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Old 01-22-2017, 11:06 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit View Post
I need to clarify something I said earlier about there being a similar accent outside of the Northeast and South. People in Northern Michigan have an accent which extends out to Northern Minnesota. I think it is best exemlpified in Sarah Palin, who althoigh is not from that area, I believe the accent was transplanted to Alaska from Minnesota.
Yes, her accent does sound alot like Minnesota or the Dakotas. And yes, different accent than Detroit for sure. The people in western NY, i.e. Buffalo or Rochester sound more similar to the Detroit area than say Minnesota IMO.
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Old 01-22-2017, 11:11 PM
 
Location: Brackenwood
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Detroiters speak with a lower Great Lakes accent, the most common example being a "Chicago" accent. Natives of Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse all speak with a similar accent.
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Old 01-23-2017, 06:57 AM
 
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The "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northe...es_Vowel_Shift extends from Upstate New York, all thru the Great Lakes, to Minnesota.
In this accent, "cat" sounds almost like "cay-et".
"That" like "thay-et".
"Can" like "Ceh-en".
"Hat" like "hy-et".
"Fat" like "fy-et".

Especially true, when these words are at the END of a sentence.
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Old 01-23-2017, 08:00 AM
 
Location: Metro Detroit
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There are most definitely accents outside of the Northeast and South. People often ask where I'm from, based on my accent (it's a bit more "country" then you'd probably assume from reading my posts) - but I also notice an accent among Michiganders too (and not just Yoopers) - it's pretty much exactly as slowlane3 said, it's a vowel shift. The words I notice it most obviously in are:

Gosh ("Gash")
Hat ("Heht")
Gas ("Gase")

Seriously, nobody says, "Oh my Gash" outside of the Great Lakes region, we instead say "Oh my Gawsh" - Now I will admit it's not nearly as noticible as accents you'd find in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic or South - sometimes I can barely understand people from the South, but it's obvious for someone who didn't grow up here, probably just as obvious as my "country" accent is to people here.

Also one I hear all the time which isn't so much accent, but rather dialect, is "Ash-phalt" - there is no second H in asphalt, it's said exactly how it's spelled, but it's cool, I add an H to picture ("pitcher") and it has taken me a long time to get to the point where I drink "milk" instead of "melk"
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Old 01-23-2017, 12:31 PM
 
Location: Detroit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey View Post
Detroiters speak with a lower Great Lakes accent, the most common example being a "Chicago" accent. Natives of Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse all speak with a similar accent.
I don't think so. Most Chicago people I know have somewhat of a southern sounding accent. At least in the black community. Detroiters have a accent similar to the bay area (Oakland, CA). Watch the movie Fruitvale Station, they have that Detroit accent. I almost thought NBA player Damian Lillard was from Detroit when I heard him talk, but he is from Oakland. That's how similar the accents of Detroit and the Bay sounds.
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Old 01-23-2017, 12:43 PM
 
Location: Brackenwood
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MS313 View Post
I don't think so. Most Chicago people I know have somewhat of a southern sounding accent. At least in the black community. Detroiters have a accent similar to the bay area (Oakland, CA). Watch the movie Fruitvale Station, they have that Detroit accent. I almost thought NBA player Damian Lillard was from Detroit when I heard him talk, but he is from Oakland. That's how similar the accents of Detroit and the Bay sounds.
Black accents are a different animal altogether. Much of the industrial Midwest's black population has roots in Mississippi, Alabama, and to an extent Arkansas, and generally speaking the black population in these cities have kept a lot of that region's accent and speech patterns as a way of reinforcing social and cultural unity in places where they weren't exactly welcomed with open arms.

So I guess I should clarify that WHITE natives of these cities speak with what is generally thought of as a "Chicago" accent but is really a regional lower Great Lakes accent.
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Old 01-23-2017, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Metro Detroit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MS313 View Post
I don't think so. Most Chicago people I know have somewhat of a southern sounding accent. At least in the black community. Detroiters have a accent similar to the bay area (Oakland, CA). Watch the movie Fruitvale Station, they have that Detroit accent. I almost thought NBA player Damian Lillard was from Detroit when I heard him talk, but he is from Oakland. That's how similar the accents of Detroit and the Bay sounds.
Sorry, totally unrelated, but I used to watch him play in college! It was very evident from Day 1 that he was going places beyond the school I got my A.S. from, and he has not disappointed
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Old 01-23-2017, 02:22 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit View Post
I may be wrong, but I travel all across the country on a regular basis and the only people that sound like they have an accent are in the Northeast and South.

I just took this test Quiz - Which American accent do you have? - YouThink.com and it said I have a Western accent. I lived my whole life in Michigan. So maybe I was wrong?
WRONG

The People of the New Orleans area have an accent (a New York/Southern hybrid)
(She really starts getting into it at 2:08)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7vlfaMTBWQ


The Cajun People of Louisiana have an accent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO4zcAH1-wo


Northern Minnesota/Wisconsin people have accents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZTdLqr1kk


Baltimore people have accents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KylF4mZXf1Q

St. Louis people have accents too, I could find a good video.

Compared to those above people, Detroiters do not accents IMVHO.
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Old 01-23-2017, 04:39 PM
 
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Actually, everyone has an accent if the the person listening to them is from somewhere else. Even the newscasters. Tom Brokaw is from the upper midwest and certainly has a distinct accent...if you're from somewhere else!
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Old 01-24-2017, 12:09 AM
 
Location: Detroit
3,671 posts, read 5,840,373 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey View Post
Black accents are a different animal altogether. Much of the industrial Midwest's black population has roots in Mississippi, Alabama, and to an extent Arkansas, and generally speaking the black population in these cities have kept a lot of that region's accent and speech patterns as a way of reinforcing social and cultural unity in places where they weren't exactly welcomed with open arms.

So I guess I should clarify that WHITE natives of these cities speak with what is generally thought of as a "Chicago" accent but is really a regional lower Great Lakes accent.
lol yea your right about that.

Quote:
Sorry, totally unrelated, but I used to watch him play in college! It was very evident from Day 1 that he was going places beyond the school I got my A.S. from, and he has not disappointed
Your talking about Weber State? Damn that's what's up. I like him he is one of my favorite players along with Westbrook, Drummond, and maybe Harden. I definitely wouldn't mind having him on this Pistons squad with Drummond and KCP's defense. Anyway lol yeah I'm off track.
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