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I don't want to ignore you. I would have to think about that. My demographic, the Jews, rarely enters higher education or for that matter graduates high school.
The New Orleans Yat accent has striking similarities.with the NYC area accent, because NOLA was the largest city in the antebellum South and attracted many of the same immigrants that came to New York, including many Italians.
The Southern accent is fading with younger generations due to movies. With the film industry in Hollywood, the standard American accent is becoming more and more like the Californian accent.
I know there is a divide between the Upper South, Scots Irish accent of Tennessee and the Tidewater accent of Coastal North Carolina, which was settled by the English.
I don't speak French, but I heard the Cajun accent of Louisiana French is actually quite similar to the French accent of the French New Brunswickers.
Southern accent is alive and well outside the big metro areas. And there are a lot of subsets. North Georgia is different from South Georgia. Eastern Kentucky is different from Central Kentucky which is different from Western Kentucky. Texas has various accents, East, West, Central, Southeast. Listen to George W. Bush with his west Texas, Midland accent and Jeb Bush with a Houston accent (which is fairly mild but still distinct).
Southern accent is alive and well outside the big metro areas. And there are a lot of subsets. North Georgia is different from South Georgia. Eastern Kentucky is different from Central Kentucky which is different from Western Kentucky. Texas has various accents, East, West, Central, Southeast. Listen to George W. Bush with his west Texas, Midland accent and Jeb Bush with a Houston accent (which is fairly mild but still distinct).
I get that, but my main complaint is how quite a few Canadians and even some Americans say that the difference between a Canadian and American accent is very stark. It depends which Canadian accent and which American accent you're talking about. If you're comparing an Alabaman accent or a NYC accent to a Quebecois accent, then sure, the difference is very big. But if you're comparing a Toronto accent to a Los Angeles accent (among native English speakers, of course there's Chicano English, but I said native English speakers), then the difference is present but very, very subtle and mostly consists of minor vocabulary differences. The pronunciation differences are even less noticeable than the vocabulary differences and could be mistaken as idiosyncratic pronunciations between individuals that exist in any given population rather than as give aways of a Torontonian or Angeleno accent.
I'm simply trying to dispel Natasci's argument that Americans including Californians drawl their vowels, that is not true. Drawls are a Southern accent feature, and Californians typically do NOT speak like Southerners. Despite stereotypes, not all Americans say y'all, speak like Forrest Gump, and are religious firebrands who mix politics with religion. Especially, especially NOT in California.
The South African one is one I know instantly. Australian and New Zealand I have trouble with.
South African is simple, (to me), but I have a Zimbabwean friend who if I closed my eyes I swear could be a Saffa.
Differentiating between a Kiwi and an Aussie is a walk in the park, or should be.
Asking a Kiwi what part of Australia he’s from will earn you a bigger stink-eye than asking a Canuck which state he’s from.
I get that, but my main complaint is how quite a few Canadians and even some Americans say that the difference between a Canadian and American accent is very stark. It depends which Canadian accent and which American accent you're talking about. If you're comparing an Alabaman accent or a NYC accent to a Quebecois accent, then sure, the difference is very big. But if you're comparing a Toronto accent to a Los Angeles accent (among native English speakers, of course there's Chicano English, but I said native English speakers), then the difference is present but very, very subtle and mostly consists of minor vocabulary differences. The pronunciation differences are even less noticeable than the vocabulary differences and could be mistaken as idiosyncratic pronunciations between individuals that exist in any given population rather than as give aways of a Torontonian or Angeleno accent.
I'm simply trying to dispel Natasci's argument that Americans including Californians drawl their vowels, that is not true. Drawls are a Southern accent feature, and Californians typically do NOT speak like Southerners. Despite stereotypes, not all Americans say y'all, speak like Forrest Gump, and are religious firebrands who mix politics with religion. Especially, especially NOT in California.
Actually it's more of elongated vowels, that Americans make. Hence the old " out and about " and " house " etc. If you are from LA and I'm from Vancouver, I can tell the guy from LA since he doesn't have the Canadian Raising.
I know Californians don't speak like southerners, I have friends in Georgia, an aunt from Oklahoma, and an uncle who lived in Tennessee and family and friends in California.
Actually it's more of elongated vowels, that Americans make. Hence the old " out and about " and " house " etc. If you are from LA and I'm from Vancouver, I can tell the guy from LA since he doesn't have the Canadian Raising.
I know Californians don't speak like southerners, I have friends in Georgia, an aunt from Oklahoma, and an uncle who lived in Tennessee and family and friends in California.
Which part of California? Bakersfield and surrounding areas have a bit of that Southern drawl because Oklahomans settled in California.
With so many of your family in the South, though, your idea of an American accent has probably been subconsciously skewed towards the Southern accent.
I'm not saying the Anglo Canadian and Anglo Californian accents are identical, but I am saying that among all US accents, it's the Anglo Californian accent that is closest to the Anglo Canadian accent, see the following link.
The Canadian raising is not present in California but it is in the Northeastern accents. So it's quite conceivable that a New Englander who moved to California might still have the Canadian raising AND the Canadian/Californian vowel shift.
And this from Wikipedia:
The Canadian Shift is a chain shift of vowel sounds found in Canadian English, beginning among speakers in the last quarter of the 20th century and most significantly involving the lowering and backing of the front vowels. This lowering and backing is structurally identical to the California Shift reported in California English and some younger varieties of Western American English, Pacific Northwest English, and Midland American English;[1] whether this is all a coincidence or not is still not entirely clear
The difference between the two is present, for sure.
