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An Accent Of New Jersey!????
I don't understand all the ranting and raving about this "Jersey accent". I think it's the ugliest, sleaziest of all US dialects. If I lived in NJ/NY or all of the northeastern US, I would be sure to get rid of it for fear of being stereotyped as "dumb" or "working-class/blue-collar"...
I think it's the most repugnant accent in the country!!
Noo Joizee and Noo Yawk City have the woist sounding American accents in the whole woild.
I'm so far away from New Jersey I'm not sure I have a good grasp on what makes a NJ accent, especially what makes it different from a NY one. I've never been anywhere near New Jersey and so the only accents I've heard from there have been from TV or movies.
What is General American after all?! Is it spoken in real life?
Or is it just a relict of MidAtlantic accent of the 50ies?! caught [ka:t] pronunciation can be heard across the USA... not only in California, but in Great Lake Cities as well [caught is [kat], cot is [kaet] (close to 'cat') there] I just saw a movie ''Blast from the Past'' (with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone). Both of them pronounced LOST as [last *in IPA*, läst *in Webster*] (Brendan is from Indianapolis, Alicia is Californian...) SO, I guess [a] pronunciation is spreading, and [o] is kept only in some words (orange, Florida). {interestingly enough LAW is [la:], but LAWYER is [loj@r] (la:j@r is Southern pronunciation} My final question would be: do you happen to know the percentage of Americans who pronounce CAUGHT as [kat vs kOt], LAW [la vs lO]. Northern shifts should be included as well, since in Northern cities chift CAUGHT is pronounced [kat], but COT is different since it moves to CAT:) what a mess :)
OMG what a mess, alright! Dread the day they become unintelligible with their meowing COTS being CUT!
I once lived with a Floridian who insisted she was from "Arlando" and I hear the occasional person saying "arange" for orange, but it's not that common, and I think mostly our o's are still pretty distinct from our a's, even if I and many others use the same a-sound as "father" to say cot and caught.
<<What is General American after all?! Is it spoken in real life?
Or is it just a relict of MidAtlantic accent of the 50ies?! caught [ka:t] pronunciation can be heard across the USA... not only in California, but in Great Lake Cities as well [caught is [kat], cot is [kaet] (close to 'cat') there]>> Well, if you're using XSAMPA, it'd be [kAt] for "cot" in General American. In California it may be in between [kAt] and [kOt] for "cot." In Northern Cities speech, "cot" is [kat] while "caught" is [kAt]. In California the two are generally both [kAt] or [kOt]. <<I just saw a movie ''Blast from the Past'' (with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone). Both of them pronounced LOST as [last *in IPA*, läst *in Webster*] (Brendan is from Indianapolis, Alicia is Californian...)>> Do you mean [lAst]? <<SO, I guess [a] pronunciation is spreading, and [o] is kept only in some words (orange, Florida). {interestingly enough LAW is [la:], but LAWYER is [loj@r] (la:j@r is Southern pronunciation}>> Yeah, my "law" is [lA] (the same as I say "la" as in "do re mi fa so la ti do"), and "lawyer" is ["lOIj@`]. This is because the word "lawyer" was solidified before the "cot-caught" merger so the vestigial [O] in older pronunciations of "law" still remains in that word. <<My final question would be: do you happen to know the percentage of Americans who pronounce CAUGHT as [kat vs kOt], LAW [la vs lO]. Northern shifts should be included as well, since in Northern cities chift CAUGHT is pronounced [kat], but COT is different since it moves to CAT:)>> About 40-50% of Americans are "cot-caught" merged (myself included). The others retain the distinction. Most Canadians are "cot-caught" merged.
<<I just saw a movie ''Blast from the Past'' (with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone). Both of them pronounced LOST as [last *in IPA*, läst *in Webster*] (Brendan is from Indianapolis, Alicia is Californian...) >>
Brendan Fraser was BORN in Indiana, but lived all over the US, Canada, and Europe as a child, and his father, at least, is Canadian. (Fraser holds dual US-Canadian citizenship.) So he may not be terribly representative of your typical Indiana speaker. Alicia Silverstone was born in San Francisco, but to English parents (don't know if she has dual citizenship or not).* No idea if that influenced her speech or not; probably didn't. Both of these people are ACTORS, though, and probably speak however they're paid to speak! *And for the chorus of people who are no doubt going to pipe up and protest that the US doesn't recognize dual citizenship -- yes it does: go look it up on the State Department website. Plus, I had a friend with dual US-Mexican citizenship.
<<I once lived with a Floridian who insisted she was from "Arlando" and I hear the occasional person saying "arange" for orange, but it's not that common, and I think mostly our o's are still pretty distinct from our a's, even if I and many others use the same a-sound as "father" to say cot and caught.>>
Well it's natural for you or me to assume that, speaking varieties of Western US English, which has /Or/ for "or." However, millions of Americans (particularly in some East Coast dialects) have /Ar/ for "or" especially when in stressed position followed by a stressed vowel.
Actually, when I was IN Orlando with her, I listened very carefully to see if any of her friends there (who were all native to FL) pronounced it as "Arlando". However, not one of them did!
I had been fully expecting to find that "Arlando" was simply a local quirk, but it actually didn't seem to be common at all. I know there are people who say "ar-" for "or-", but I couldn't help wondering where she herself picked it up.
<<I once lived with a Floridian who insisted she was from "Arlando" and I hear the occasional person saying "arange" for orange, but it's not that common, and I think mostly our o's are still pretty distinct from our a's, even if I and many others use the same a-sound as "father" to say cot and caught.>>
<<Well it's natural for you or me to assume that, speaking varieties of Western US English, which has /Or/ for "or." However, millions of Americans (particularly in some East Coast dialects) have /Ar/ for "or" especially when in stressed position followed by a stressed vowel.>> Uriel and Kirk, I'm from Florida and ''Orlando'' definitely has /Or/ rather than /Ar/ for me. I've never heard ''Arlando''. I've been to Orlando many times and all I've heard there was the pronunciation with the /Or/ sound.
<<I'm from Florida and ''Orlando'' definitely has /Or/ rather than /Ar/ for me. I've never heard ''Arlando''. I've been to Orlando many times and all I've heard there was the pronunciation with the /Or/ sound.>>
Yes, that phenomenon is more common to more northern East Coast dialects. It especially makes me think of New York and New Jersey but I don't believe it's restricted to that. Just earlier tonight I saw a few minutes of "The O.C." and Mischa Barton, who is from New York, said "hahrrible" for "horrible" which is of course amusing because her character is supposedly from Orange County, and no one from California would ever say that. Another one to chalk up to the "should've hired a better dialect coach" award.
<<Yes, that phenomenon is more common to more northern East Coast dialects.>>
You're not talking about the card-cord merger, are you? There's no card-cord merger in New York and New Jersey. They pronounciation ''horrible'' as ''hahrrible'', but ''card'' and ''cord'' are still distinct. |