Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is the thread that doesn't end Yes, it goes on and on my friend Some people started posting not knowing what it was, And they'll continue posting forever just because This is the thread that doesn't end Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Can we all just agree that everyone has an accent, even those that think they don't? If you think you don't have an accent because you don't drop your r's or speak newscaster English - well, that's an accent too. I guarantee a good linquist can tell you where you lived within a few minutes of speaking with you!
I was born in Providence - youngest by 6 years of 4 kids. Lived by North Main Street near the Pawtucket line. My dad was born in Pawtucket to Boston parents - my mom was from Springfield MA (Connecticut River Valley). All our accents were different - kid's more R.I. than parents - mom with only a hint of R.I. that she acquired moving there at age 17. We all moved to California in late 50's. I lost most of my R.I. accent because I entered 7th grade in CA - siblings were all post-High School. We all speak a little different - even I have a bit of the non-rhotic (excuse spelling), but my siblings are much more so - except for sister who married a French-Canadian from Woonsocket and has a mixed-up sort of accent nowadays. But I just have to say that I have relatives (had more than 70 cousins - yeh, we're Irish) all over R.I., MA, and CT and I could tell that when I lived there I could tell you within just a few blocks of where people were from in Providence and then tell you if people were from Cranston or Warwick or West Warwick (big difference), Johnston, South County, etc. Believe it or not - big differences in accents and speech patterns. Loved it - now I live in a newscaster's newsspeak world and everybody puts down regional accents. Bummer.
It was explained to me that something called Brooklyn-ese is often spoken by descendants of certain European immigrants who settled in the US from Boston to Philly. Within this general accent are many variations depending on the country of origin and even within those countries. Most are descendants of immigrants who came from Ireland, Italy and Portugal. My experience is younger people with Catholic school educations often have thicker accents than their parents. Teachers may have more linguistic influence than parents. Who knows?
I always told my college roommate, who was from Nebraska and liked to mock my accent, that I was pretty sure people in America were talking the way I talk long before they were talking the way she talked, so I wasn't too worried about it.
I always told my college roommate, who was from Nebraska and liked to mock my accent, that I was pretty sure people in America were talking the way I talk long before they were talking the way she talked, so I wasn't too worried about it.
Interestingly descendants of German and northern European countries who tended to fan out in the mid-west (Nebraska) are characterized by that broad no accent - accent. Likely because they were farmers and "mixed it up" more with the locals they encountered. And never clustered in cities like the immigrants to the urban northeast. Although, there is a pronounced Upper Mid-Western accent heard in Minnesota and North Dakota.
resta-shawd, we ah closah to the Queen's English
than they ah.
Nawt if yah tahlkin ta one of us.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
