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I'm not sure what it is, but people in California to me sound ever so slightly different from Oregonians, people in Washington seem to also have a slightly different tone in their voice. What do you think?
I think the main reason with regional accents was isolationism from the rest of the country. Up until, really the late 1980's, Cable TV was not widespread. People spoke their versions or heard 'mainstream' english pronounced in movies or newscasts or radio. That was it. It was not enough to change how people spoke. Cable TV, and now the internet, and explosion of media sources, This allowed people living in places with strong accents to hear how other people pronounced words naturally.
For the majority of the US history (1620's-1980's) regional accents were developed by the COMBINATION of cultural groups and how they filtered the English language through that. Here are some examples:
New England- Irish and English, hence a more "English/Irish' slang to their words
New York- Many layers to NY accents but the influx of Jewish speaking Yiddish, and Italians speaking 'fast' influenced the current accent. The accent, without this influence, was drastically different. Movies set in NYC in the mid 1800's researched the accents and found it to be more British/Dutch than the current one
New Orleans- Combination of broken English/French/German/Spanish. Again, the Italian influence at the turn of the century has ironically, lent some to talk similar to someone from Brooklyn.
Texas- Strong German influence and thus a slower more guttural pronunciation of the English language. Strong Mexican Spanish influences in some of the South Texas areas and cities but even that Spanish accent is slightly different than the California because the combination is different.
Dixie- More proper English with the ties to Anglo-Europe but of course the agricultural background and lack 'huge city centers' left it unaltered. It is just a slow verison of english. Of course this is changing, little by little.
I could go on and on ...but I think regional accents will slowly (very slowly) start to merge. Students are taught standardized english in schools and now can hear how everyone pronounces letters in words. This was not the case for someone growing up in New England. The west coast usually attracts people who are generations removed from immigration and tend to speak standard english to begin with. I'm sure there are pockets that are exceptions to this rule but the trend appears to be to move toward a singular accent, depending on your education level, exposure to other accents, etc.
I think the main reason with regional accents was isolationism from the rest of the country. Up until, really the late 1980's, Cable TV was not widespread. People spoke their versions or heard 'mainstream' english pronounced in movies or newscasts or radio. That was it. It was not enough to change how people spoke. Cable TV, and now the internet, and explosion of media sources, This allowed people living in places with strong accents to hear how other people pronounced words naturally.
For the majority of the US history (1620's-1980's) regional accents were developed by the COMBINATION of cultural groups and how they filtered the English language through that. Here are some examples:
New England- Irish and English, hence a more "English/Irish' slang to their words
New York- Many layers to NY accents but the influx of Jewish speaking Yiddish, and Italians speaking 'fast' influenced the current accent. The accent, without this influence, was drastically different. Movies set in NYC in the mid 1800's researched the accents and found it to be more British/Dutch than the current one
New Orleans- Combination of broken English/French/German/Spanish. Again, the Italian influence at the turn of the century has ironically, lent some to talk similar to someone from Brooklyn.
Texas- Strong German influence and thus a slower more guttural pronunciation of the English language. Strong Mexican Spanish influences in some of the South Texas areas and cities but even that Spanish accent is slightly different than the California because the combination is different.
Dixie- More proper English with the ties to Anglo-Europe but of course the agricultural background and lack 'huge city centers' left it unaltered. It is just a slow verison of english. Of course this is changing, little by little.
I could go on and on ...but I think regional accents will slowly (very slowly) start to merge. Students are taught standardized english in schools and now can hear how everyone pronounces letters in words. This was not the case for someone growing up in New England. The west coast usually attracts people who are generations removed from immigration and tend to speak standard english to begin with. I'm sure there are pockets that are exceptions to this rule but the trend appears to be to move toward a singular accent, depending on your education level, exposure to other accents, etc.
Yeah regional accents exist on the west coast (though they seem to not be quite as distinct from each other as some on the east coast), and if anything, they're slowly becoming less strong/widespread. The proliferation of radio, TV and the "newscaster accent", the internet, as well as some cities getting overrun by transplants, etc makes it harder to sustain the isolation needed for unique accents to form and stay alive.
