Dude! Im from NH, my moms from the Finger Lakes, my dad is from Boston. I've put my NY aunt and uncle on speaker phone just so my friends can try to translate it. Lol The western NY accent is a trip! I always said its like someone from Chicago speaking at a NYC pace. Its so cool to see a video about it!😮
thats a funny anecdote! just got the pleasure to speak to a guy from NH at my job today. he was dropping his R's and everything, it was interesting to listen to. glad you enjoyed the video 🤠
When I lived in Boston, I was told I said the "cal" in "calendar" weird. There's the vowel shift, but also a bit of a of a dipthong - "kyal". I thought that was interesting.
I really think the "Rochester Accent" is it's own thing. We seem to really exemplify the speech you are describing, while places like Buffalo are much more Midwest and Albany doesn't even count as Upstate in my mind. Greetings from Rochester. I was mortified the day someone identified me as being from the region when they said I had "the local accent". It's not a color, its a "Keller".
honestly, i can see the point there with how strong the city identity can be. yall have garbage plates out there lol, and a bunch of little things other areas of the state dont have
I agree with this 100%. Im from Westchester and moved to Rochester when I married my wife. The Rochester accent, seems to be much more pronounced than other upstate accents and it’s almost like a bastardized Detroit accent. This is especially evident with the westside suburbs like Greece NY. I could figure out if you lived on the west side very easily as soon as you said certain words like “Vegas” (the say Vaagis) and Bagel (they say Baagel). It’s strange because some words are completely butchered.
Syracuse native and former RaChaCha and Buffalo resident (and lived in Manhattan for 10 yrs)here - everyone here can discern the various sub-accents - we here speak more in line w/ those in northern PA and Central Ohio
Born and raised in Binghamton. Most people ask me if I’m from Wisconsin when they meet me LOL when I say I’m from NY, they automatically think NYC 😂 that really throws them off until I say UPSTATE! Well done on this explanation. Looking forward to more of your videos.
I am originally from the Syracuse area, and have lived all over the country. I've been called out on my pronunciation of certain words. I have a test word that I ask people to say, who are from the Upstate Thruway corridor. I say elementary as ele-men-terry. I've discovered that the overwhelming majority from this corridor say it this way. I laugh about it every time!
Dude absolutely, I lived around Aburn and Syracuse too and ever since I moved out to California, I had to change the way I say elementary because people keep "correcting" me lol
Very interesting. I worked with a guy from Utica once; he always sounded Canadian to me. Consequently, I've always just assumed that was the Upstate New York accent--i.e., a Canadian variant!
I'm from the countryside of upstate NY specifically Northern New York. So when I saw this video in my feed, I got really excited. I did enjoy the video a lot, its just that the city characteristics aren't as prevalent or rather as strong in the countryside, like you said. People up here talk in a different but similar way, but it is definitely interesting
i havent spent too much time up there by the mountains besides camping, so im just curious what ways do you think your speech differs from what I described? would you say its closer to a new england or even canadian accent? genuinely curious
@@julienandross i feel like the only difference is that we don't have the same shift that the upstate cities do. for example, at 4:11, the way you pronounced trap and bag the way that the northern cities would, we don't pronounce it that way. we pronounce it the way you previously do at 4:09. i wouldn't say its closer to a new England or Canadian accent (although some people here do speak kinda Canadian because of my proximity to the border), i just don't think our vowels shifted. but i might not be able to tell by myself, I'm not super into linguistics. i looked up some videos specific to city accents, and they definetly do sound different, syracuse being the one that sounds the most like how we speak.
that makes a lot of sense. i like how detailed you got in your explanation! the vowel shift. i described is called the northern cities shift after all, so itd make sense that it hasnt reached all the way up there yet. i knew a guy from platsburgh in college and he definitely had a more "normal" american accent compared to mine. then theres also factors such as AAVE influence, which can greatly impact the way people in the city speak too, considering AAVE is very city concentrated in the northern US.
