This Map Shows Where American Accents Come From
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 23 сен 2024
- When you're traveling to another part of the US than you're originally from, it might be surprising to hear how different the locals sound. For instance, a New Yorker will likely speak the same English language in a completely different accent from a native Texan. How did Americans get so many distinctive accents?
Science Insider tells you all you need to know about science: space, medicine, biotech, physiology, and more.
Subscribe to our channel and visit us at: www.businessins...
Science Insider on Facebook: / businessinsiderscience
Science Insider on Instagram: / science_insider
Business Insider on Twitter: / businessinsider
Tech Insider on Twitter: / techinsider
--------------------------------------------------
Following is the transcript of the video:
NEW ENGLAND
Let's start with New England, which was one of the first US regions to develop its own American English accent. Today, a speaker from New England might say "Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? You have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Is that your thing; you come into a bar and read some obscure passage and pretend...you pawn it off as your own?"
NEW YORK
For such a geographically small area, New York City certainly has a bunch of distinctive accents. But in general, its accents evolved from a mixture of its Dutch and English roots and numerous waves of immigration.
A modern speaker from New York probably won’t sound like what you hear in movies like "Hey, I'm walking here! I'm walking here!"
They’re more likely to say "Deep dish pizza is not not only better than New York pizza, it's not pizza."
DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY
New York’s New Jersian and Pennsylvanian neighbors sounded quite different.
Nowadays, someone from Philly might say "We're a regular family. We watch Philly jawn on TV. We go down to the Jersey Shore. But when we want great hoagies, discount prices on beer, and a great atmosphere we go to Lee's Hoagies in Horsham, PA."
SOUTHERN COAST
Let’s take a look at what went on down south.
The southern coast of the United States has a variety of different accents. One example is Southern coastal white. "What concerns me about the American press is this endless...endless attempt to label the guy some kind of kook."
AFRICAN AMERICAN
Other southern dialects preserved some of the original remnants to this day. "They come over here and get oysters and clam and go fishing because they're right down the road. They're right in Brunswick or Savannah or Jacksonville.
Much later, a wave of African Americans migrated from the American South to urban centers in the North, mixing their accents together. "Being a kid from New York City, I mean from Brooklyn. And my aunt - God bless her soul - she used to always take me to The Rockettes - you know, the Easter show and the Christmas show."
APPALACHIANS
he Ulster-Scots had a significant influence on many American dialects in the South and West. Most of the original accent has disappeared, and today, an American from Tennessee might sound like this. "Now, I am just who I am. I'm not always nice. I choose to be good. I choose to have a good attitude because I want people to know. I am a girl with many colors."
MIDWEST
As the Appalachian settlers headed west, their accents joined with speech patterns from the North.
The Midwest has many diverse accents. Today, a speaker from the Great Lakes might say "I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country; a classic baby boomer."
Or more famously, "We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
While another from Wisconsin/Minnesota/the Dakotas might say "If either of these men draw, I'm gonna be forced to shoot some people, and I don't want to do that."
TEXAS
Down in Texas, a very distinct accent developed. The famous Texan accent we know from movies like "They shot and killed a state senator named Bibs in Waco, Texas." has started to level out. Visitors to big cities like Houston might be surprised to hear something more like "Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to beautifully capture the profundity of deep southern culture."
CALIFORNIA
Last but not least is the West Coast, which had a very different mix of immigrants compared to the East Coast. California doesn’t come close to having one, distinct accent. A modern-day speaker might sound like "We woke up the next morning on his actual birthday. And I told him I wanted to take him somewhere to lunch for his birthday." or "What's so powerful about this novel is everyone has their own interpretation to these characters."
These are just a handful of American accents...and they’re still evolving as we speak. We’ll have to check back in a century or so from now to see what happens next.
most of these weren't the best examples. people usually tone down their accent when speaking publicly compared to a normal conversation
DaBrute Or dial it up when they're putting on an accent for a movie.
@hudson Same reason all British people have a "standard" British accent on TV. Americans are taught to talk "standard" in certain situations, but we all have a slight accent depending on where you grew up.
Oh absolutely. I unintentionally tone down my southern accent when I am in a professional setting.
hudson I guess it’s cuz the standard accent of Americans. I’m from Dallas and the majority of people I know have a standard American accent bc there’s a ton of diversity and immigrants here. But if I went to see my friend in Florida, her entire family has a southern accent
@@ash.613
Omg Florida accents tho!!!!!
The Midwest is the most basic accent I’ve ever heard of English. I’m midwest
morgan riddiford it's because it is. Least accent according to most linguist. It's still there bit very subtle.
The wiscaaaahnsin accent is very distinguishable, though. The most basic accent is probably the West Coasters. Most of us don’t sound like Kim Kardashian.