As far as San Francisco goes: People in SF, especially in the Mission district back when it was Irish and Italian, used to have an accent that was supposedly somewhat similar to a Brooklyn accent. Today, this accent is mostly gone (less isolation + tons of transplants) and SF natives now sound mostly like other CA natives, but despite that, myself and a couple of my SF native friends have had experiences with people asking us if we're from "the east coast". Apparently parts of the Bay Area (SF and Oakland especially) have a good amount of people that don't have the cot-caught merger, unlike most other west coast residents. This could be what occasionally confuses some people into thinking that it sounds like an "east coast" accent, though from what i've read it's actually probably influenced more by the midwest, as that's where a lot of the Bay Area's original settlers come from (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, were some i remember reading about). The black population has lots of ties to the midwest too, but mainly the south (some places i've heard of: Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Minnesota, Illinois), like most northern/western black populations in the US. So those are two regional accents in the Bay Area alone right there.
I've noticed younger people, especially girls/women, in Northern California to the Pacific NW are starting to have a "vowel shift" of sorts I can't quite identify. I know it when I hear it though. I haven't been to SoCal enough recently to know if its going on down there as well. There's a terrible morning announcer on a Chico TV station that exemplifies it. She says "wather" and "Radding" for weather and Redding. "Skoal" and "adolt" for skull and adult. Plus she has this nasally "e-ah" sound she uses when saying "can", "camping" or "thanks" just like someone from the northern Midwest. I've heard this shift from younger people in this area and up in Washington and Oregon as well. People 35 or 40 on up don't seem to do it (like myself!).
Many Black folks in urban areas up and down California have several types of very distinctive accents. They are some of the most instantly recognizable regional dialects in the country. These accents have obvious Deep Southern roots given that many Black Californians have recent Southern roots. The speech patterns tend to emphasize the "er" sounds in words like "buster". Also words like "mark" and "park" are sometimes almost pronounced like "mork" and "pork". Notable Black celebrities that have these types of California accents are Ray J, Too Short and Snoop Dogg.
Listen to this Hunter's Point, San Francisco rapper's thick California accent:
This obviously might not be the most complimentary example, but listen to some of these highly distinctive accents that are common among many Black California natives in the cities:
Last edited by goldenchild08; 06-11-2011 at 11:42 AM..
Just thinking, but if there is one part of the West that I can think of that has a distinct accent, I am picturing Utah is having it mainly due to history. Is there a distinct accent in that area?
Just thinking, but if there is one part of the West that I can think of that has a distinct accent, I am picturing Utah is having it mainly due to history. Is there a distinct accent in that area?
I think the main reason with regional accents was isolationism from the rest of the country. Up until, really the late 1980's, Cable TV was not widespread. People spoke their versions or heard 'mainstream' english pronounced in movies or newscasts or radio. That was it. It was not enough to change how people spoke. Cable TV, and now the internet, and explosion of media sources, This allowed people living in places with strong accents to hear how other people pronounced words naturally.
For the majority of the US history (1620's-1980's) regional accents were developed by the COMBINATION of cultural groups and how they filtered the English language through that. Here are some examples:
New England- Irish and English, hence a more "English/Irish' slang to their words
New York- Many layers to NY accents but the influx of Jewish speaking Yiddish, and Italians speaking 'fast' influenced the current accent. The accent, without this influence, was drastically different. Movies set in NYC in the mid 1800's researched the accents and found it to be more British/Dutch than the current one
New Orleans- Combination of broken English/French/German/Spanish. Again, the Italian influence at the turn of the century has ironically, lent some to talk similar to someone from Brooklyn.
Texas- Strong German influence and thus a slower more guttural pronunciation of the English language. Strong Mexican Spanish influences in some of the South Texas areas and cities but even that Spanish accent is slightly different than the California because the combination is different.
Dixie- More proper English with the ties to Anglo-Europe but of course the agricultural background and lack 'huge city centers' left it unaltered. It is just a slow verison of english. Of course this is changing, little by little.
I could go on and on ...but I think regional accents will slowly (very slowly) start to merge. Students are taught standardized english in schools and now can hear how everyone pronounces letters in words. This was not the case for someone growing up in New England. The west coast usually attracts people who are generations removed from immigration and tend to speak standard english to begin with. I'm sure there are pockets that are exceptions to this rule but the trend appears to be to move toward a singular accent, depending on your education level, exposure to other accents, etc.
great post
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