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People from Chicago do not have accents - unless it is an ethnic one of some sort, which you will find anywhere. Chicago is "international" as well (as you said about Houston).
That's exactly right . I wish more people from out of town could see that. Let me elaborate on that, if I will. The north side, downtown, and the southwest side have the more "neutral" accent. The south side, southeast side, and west side have "dat New Yahk thing."
That's because many of the people that reside there learn English erratically. They pronounce "t" just like New Yorkers do. A combination of dropped and slurred "r" (think of Elmer Fudd).
I have friends that live in those areas and sometimes I feel like I'm around Jennifer Lopez or something. Of course, expect plenty of slang and inner city influence. One friend told me she had to go "to da bo-day-ga" and I didn't know what that was. The really sweet girl told me it was a store. The old storefronts on Western are put to good use, still being neighborhood grocers, restaurants, and bars. I don't drink btw .
I theorize that it is the rich mix of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, other Hispanics, and blacks. My friends live in around 59th and Western. Western, Ashland, Kedzie, and Pulaski is heavily Hispanic and black. This stretches from the northside on down.
So saying Chicagoans have accents is right. Everyone has one. Even me, although I am "more neutral." But not every Chicagoan has an ethnically influenced accent like Kanye West. This is really good thing to discuss. Do you want some more examples?
Last edited by EnchantedEvergreen; 01-20-2009 at 08:55 PM..
Reason: Missing Information
A very, very small percentage of descendants from Polish immigrants have this accent. It's so rare as to be impossible to find these days.
I hate to break it to you, but as someone born and raised in Chicago I do none of the above. Nor does anyone I grew up with, went to school with, or associated with in my years in the city. Anyone in this nation who has had even a cursory education in English should have been taught the proper ways to pronounce.
I've seriously never encountered these accents. It's this Northern Cities Vowel Shift bull**** all over again. I'm not sure if you're pulling it from somewhere to insult Chicagoans or simply to prove that midwesterners have accents, but this bizarre obsession with attributing frontal vowel warpings to the midwest is completely unfounded.
Last but not least, there is no way in hell Houston has a "moderate" accent. I'll accept regional variations, because "neutral" as an adjective describes a span of outliers averaged together, but Houston has a very clear and marked accent. I'm not sure if or how it would differ from other areas of Texas, but it's decidedly southern.
Nice rebuttal ! I mean that. I don't do any of that either. The whole "hard a" thing is clearly New England/Rhode Island. I'm a big Family Guy fan so I know the difference between my Midwestern speech and the heavy, New England accents.
Peter, for example says "saaaaaaahsige," "da Pay-tree-its," and "be-uh." Lois sounds nasal like a few Great Lakes folks but also uses a New England accent. I threw in Family Guy to show you what I mean.
You're right, the Northern cities vowel shift means nothing. There are some, a few people that talk like Peter Griffin but it's not as strong as it is in Rhode Island.
Houston has a lot of people from my region and the great state of California. The transplant theory is right but natives of Houston talk like Tex Ritter or Hank Hill .
Last edited by EnchantedEvergreen; 01-20-2009 at 08:53 PM..
Reason: Incorrect Information
Actually, if you've ever STUDIED phonetics or diction or anything of that sort...You learn that the most neutral accents tend to be in the PNW region, California ('cept for those Valley girls), parts of the Midwest, large Southern cities (that includes (the city) of Houston), especially because of the in-migration/transplants. Someone needs to get their updated textbook.
Last edited by theSUBlime; 01-20-2009 at 08:54 PM..
That's exactly right . I wish more people from out of town could see that. Let me elaborate on that, if I will. The north side, downtown, and the southwest side have the more "neutral" accent. The south side, southeast side, and west side have "dat New Yahk thing."
That's exactly right . I wish more people from out of town could see that. Let me elaborate on that, if I will. The north side, downtown, and the southwest side have the more "neutral" accent. The south side, southeast side, and west side have "dat New Yahk thing."
Uh, I grew up around southsiders, and New Yorkers, they don't sound anything like each other. I can't imagine two more different sounding people than my relative from Queens who I would talk to on the phone when I was a kid and that guy my dad was friend's with from work who lived on the south-side (and sounded like it). If you think that there is anything even remotely similar with those two accents, you've got a tin ear.
I don't know if I'm really late to this, but I thought I'd just add my 2 cents.
For the Chicago not having an accent thing, I really have to disagree, because I'm in vocal contact with somebody from Chicago a lot via PSN, and I definetely hear something different in how she talks. It's mainly in how she says "A's." They come out really hard and exaggerated, like when she crashes in this one car game, she doesn't "crash," she "creeaashes," if you get what I'm saying. That's the really big thing I hear, and if something else ever comes up, I'll be sure to keep you posted.