"Mid-west" is too generic. People speak with different accents if they are Hoosiers, from Detroit or Chicago, from Wisconsin, etc. Of course if you are from the region you would think it's "basic." It's what you're used to hearing. Those accents are distinctive just like every other American accent.
morgan riddiford still going strong with my ozark accent a dying accent I'd say he missed its a mix of midland and Appalachian dialects and has a native american tone alot of people say that probably cause osage here but missouri ozarks is verry distinct from northern missouri and st.louis
That’s how we sound here in Ontario as well.
I'd be more impressed with natural speakers, not actors and celebrities.
Yes exactly
I'm from Texas and some of my friends who live up north or in the west can tell I have a southern accent.
That was my first thought because they have had a completely different life than your normal person and different influences
Yeah, and what happened to the DC accent? We have one.
Using celebrities is a good idea because their accents are familiar.
Florida accents can go from serious country to basically normal
Yeah its weird I live on the state line of Alabama and Florida most have crazy southern accents then others like me have what is to me a regular dialect
@@CrashinAsh living in south florida ive noticed my accent and the accent of others has a hispanic sound to it , ive learned this through hearing my voice alongside my friends online and at first i thought i had a normal american accent but it sounds like someone who grew up speaking spanish and learned english at a young age.
@@andresluciano7795 yeah it is kinda wierd bc i know what you are talking about the only reason i know i talk different then others in Alabama is people dont believe I am from here and people also dont recognize me as I'm from the south when I talk online
@@andresluciano7795 huh that's weird, in miami I've noticed many hispanics that were born speaking spanish and later learn english usually have a southern twang
@@CrashinAsh Seminole?
They forgot Hawaii! It's such a distinct accent. Not like most other accents in the U.S. that are barely distinguishable.
Agreed. It's quite unique too.
When I moved from Waianae, Hawaii me and my brothers had to take remidial speach classes. It's a it's not an accent, it's a whole other dialect!
Most lists kind of forget Hawaii I think. I mean it is closer to Japan that the continental US.
Slim Dave I know right! I have an aunty that lives in Hawaii and at first understanding the locals (and even my aunty sometimes lol) was a little difficult. Hawaii definitely has its own dialect!
alyx8626 what did you expect, the video is made by white people trying to whitewash the nation.
Am I the only one that thinks all the accents sound clearly different? Maybe it's because I'm from the Midwest...
Exactly. From Indiana we don’t sound Canadian period. Definitely closer to the ones on the video
I grew up in Kansas and when I moved to Arizona people used to tell me that I spoke funny, but to me, they sounded funny too, so now, people say that I sound like Texans.
From ohio, ngl I think the Californian accent sounds the most similar to ours, besides that the rest are clearly different.
Well most linguist say that Midwesterners have the least accent in the world. Makes it easier to hear accents.
Nasally! Yuck - except Southern and Texas accents.
Oh god why did you guys choose kim kardashian as an example for california
Amaury Lannes terrible examples ysk tsk tsk
Yeah they chose two SoCal people to represent the entire state. We don't talk like Kim or Leo up here.
At least they didn't use Paris Hilton for yall. God I hate her voice more than I hated Joffrey.
opwave79 in the Bay Area we sound pretty similar to Leo
Mrbunsngear I have got to write down that insult, you are hilarious 😂
In New England, I've met few people under age 50 with our signature accent. I think it's begun to fizzle out and become more like the Midwest and Californian accents. Pronouncing the letter R is still a challenge for some people, though.
I met some college aged young men in Stoughton, MA that had completely rhotic accents, pronouncing all R sounds. They still had distinct eastern New England accent features, such as the cot/caught merger, the men's name "Don" was pronounced "Dawn" for example(not "Dahn" as I'd say with a southern NJ/Philly accent), and they had tense, nasal pronunciations of words like "Amazon" and "family". A SoCal accent would have merged cot and caught the other way, i. e. "Dahn" for both names. The Boston accent in general is becoming more rhotic, though.
Yeah it's the same here. This is a college town and we got walmart. So a ton of people aren't from here and we got nothing southern about it. More midwest or california or something. Very generic white guy sounding. Also my family isn't real southern. They just live in the south. That's why there's no accent here anymore. It sucks
It’s phasing out, but definitely not turning into midwest accents lol
What you called a New England accent is a Boston accent. The speech of the greater Boston area is somewhat an anomoly to the rest of New England.
Preach!
I know right? And how are Connecticut and Rhode Island not part of New England?
Ashleigh Zanardi -New Englander here.
New England is split into mainly three different cultural spheres: Southern New England, Northern New England, and Vermont is a little unique boy. Vermont has tons of french influence from quebec, so that's why. Rhode Island and Connecticut are kinda the most hated states in New England. That's why - but they are apart of NE
@@vermonarch4018yea, and we also don’t really count New York as apart of New England
I’m pleasantly surprised they included African influences on American accents.
