I'm not Aussie but have a slight Aussie accent. I think the noticeable feature is the twang.
What accent do you really hate? and which one you love?
<<No, not really, but I just feel more "Aussie", and somewhat more self-conscious about my accent-->>
I bet everyone feels that way. I was self-conscious every time I opened my mouth while I was in England.
I bet everyone feels that way. I was self-conscious every time I opened my mouth while I was in England.
On the whole, British people don't give a rat's arse about people's accents.....we are subjected to so many on a daily basis if we go out and about in the main cities or large urban areas...remember, much of the UK is urbanised to some degree. I honestly don't think we think too much about the accent issue, and if somebody stops us in the street and asks for directions we subconsciously notice the accent but that's about it.....most of us just try and help them out with their problem. If it's a French or a Scandinavian or a German accent I hear it registers as such in my mind but as I say, that's about it...nothing else.
Of all the foreign accents though, it has to be said that the American is far and away the one you HEAR the most, above all others. It just carries further on the wind somehow, if you know what I mean. Groups of Americans DO rate very high on the decibels scale more so than any other nationality, but I won't go into the reasons for this in this Forum. We are just so used to hearing them speaking to each other as if they were all on opposite sides of the street, so it's no big deal. LOL
Of all the foreign accents though, it has to be said that the American is far and away the one you HEAR the most, above all others. It just carries further on the wind somehow, if you know what I mean. Groups of Americans DO rate very high on the decibels scale more so than any other nationality, but I won't go into the reasons for this in this Forum. We are just so used to hearing them speaking to each other as if they were all on opposite sides of the street, so it's no big deal. LOL
Well I noticed no one even mentioned North Dakota in this discussion of the Upper Midwest accent. Let me just tell you, I feel like a fish out of water up here, because I do not talk the same as everyone in my city/state. Thank God! Let me tell you, there has never been such an assault on the human ears than listening to a NATIVE North Dakotan speak. People in North Dakota have their own language I think. Not that I disagree with them because I use these words as well, but I thought I would shed a little light on the subject to those who haven't been to North Dakota.
For sloppy joes, poeple here call them slushburgers. If you ask for a soda around here, you get weird looks. It's POP. Soda is what you put in a root beer float, like club soda. Roof is pronounced 2 ways. Roof sounding like hoof in "horse hoof" or roof, rhyming with POOF!
Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout." The biggest thing I can't stand is the pronouncing of the letter "o" in words like no, home, etc. Sometimes 'no' comes out sounding like 'new'. A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.'
I hate North Dakota. Seriously, there is a reason we are last in that nation for tourism. Don't ever come here.
For sloppy joes, poeple here call them slushburgers. If you ask for a soda around here, you get weird looks. It's POP. Soda is what you put in a root beer float, like club soda. Roof is pronounced 2 ways. Roof sounding like hoof in "horse hoof" or roof, rhyming with POOF!
Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout." The biggest thing I can't stand is the pronouncing of the letter "o" in words like no, home, etc. Sometimes 'no' comes out sounding like 'new'. A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.'
I hate North Dakota. Seriously, there is a reason we are last in that nation for tourism. Don't ever come here.
P.S. I love Aussie accents. I think they are the best. Generally I dig people with other accents, except the ones I am subjected to everyday here in this state by the people who grew up here. wow.
<<I hate North Dakota. Seriously, there is a reason we are last in that nation for tourism. Don't ever come here. >>
Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), I realize I have been to every state surrounding North Dakota except for it. In 5th grade I had to do a state report project and we drew states out of a hat and I got North Dakota. I'm sure North Dakotans are lovely people but let's just say it was very challenging to find things to talk about regarding the state. I do remember that one of the state tourism sources I found claimed that (supposedly) the geographical center of North America is in ND.
<<Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout.">>
That's not just ND. A lot of people vary between the two. I'm from California and I have both. One thing I've noticed is that official routes (say, route 66, state route 52, etc.) are generally pronounced "root" while certain fixed expressions like "paper route" are with [aU].
Anyway, dialectal variation is to be treasured, I think. There's nothing wrong with ND English. You may not like the place where it's spoken but it's still a valid form of English :)
<<A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.' >>
Norwegian substratum influence, for sure.
Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), I realize I have been to every state surrounding North Dakota except for it. In 5th grade I had to do a state report project and we drew states out of a hat and I got North Dakota. I'm sure North Dakotans are lovely people but let's just say it was very challenging to find things to talk about regarding the state. I do remember that one of the state tourism sources I found claimed that (supposedly) the geographical center of North America is in ND.