Thank you!! Have been scrolling for HOURS to find upstate new York accent. There are THOUSANDS of videos explaining accent with lists of single word pronunciations... LISTS LISTS LISTS!!! I JUST WANT TO HEAR SOMEONE TALK IN UPSTATE ACCENT!!! LOL
very glad to have put a temporary end to your search for my accent lmao! tried to give viewers like you the best of both worlds by explaining the characteristics in detail, but also displaying them in free speech since I naturally speak with the accent.
Im from PA and went to niagara falls a couple years ago and Ive noticed a lot of different accents within Upstate. Western Upstate, Middle Upstate, Hudson Valley (Eastern Upstate), and the Adirondacks (Northern Upstate) these are different areas with sublte differences. Western Upstate says pop and Central (Binghampton, Elmira, Especially those areas near the PA border like Jervis and the Deleware River area (i do consider that area to be Upstate bc Its closer geographically and culturally to Upstate than to New York City) ) and everything east of that says Soda, More rural Upstate people sound different from those i towns but it seems to differ and blend depending on where you are.
super true! there are common features, but the state occupies a pretty large chunk of land so there are definitley subtle differences within it. it shifts more and more midwestern the closer to lake erie you get, shifts towards new england the further north you go, shifts towards NYC or central PA depending on what area of the south youre in, and youre more likely to hear AAVE influencing standard english dialects in the larger cities as opposed to the countryside.
Little changes over long periods of time add up. It’d be interesting to know what our accent will sound like in a few hundred years, if it’ll even be mutually intelligible with very different American accents such as the gulf coast or southern Appalachian accents.
I don't think mutually intelligible is the word you're looking for here? All American accents are mutually intelligible. Well, apart from maybe Cajun lol
Lol I'm from Buffalo and live in Florida where I get asked if I'm from Canada/ Minnesota 🤣🤣🤣 I do have a NYC accent too a little. The southerners hate when I talk lol
Julien, what accent did you generally use in this video? I find it to be the most pleasant-sounding American accent to my ears. BTW, I'm a native of 🇵🇭.
this is true, a lot of older people have much more exaggerated pronunciations. it could be slowly disappearing, or at the very least naturally leveling out.
Does the vowel shift also make people say actually over and over.and add lots of other ly filler words ? Actually, basically asking since watching your video actually.
english is not my native language so it always sounds like a mix of everything to me especially when i talked to those native speakers lolll. thank you so much for this video, it really gives me a new perspective to think about it now that im living in upstate ny.
i know exactly what you mean lol, i feel the same way when trying to speak spanish with a native speaker. english out in the wild is vastly different from english on duolingo lol! hope you continue to grow and develop in the language, have fun with it 😎🤠
honestly i might, i dont think i say it like that but if im speaking fast and not paying attention i could picture it coming out that way. i havent noticed myself pronouncing it that way tho
I'm from Ohio originally and now dwell in Florida and I think you and I sound almost exactly the same. Maybe you have influence from African American Vernacular English too.
cool stuff man! really does just go to show how my area is more tied to your area than it is to the city we're most known for lol. ohio is closer to me than new york after all
oh yeah dude, NYS is big. cleveland is over an hour and a half closer to me than NYC lol. we prolly sound so similar since all the cities around the great lakes popped up after the erie canal, and more or less shared a culture with each other. im happy you enjoyed the video bro! 🤠😎
i come from utica. yk the city between syracuse and and albany ig that no one talks abt probably bc its a shithole. i cant really say much on this bc i ahve a speech deficit. mostly with t's and th's like i cant pronouns words that end with t and i cant pronounce the th sound at all so words like that become dhadt and the becomes da. tbf aave is a part of it. i grew in a place that is extremely diverse but in the end by speech deficit always happen for speaking. i also cant tell the difference on pronounciation of three and free so you could its a bit difficult to talk to me in person. i do see the thing with coffee tho. how i would saw it is like the higher o you were talking abt so cOawf'ee. youll notice hear i pronounce words slow aswell. nice video anyways tho
youre right people do tend to leave cities like utica, oswego, and watertown out of the conversation. being closer to downstate too, i can definitely see how your "o" vowel in "coffee" can get thicker.
Keep the work up man. I’m trying to support more of my upstaters
yessir! upstate NY stays strong
Dude! Im from NH, my moms from the Finger Lakes, my dad is from Boston. I've put my NY aunt and uncle on speaker phone just so my friends can try to translate it. Lol
The western NY accent is a trip! I always said its like someone from Chicago speaking at a NYC pace. Its so cool to see a video about it!😮
thats a funny anecdote! just got the pleasure to speak to a guy from NH at my job today. he was dropping his R's and everything, it was interesting to listen to. glad you enjoyed the video 🤠
The Finger Lakes, huh? long live Cayuga and Seneca Lake.
@@DariusJones I would bounce around between Seneca and Canandaigua between family.
When I lived in Boston, I was told I said the "cal" in "calendar" weird. There's the vowel shift, but also a bit of a of a dipthong - "kyal". I thought that was interesting.
I really think the "Rochester Accent" is it's own thing. We seem to really exemplify the speech you are describing, while places like Buffalo are much more Midwest and Albany doesn't even count as Upstate in my mind. Greetings from Rochester. I was mortified the day someone identified me as being from the region when they said I had "the local accent". It's not a color, its a "Keller".
honestly, i can see the point there with how strong the city identity can be. yall have garbage plates out there lol, and a bunch of little things other areas of the state dont have
I agree with this 100%. Im from Westchester and moved to Rochester when I married my wife. The Rochester accent, seems to be much more pronounced than other upstate accents and it’s almost like a bastardized Detroit accent. This is especially evident with the westside suburbs like Greece NY. I could figure out if you lived on the west side very easily as soon as you said certain words like “Vegas” (the say Vaagis) and Bagel (they say Baagel). It’s strange because some words are completely butchered.
Syracuse native and former RaChaCha and Buffalo resident (and lived in Manhattan for 10 yrs)here - everyone here can discern the various sub-accents - we here speak more in line w/ those in northern PA and Central Ohio
Binghamton NY here! Love learning about this kind of stuff
the hidden ɡem of the southern tier riɡht there!
Binghamton native here!South side 😊
Born and raised in Binghamton. Most people ask me if I’m from Wisconsin when they meet me LOL when I say I’m from NY, they automatically think NYC 😂 that really throws them off until I say UPSTATE! Well done on this explanation. Looking forward to more of your videos.
Binghamton is downstate.
@@RandomNonsense1985 compared to everything above it, yes. Compared to NYC, it’s upstate 😉
I am originally from the Syracuse area, and have lived all over the country. I've been called out on my pronunciation of certain words. I have a test word that I ask people to say, who are from the Upstate Thruway corridor. I say elementary as ele-men-terry. I've discovered that the overwhelming majority from this corridor say it this way. I laugh about it every time!
OMG SAMEZYS, SYRACUSE GANG♥♥♥♥
Dude absolutely, I lived around Aburn and Syracuse too and ever since I moved out to California, I had to change the way I say elementary because people keep "correcting" me lol
I’ve always preferred steamed hams to hot dogs anyways
never heard anyone call it that before lol
@@julienandross it's an Albany expression
@@julienandross😁
thats a pretty unique one tbh! lmao
@@julienandrossIt's a joke from the Simpsons. Principal Skinner claims in Utica burgers are called steamed ham
Great video! You did a really good job of explaining this in an understandable way despite my limited linguistic knowledge.
awesome sauce 😎 happy to hear
Very interesting. I worked with a guy from Utica once; he always sounded Canadian to me. Consequently, I've always just assumed that was the Upstate New York accent--i.e., a Canadian variant!
i could see the similarities, were are pretty close to the border so theres a bit of cross influence for sure
I'm from the countryside of upstate NY specifically Northern New York. So when I saw this video in my feed, I got really excited. I did enjoy the video a lot, its just that the city characteristics aren't as prevalent or rather as strong in the countryside, like you said. People up here talk in a different but similar way, but it is definitely interesting
i havent spent too much time up there by the mountains besides camping, so im just curious what ways do you think your speech differs from what I described? would you say its closer to a new england or even canadian accent? genuinely curious
@@julienandross i feel like the only difference is that we don't have the same shift that the upstate cities do. for example, at 4:11, the way you pronounced trap and bag the way that the northern cities would, we don't pronounce it that way. we pronounce it the way you previously do at 4:09. i wouldn't say its closer to a new England or Canadian accent (although some people here do speak kinda Canadian because of my proximity to the border), i just don't think our vowels shifted. but i might not be able to tell by myself, I'm not super into linguistics. i looked up some videos specific to city accents, and they definetly do sound different, syracuse being the one that sounds the most like how we speak.
@@julienandross its a significant difference to where i can tell if someone is from the city or not
that makes a lot of sense. i like how detailed you got in your explanation! the vowel shift. i described is called the northern cities shift after all, so itd make sense that it hasnt reached all the way up there yet. i knew a guy from platsburgh in college and he definitely had a more "normal" american accent compared to mine. then theres also factors such as AAVE influence, which can greatly impact the way people in the city speak too, considering AAVE is very city concentrated in the northern US.
Thank you!! Have been scrolling for HOURS to find upstate new York accent. There are THOUSANDS of videos explaining accent with lists of single word pronunciations... LISTS LISTS LISTS!!! I JUST WANT TO HEAR SOMEONE TALK IN UPSTATE ACCENT!!! LOL
very glad to have put a temporary end to your search for my accent lmao! tried to give viewers like you the best of both worlds by explaining the characteristics in detail, but also displaying them in free speech since I naturally speak with the accent.
What sites do you recommend for exploring Upstate NY accents. Appreciate any and all of them.
@melissahirst3078 Try to find streams from local radio stations. The local ads and DJs are usually good examples.
Elmira here....everything is spot on. Thank You.
Greetings from Rochester! It's so weird seeing my own region in a RUclips video. I'm literally not used to it at all.
Literally ? Really ? Why would you use literally in this sentence ? Just stop, please.
Im from PA and went to niagara falls a couple years ago and Ive noticed a lot of different accents within Upstate. Western Upstate, Middle Upstate, Hudson Valley (Eastern Upstate), and the Adirondacks (Northern Upstate) these are different areas with sublte differences. Western Upstate says pop and Central (Binghampton, Elmira, Especially those areas near the PA border like Jervis and the Deleware River area (i do consider that area to be Upstate bc Its closer geographically and culturally to Upstate than to New York City) ) and everything east of that says Soda, More rural Upstate people sound different from those i towns but it seems to differ and blend depending on where you are.
super true! there are common features, but the state occupies a pretty large chunk of land so there are definitley subtle differences within it.
it shifts more and more midwestern the closer to lake erie you get, shifts towards new england the further north you go, shifts towards NYC or central PA depending on what area of the south youre in, and youre more likely to hear AAVE influencing standard english dialects in the larger cities as opposed to the countryside.
Little changes over long periods of time add up. It’d be interesting to know what our accent will sound like in a few hundred years, if it’ll even be mutually intelligible with very different American accents such as the gulf coast or southern Appalachian accents.
for real dude, by 2500 american and english may become seperatle languages, given the physical isolation between us and britain.
I don't think mutually intelligible is the word you're looking for here? All American accents are mutually intelligible. Well, apart from maybe Cajun lol
Let's hear you try the accents in Southern Ontario 🙂
at work sometimes ill put on a canadian accent all day for fun. its relatively close my natural one but still difficult to consistently adhere to.
I'm a Boston kid that went to Syracuse for undergrad. After four years in Western NY I have always said that the MidWest begins in Utica.
Somewhere between Syracuse and Buffalo, “soda” becomes “pop”.
