Illinois Accents (Chicago, Decatur, Champaign: move, suburb, estate)

[j33]

It is the difference between the 'ah' sound and the 'eh' sounds in Barry versus Berry. I make the distinction despite growing up in the Midwest because I grew up listening to my mom and my grandmother from Boston talk and they make the distinction. I occasionally get comments on it from coworkers. I work with a girl named 'Erin' who always tells me she gets 'a kick' out of how I saw her name because I don't say it like 'Aaron'.

[Blutime]

As children we would laugh at the northern accent. I grew up in south St. louis and to this day I pronounce The word wash as "warsh". I was not even aware of it till I moved to Rockford. Now everyone seems to have the need to point this out.

[Bernie157]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

I think many easterners pronounce as this:

Bah-rie for Barry
Bear-rie for Berry
Burr-rie for Bury

I like you pronounce all of them the same way (Bear-ie) and I am from Chicago.

I think you got Barry right (as Easterners would pronounce them) except that I never say or hear Bear-rie. As one who was raised in Philadelphia and has mainly lived on the East coast from DC to s.w. Connecticut, I still say (and I think hear) Berry and Bury more like Burr-rie. When I really want to distinguish, I might say Berry as Beh-rie.

Bernie (Burr-nie -- not Bear-nie or Barney)

[SixFive175]

Originally Posted by irish setter girl

Someone told me that Cleveland, OH has the "newscaster accent" and is to be the neutral accent of the country. Is this true?

Newscasters and radio people call the "perfect accent" (i.e., no accent) The Denver Accent.

[sandwalk]

After moving from northern Ohio (no more than 15 minutes from Lake Erie for 20+ years) to northern Illinois to attend college, I have picked up on a few differences. More than 90% of the students at my university are from Illinois, with a larger portion of that percentage from Chicagoland and northern Illinois.

*I have heard numerous people (from the Chicago suburbs to Rockford to western Illinois) pronounce Illinois as "Ellinois."

*My friends from the Chicago area (as well as a lot of Chicago TV newscasters) pronounce the city as "Chi-CAW-go." I pronounce it as "Chi-CAH-go."

*My roommates often point out that every once in a while I have a slight twang to certain words; in actuality I believe it's just a little "bland" sound not really a "twang."


And I have also heard that (although not true anymore, I believe), newscasters were taught the flat, plain "Tiffin English" dialect (Tiffin is a small college town in northcentral/northwestern Ohio, not too too far from where I grew up).

What an interesting forum! (Don't know why I'm still awake and online at 1:30am though LOL)

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by j33

I've been hearing 'Ellinoy' more and more often. I find it a bit of an amusing pronunciation personally.

It used to annoy me to no end when my deep south-bred relatives and acquaintances would say "Y'all are from Ellinoys?" But then I realized that somebody who lives in a place where the majority of people insist that Marseilles is "Mar-Sails" and Des Plaines is "Displaynes" really can't be too affronted.

[j33]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

It used to annoy me to no end when my deep south-bred relatives and acquaintances would say "Y'all are from Ellinoys?" But then I realized that somebody who lives in a place where the majority of people insist that Marseilles is "Mar-Sails" and Des Plaines is "Displaynes" really can't be too affronted.

Very, very true. I've never been bothered by accents, but then again, I grew up hearing so many of them, it because more of a source of curiosity. My grandmother was from Massachusetts and to this day, whenever I go out there, I always compare the names of the towns I see along the expressway with how she pronounced them, you'd never know they were the same place, at least with 'dezplaynes' it is laughably phonetic.

[Ryeno]

The truth is there are so many accents out there; it’s almost impossible to count them. Detroit is different from Chicago, yet similar. People in Boston can tell the difference between Massachusetts and Vermont. People in Colorado say col-o-RAD-o. I would say col-o-rah-do. People in California sound almost southern. People in southern Ohio have a distinct southern drawl and that’s prob. equal to southern Illinois. Then again the people in Iowa sound normal but I know for a fact an east coast person would find that accent wrong since bear, bury and barry are all the same. Plus even southern accents are different. Louisiana is different from Alabama.

I am from Detroit so I speak almost the same accent as Chicago, although I have done a great job ridding myself of the nasily accent. The standard great lake accent is very simple. The letter o becomes an a and the letter a becomes a really nosily A. The letter I and E both become super nasally as well and exaggerated. So yes Chicago becomes chi-CAAAHHH-go(go sounds like ga to people not in the accent) and not becomes NAHHT, but also taco becomes TAAAAAco and bottle becomes BAH-ttle but not battle. It’s almost impossible to wright since the sound isn’t even a real letter. Words like dollar become DAH-ler but not DAY-let so it still sounds different from that accents a. But a good thing is unlike that southern accent; you will never say the words pin/pen as the same. God that annoys me soo much or how people will say the time is tin twenty-five.

Now I don’t know if this is also Chicago or an east coast influence into Detroit English. But I did notice I can say megan not maygen and leg not layg and egg not ayg. Regulators not raygulator and real not reel. Plus I can say forward not fo-ward and picture instead of pitcher.

Also to the person who said chicago and boston aren't similar. Yes, they are noticeably different but to someone who speaks neither accent would say sound eerily similar. The word Boston is said almost identical in both accents. And to the person says dont change your accent, its part of you. Your wrong, your vocabillary is part of you but your accent is not. Just as easily as you could have learned one accent, you could have learned another. And the truth is depending on your southern accent, you might be better off losing it. If you speak like that guy from prison break, you sound okay. But if you sound like your from alabama, you sound like a hick. (no offfanse alabama people but thats how you sound.)

One thing that someone said that’s very true and interesting is how well off high class people do appear to speak more proper. That’s incredibly true. The wealthier you are the more faint your accent is. Its true around all of America. The high class people will say milk not melk and roof not ruuf. But I do believe almost all if not all not southern and east coast Americans will say fer instead of for and ken instead of can, plus are instead of our.

Also if your really interested in this. That has been the case since Latin existed. Apparently back in the day the high class Romans spoke true Latin. The people spoke their own regional dialects. Turned out those dialects become French, Spanish. Italian, etc. Maybe the same will happen to American and English.

[GraniteStater]

This is a classic example of the "northern cities shift accent"

YouTube - KSTP August 1982 5pm News open and weather

[KJAnsia]

Dennis Farina sounds like my dad. Heh. But this is prime example of a strong Chi-caw-go accent.



Now, I've some in-laws who are from, and still reside in, Pana, Illinois, which is about two-thirds of the way downstate. They all have the thickest drawls I've ever heard in my life. I mean, the first time I met them, I was like, "What the f*** are these people talking about?" I literally could not understand at least a third of what they were saying. I'm not sure if they're originally from somewhere in the Deep South, or if they represent the accent at it's strongest or what.