@bull shiyot yet, "white" rulers did a not very good job lol
@@marco.castiglia what
yeah they need to consider your fragile feelings
I can't hear the similarities at all.
BOOM! Who would’ve guessed the race card would be played.
Except the South all the accents have blended together. People aren't isolated as they used to be in the past.
I can tell distinctions from carolina, alabama and texas
Oregon No, it’s the complete opposite. In the North East and Middle America, the accents are almost identical, because they’re derived from the same accent. Whereas in the South, most states have completely different ancestry and have very distinct accents. In Louisiana, you’ll hear vaguely French accents, in Texas, you’ll hear mainly Mexican inspired accents, in Alabama and Tennessee, you’ll hear Scottish based, in Georgia it’ll sound mostly English, and Florida will sound Spanish. Even states that are right next to each other sound nothing alike, like Texas and Louisiana.
I can tell your not from the south lol. Ppl from VA have like 3 different accents in that one state. Carolinians sound different as well, and hillbillies from West VA sound different then hillbillies in Tennessee.
Aaron Landry North Florida does not sound Spanish lol.
DA REAL Johnny Appleseed No, but there’s definitely a Spanish influence in the accent, because of the Spanish settlers.
POOR VOCAL EXAMPLES
Agreed. They used either over-the-top Hollywood versions or watered down versions. The Southern black lady sounded more Caribbean than Southern, but she may be one of the Gullah people.
She was definitely Gullah.
Trent Campbell yeah
A lot of them sounded the same to me
gblueslover2 Arizona
Y’all slept on the west coast. Just said Cali and ended the video 💀
DoggosarenotPuppers because nobody cares about nothing over there besides California
skt I’m not from California
skt it depends, stay away from big City and the ghetto(which is over a third of California admittedly) and people do have some hospitality. Rural areas are pretty nice, and small cities are a sweetspot.
It's kinda hard for some to be nice, living in the people's republic of California and all.
skt You're full of shit. There are 37 million of us here. Not everyone is from Hollywood.
Ariel False. People only care about Los Angeles. California is a big state
At least they use 1 language. Here in my country, there's 700 regional languages, and a ton of dialect.
There's 1 unified language, but with strong dialect of every region, i have to hear what they are saying twice.
I haven't taken a shower for 7 weeks, but pls take shower
I haven't taken a shower for 7 weeks, but where are you from?
If I have to take a guess, you are from Indonesia, correct?
LagiNaLangAko23
You haven't heard of the Jeju language
I haven't taken a shower for 7 weeks, but no we dont. You can't forget hawaii
New Orleans' accent shares more in common with New York than it does with Atlanta.Some have said it's because in contrast to Atlanta and most other places in the South, New Orleans experienced significant European immigration between the mid 19th and early 20th centuries.
New Orleans/New York sound similar because of the large Irish/Italian influence
Wish this was longer
I'm french and i have to admit that all these accents sound the same for me (except the texan accent 😂)
Elizabeth Castro-Saucedo tbh when Americans say texan i hear what you miswrote. Lol. Then they add the an at the end.
Yann Lemaistre Those are famous examples. People from the East tell me I talk to fast. I can’t understand people from the South at all.
its because your french, as an American I can clearly tell the difference between them all. Ether turn up the volume or get better ears
kiDkiDkiD12 - I'm British they sound the same to me except the Texan and another southern one. In the UK there is clear water between most of the accents.
Nah I've lived all throughout the United States and Currently live in Texas and they all sound different few are similar but all different I probably have a normal American accent which is more of a mix from Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Texas so I'd say a mixed accent would sound more like mine which I'd say is the normal accent but isn't like famous in movies and such.
Terrible examples.
Janik Bollh von horst yes, especially for California using Kim K uhh
For the upper Midwest you have to listen to someone who's angry. then you notice an accent
Janik Bollh von horst Agree 100%
My grandpa's from Tennessee, and I can't understand a godamn word from his mouth.
What about Chicago?
I'm not a native English speaker but I can hear the small differences in all accents.
i only heard a difference in Texan and Californian accent
doesn't help that almost all of those examples were actors that try to get rid of their accent
i heard all the accents :P
That Philly accent was VERY distinct.
Nope
Love linguistics, love American accents and their rich culture(s). Greetings from Mexico.
aaaah linguistics
+Adil Zia It's a lovely thing, isn't it... ;)
Not gonna lie us “Californians” might not act like the Kardashian’s but we sure do sound like them
& & some of us Californians choose to speak "normal" instead of that valley girl accent not all of us jeez
& & very much true my guy
Its truer because now girls do plastic surgery and love Kim Kardashian .
Either that or some ghetto girl imitating Lil tay or "cash me ousside" girl🤣🤣
& & Nah Kardashians sound like Californians not the other way around
So, annoying.
Even though Florida is in the 'deep south', I live there and almost no one has a 'southern' accent here. The only place you might find anything like it is near the Panhandle. It's kinda hard to tell what accent we have; the closest thing to it MIGHT be Midwestern... I could be wrong though.
As an Iowan who has worked with recent Florida emigrants, I can safely say you guys don't sound Midwestern. Not southern either, but noticeably non-local. Slight differences in speed and pitch.
Sean Nolan
Yeah, I just kinda guessed. We're not really similar to any other accent, because we don't really have one accent.
Everyone has an accent, you just don't notice because it sounds normal to you.
I gotta say as a native Floridian, I cannot put a finger on what category our “regional” accent would fall under. I think there’s just too much outside influence for us to have one of our own. But the midwestern kinda makes since when you consider that most people who relocate here are from the Midwest I.e. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan..
Yurjezich [YJZ]+ The only part of Florida considered to be the Deep South is the Panhandle across the top to Jacksonville. The further south you go, the more you find people who moved there (or parents or grandparents) from outside the South. I thought this was common knowledge, guess not. "Deep South" is as much culture as it is location, and the parts considered Deep have a majority of people whose families were there before the Civil War, so you can tell by the accents, food, etc. The Deep South is generally South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. North Florida, East Texas, and West Tennessee are usually included.
Many of our accents are disappearing due to big city shaming of small towns and country states. Calling small town/country states accents backward, racist or the famous "uneducated sounding". The kids trying to prove they aren't any of those things, drop the native accent. Sad.. always liked that Transatlantic accent.
The accent in London has changed completely over a short period of a few years. All school age childen sound a bit 'Jamaican ' ( i think) but it's definitely not the cockney accent as we all knew and loved just a few years ago. So accents can change VERY quickly.
Omgosh yes 👍 thank you for admitting that. Most people say it’s still cockney, well depending on what area you are from
In my first years learning English I would always prefer the Midwest accent because it was the accent I could understand best.
Is it because are accents are boring :(
The midwest one was very accurate to where i am in Iowa, i feel like we have the least amount of distinction in Iowa and we just have a sort of calm light way of talking. It's probably my favorite american accent because there's nothing jarring about it.
Y'all round out your O's in your mouth cavity and say R's like your in the movie Fargo. And say shi* like "Oh yAh, you betcha" and "oof da" and you know it Iowa.
Fascinating video! Great job. I've love it if this could be done with the dozens of accents of the UK but I think that's difficult since they've been evolving for thousands of years
While Bradley Cooper NAILED that hyper-specific Philly accent, your example of Lindsey Graham having a "Southern Coastal White" accent is WAY off the mark. He was born in the northeast corner of South Carolina, nowhere near the coast, and has what we would call a Piedmont Accent, which is VERY different. I know this from having spent the first half of my life in the foothills (the "Piedmont") of the Appalachian Mountains and the second half of my life in a town about 50 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina. It's a completely different way of speaking.
I'm from the Great Lakes region, and I think the big thing we have going for our accent is that there's very little confusion about what we're saying. You'll almost never mistake our saying "pen" for "pin."
I live in Maryland and we have a mixture between the “Delaware River Valley” accent and the “Southern Coast” accent most definitely
Truth. Ask someone from MD what the largest city is - Bal-mer ! And that town to the south ? WaRshington !
I'm a Californian and was stationed at Ft. Meade, MD years ago. I recall hearing our office secretary, who was a local, speaking for the first time. I had never heard such an accent.
I LOVE this video!! I am an English as a foreign language teacher and my students are always telling me that they want an 'American' accent, so naturally we have to get into the discussion about all the different accents found in the USA. Thank you so much for making this beautiful video, I have shown it to several of my students and I am definitely going to add it to my playlist about accents!
Nowadays, fewer and fewer people speak with accents (as compared to a couple generations ago).
Other states: Howdy! How you doin? What’s up?
New Mexico: *engine revving noise*
Still the most common accent is the North American Basic English Vernacular which is prevalent throughout most of NA, both Canada and the United States, especially among youth when they speak formally, although it is true that within corporate settings the Trans/Mid Atlantic Accent is becoming increasingly popular.
What about Alaska and Hawaii?
I know, right? The states that actually have official languages other than English.
Alaskan is easy, think Sarah Palin! Listen to her for awhile, it is quite distinctive. Much of it is cadence.
oof not Palin
They are irrelevant
@@cellgrrl no not palin, shes from idaho
Of course Alaska and Hawaii aren't included apart of America, not sure of how accents are in Alaska, but here in Hawaii, it's referred as Pidgeon English, it's very distinctive, for me, it's comes out randomly, and it's hard to describe.
Good comment.
BTW, it's PIDGIN, NOT PIDGEON. It's a language, not a bird! ;)
ADKforever oh, I know, I just like spelling it like that, a pun I guess😂
We lived in Hawaii when I was in grade school, and I was picking up Pigeon English pretty fast. Like you say, it would come out randomly, I didn't do it all the time. Cool accent.
It's so hard to cover all the different American accents. For example NY state has atleast five or six different accents. There's the stereotypical NYC accents. But there's also the upstate NY accent. Which according to my southern friends. Is a mix of NYC and New England accents.
Ah, the west coast accent... it sounds like home!
Moved to the East coast at age 13 and one of my big teenage fears was losing my Pacific northwest type accent.
Back in Washington, I can think of a very distinct accent from down in Forks, particularly with older people.
I had a teacher in elementary who spoke with it.
Now, I live in the Shenandoah Valley and there is a bit of a distinct valley accent in people above, say, 65 which has disappeared in recent generations.
North American accents have been softened by the advent of radio and TV. The "chosen" default accent (like RP in England) is the flat Californian accent due to it's dominance of commercial broadcasts. Go anywhere in the US in turn on the news and more often than not, the major networks have a talking head with a flat accent not matching the local accent -- that has a conforming affect.
I've got the old New England accent
America has countless accents
The UK: Hold my beer
many accents are more subtle and I think they tried to capture their authenticity but I can always pick out Wisconsin because of German U especially when they say words with double O.
Im was born and raised in California, family originally lived in Chicago after immigrating to the US from Poland. Even though my mom was born abc raised in California, she tends to say certain words in a Chicago accent, such as magazine.
So many great accents not talked about: Fargo, Santa Cruz, New Orleans. And a lot of the example clips weren't genuine but Hollywood watered down perversions of the real thing
even in the new orleans area, there are a few!!
Santa Cruz has an accent!? I think we sound a little laid back with a stoner twist sometimes
@@imthebest7290 yes, Santa Cruz has a huge accent and its own dialect.
The funny thing with Texas is that we don’t have a “southern drawl” we have a “Texas drawl” and almost everyone knows the difference. Listen to Matthew Mcconaughey, he’s a great example of what a lot of Texans actually sound like (at least who’ve I’ve been around and I’ve lived in Texas my whole life)
I can't even tell what's the narrators accent
Captain Dusk "American Journalist" ;)
Standard millennial accent.
Midwest accent of some kind
Mari Adkins probably from either Miami, NYC, California or Ohio, which is pretty broad but that’s how journalists are
California
i’m just wondering why they didn’t add a cajun accent, it’s very distinct compared to other louisiana accents
What about French influence in New england and Louisiana?
King_ Panda It is there for sure all over Louisiana and in Northern New England Plus parts of Missouri and Illinois which were settled when it was a part of Louisiana.
French Canadians coming down to work in mills influenced even southern New England. In Woonsocket, Rhode Island people park their cars "side by each", a phrase that I found really strange as a newcomer.
What's wrong about this video is that California received immigration from the Midwest which are a mix of germans and scandinavians which is where they got their "stereotypical" american accent from.
Why are people so edgy in the comment section? It was a good video!
Hrd 1996
Because they get prissy whenever someone mentions America in a non-negative light.
Nationalism is alive and well in the 21st century.
A little nationalism is good for a country,a lot of nationalism is bad for the globe.
Because it is a radical view. With the mobility of people and their exposure to the same type of media, the distinctions are being lost. It paints a picture that many of us believe is just not true. That is why people are so "edgy."
Hrd 1996 ehhhh
the problem with this is that most of the American accents have disappeared. Unlike the British who obviously have strong accents depending on which region they come from, Americans seem to have lost their regional accent. If you wanted to show what the accents were like you needed to give clips of older generations from these regions, not clips of celebrities. Mostly the old timers keep the old accents now.
I can hear the differences between them, I'm not a native speaker.
what are the differences between them?
Frankie Carmona The tone and how they pronounce it, it's not that obvious but it's there.
Same! My first language is Spanish and I’m more fluent in English now but I can hear the difference!
Most English accents differ in their vowels. I can't explain it, but watch the video repeatedly or search for other videos on American accents and maybe you'll begin to recognize the differences.
I would love to see a more detailed version of this video. A lot of places in the US were previously colonies of other countries and they’ve developed interesting accents as a result. There are also certain places very popular with immigrants from certain countries See New Orleans, Texas (there’s also German and Asian influence in different areas), Florida (especially Miami), and Mississippi (where you can still find non-rhotic Southern accents).
There’s also the importance of the English West Country dialect in general American accent as a whole.
This video is notably inaccurate.