But then again, I'm a native born Californian, and here's my pronunciation of some words:
I say leisure as rhyming with pleasure, not as rhyming with seizure.
I say inventory as IN-ven-tree, not in-ven-tohr-ree.
I say narrator as nuh-RAY-ter, not NAIR-ray-ter.
I say geography, geometry as JAW-greh-fee and JAW-meh-tree, not jee-AW-greh-fee or jee-AW-meh-tree.
I say judiciary as joo-DISH-urry (3 syllables), not joo-DISH-ee-airy (4 syllables)
I say realization as ree-uhl-lai-ZAY-shun, not ree-uhl-lih-ZAY-shun. Similar pattern with organization, urbanization, visualization, etc.
I say adversary as ed-VER-suh-ree, not ADD-ver-sair-ree.
I say distribute, contribute as DIS-trih-bewt and CON-trih-bewt, not dis-TRIH-bewt or kun-TRIH-bewt.
I say all these words differently from other California born people. I didn't realize until high school that my pronunciation of these words was unusual among my peers. And I'm a native English speaker.
Yes, there is a difference between pronunciation patterns of a Anglo Canadian vs. an Anglo Californian, but once again, they are subtle and not all of them will crop up immediately. A Canadian mathematics professor visiting California could go lectures without saying anything revealing about his accent like "mum," "zed," "Chesterfield", etc. He'd have some different patterns in pronunciation but they would be so subtle that they could easily be mistaken for idiosyncratic pronunciation habits that exist even among native born Californians, like me.
Which part of California? Bakersfield and surrounding areas have a bit of that Southern drawl because Oklahomans settled in California.
With so many of your family in the South, though, your idea of an American accent has probably been subconsciously skewed towards the Southern accent.
I'm not saying the Anglo Canadian and Anglo Californian accents are identical, but I am saying that among all US accents, it's the Anglo Californian accent that is closest to the Anglo Canadian accent, see the following link.
The Canadian raising is not present in California but it is in the Northeastern accents. So it's quite conceivable that a New Englander who moved to California might still have the Canadian raising AND the Canadian/Californian vowel shift.
And this from Wikipedia:
The Canadian Shift is a chain shift of vowel sounds found in Canadian English, beginning among speakers in the last quarter of the 20th century and most significantly involving the lowering and backing of the front vowels. This lowering and backing is structurally identical to the California Shift reported in California English and some younger varieties of Western American English, Pacific Northwest English, and Midland American English;[1] whether this is all a coincidence or not is still not entirely clear
The difference between the two is present, for sure.
But then again, I'm a native born Californian, and here's my pronunciation of some words:
I say leisure as rhyming with pleasure, not as rhyming with seizure.
I say inventory as IN-ven-tree, not in-ven-tohr-ree.
I say narrator as nuh-RAY-ter, not NAIR-ray-ter.
I say geography, geometry as JAW-greh-fee and JAW-meh-tree, not jee-AW-greh-fee or jee-AW-meh-tree.
I say judiciary as joo-DISH-urry (3 syllables), not joo-DISH-ee-airy (4 syllables)
I say realization as ree-uhl-lai-ZAY-shun, not ree-uhl-lih-ZAY-shun. Similar pattern with organization, urbanization, visualization, etc.
I say adversary as ed-VER-suh-ree, not ADD-ver-sair-ree.
I say distribute, contribute as DIS-trih-bewt and CON-trih-bewt, not dis-TRIH-bewt or kun-TRIH-bewt.
I say all these words differently from other California born people. I didn't realize until high school that my pronunciation of these words was unusual among my peers. And I'm a native English speaker.
Yes, there is a difference between pronunciation patterns of a Anglo Canadian vs. an Anglo Californian, but once again, they are subtle and not all of them will crop up immediately. A Canadian mathematics professor visiting California could go lectures without saying anything revealing about his accent like "mum," "zed," "Chesterfield", etc. He'd have some different patterns in pronunciation but they would be so subtle that they could easily be mistaken for idiosyncratic pronunciation habits that exist even among native born Californians, like me.
We agree on this, and I have mentioned that several times here on CD. My dispute is with people who argue that the accent is the same or so close to being the same, that I couldn't possibly hear the difference.
Actually it's more of elongated vowels, that Americans make. Hence the old " out and about " and " house " etc. If you are from LA and I'm from Vancouver, I can tell the guy from LA since he doesn't have the Canadian Raising.
I know Californians don't speak like southerners, I have friends in Georgia, an aunt from Oklahoma, and an uncle who lived in Tennessee and family and friends in California.
The "outs and "abouts" and "houses" are giveaways.
And, if by "Canadian Raising" you mean the tendency for Canadians to sound like they're always asking a question, then I know what you mean. My public speaking instructor in "cahledge" (in Toronto) called it "up talking," and she'd nail us for it.
I don't want to ignore you. I would have to think about that. My demographic, the Jews, rarely enters higher education or for that matter graduates high school.
Ha!
I'm not sure if Canada has a Jewish population or its characteristics. As for the underlying question I'd say the use of the terms "college" and "university" are sometimes but certainly not always casually misused or used interchangeably.
I'm not sure if Canada has a Jewish population or its characteristics. .
Ha 2.0!
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