And to really any major cities having a "neutral accent," I'm gonna have to say that I really just can't see this. I'm from DC, which is usually associated with having a "general American" accent or a slight southern one, but me and a lot of people I know really don't talk like that at all. As for me personally, I tend to drop a lot of "r's" and add them back into the wrong places (ie. "Yeah, I saw(r) it," and stuff like that), I do that typical "dese, dem, dose, dat ting" thing, my "I's" are really "hard" and usually sound more like an "oy," (ie. time more sounds like toy with an "m" after it), and I do that exaggerated "aw" sound, like in "tawk and cawfee," and even in a lot of other words, so that words like "caught and cot" both sound the same, like "cawt." . I also tend to talk really fast, and people ask me to repeat stuff, a lot. Those same people also tell me I sound like I'm from Boston or New York (admittedly I have been to Boston a lot (my Dad's family is from there, Mom from Philly), been to New York maybe twice), and my Driving Instructor even had the balls to say I sounded like I was from Liverpool, to which I kindly replied by saying something which would probably get filtered on here.
Again, that's just my 2 cents which is probably completely worthless, but hey, it's really long isn't it?
I don't know if I'm really late to this, but I thought I'd just add my 2 cents.
For the Chicago not having an accent thing, I really have to disagree, because I'm in vocal contact with somebody from Chicago a lot via PSN, and I definetely hear something different in how she talks. It's mainly in how she says "A's." They come out really hard and exaggerated, like when she crashes in this one car game, she doesn't "crash," she "creeaashes," if you get what I'm saying. That's the really big thing I hear, and if something else ever comes up, I'll be sure to keep you posted.
Again, born and raised in Chicago, never heard anything like that. As EnchantedEvergreen noted, that kind of accent is distinctly a northeastern accent. When I hear people use those examples (something I myself have never seen exemplified in my years in the midwest) I'm just mystified.
I won't deny that the midwest has accents and regional variations, because of the whole "there is no standard accent" situation. But seriously I've never heard anything like "creashes" outside of the time I lived in NYC.
I pity whatever poor soul has to listen to that, because it sounds irritating beyond measure.
I don't mean for this to be an attack on you But as someone who has spent years and years in Chicago it completely contradicts everything I know when someone tries to attribute the NCVS to my area. I didn't hear that type of speech until I had moved to the Bronx and later, Manhattan.
I'm hard pressed to really note a specific accent to Chicago or the upper midwest, outside of perhaps Minnesota? It's just a very generic sounding accent attributable to many Americans across the board these days.
Again, born and raised in Chicago, never heard anything like that. As EnchantedEvergreen noted, that kind of accent is distinctly a northeastern accent. When I hear people use those examples (something I myself have never seen exemplified in my years in the midwest) I'm just mystified.
I won't deny that the midwest has accents and regional variations, because of the whole "there is no standard accent" situation. But seriously I've never heard anything like "creashes" outside of the time I lived in NYC.
I pity whatever poor soul has to listen to that, because it sounds irritating beyond measure.
I don't mean for this to be an attack on you But as someone who has spent years and years in Chicago it completely contradicts everything I know when someone tries to attribute the NCVS to my area. I didn't hear that type of speech until I had moved to the Bronx and later, Manhattan.
I'm hard pressed to really note a specific accent to Chicago or the upper midwest, outside of perhaps Minnesota? It's just a very generic sounding accent attributable to many Americans across the board these days.
Hi, Coldwine. I'm happy you agree with me. That accent is indeed northeastern. However, the hard "a" exists in some speakers in the midwest. Just like up there, this only applies to the working class. There is no standard accent. Standard means (in this instance) a commonly spoken dialect of English. Neutral is different, therefore most (not all) Midwesterners and West Coast people speak more neutral. Remember, I said more neutral. Pronunciation is sometimes different but other than that, there's one of my points; having it be more neutral.
That type of speech certainly is restricted to New England. Obviously, the hard "a" thing is more common the further north you go. That is to say, the closer to Canada, the harder the "a." Again, this came from northwestern Europe. Certain NYC dialects will sometimes but not all the time drop r's. Another thing to remember.
I am also hard pressed to find a "Chicago" accent. Any midwestern city I know does not have an ethnically influenced accent. Again, NYC and coastal New England have that. Coldwine is right about "not hearing that kind of speech until Bronx and later Manhattan."
The working class (streets and sanitation, garbage, repair man as an examples) would talk like that. Other than that, Chicago in particular and it's metro area is neutral.
Much of the suburbs are middle class. I'm middle class, well educated and everyone I know (except the minorities and again, the working class) speaks more neutral. Hopefully, this is more clear. Have a nice day.
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. I wish more people from out of town could see that. Let me elaborate on that, if I will. The north side, downtown, and the southwest side have the more "neutral" accent. The south side, southeast side, and west side have "dat New Yahk thing." 
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But as someone who has spent years and years in Chicago it completely contradicts everything I know when someone tries to attribute the NCVS to my area. I didn't hear that type of speech until I had moved to the Bronx and later, Manhattan. 
