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.
Most Place in the Midwest have a generic accent IMO, but I'm from Detroit and I don't think I have a accent but who knows? what places do in the Midwest do you think have a distinctive accent with a exception St Louis and Minnesota
Random question, why are St. Louis and Minnesota (the whole state?) being singled out? They certainly aren't the only accents I can think of for the Midwest... The old SNL Chicago skits anyone?
Bloomington and Champaign/Urbana in Illinois have fairly neutral accents, although those from Chicagoland would probably say a bit otherwise. If you cross over into Indiana you encounter a more twangy accent again, though.
Nope. I've been accused of the opposite, but I can assure you I don't have an inferiority complex. What I do have is a degree in linguistics, and some insight into how language and dialect work. I'm not Noam Chomsky, but I know a little bit.
cot/caught merger & the Northern Cities Shift...& more
Quote:
Originally Posted by Savagedre313
Most Place in the Midwest have a generic accent IMO, but I'm from Detroit and I don't think I have a accent but who knows? what places do in the Midwest do you think have a distinctive accent with a exception St Louis and Minnesota
"My linguistic illusions were shattered in college. In an introductory phonetics class I discovered that certain words that I had always pronounced the same way were supposed to be distinct. The words included pairs such as cot and caught and Don and dawn.
The Northern Cities Shift is heard across a broad swath of the Northern U.S. from Upstate New York throughout the Great Lakes region and westward into at least Minnesota. As its name suggests, it is most strongly rooted in large cities including Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago, but it is spreading beyond the urban centers into more rural areas."
Q. by Kate...Is there such thing as a Chicago accent?
Best Answer Chosen by Voters
"yes it's a nasal accent. Also, Chicago people tend to pronounce words how they are spelled phonetically. Unlike California, where they pronounce Dawn and Don the exact same way. In chicago, it's Dawn and "Dahn"...... clear and distinct!"
"I was laughing while watching Suze Orman. She has such a Chicago accent. Yes we have a distinct Chicago and Midwestern accent.
I was out west recently and I ran into so many people (I took a lot of taxis) from Milwaukee, Chicago, and similar places, and they all could tell right away that I was from the same area, and enjoyed talking about their midwest past."
In Chicago, instead of saying "Where are you?", we'll say "Where are you at?". Also, people with very strong Chicago accents may hiss their s's, and add s's at the end of store names. Examples: Jewel becomes Jewels, Jewel-Osco because Jewel-Oscos, Walmart becomes Walmarts, Target becomes Targets, etc.
Nope. I've been accused of the opposite, but I can assure you I don't have an inferiority complex. What I do have is a degree in linguistics, and some insight into how language and dialect work. I'm not Noam Chomsky, but I know a little bit.
KC accent still does not sound neutral to my ear. However, localized differences are apparent depending on what area of the metro you're in and how urban/rural the location is. The speech patterns of the Ozarks region do come fairly close to KC and the southern tiers of the counties south of the metro definitely reflect this transition.
Most Place in the Midwest have a generic accent IMO, but I'm from Detroit and I don't think I have a accent but who knows? what places do in the Midwest do you think have a distinctive accent with a exception St Louis and Minnesota
The accent of people in Detroit is a mixture of the Yooper accent and the Northern Cities Vowel shift (I.E. Rick Snyder or Debbie Stabenow).
The Yooper accent has become more pronounced around Detroit in recent years though. That's probably because Detroit doesn't see the inward migration is used to from other regions and because of transplants from the UP of Michigan.
The accent of people in Detroit is a mixture of the Yooper accent and the Northern Cities Vowel shift (I.E. Rick Snyder or Debbie Stabenow).
The Yooper accent has become more pronounced around Detroit in recent years though. That's probably because Detroit doesn't see the inward migration is used to from other regions and because of transplants from the UP of Michigan.
You just don't notice it.
I would guess more migration would be from central and northern lower Michigan and other parts of the surrounding region more than the UP in absolute numbers. The UP represents a very small percentage of the total state population.
KC accent still does not sound neutral to my ear. However, localized differences are apparent depending on what area of the metro you're in and how urban/rural the location is. The speech patterns of the Ozarks region do come fairly close to KC and the southern tiers of the counties south of the metro definitely reflect this transition.
"Mama's Family" took place in Raytown, MO, which is in the Kansas City area. The characters sounded more southern than I thought they would in that part of Missouri. I'm assuming it was exaggerated for TV though.
Cincinnati's "accent", as much as it has one (which is very subtle, possible linguistically non-existent), features more of the markers of what many might call "country" than KC. Words and constructs like "reckon", "plumb" as an averb, "might could", etc.
Kansas City speech is neither "twangy" nor "country" by any linguistic measure, though I'm sure that fits the St Louis narrative of "little country cousin KC". In point of fact, KC has no municipal dialect. People here speak the Central Midland dialect of American English, a speech pattern which is recognized as the nee plus ultra of American Received Pronunciation, aka, no accent.
The accent of people in Detroit is a mixture of the Yooper accent and the Northern Cities Vowel shift (I.E. Rick Snyder or Debbie Stabenow).
This is a pretty good description of the Michigan accent in general. It has its own flavor. It does vary slightly as you travel around the state, though.
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.
cot/caught merger & the Northern Cities Shift...& more
