Is the Seattle accent similar to the one spoken in the Great Lakes region? (elementary school, living)

[Tiger Beer]

Tons of Midwesterners have made the move to the Pacific Northwest.

I lived in Oregon for awhile....I met tons and tons and tons of Midwesterners. Whatever accents that are there, are quite subtle, so I doubt if anyone would quickly point out the Midwesterners.

But, it wouldn't surprise me if the woman in that video is Midwesterner who now announces herself as someone from Seattle.

[Gentoo]

To my ears the accent in Seattle is almost indistinguishable from that in the Bay Area. There are some slight differences though. Both accents as well as Norcal in general are said to resemble Canadian accents as these accents unlike most American dialects clip the vowels, they're less drawn out. Indeed to me Seattle and the Bay Area are often hard for me to tell from even Toronto at times at least the differences seem less exaggerated than often stereotyped.

Seattle however seems to have a certain vowel openness. One example to me is that the word milk sounds almost like "melk". I've only really heard this in the PNW. It's more noticeable outside of Seattle.

[robertpolyglot]

I'm overly analytical, especially of speech patterns, and I never noticed a Seattle accent. In fact, though a Californian, a few people went on speaking to me as if I was a "local" until I told them I was from California (my mistake).

Only two things I've noticed:
1) many people from northern California all the way up to the Canadian border will pronounce the word "across" as "acrost." It irritates the hell out of me. Basically, what that tells me is that their ancestry came over the Donner Trail or Lewis and Clark Trail from the heartland.
2) the use of the word "rambler" to describe a one-story home. That is clearly imported from Minnesota. Only 168 miles away, in Portland, they use the more generic term "ranch," as is used in Texas or Long Island NY.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I'm overly analytical, especially of speech patterns, and I never noticed a Seattle accent. In fact, though a Californian, a few people went on speaking to me as if I was a "local" until I told them I was from California (my mistake).

Only two things I've noticed:
1) many people from northern California all the way up to the Canadian border will pronounce the word "across" as "acrost." It irritates the hell out of me. Basically, what that tells me is that their ancestry came over the Donner Trail or Lewis and Clark Trail from the heartland.
2) the use of the word "rambler" to describe a one-story home. That is clearly imported from Minnesota. Only 168 miles away, in Portland, they use the more generic term "ranch," as is used in Texas or Long Island NY.

What the...? Never heard of that. A rambler as far as I know one is someone who talks too much. A ranch is a farm type thing or salad dressing.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

What the...? Never heard of that. A rambler as far as I know one is someone who talks too much. A ranch is a farm type thing or salad dressing.

Call a realtor in Seattle and one in Portland. Or Google it. Seriously.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

What the...? Never heard of that. A rambler as far as I know one is someone who talks too much. A ranch is a farm type thing or salad dressing.

No, he's right, LOL. I can still remember a commercial from 10-15 years ago for one of the RE companies where a RE agent was showing a couple houses. They've already made it clear they didn't want a rambler... and the RE agent kept showing them... ramblers. "Oh, but this is a tuscan style rambler." "This is a cottage rambler."

Ranch definitely isn't mentioned here as much... but it is also a reference to a one story house. Usually a "ranch-style" house.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

No, he's right, LOL. I can still remember a commercial from 10-15 years ago for one of the RE companies where a RE agent was showing a couple houses. They've already made it clear they didn't want a rambler... and the RE agent kept showing them... ramblers. "Oh, but this is a tuscan style rambler." "This is a cottage rambler."

Ranch definitely isn't mentioned here as much... but it is also a reference to a one story house. Usually a "ranch-style" house.

Wow ok, just learned something new about that dialect.

[MrSpof]

For what its worth, we call them ramblers in Virginia too.

More on topic, I was in California years ago and noticed no different accent than in Virginia (northern). I was in Oregon (coastal near Washington) and Portland in 2010 and noticed no accent. Looking forward to a couple of week long stays in the Seattle area soon preliminary to a permanent move there.

[megan3708]

I recently made the move from Cleveland to Seattle and while I was raised to believe that I had zero accent, Seattle natives have given me a rude awakening. My co workers like to point out every time my accent shows. I get asked where I am from all the time because of my accent- my A's always get me caught. I have unfortunately come to believe that Seattle natives speak very clearly and those of us from the great lakes region have a midwestern accent.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by megan3708

I recently made the move from Cleveland to Seattle and while I was raised to believe that I had zero accent, Seattle natives have given me a rude awakening. My co workers like to point out every time my accent shows. I get asked where I am from all the time because of my accent- my A's always get me caught. I have unfortunately come to believe that Seattle natives speak very clearly and those of us from the great lakes region have a midwestern accent.

You do


Northern Cities Vowel Shift - YouTube

Northern cities vowel shift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia