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I think Detroiters sound more GA, Miss, AL mix while Chicago sound more Miss,Arkansas, AL mix because most of the people here come from those places. Well most ppl I know in Detroit parents and grandparents come from GA,Miss, and AL and most Chicago ppl Ive come across grandparents and parents came from Arkansas or Miss being the majority and the rest from AL. But yea we def have a little "southern twang" lol
Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland (along with Milwaukee and Buffalo) all have a northern cities vowel shift accent that is typical of the Great Lakes region.
Having lived in Cleveland and now Chicago I can tell you the accents are similar, but there are some differences and I can tell them appart. I'm not even sure that I can explain how I can tell them apart, but I know it when I hear it. I think people from Cleveland talk faster and a bit sharper than people from Chicago for one thing.
White people in Cleveland have the worst accents. I used to listen to Rover's Morning Glory which is based in Cleveland
It's just not pleasant to my ears.
Rover is actually from Chicago. But yeah, a lot of people around the Great Lakes have a nasal tone to their accent. I think it's actually the worst in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Rover is actually from Chicago. But yeah, a lot of people around the Great Lakes have a nasal tone to their accent. I think it's actually the worst in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Rover has the most tolerable accent of all the people on the show
Rover has the most tolerable accent of all the people on the show
It's not just Rover who is from Chicago, but I think half the other people are also from there. The woman sidekick on the show is definately from Chicago. I believe the meathead guy sidekick is from Cleveland though. Ironically that show was moved to Chicago for a while and failed, so back to Cleveland it went.
I grew up about 50 miles west of downtown Cleveland....I can definitely notice a nasal component to my family's speech. Actually, the further north (closer to Lake Erie) you go, the more pronounced the nasal component becomes. There is a small but noticeable difference (to me, anyway) between Sandusky, Ohio and Willard, Ohio (the two cities are in neighboring counties, Sandusky being about 25 miles due north of Willard). As for that Northern Cities Shift thing, I think I am well wrapped up in that! LOL. For CANDY, I say "Key-andy" and whenever I say the name "Ann" it closely resembles the name "Ian."
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Living in 2 locations in northern Illinois for the past few years, I have noticed a few differences between my northern Ohio speech habits and those of the Chicago-to-Rockford area.
My best friend was born and raised in an inner-ring Chicago suburb (Summit, near Midway Airport) and pronounces Chicago as "Chi-caw-go," compared to my "Chi-cah-go." He pronounced sausage as "sahh-sij" compared to my "saw-sij;" pronounced strawberry as "straw-bee-ery" compared to my "straw-bear-ee." Whenever he is going to visit our friend Mary at her house, he is "going BY Mary's" compared to me "going OVER to Mary's."
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My mother was originally from Indiana (between Indy and Fort Wayne). Whenever I'm visitng relatives I can definitely tell the difference between their accents and my accent. Whereas I am in the Inland North speech region, they are in the Midland speech region. For example, the word ROCK for them is "Rawk" but I say "Rahhhk." MOM is "Mawm" but for me is "Mahhhm."
An interesting one for me is that my grandma (born in Chicago, but raised and lived her whole life in Indiana) calls a green bell pepper a "mango." I like that!
I moved from western Michigan to Minnesota and I definitely notice the difference between Michigan and MinnesOOOOdaaa speech. I never thought I had an accent, but after being up here for a while I can hear the Michigan accent - it's weird. Sounds almost Eastern/Southern to me, with wide "o's" and the "cot/caught" difference.
What I'm probably hearing is just the LACK of an MN accent, though. My friends from back home say I've picked up a thick MN accent - I can't hear it, but they give me grief for it all the time. For what it's worth, I took one of those accent quizzes a few days ago, and got 100% North Central or "Minnesota," so maybe I do have the MN accent now . . . . don'cha knooooooooow.
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