Hmm. It thinks I have a North Central accent, lol. To me, my accent sounds nothing like a North Central one. Why did it come up with that? And btw, what does the "roof/ruff" one determine?
What American accent do you have?
I'm (gasp!) Midland
("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.
See? I DO speak general American! 'Cause god knows I've never been anywhere near the midwest, except to change planes....
Sarcastic One -- I've heard one or two people who use the foot vowel for roof. I don't know what the quiz had in mind, but what that determined to me was that they talked funny! ;)
("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.
See? I DO speak general American! 'Cause god knows I've never been anywhere near the midwest, except to change planes....
Sarcastic One -- I've heard one or two people who use the foot vowel for roof. I don't know what the quiz had in mind, but what that determined to me was that they talked funny! ;)
@Uriel:
so are you not fully cot-caught-don-dawn merged or something? Do you say tent and tint the same way? And what about heel and hill?
so are you not fully cot-caught-don-dawn merged or something? Do you say tent and tint the same way? And what about heel and hill?
Uriel,
You're right: Midland is not the same as Midwest. The Upper Midwest is not Midland, and is probably closer to broadcast standard than much of Midland, which often sounds slightly drawled to Northerners.
For a good map, scroll down on this website:
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html#Heading13
And yes, most native Chicagoans (at least from my era), use the foot vowel in root and roof. (I've heard the actor Jeff Daniels use this too--he's from Michigan.) "Talking funny" is all relative--when I first heard people pronouncing Don and Dawn the same, I thought something was wrong with their English. (The worst is having a native New Yorker tell you that YOU have the accent.)
You're right: Midland is not the same as Midwest. The Upper Midwest is not Midland, and is probably closer to broadcast standard than much of Midland, which often sounds slightly drawled to Northerners.
For a good map, scroll down on this website:
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html#Heading13
And yes, most native Chicagoans (at least from my era), use the foot vowel in root and roof. (I've heard the actor Jeff Daniels use this too--he's from Michigan.) "Talking funny" is all relative--when I first heard people pronouncing Don and Dawn the same, I thought something was wrong with their English. (The worst is having a native New Yorker tell you that YOU have the accent.)
>>And yes, most native Chicagoans (at least from my era), use the foot vowel in root and roof. (I've heard the actor Jeff Daniels use this too--he's from Michigan.) "Talking funny" is all relative--when I first heard people pronouncing Don and Dawn the same, I thought something was wrong with their English. (The worst is having a native New Yorker tell you that YOU have the accent.)<<
I myself, though, use both /u/ and /U/ for "root" and "roof", even though such does sort of vary by register - in more careful, formal speech I generally use /u/, while in informal speech I very frequently use /U/, especially in the case of "roof".
I myself, though, use both /u/ and /U/ for "root" and "roof", even though such does sort of vary by register - in more careful, formal speech I generally use /u/, while in informal speech I very frequently use /U/, especially in the case of "roof".
They pegged me as Midland. I was born and raised in California. I live a sheltered existence. I've been to Hawaii for two weeks and to Nevada for two days. I hate to travel because I always (without fail) get extremely sick and then I can't enjoy myself. How could I possibly be a midlander. My grandma (also born and raised in CA) uses the foot vowel for roof. How did that happen?
I always knew my accent wasn't very distinct, but I didn't know I'd be pegged as living in an entirely different area! I've never even been in the Midland. I was born and raised in Louisiana, and somehow I've escaped the charming southern accent. Darn.
Midland seems to come up a lot. I think if you're c-c unmerged and don't have the obvious Southern features (pin-pen, heel-hill mergers; /aI/ monophthongisation, etc.) or Northeastern ones (no mergers before /r/) the quiz will put you as Midland.
Mine said Canadian, but in reality, it is probably a cross between North Central and Western/Central Canadian. There are probably a few influences from both the North and the Pacific Northwest, but I wouldn't imagine that they are very noticeable.
>> Mine said Canadian, but in reality, it is probably a cross between North Central and Western/Central Canadian. <<
How different is the North Central and the part of Canada just north of that accent wise?
How different is the North Central and the part of Canada just north of that accent wise?
<<How different is the North Central and the part of Canada just north of that accent wise?>>
Canadian raising for /aU/ is usually a bit more pronounced in Canada. However, both sides have a similar style of raising for /aI/. Many speakers on the Canadian side have the Canadian shift, but it is a lot less common on the US side. On the Canadian side, nearly everyone is cot/caught merged, but you can find a handful of speakers on the US side that are either unmerged or have a transitional merger.
Canadian raising for /aU/ is usually a bit more pronounced in Canada. However, both sides have a similar style of raising for /aI/. Many speakers on the Canadian side have the Canadian shift, but it is a lot less common on the US side. On the Canadian side, nearly everyone is cot/caught merged, but you can find a handful of speakers on the US side that are either unmerged or have a transitional merger.
Surprise. Surprise Surprise
SOUTHERN
I guess they didn’t try to differentiate the many Southern accents. Mine is pure upland Cracker. That is the main divide (upland and “tidewater”) but there are others
Site says:
“People used to hate Southern accents but now everyone wants one.”
Don’t know about that. Yankees seem to have a hard time getting the hang of it. Even run into some first generation that absolutely refuse to say y’all. Go figure. Oh well guess their kids will have a chance to learn to speak correctly.
SOUTHERN
I guess they didn’t try to differentiate the many Southern accents. Mine is pure upland Cracker. That is the main divide (upland and “tidewater”) but there are others
Site says:
“People used to hate Southern accents but now everyone wants one.”
Don’t know about that. Yankees seem to have a hard time getting the hang of it. Even run into some first generation that absolutely refuse to say y’all. Go figure. Oh well guess their kids will have a chance to learn to speak correctly.
I wonder how many extra questions the quiz would need to be worldwide? There would have to be questions about rhoticity, the foot-strut split, the fir-fern-fur merger, the lot-cloth split, etc. It might hard to do relying only on people's perceptions of their own accents.
I think we can all agree that for this test, "Midland" just translates as "generic American". Which people anywhere could have.