What kind of accent is posh among young people in the US?
What kind of accent is posh among young people in the US?
California English (not necessarily Valspeak) is posh among young people in the US so most Westerners and some Southerners show some Californian Vowel Shift. Thanks to Hollywood, Californian English is easily exported to other states...''how gross'', ''awesome'', ''dude'', ''way kewl'' are some Californianisms that spread BackEastward...
That's the thing - such things sound practically cliche here in Wisconsin, as if one is a teenager in a TV show set in a high school in the San Fernando valley. Honestly, they really tend to just intuitively rub me the wrong way, and do not sound at all like how younger people here generally speak.
"''how gross'', ''awesome'', ''dude'', ''way kewl'' are some Californianisms that spread BackEastward..."
<shudder> All these words are unpleasant, but the word "awesome", in particular, sends shivers down my spine; users ought to be taken to the back of the barn and horsewhipped.
<shudder> All these words are unpleasant, but the word "awesome", in particular, sends shivers down my spine; users ought to be taken to the back of the barn and horsewhipped.
Those sorts of forms make me cringe too - and honestly I was initially sort of shocked to find out that younger people actually say even just "dude" and that they do pronounce it like [ˈdʉːd] or [ˈdyːd] in California (and that such was not just a TV show and movie cliche)....
<<I thought it was the New England accent myself, It's less twangy! >>
Eastern or Western New England? As far as I can tell, the folks in Vermont (for example) speak pretty much like we do in Eastern NY.
Eastern or Western New England? As far as I can tell, the folks in Vermont (for example) speak pretty much like we do in Eastern NY.
I don't think I'd consider the California accent "posh." Americans wouldn't consider any of their dialects particularly elegant.
As a young person in the US (I'm 23) let me tell you the California accent is not considered posh. Yes, Valley Girl has spread eastward into urban areas (a main dialectical difference between urban and rural areas, especially in the South, is Valley Girl/Surfer Dude making headway into the speech of urbanites), but it is not considered the high form of American English.
As a young person in the US (I'm 23) let me tell you the California accent is not considered posh. Yes, Valley Girl has spread eastward into urban areas (a main dialectical difference between urban and rural areas, especially in the South, is Valley Girl/Surfer Dude making headway into the speech of urbanites), but it is not considered the high form of American English.
I live in California and people say "Dude!" all the time but I never hear people say it in the exaggerated way that people say it on TV.
That's because most people on TV aren't from California originally and they can only do so much... :-P
And conversely, to a lot of people here, California is some foreign land which only exists on TV and in movies, not anywhere where anyone real that you ever will know in Real Life lives.
"That's the thing - such things sound practically cliche here in Wisconsin, as if one is a teenager in a TV show set in a high school in the San Fernando valley. Honestly, they really tend to just intuitively rub me the wrong way, and do not sound at all like how younger people here generally speak."
I'm not surprised--though both theoretically descended from Gen Am, Great Lakes and California English literally shifted their phonology in opposite directions.
I'm not surprised--though both theoretically descended from Gen Am, Great Lakes and California English literally shifted their phonology in opposite directions.
The funniest thing I ever heard was when I met a guy from England who had traveled through the states quite a number of times and had picked up some Valley girl attributes. This guy grew up in the Oxford area and had a super posh accent (like the Queen or something) but peppered his speech with the word "dude". When I heard him say it the first time all I could say was, "We've corrupted you already!"