which accent do you have?

[hajen]

which american accent do you have?


Mine:

 Northern

You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

[random axe]

Northern.

Who rhymes "bag" with "vague"?  I don't think I've ever heard such an accent.

[eldiem]

Northern.

Who rhymes "bag" with "vague"?  I don't think I've ever heard such an accent.

I have heard this. Sounds like bayg. Or bague, I guess.

[eldiem]

Here's my result:

 Neutral

You`re not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don`t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.


Actually I'm not from anywhere on that map. Rather, I grew up to the south east of the highlighted part. (Highlighted part includes most of IL, not Chicago; IN, OH, the western 3/4 of PA, Northern WV, and NWrn MD.)

[stormneedle]

I got Neutral. Too much television as a kid, I guess.

[mo]

I liked the questions in this one better than the last quiz, but the results on this were about the same - neutral. But I've been told I have a Southern accent, so I'm coming to the conclusion that these tests either don't work, or the ones online are just a little too simple. I'm curious about youse guys whose got northern I'm guessing your answers differ on "pasta" and "roof", but probably more than that, right?

1   If you say the word THOUGHT, does it rhyme with LOT?
 
   Yes
   No
   Almost/maybe/sometimes
 
2   How do you usually say the words DON and DAWN? Do you say them the same or differently?
 
   Same
   Different
   Almost but not quite the same, maybe
 
3   How would you say HOCK and HAWK?
 
   Same
   Different
   Same-ish. Very similar but not quite the same.
 
4   What about COLLAR and CALLER? How do you say them?
 
   Same
   Different
   Almost, but not quite, the same
 
5   When you say ON, does it rhyme with LAWN or with JOHN? Or both?
 
   ON rhymes with LAWN
   ON rhymes with JOHN
   ON, LAWN, and JOHN all rhyme with each other
 
6   The three words MARY, MERRY, and MARRY. How do you say them?
 
   I say all 3 differently
   I say MARY and MERRY alike, but MARRY is different
   I say all 3 the same
   None of the above
 
7   What vowel sound do you use in the beginning of the word HORRIBLE?
 
   I say HORRIBLE with the same O as in HORSE.
   I say HORRIBLE with the same O as in HOT or STOP.
   None of the above
 
8   The words TENT and TINT. How do you typically say them when you are typically talking?
 
   Same
   Different
   Almost, but not quite, the same
 
9   Do you say the words HEEL and HILL alike or not?
 
   Same
   Different
   Very similar, almost the same, but not quite.
 
10   Do you say words like BATH, PASS, and STAFF with the same vowel as BAT, PACK, and TRAP?
 
   Same
   Different
 
11   Do you say ABOUT and MOUTH with the same vowel sound as LOUD and DOWN?
 
   Yes
   No
 
12   Do you say RIGHT and PRICE with the same vowel sound as RIDE and PRIZE?
 
   Yes
   No
 
13   How do you say the first A in PASTA?
 
   Same A as in MAT or CAT
   Same A as in FATHER
 
14   If you say BAG does it rhyme with VAGUE?
 
   Yes
   No
 
15   You say "I," does it ever sound anything remotely like "ah"?
 
   A lot
   Only when I`m not thinking about it
   Sometimes with a few words
   Never
 
16   How do you say the "oo" in ROOF?
 
   Like the "oo" in FOOT
   Like the "oo" in FOOD
 
17   If you say BOTHER does it rhyme with FATHER?
 
   YES
   No

Edit: I'm guessing y'all say "pasta" the same. Rhyming with "mat" is pretty extreme... what is that - Boston? New England?

[eldiem]

Rhyming the first syllable of "pasta" with "mat" is Canadian, from what I've noticed.

[random axe]

I got Northern but answered the same on both "pasta" and "roof".

My mother was a former English teacher and was very strict about standard English pronunciation and usage.  We grew up with 'standard' and 'accepted' versions of words and phrases.  My brother got a copy of Fowler's as a present when he was still in grammar school -- I think he was ten.

I had a lot of fights with my Career English teacher at Emerson.  Nyews.  Bah!  I will not say that.

[hajen]

I got mostly the same answers as you. My only deviations from your breakdown were:

**"on" rhymes with "john" but not "lawn"
**"tent" and "tint" are different
**"right" and "price" have a different vowel sound than "ride" and "prize"
**occasionally my "I" sounds like "ah" (remnant of southern chameleon accent)

Rhyming the first syllable of "pasta" with "mat" is Canadian, from what I've noticed.

This.

My husband doesn't do it though. He ended up with "Neutral".

[TFJ]

southern.

this question makes a lot of since mayun

Do you say RIGHT and PRICE with the same vowel sound as RIDE and PRIZE?

[random axe]

**"on" rhymes with "john" but not "lawn"
**"tent" and "tint" are different
**"right" and "price" have a different vowel sound than "ride" and "prize"

Exactly!

[mo]

**"on" rhymes with "john" but not "lawn"
**"tent" and "tint" are different
**"right" and "price" have a different vowel sound than "ride" and "prize"
**occasionally my "I" sounds like "ah" (remnant of southern chameleon accent)

I know the differences in the way the first two "should" be pronounced, but I don't think the difference is noticeable when I pronounce them in normal speech, and I hear them differently in my head when I read the words. Weird, huh?

I can't imagine what the different vowel sound would be with right/price/ride/prize. I just don't get that one.

I'm probably occasionally guilty of the "ah" thing. Like when I'm drunk.

Rhyming the first syllable of "pasta" with "mat" is Canadian, from what I've noticed.

I would giggle if I heard this. I can only imagine a 40's era gangster pronouncing "pasta" like that.

[hajen]

My husband said the same as you're saying about the on/lawn/john one, but he says all three with the same sound, and I distinctly do not. It was surprising to hear the difference.

Right/price has a shorter vowel sound than ride/prize. It's subtle and I can totally see it being all the same with a southern accent.

On the "pasta" thing, I never heard it said that way until I moved here; the other clear instance of that vowel sound choice I can think of is the way they say the name "Tasha" here. I say it "Tah-shuh" like "pah-stuh" but they say it "Taaa-shuh" like "paaa-stuh" with that same A sound like MAT. It sounds *really* strange to me.

[eldiem]

If you watch some earlier episodes of Iron Chef America, the floor reporter Kevin Brauch says "pasta" distinctly Canadian. Mario Batali makes fun of him for it.

[random axe]

The two /i/ sounds have a lot to do with surd/sonant sibilance (), by which I mean that the shorter vowel sound goes well with a soft unvoiced /s/ and the longer vowel sound goes better with a harder and voiced /z/.

So, dialectically, these all rhyme with each other:  dice, lice, mice, nice, rice, vice.

And these all rhyme with each other:  dies, lies, rise and size, prize.

But the two groups don't quite rhyme with each other.

Also, /t/ is surd (unvoiced) and /d/ is the sonant (voiced) counterpart, so right has a vowel sound more like rice but ride is in the second category.  You can do this all day -- light vs lied, fight vs fide (like bona fide), fright vs fried.

And /p/ is surd compared to /b/, but a plosive is a plosive, so /p/ often gets the second kind of /i/.  Not always, though, and, again, the trailing consonant can affect the vowel, too, as in plight vs plied.

Fun or not fun?