what can i do to sound californian?

Travis   Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:11 am GMT
>>Yeah, rising intonation (known in linguistics as "high rise terminals" or "uptalk") is fairly widespread in California, tho it's not the only place it's turned up.<<

Yah, it has shown up here at times (I catch myself using it on occasion), for instance, even though it is not the dominant pronunciation here at all.
Danielle   Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:56 am GMT
My friend Jeniqa just moved here from Cali and she agrees with the above. I have noticed that she generally rolls her "r's" and pronounces her "o's" as "ahh's" like, hawt. Pawpular. Prawbably.Wrawng.


Best of Luck Eric on all of your Japo-Cali journeys,
Guest   Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:21 am GMT
> My friend Jeniqa just moved here from Cali and she agrees with the above. I have noticed that she generally rolls her "r's" and pronounces her "o's" as "ahh's" like, hawt. Pawpular. Prawbably.Wrawng.

I thought the Colombian pronunciation of O would be different from this, I have never heard a native Spanish speaker speak like that.
Kirk   Wed Jun 28, 2006 6:36 am GMT
<<I thought the Colombian pronunciation of O would be different from this, I have never heard a native Spanish speaker speak like that.>>

Colombian? Who said anything about Colombia?

<<pronounces her "o's" as "ahh's" like, hawt. Pawpular. Prawbably.Wrawng.>>

What exactly do you mean by "aw?" "Aw" can mean a lot of different sounds in different accents.
Guest   Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:41 pm GMT
> Colombian? Who said anything about Colombia?

The person mentioned above has moved from Cali, therefore I assume her to be Colombian.
Guest   Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:14 pm GMT
Cali as in California, not as in Cali, Colombia.
Guest   Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:59 pm GMT
I have not heard of this abbreviation, I thought it was the Colombian city.
Kirk   Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:11 pm GMT
<<I have not heard of this abbreviation, I thought it was the Colombian city.>>

An interesting misinterpretation, but understandable, I guess (altho the thread *is* on California...but hey, we all do that kind of thing sometimes). Anyway, yes, sometimes California is referred to as "Cali" as a standalone reference. However, the shorter version "Cal" is used when differentiating between "Norcal" and "Socal" (and even "Orcal" for the extreme northern parts closer to Oregon. Along the lines of this naming system I've also decided that there's also a "Bor-cal," which is not so much a subregion but may apply to wherever boring parts are ;) )
Kirk   Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:40 pm GMT
Anyway, if anyone's curious about the vowels "oh" and "ah" as they may be realized here in California here's a recording of myself (responding to a post on another thread so ignore the references) I did a little while ago:

http://media.putfile.com/Kirksayhostingolangcafe
Guest   Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:12 am GMT
"what can i do to sound californian?"

Speak very poorly.
Deborah   Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:10 am GMT
Kirk, where's HT's recording that you referred to in yours?
Kirk   Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:00 am GMT
<<Kirk, where's HT's recording that you referred to in yours?>>

Oh, that was in response to a post/recording he did here:

http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=260&postorder=asc&start=75

But he said the file has been deleted by now. Too bad.
Deborah   Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:53 pm GMT
Thanks anyway!
Deborah   Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:59 pm GMT
I just checked your link and realized I'd already heard HT's recording.
LJ   Sat Jul 08, 2006 6:41 am GMT
The best thing a person can do to blend in is to copy the intonation and stress of the speakers. Use the central vowel liberally. Important to remember: in English, some syllables are very short and reduced while others are longer and stressed. In Japanese, syllables tend to have the same length. If you are a native of Japan, work to differentiate between your pronunciation of L and R. In the L, the air should flow around the sides of the tongue while the tip touches somewhere behind the top teeth. In the R, some air should pass over the tip of the tongue.