Travis, have you ever been to Seattle? Trust me, the accent there sounds nothing like this sample.
My Accent
Try ABC Seattle for the local accent: http://www.komonews.com/
↑ I don't think that approach would work, Guest. People in the broadcast industry work wherever they can find a job; there's too much migration for this method to be reliable.
Exactly. And people try to neutralize their accent while broadcasting. There's even voice training for it.
But, many times they're interviewing people on the street. And that site is teeming with videos.
"Exactly. And people try to neutralize their accent while broadcasting. There's even voice training for it."
Guest, this endeavor is oftentimes incompletely successful. In Southern States, you can "sometimes" hear Southern accents creep through, and in Detroit you can "often" hear NCVS creeping through; here in Reno we have a weatherman who speaks with distinct NCVS features. (NCVS speakers, in particular, often don't see a need for voice training, not realizing that they speak in a dialect.) If only broadcasters are being listened to, I don't think it would be too reliable a method.
However, I agree that your idea of listening to interviewees on the street might be a very useful endeavor.
Guest, this endeavor is oftentimes incompletely successful. In Southern States, you can "sometimes" hear Southern accents creep through, and in Detroit you can "often" hear NCVS creeping through; here in Reno we have a weatherman who speaks with distinct NCVS features. (NCVS speakers, in particular, often don't see a need for voice training, not realizing that they speak in a dialect.) If only broadcasters are being listened to, I don't think it would be too reliable a method.
However, I agree that your idea of listening to interviewees on the street might be a very useful endeavor.
I was listening to a Seattle-based radio station, and the announcer pronounced tomorrow with a long-o as the second and third vowel, and talked about what sounded like "beggers", but then I realized he was saying "baggers".
↑ The trouble, Guest, is that we don't know where that announcer is really from. As has been mentioned before, there's a huge amount of migration in the broadcast industry.
As the other guest said, it would probably be better to hear interviewees on the street.
As the other guest said, it would probably be better to hear interviewees on the street.
>> The trouble, Guest, is that we don't know where that announcer is really from. <<
Actually all those are features of a Seattle accent, and would indicate that the announcer really was from Seattle, and was using the local accent and not striving for an abstract General American accent.
Actually all those are features of a Seattle accent, and would indicate that the announcer really was from Seattle, and was using the local accent and not striving for an abstract General American accent.
Guest, do you think the speaker of the original sample (Francis) is from Seattle? I think he is, or at least, from somewhere on the Northwestern Tier of the United States.
Well, I'm not sure. Travis says he's not cot-caught merged. I believe that Seattle is virtually 100% cot-caught merged. I can't really hear it in the sample, but I'm c-c merged so it's hard for me to distinguish them. But I know that even my 92 year old grandmother is cot-caught merged.
Guest, I thought Seattle was cot/caught merged, too, but I could be wrong. I wonder if there's a cot-caught merger map someplace?
I found a cot/caught merger map. Seattle is supposed to be cot/caught merged; to wit:
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html
Guest, without wishing to come across as obsessed, solving this "mystery" is compelling, absorbing; it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, or solving a particularly tantalizing crime.
If we assume Francis is cot/caught unmerged, that seems to leave Seattle out. According to the map--and the list of cities Francis has given us--Aberdeen, SD seems to fit most of the criteria. Since speakers from SD are very hard to come by, it might be the reason no one--except one "guest" who could be Francis himself, teasing us--has guessed the city of origin.
I met one speaker from North Dakota, but he had definite, easily-noticed eccentricities in speech; for example, he pronounced "mountain" as "mohntain". However, North Dakota speech may not necessarily exactly match South Dakota speech. Travis has said that the sample speech does not indicate a Northern Inland dialect, but perhaps he--like all of us--is not well versed on South Dakota speech in particular.
I know of a woman at work from South Dakota. If I can find her today (she works in a distant department), I'll go listen to her. I'll get back to you.
If we assume Francis is cot/caught unmerged, that seems to leave Seattle out. According to the map--and the list of cities Francis has given us--Aberdeen, SD seems to fit most of the criteria. Since speakers from SD are very hard to come by, it might be the reason no one--except one "guest" who could be Francis himself, teasing us--has guessed the city of origin.
I met one speaker from North Dakota, but he had definite, easily-noticed eccentricities in speech; for example, he pronounced "mountain" as "mohntain". However, North Dakota speech may not necessarily exactly match South Dakota speech. Travis has said that the sample speech does not indicate a Northern Inland dialect, but perhaps he--like all of us--is not well versed on South Dakota speech in particular.
I know of a woman at work from South Dakota. If I can find her today (she works in a distant department), I'll go listen to her. I'll get back to you.