of reading up about it etc., I've just been fascinated with it my entire life and am saving up to go on a big trip there. Will probably live there in a couple of years...I'm sure all this research will help me understand the place better. I very rarely get to meet Americans in real life so it's good.
Oh so that's what it is, it just sounds like someone with a sore throat, lol...I don't get why people would do that on purpose though lol.
Haha, well... We don't do it on purpose! It just comes naturally.
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Too right mate!... Although I should be a tad less presumptious about things, as if I'm an American. I just do a lot of reading up about it etc., I've just been fascinated with it my entire life and am saving up to go on a big trip there. Will probably live there in a couple of years...I'm sure all this research will help me understand the place better. I very rarely get to meet Americans in real life so it's good.
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