Is the Seattle accent similar to the one spoken in the Great Lakes region?

[Lamplight]

Originally Posted by rmkiefer07

2. I've heard many a native say "all's" as opposed to "all". Example: "All's I know". I've also heard this in Michigan and Ohio, so maybe there's some Midwestern influence?

I've heard southerners do this, too.

Originally Posted by gotigers123

The only distinctly Washington thing I've noticed is the pronounciation of "bag" "tag" "lag", etc. The A is super-hard. Not sure if this is similar to the upper midwest or not.

This is the thing I noticed the most shortly after moving here. I was at the dentist and while the anesthesia was kicking in, the hygienist asked me if I'd like a "may-gih-zeen". I had to get her to repeat it several times before I could figure out what she was saying. The way she pronounced it I thought she was talking about some sort of...medicine...I guess? For the pain? Now I'm used to it, but it certainly threw me off at first. The only other thing I've noticed that really stood out to me was a girl I overheard talking on her cell phone who pronounced the word "somebody" as "sahm-biddy". But of course I have no idea if she was a native or a transplant.

I will say that after living here for nearly ten months now, when I talk to my mom (from TN) on the phone, her thick southern accent sounds really, really weird to me. And I have a southern accent myself, but not nearly as thick as hers.

[JesseJB]

Im a native and yeah I can vouch for the "MAYG-azine" and "BAY-g" thing. Its funny because growing up, even in elementary school, it bugged me when people pronouced it that way.

[hipcat]

Theres definitly a slight Canadian influence is some of pronounciations of words like Tommorow, and the "Bay-G" thing is definitly true. But the accent is.more noticeable outside of Seattle.

[robertpolyglot]

No. With native Seattleites, I couldn't tell any difference in their speech from that of a northern Californian. The only speech that was different was their "hate speech," again, toward Californians. I think that's calmed down now.

[pw72]

The midwest has a certain "twang" to it that is hard to describe in writing. It is kind of a nasal sound, but not especially pronounced. Seattle is more like a "broadcast accent", with words usually enunciated quite clearly and deliberately, like a news announcer would.

[lady fern]

Occassionally you come across a slight bit of a Canadian sound, but for the most part natives do not have an accent. Of course my son is born and bred and I think he sounds like a SoCal surfer. I have run across natives who have a very distinct accent that I can only describe as if they grew up trying to sound Southern. They have a drawl, but don't sound Southern. I always called it the redneck accent because they generally drove a lifted pickup and spent their time "muddin'" in the hills.