The "Miami Accent" ..., (Kendall, Boca Raton: transplants, high school, live)

[benrosa1990]

How would one best describe the "Miami Accent" (heard in talking with people that were born & raised here, or least lived here the better part of their lives)...,

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by benrosa1990

How would one best describe the "Miami Accent" (heard in talking with people that were born & raised here, or least lived here the better part of their lives)...,

Answer: the "Miami accent" is basically standard American English with some Northeastern characteristics in pronunciation and with a distinctly Latin cadence (similar to how Spanish or Italian would be spoken). Besides the cadence, there are a couple points of pronunciation that stand out:
-Pronunciation of the "z" sound as an "s" (e.g.: "It's freezing in here" = "It's freesing in here", or "reason" = "reasson")
-Pronunciation of the "i" sound similar to how it sounds in Spanish or Italian (e.g. "increase" = "eencrease", or "singing" = "seengeeng")

Me: I can turn my "Miami accent" on and off depending on how "cute" I want to sound. In other words, I can drop the Latin cadence pretty easily. When I do, I sound like I am from Westchester, NY or Fairfield, CT. I don't have a strong ethnic-influenced accent like many people in NJ, Long Island, or NYC do, and I pronounce my vowels ("a" and "e" - "merry" and "marry" sound different when I say them) very distinctly and particularly, so that precludes me sounding like I am from the Midwest. There is almost no Southern influence on my speech; no one has guessed that I am from the South based on how I speak.

You: I'd like to hear how all of you characterize your accents!

[east215]

The one thing I remember about the older Miami natives (basically white Southerners) was the way they pronounced Miami. They said "Mia-muh".

[flyers29]

Funnily enough I always considered myself pretty good at imitating different accents, but can't do the Miami accent for the life of me. It's kind of hard to explain, just one of those "you know it when you hear it" things. But crisp's explanation is pretty good. And you don't hear too many non-Hispanics with one.

[StreetSmarts]

Not sure, I couldn't understand what they were saying, lol.

Old school white southerners did say "Miamuh" lol. My wife's grandparent say it like that. They moved out of there a while back though, with the rest of the folks who spoke like em.

[noland123]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NIEl...eature=related

[StreetSmarts]

^^^LOL. "I'm from Miami, but I havent been there in a while." Classic.

[Thomas Jefferson]

LOL, Accent? You should have listened to me when I got off the boat . Classic Tony Montana accent. Miami accent is one of those drawl that I’m still trying to define. It is a mix of Latin-Cuban flavor with a high dose of NY, NJ accent. The latter is well marked in the White Non-Hispanic population that lives near the coast. Gosh, sometimes when I’m in Aventura, Key Biscayne or Boca Raton I feel like I’m in NJ or NY. But either way, the Miami accent is not easily identified like the Texans accent or the NY, NJ accents, I would say it is pretty standard with the vowel pronunciation and some slang words being the more notable patterns particularly because the Latin influence. However, the accent in the Miami and SFL’s African-American population is a totally different monster. It still has a strong southern influence. Strange, isn't it?

[HumboldtParkShiner]

Originally Posted by Thomas Jefferson

LOL, Accent? You should have listened to me when I got off the boat . Classic Tony Montana accent. Miami accent is one of those drawl that I’m still trying to define. It is a mix of Latin-Cuban flavor with a high dose of NY, NJ accent. The latter is well marked in the White Non-Hispanic population that lives near the coast. Gosh, sometimes when I’m in Aventura, Key Biscayne or Boca Raton I feel like I’m in NJ or NY. But either way, the Miami accent is not easily identified like the Texans accent or the NY, NJ accents, I would say it is pretty standard with the vowel pronunciation and some slang words being the more notable patterns particularly because the Latin influence. However, the accent in the Miami and SFL’s African-American population is a totally different monster. It still has a strong southern influence. Strange, isn't it?

Yeah I was thinking about this exact same thing too the other day. It's like the white folks talk with a NJ/NY/northern-urban accent, the Latino's go with their native Latino accents, and the black's still talk with the dirty south southern accents. It makes sense since most whites are transplants from the northeast, most Latino's came from their native lands (while second generations continue to talk with their parent's accent), and the black folks have been there since day 1, back when Miami and South Florida were as southern as Alabama, thus retaining the southern dialect. It's funny cause I'll hear a thick New York dialect one second, and then I'll turn a corner and hear black folks say "Ya heerd me?", which is the exact same expression that is used over here in New Orleans.

Maybe one day they'll all mix to create some sorta weird New York/Cuban/Southern USA patois. God, what an accent that would be.

[Marlin331]

Accent is a fascinating topic because it's something that everyone has. Some people's accents are distinct and readily identifiable; some people's are an amalgam of many. I feel that most people who grow up in South Florida fall into the latter category. Though people are heavily influenced by how their parents speak, they are also heavily influence by how their friends and peers speak. Southern influence isn't just limited to blacks; I remember that in high school some of the white kids ("Anglo" and "Hispanic") who tried to act "ghetto" had a noticeable Southern way of saying certain things. Additionally, I should say that pockets of the Southern accent among non-blacks still exist in South Dade, the lesser expensive areas of the Keys, Broward, and to a much lesser extent, even in Kendall. Though "Anglos" were less likely to have a Miami accent than "Hispanics," you'd better believe that I have met people who speak almost no Spanish and who still speak with a slight Spanish cadence. The Northeast influence, though more prevalent among whites whose parents were of "ethnic white" heritage from the Northeast [most of which were technically NOT "Anglo"; they were Jewish, Italian, etc.], could definitely be heard in the speech of "Hispanics" who were born and raised here with immigrant parents. When speaking of blacks, most seem to have full-on Southern accents. I always laugh at "dialect maps" that cut off the Southern accent at I-4. There are thousands upon thousands (certainly over a million) people who speak with a Southern accent in the southern half of Florida!