I am from Texas
@@Dgbygvg Nice baseless assumption you twat.
Bradley cooper w the philly one was spot on
It's so interesting to me because the UK seems to have so many distinguishable accents, but when I think of the US I really don't see as much distinction. You'd think with our influx and mixture of cultures that our accent differences would be easily recognizable.
Great example of a New York African American accent. My father who is African American and even my mother who immigrated here from the Caribbean both have that accent and it's super strong. So strong that I even have it now. When I went to Boston for college, I often had to repeat myself or ask someone to say words again because I literally didn't understand them. For example, the phrase "long walk" sounds completely different in NY compared to pretty much anywhere in the country except northern New Jersey.
"They're all still evolving as we speak"
...was that a pun?
All these accents to me as a Brit can be grouped into three categories: North-eastern, Southern and regular American. I can usually tell Boston from New York but only when they say words ending in 'ar'.
I used to live in Texas near the border and trust me we don't have southern twang or sound like Houstonians
He should've had regular Americans do their accents. Then you would hear the difference. North and south east coast sounds completely different. Texas and Louisiana has their own strong accents. The rest of the country sounds in between.
Phil Johnson it depends on age. Millennials don't have accents, they didn't pick it up from there parents or local regions. That's why they all sound the same - standard millennial accent. You have to listen to Boomers, or maybe Gen X if you're lucky, to hear any accent.
I'm in southeast Alabama and that lady sounds nothing like the people in this area. As a matter of fact, there are different accents all over Alabama.
I can detect subtle differences in the accents, but that's probably because I live in the US and know what to look for in an accent in this part of the world. People from other countries may not notice so easily because they're foreign to our accents. I'd compare it to my understanding of a British accent - I know there are multiple types of British accents but I don't know how to identify them, I just know it's a British accent.
I live in Ohio and you can tell which part of he state you are in by peoples accents. But sometimes it gets confusing since people here move from southern of the state to the north, And north to south.
Al F I was there once. Everyone there pronounced the state like 'Ohao' or something like that lol. Also instead of 'you guys' or 'Ya'll' people (or at least old people) said 'You Uns (You'uns?)'
Al F I still haven't heard anyone say ope. been here my whole life. and I can't tell our North from South. only been South a few times though
you nailed it with the philadelphia accent, it stretches from Toms River NJ to Delmarva to Baltimore, to Delaware County PA and Trenton PA
The modern NYer doesn't sound like John Stewart doing his Brooklyn accent. That one is as stereotypical as the "I'm walking here!" bit. That's from decades ago. Especially since we have continued to have more transplants from other places.
M House true. New Yorkers don't sound like new Yorkers anymore unless you speak to older generations. Everyone sounds more like a Kardashian these days.
Philadelphia sounds like Baltimore.
Christian Eubanks Dieseled Fitness My dad is from Philly and he sounds exactly like that.
Louisiana’s accent does not come from Texas or Haiti. Our accent is French, from our Acadian ancestry.
Im in the MW and from the South and have lived all over the country from Boston to California to Oregon to Colorado. Just in my lifetime (I'm in my 50s) all the regional accents have flattened a lot. A century from now everyone will sound like they are from Indiana.
Man. You gave Philadelphia and NJ way too much influence. Stretching to Western MD and WV and southwestern PA? I don't think so.
not all NYers sound like that. i’m from buffalo and we have a pretty neutral american accent we just have a nasally sound in our A vowels
Never in my whole 28 year life ...have I heard someone say howdy in Texas
I feel like in pretty much every region of the US the urban areas always have the more Midwest accent.
You would have to do a separate video for Louisiana. We have Cajun accents, country accents, city accents, inner city accents, trailer park accents, etc. The list goes on seemingly forever.
The US accent is homogenizing. In 100 years regional accents will be gone, I guarantee it.
Renovator it's already started. Millennials and younger did not adopt the accents of their parents or regions. In the northeast, unless you listen to a Boomer or Gen X, you no longer really hear the Boston/general northeast/New York accent. Millennials picked up the California accent. In a few years the east coast will sound like the West coast. That's too bad because regional identities and diversities of local culture is disappearing. The California culture and accent spread across the continent like a virus (this includes Canada and even young Brits have picked up on California intonation)
I'm a millennial, and have lived in North Carolina all of my. With family who all have the deep southern accent and culture. But I actively avoided the accent since a young age, I just hate how it sounds.
Renovator deep south wil probably still be around
LibbyLu Lu:
You are 100 per cent correct---great observation!!!
@@libbylulu148 im in pa, like 30 min from Philly. Everyone already sounds much closer to the cali accent than the "philly accent" they showed
I'm a cycling fan from Iran and to me Lance Armstrong's accent who's from Texas sounds really cool.