<<Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout.">>
That's not just ND. A lot of people vary between the two. I'm from California and I have both. One thing I've noticed is that official routes (say, route 66, state route 52, etc.) are generally pronounced "root" while certain fixed expressions like "paper route" are with [aU].
Anyway, dialectal variation is to be treasured, I think. There's nothing wrong with ND English. You may not like the place where it's spoken but it's still a valid form of English :)
<<A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.' >>
Norwegian substratum influence, for sure.
>>For sloppy joes, poeple here call them slushburgers. If you ask for a soda around here, you get weird looks. It's POP. Soda is what you put in a root beer float, like club soda. Roof is pronounced 2 ways. Roof sounding like hoof in "horse hoof" or roof, rhyming with POOF!<<
We in eastern Wisconsin say "soda", but the rest of Wisconsin says "pop" like you and the rest of the Upper Midwest.
>>Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout."<<
Same here in Wisconsin.
>><<A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.' >>
Norwegian substratum influence, for sure.<<
Same sort of thing here, albeit different substrata (German being the most significant, but other influences likely include things such as Polish and Dutch).
We in eastern Wisconsin say "soda", but the rest of Wisconsin says "pop" like you and the rest of the Upper Midwest.
>>Route has 2 ways as well. Route sounds like "root" 1 way, and the other way goes route, like in "pout."<<
Same here in Wisconsin.
>><<A lot of people don't belive in the sound "th", so words like 'them' and 'there' come out sounding like 'dem and 'dere.' >>
Norwegian substratum influence, for sure.<<
Same sort of thing here, albeit different substrata (German being the most significant, but other influences likely include things such as Polish and Dutch).
North Dakota sounds like it's one mega challenge. It's early Saturday morning here and I'm 15% conscious so I have to ask: where is North Dakota anyway? I'd love to see the blank looks when I order everything in my Scottish accent...they'd prolly think I'd just landed in a spaceship or something alien :-)
Pronunciation of "roof" varies then in this North Dakota? You make it appear as if "poof" is only pronounced one way there. Let me tell you that the word is pronounced quite differently here in Scotland than it is in, say, the South of England.
Pronunciation of "roof" varies then in this North Dakota? You make it appear as if "poof" is only pronounced one way there. Let me tell you that the word is pronounced quite differently here in Scotland than it is in, say, the South of England.
Don't worry about freaking out the good people of North Dakota, Damian; there were only about fifteen of them according to the last census. But it was a hard winter; there may be fewer now....
North Dakota nestles not-so-snugly between the lovely tropical paradises (*cough, cough*) of South Dakota (surprise, surprise!), Minnesota, and Montana, with slices of Saskatchewan and Manitoba above. So ... roughly in the middle of nowhere.
North Dakota nestles not-so-snugly between the lovely tropical paradises (*cough, cough*) of South Dakota (surprise, surprise!), Minnesota, and Montana, with slices of Saskatchewan and Manitoba above. So ... roughly in the middle of nowhere.
>> I hate North Dakota. Seriously, there is a reason we are last in that nation for tourism. Don't ever come here. <<
Hmm. I was just planning a trip. What's wrong with going to ND? I heard it's quite pleasant in the Summer with its warm tropical climate (in the Summer). I heard that it's very much like Hawaii. One thing I'm worried about is the humidity though. Does it get very humid in the Summer?
Hmm. I was just planning a trip. What's wrong with going to ND? I heard it's quite pleasant in the Summer with its warm tropical climate (in the Summer). I heard that it's very much like Hawaii. One thing I'm worried about is the humidity though. Does it get very humid in the Summer?
I generally find black people hard to understand, not because of their expressions or lexicon, but because of their pronunciation.
Wow! I didn't think anyone would repost about North Dakota. Right on!
to "Guest" - Hey of you are planning a trip, then go for it. The Badlands down in the southwestern part of the state are actually really pretty and there's fun stuff to do in the "old west" town of Medora. I plan on leaving this joke as soon as I graduate college. yay! I tried moving to Vermont (land of open-mindedness) 6 yrs ago, but I wasn't ready. Anyway, this is not my life story page, this is a page about accents and weird vocab. So yeah....North Dakota is lacking. It really gets cold here in the winter. Worse than Alaska. I wish I were kidding!!!