Lol I'm from Buffalo and live in Florida where I get asked if I'm from Canada/ Minnesota 🤣🤣🤣 I do have a NYC accent too a little. The southerners hate when I talk lol
never noticed i had a strong hudson valley accent until now
Julien, what accent did you generally use in this video? I find it to be the most pleasant-sounding American accent to my ears. BTW, I'm a native of 🇵🇭.
thank you! i just spoke with my native accent, from buffalo new york. broadly speaking, it can be catagorized as an urban great lakes accent.
Your vowel commentary is based, though I don’t hear it so much any more. Twenty years ago I could pick out the Colonie townies by their vowels.
this is true, a lot of older people have much more exaggerated pronunciations. it could be slowly disappearing, or at the very least naturally leveling out.
My in-laws from Albany sound like they are from the Bronx....but they are from Albany.
From WNY, now in Roc. I’ve noticed for long i, ppl say “buh-ik” instead of “byke” for example
Noticed the Canandaigua shoutout
a hidden gem in the heart of the state. went to college out there!
As Someone from albany we have similar pronunciations to someone from NYC though we don’t share the same
I grew up in Upstate, i literally don't know how we have an accent.
tough to tell when we're surrounded by it all the time, but we do.
@@julienandross I guess its probably like that for southerners too
Only got this in my recommended because google was listening to me talk about a New York accent. But good shit
no kiddin lol, still glad you enjoyed it 👍
Does the vowel shift also make people say actually over and over.and add lots of other ly filler words ? Actually, basically asking since watching your video actually.
this is so interesting!
english is not my native language so it always sounds like a mix of everything to me especially when i talked to those native speakers lolll. thank you so much for this video, it really gives me a new perspective to think about it now that im living in upstate ny.
i know exactly what you mean lol, i feel the same way when trying to speak spanish with a native speaker. english out in the wild is vastly different from english on duolingo lol! hope you continue to grow and develop in the language, have fun with it 😎🤠
i love new york accents
When you say the word “both” does it have an L sound in it? I hear “bolth” from many Midwest speakers.
honestly i might, i dont think i say it like that but if im speaking fast and not paying attention i could picture it coming out that way. i havent noticed myself pronouncing it that way tho
Syracuse born gang represent!!
I subbed
awesomesauce, thank you 😎
I'm from Ohio originally and now dwell in Florida and I think you and I sound almost exactly the same. Maybe you have influence from African American Vernacular English too.
cool stuff man! really does just go to show how my area is more tied to your area than it is to the city we're most known for lol. ohio is closer to me than new york after all
@@julienandross yeah, cool😎 stuff! I also didn't know you dwell nearer to Ohio than New York City, that's a surprise.
@@julienandross oh and thanks🙏 for the heart❤️
you also taught me about the nothern cities vowel shift, that was new to me, so thank you for that too
oh yeah dude, NYS is big. cleveland is over an hour and a half closer to me than NYC lol. we prolly sound so similar since all the cities around the great lakes popped up after the erie canal, and more or less shared a culture with each other. im happy you enjoyed the video bro! 🤠😎
Like how you keep skipping from Syracuse to Albany like there's not another city in the middle
ngl i think of utica and oswego as towns in my head, sorry lol. same with watertown and binghampton
@@julienandross If Little Falls can be a city so can Utica
@@wgebbia fair enough lmao 😂
Said the word linguistics i got nnerdy
I'm from upstate NY and we don't have an accent.
i come from utica. yk the city between syracuse and and albany ig that no one talks abt probably bc its a shithole. i cant really say much on this bc i ahve a speech deficit. mostly with t's and th's like i cant pronouns words that end with t and i cant pronounce the th sound at all so words like that become dhadt and the becomes da. tbf aave is a part of it. i grew in a place that is extremely diverse but in the end by speech deficit always happen for speaking. i also cant tell the difference on pronounciation of three and free so you could its a bit difficult to talk to me in person.
i do see the thing with coffee tho. how i would saw it is like the higher o you were talking abt so cOawf'ee. youll notice hear i pronounce words slow aswell. nice video anyways tho
youre right people do tend to leave cities like utica, oswego, and watertown out of the conversation. being closer to downstate too, i can definitely see how your "o" vowel in "coffee" can get thicker.