Ted Niki:
Lance Armstrong is a despicable and vile PSYCHOPATH. Leave him out of this scholarly topic. :)
What about accents in the past?
The Youtubing Kid Productions check it out. People still have the regional British American accent.
ruclips.net/video/NxVOIj7mvWI/видео.html
Without being super technical about it, I think the Californian version of the American Accent is the cleanest one that doesn't sound like it's an accent, all of the other ones are changes to the way the words should be spoken, like you have to add a 'southern draw' or a 'twang' or stretch out certain vowels for the east coast, etc. Like the way Leo was speaking at the end, thats like "American English'
Yeah I'm from California we try to speak properly
Please. Mention. Gullah.
OK, Southern Gothic. Gullah. Happy now? ;)
Sothern Michiganders almost exclusively speak Standard English, what you hear on national news shows. One of the few places nationwide where this is prevalent.
Thank you for choosing the word “accent” and not “dialect.”
I've often picked up on the Irish influence on some accents in USA. A few times I've heard someone with a mild Irish accent in UK talking and for a few seconds I'm thinking their from USA until I hear a word that stands out differently
You forgot the French that were there before most english speakers
Charles Kuhn:
You forgot the NATIVE AMERICANS that were there before most English speakers---and the French and the Spanish---and everyone ELSE.
I'm from the Netherlands, my accent has developed as American with brittish As and Os
Unfortunately, all of these wonderful accents/dialects are becoming a thing of the past with the proliferation of technology. Nowadays, everyone is starting to sound like a carbon copy of each other, regardless of which region of the country they are from. What you hear alot of is: A crapload of Vocal Fry mixed with UpTalk (UpSpeak)..., it's really sad. Even though I'm "only" 33, I'm so glad that I was raised in Massapequa, NY on Long Island (Lawn Guyland and Yes, I do say it that way) and have been able to retain my Regional New York/Long Island accent/dialect.
I'm an East Coaster from Philly and I cannot stand the "vocal fry"/"upspeak" canned voice. Makes my skin crawl. Just picture one of them ordering a "cahfee" with that annoying raised inflection, it sounds like they are asking a question. Yuck! It's almost as if they have mimicked a TV accent. I live a few hundred miles from Philly now, but I am trying to keep regionalisms alive in my speech. Don't worry, I still drink my "cawfee" black.
jessica benitez u can’t say that about a new orleans accent
I grew up in the South (GA) and I have 3 accents, one for when I'm casually talking to someone else from the South (Example: My In-Laws) and another where I don't exaggerate my accent as much and and be more comfortable annunciating my words to sound more "smart" lol and 3 where I mix my native language (Spanish) with my English and southern accent. I just grew up like That :)
Same here when I talk to my bro (we Hispanic) we talk with our Hispanic accent. When I’m talking to someone professionally I speak with a general American accent and when I’m and when I’m really excited it’s like a weird mix of Hispanic/southern/colloquial/Ebonics just the way I grew up lol
Slight differences. Would have been more interesting to use 20th century footage of regional accents before they were homogenized by TV, radio, film and internal migration patterns.
1:05 "Hey! I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!"
Most these accents sound the same except the Applas accent, Deep South,Louisiana, and New York. Most people have the general American accent. Which isn't the best, smooth sounding accent in existence. To be honest. When's the last time you heard a nice sounding American accent. Only twice in my entire life. Most Americans don't think they have accents any way which everyone who speaks a language does. Plus Americans don't care about certain things that should be known like types of American accents even people on tv shows have the same accent. They don't show the variety of American accents there are.
Perside đ that's because everything is squashed together this use to be really important in the 2000a
Perside đ I agree. I think it sounded smoother decades ago. By the year 2000 it became choppy. tv shows and films are a good barometer for how accents evolved.
Perside đ if your American you have know idea what an American accent sounds like
You should do one of these on just certain regions and get more in depth. Like the southern accent varies from Georgia Florida Louisiana Mississippi. There all different!!
That area you highlighted on the map is NOT New England. New England is MA, RI, CT, NH, VT, and ME. NY is NOT a part of New England.
I was just thinking the same thing!
Jamie Fulton-----While you are technically correct about NY not being a classic New England state, demographically the original settlers of NY State (NOT the city, the STATE) had the original New England accent. It has been modified over the 300 years since settlement, so that ONLY eastern MA, ME, NH, RI, extreme eastern VT and extreme eastern CT retain variants of the classic New England accent that Matt Damon uses---in his case, a working-class Boston variant. (I know that there is a difference in the sound of the N.E. accent once you leave Boston.) In contrast, western VT, most of CT, and northern NY have a similar accent with nuanced differences, but their accent---while quite different sounding than eastern New England---is still based on the original N.E. accent.