And as for the Norwegian influence on "dem and 'dere", it MAY be Norwegian, but I';m betting it's a direct influence of the large Native American population. I've noticed they have accents all their own.
to "Guest" - Hey of you are planning a trip, then go for it. The Badlands down in the southwestern part of the state are actually really pretty and there's fun stuff to do in the "old west" town of Medora. I plan on leaving this joke as soon as I graduate college. yay! I tried moving to Vermont (land of open-mindedness) 6 yrs ago, but I wasn't ready. Anyway, this is not my life story page, this is a page about accents and weird vocab. So yeah....North Dakota is lacking. It really gets cold here in the winter. Worse than Alaska. I wish I were kidding!!!
And as for the Norwegian influence on "dem and 'dere", it MAY be Norwegian, but I';m betting it's a direct influence of the large Native American population. I've noticed they have accents all their own.
>>And as for the Norwegian influence on "dem and 'dere", it MAY be Norwegian, but I';m betting it's a direct influence of the large Native American population. I've noticed they have accents all their own.<<
I doubt it. Native American influence, beyond said Native Americans themselves, is really only limited to placenames and certain new items not historically found in the "Old World". European languages' substratum influence, thanks to massive amounts of immigration, has had far more impact in practice than any kind of influence from languages which were spoken by Native Americans who were here before they were sent packing to the reservations (or to say, were effectively expelled from much of the land they previously lived on), which was basically none on a general level.
I doubt it. Native American influence, beyond said Native Americans themselves, is really only limited to placenames and certain new items not historically found in the "Old World". European languages' substratum influence, thanks to massive amounts of immigration, has had far more impact in practice than any kind of influence from languages which were spoken by Native Americans who were here before they were sent packing to the reservations (or to say, were effectively expelled from much of the land they previously lived on), which was basically none on a general level.
<<And as for the Norwegian influence on "dem and 'dere", it MAY be Norwegian, but I';m betting it's a direct influence of the large Native American population. I've noticed they have accents all their own.>>
It could be both tho I'd imagine that since the majority of North Dakota is not of Native American descent the largest subtratum influence is likely from Norwegian due to large-scale historical Norwegian immigration. "Dem" and "dere" and other examples of "interdental hardening," as it's known, are documented in other areas with historical substratum influence from languages like German and Swedish which do not have the "th" sounds English does (they used to, like a millennium ago, and most varieties of English have remained phonologically conservative in retaining them. In fact English is one of very few remaining Germanic languages which retains the "th" sounds even tho all Germanic languages used to have them. Had Old Norse speakers migrated to North Dakota way back then and started speaking English we would've expected those "th" sounds to stay in the English spoken there because Old Norse had them).
<<I plan on leaving this joke as soon as I graduate college. yay! I tried moving to Vermont (land of open-mindedness) 6 yrs ago, but I wasn't ready.>>
California might be a nice alternative if you're looking to get out. Not that I'm biased or anything :) I know you wanted to concentrate on accent differences on this thread, not cultural ones, but if you're interested in the latter some of us talked on langcafé (link below) about cultural differences in different parts of North America and where we'd move within North America if we had the chance (in my case, I just graduated so I'm at a fun/awkward/exciting/daunting in-between spot in life):
http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=709
It could be both tho I'd imagine that since the majority of North Dakota is not of Native American descent the largest subtratum influence is likely from Norwegian due to large-scale historical Norwegian immigration. "Dem" and "dere" and other examples of "interdental hardening," as it's known, are documented in other areas with historical substratum influence from languages like German and Swedish which do not have the "th" sounds English does (they used to, like a millennium ago, and most varieties of English have remained phonologically conservative in retaining them. In fact English is one of very few remaining Germanic languages which retains the "th" sounds even tho all Germanic languages used to have them. Had Old Norse speakers migrated to North Dakota way back then and started speaking English we would've expected those "th" sounds to stay in the English spoken there because Old Norse had them).
<<I plan on leaving this joke as soon as I graduate college. yay! I tried moving to Vermont (land of open-mindedness) 6 yrs ago, but I wasn't ready.>>
California might be a nice alternative if you're looking to get out. Not that I'm biased or anything :) I know you wanted to concentrate on accent differences on this thread, not cultural ones, but if you're interested in the latter some of us talked on langcafé (link below) about cultural differences in different parts of North America and where we'd move within North America if we had the chance (in my case, I just graduated so I'm at a fun/awkward/exciting/daunting in-between spot in life):
http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=709