Do us Minnesotans have an accent? (Grand Rapids, Walker: area, charge, east coast)

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by LilyLaLa

Well...everyone has an accent, technically speaking.

There's something about the way everyone speaks that makes their voices 'special' to their home region. Your thread has me curious now as to what "Minnesota" sounds like...I've never been there! (yet!)

My GF was born and raised in Minnesota, but she does not have a Minnesotan accent at all, thankfully. Every once in awhile she will do her SA impersonation, you know those commercials that end with, You got my word on it. She can do the accent to a perfectly and it annoys the heck out of me. It annoys her, too. I'd rather cut off my ears and never hear again then to hear that crap.

The Minnesotan accent sounds like the person is talking in a half cheery voice and a half whiney voice with all the personality of a deflated basketball. No thanks.

[Guero]

Originally Posted by GMonkey

The MN accent is strong...and hilarious. It's a friendly accent, though. The Philly accent makes me shudder. I swear I'm going to smack the next person I hear say "you's". The MI Lower Peninsula accent is like a very mild MN accent.

I was living in west TX years ago, and we got a new boss, well actually two, a husband and wife team, and they were from the lower peninsula, and you're right, their accent, especially hers, reminded me of MN's a bit. And made me a little homesick.

Also, I had a room-mate once from Philly. I found it interesting, if not a bit annoying at times. But it's good to embrace these things and so I did.

I can see where some are coming from when they say the MN accent can be annoying. There are certain Minnesotans, usually women, who have a really nasally MN accent which can be grating.

[rusty0808]

"To deny one's native accent, is to deny one's heritage"......Mark Twain

[MonkeyButler7000]

I am from the LP in Michigan and I have had a lot of people comment on my accent. It is funny though, because I always thought that people from MI, OH, IN, IL had the universal, generic, non-accent

[Haaziq]

I haven't been through a lot of cities in Minnesota, but I have noticed a few things about people from the Twin Cities (Don't know if this applies to other Minnesotans as well.). The way they pronounce their long A's is different from any other accent I've ever heard.
When the sound is at the end of a word, they drag it out a little more than others, so today sounds like todaaay. It's still at the same speed as most of the other accents, but the sound is pronounced a little more.
When the long A sound is in the middle of a word, it's barely pronounced. It sounds like they're about to pronounce it, and then just forget it, so makeup sounds like mekup.
I've also noticed that the 'ow' sound is more pronounced than in other accents. Just listen to the way Minnesotans say 'how' or 'about'.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by Haaziq

I haven't been through a lot of cities in Minnesota, but I have noticed a few things about people from the Twin Cities (Don't know if this applies to other Minnesotans as well.). The way they pronounce their long A's is different from any other accent I've ever heard.
When the sound is at the end of a word, they drag it out a little more than others, so today sounds like todaaay. It's still at the same speed as most of the other accents, but the sound is pronounced a little more.
When the long A sound is in the middle of a word, it's barely pronounced. It sounds like they're about to pronounce it, and then just forget it, so makeup sounds like mekup.
I've also noticed that the 'ow' sound is more pronounced than in other accents. Just listen to the way Minnesotans say 'how' or 'about'.

Haaziq--I agree, especially about long a in the middle of the word. When I hear many MN natives pronounce the word "sale", it sounds like "sell" to me. For example, "I'm going to put my house up for sell."

[Haaziq]

Originally Posted by MonkeyButler7000

I am from the LP in Michigan and I have had a lot of people comment on my accent. It is funny though, because I always thought that people from MI, OH, IN, IL had the universal, generic, non-accent

Really, the accents of the Midwestern states change by areas. People from Michigan sound different depending on what part they come from. Some areas in Ohio have the generic non-accent. Some of the southern cities in Ohio have an accent that sounds like a Northeastern one. I remember meeting someone from Columbus a few years ago. I could've sworn he was from New York or somewhere in New England. His accent was non-rhotic.

[santos]

Originally Posted by ShiNnGsTar*

HAHA! Awesome. Well I was born and raised here so I would notice something unusal like that. Just the way it sounded.. "for cute", doesn't sound correct.

The woman who owned the grocery store in Crosby Minnesota used to say this--perhaps she wasn't born and raised in Minnesota either.

[mardybum]

Yes Minnesotans do have an accent!!! It's cute!

[knke0402]

Ok, I have to fix this, One thing, its not an ACCENT. Its called a DIALECT. Ok, so yes Minnesotan's have a dialect, very similar to NEW ENGLAND, EAST COAST, DEEP SOUTH, SOUTH, TEXAS/OKLAHOMA/ARKANSAS, WEST COAST , and NORTHWEST all have noticable Dialects.

I think its getting better as tehre are less and less direct decendents of Scandanavia, and as the area urbanizes.