This video is 100% accurate. Northern New York State is influenced by New England in many other ways. The people, the landscape, the towns, the houses, etc. in northern New York State are just like New England, unlike the rest of the USA. The only way you can tell that you are in NYS and not a New England state is by the license plates of the cars! Have you ever been to northern NYS? I used to live in Vermont, I currently live in the Adirondacks of NYS, so I know what I am talking about.
I should quickly point out that New York State is WAY different than New York City and its suburbs. NYC is a completely different animal.
Hey now, don't get too provincial. That's all too New England like, isn't it? Of course the Hudson Valley is not New England, but western New England has a nasal Northern accent that is close to the Hudson Valley accent. People in Hartford, CT or Springfield, MA sound more like people from Poughkeepsie or Albany NY than Boston or Rhode Island. I am pretty impartial, since I've moved up here from Philly yooz awl have accents ta me, but there's a huge difference between the Boston and Rhody accents vs. the more neutral sounding Western accents.
To me as a Swedish guy these accents sound almost the same exept the southern accents which clearly stands out. Over here 2 accents can sound like completely diffrent languages.
The New England one sounds like a stereotype. I'm from New England and I don't talk like that.
Holobrine I live in the Midwest, and I work with a woman who was raised in Boston. She lived there for 20 years and here for 40 years. She has the strongest New England accent I've ever heard.
Go out west, and order a cheesebuRgah and lahge fries - they'll know you're from Boston (New England). Not all the 'r' s are silent, and if you grew up aRound he'a, you talk like that. You ahh just not heaRing ya self.
maybe but I love to hear that accent, as well as, the Southern, African American, New Jersey/Pennsylvania/Maryland (Mid-Atlantic) and Texas ones ... not fond of the heavy New York one for some reason (sounds angry always) and the rest of them just sound sort of nondescript to me
U showa u don twalk loike thet
I live here to and a lot of people have this account Boston
When the narrator mentions California not having a single accent, the same could be said for Texas. Sure, you've got the stereotypical Texan accent, but if you take people from Dallas, El Paso, Austin, Houston, and Texarkana for example, you'll likely hear five more or less distinguishable accents. Texas is a large state with lots of different cultural and linguistic influences that affect different regions in different ways.
Do a comparison on Canadian accent vs US ones
Junhai Yang I think they'd sound French since a lot of them speak it
Katherine Richardson nope, most of us don't speak French, only those annoying Québécois
Junhai Yang how are we annoying? You guys bash us all the times...
yaknotnud Canadian also tend to be more elaborate in terms of pronunciation, and has a less pitchy undertone,
Bradley Cooper's exaggerated accent hits so close to home lol
Countless accents? Compared to accents and dialects in the UK where the language originates, American accents sound virtually uniform any nuance is negligible.
Hiréka Éric That’s because American regional accents are more neutral than they were before due to influence of TV, internet and other forms of media. To others, all accents in Northern London sound uniform and all Southern are also uniform. To others, every Japanese person sound the same too, even if there are accents existing. There’s a video on RUclips that features Americans that still have the thick accent. A Maine native sounds waaaay different than a person from Massachusetts. There’s even a region in North Carolina that is very close to the original British-American accent, which sounds like a blend of Scouse, Cornish and others. USA has thousands of accents in a single area too, and many other countries. It’s not just a UK thing.
Hiréka Éric you're an idiot the US has far more accents than the UK
Mrbrainless bob
No it doesn't. You are obviously an expert in something but in this case I fear you may be mistaken.
That said ,in both countries a lot of the young uns are adopting standard type accents,but since the UK incorporates England,Scotland, Wales and N.I. the range of extant accents is still far wider than what you currently find in the good ol' US of A.
Mrbrain bob
You are obviously an expert in something but in this case I fear you may be mistaken.That said, the young uns in both countries are merging into standard type accents, but since the UK incorporates England, Scotland, Wales and N.I ,the range of extant accents you find there is far wider than what currently pertains in the good ol' U.S.of A.
As someone from outside the USA, I can assure you that these accents all sound different.
I'm from Houston and we have like 1000 accents here as we have people from everywhere.
I am so happy that his video existed
My grandma always told me that all americans speak the same langauage and the same accent, and they are rich, white, fat and living happily in urban cities. In my country, we dont know theres a handful accents in english america and fun fact: some places considered english as a "nerdy" language.
I live in the US(Texas, to be exact) and I'm neither rich, white, or fat. I do live in the urban city but I don't know about happiness.
Interesting, maybe English is considered "nerdy" because it is used the most for buisness?
No offense but your grandma clearly knows VERY little about America. Lol. I’m not white, fat, and am unfortunately not rich. That’s MANY people in this country.
As a non native speaker I really here no real difference except the broad Texan. Would have been better to have people from different states say the same sentences in the their accent to allow a comparison.