Do you have any accents?

[Joe Redifer]

I am from Colorado and pronounce every word as it is supposed to be pronounced without any regional inflections, therefore I have no accent. People who actually do have accents try to claim that I have one, but I just inform them that they are the ones who are not speaking properly. They are extremely thankful when I tell them this and usually give me some cash. They always start working hard to lose their "twang". I once met this dude from London who claimed that they spoke with that accent long before my non-accent was invented and therefore I was the one speaking incorrectly. I simply told that him he was wrong, and he agreed and lost his accent. (To those of you who take everything seriously, I am being facetious).

I speak with similar inflections as most people in movies and TV do... the ones without accents, that is.

 

[eric]

I always find it odd that people from Minnesota, North Dakota and the far upper Midwest tend to have the same accent as Hawaiians.

i don't completely agree. though there are some similarities perhaps in how things are said (the yaaah especially) the tone is very different. much more nasal up here, more guttural in hawaii. hawaiians seem to have a much more sing-songy lilt to their voices.

that said, i grew up in new jersey, about 30 mi due west of manhattan. then moved to minnesota when i was 22. i lost a lot of the jersey, only dropping the occasional "r" at the end of words like quarter and water. i haven't picked up much of the minnesota (accent or dialect). i think i have a very basic northern american accent.

 

[schweb]

Actually, according to linguists and studies, people in Northeast Ohio generally have the least amount of "accent" and the most correct pronunciation of American English.

That is why a huge majority of television anchors, announcers, and commentators are from there. I studied languages in college and we talked about this fairly extensively.

Just an interesting fact I thought I'd throw out there.

 

[baggss]

i don't completely agree. though there are some similarities perhaps in how things are said (the yaaah especially) the tone is very different. much more nasal up here, more guttural in hawaii. hawaiians seem to have a much more sing-songy lilt to their voices.

It is more guttural if they are speaking "pidgin English" but significantly less so if they are speaking plain English.

 

[Jeff]

I always claim that I don't have an accent. Lots of people in Kansas are twangy country folks, and they do have obvious accents, but I don't really think I have too much of one. I'm not a twangy bumpkin...

 

[technologist]

I've no idea what my accent is. I've lived too many places, and picked up too many pieces...and sometimes I deliberately adopt a particular inflection because I think it sounds better.

I'll adopt whatever accent I think will make me best understood. But I'm not really good with my Southern accent, so I avoid it...people think I'm making fun of them!

 

[baggss]

I've been working with some Japanese folks lately. Most of them speak good English but I find myself applying a Japanese accent to my English when speaking with them. I also find that when I am not around them but am around other Americans that are working with them we both tend to apply the accent.

 

[thedood]

I've been working with some Japanese folks lately. Most of them speak good English

I've never met a Japanese person who spoke English -- Engrish, yes.

People from Chicago have funny accents. Some are daWhatever, while other's have a slight "Fargo" accent. It's actually funny, which is why I generally use a play on "user names", like I did here.

Me? I am a native of Montecito, California. "I'm so money, baby".

 

[Fallooza]

i only exist on the internets so i have no accent.

 

[fleurya]

I've been working with some Japanese folks lately. Most of them speak good English but I find myself applying a Japanese accent to my English when speaking with them. I also find that when I am not around them but am around other Americans that are working with them we both tend to apply the accent.

I know what you mean. When I was working in China for 6 months, started speaking very slowly and over-enunciating to everyone, even other native English speakers. I also adopted their vocabulary since theirs was limited. My friends started speaking broken English the way they did, but I never did that. It doesn't help to affirm their mistakes.

 

[the8thark]

I am a Queenslander but with some words my years in South Australia as a kid really show.

 

[Shinji]

I have an Australian accent, but I think I am slowly losing that a little cos most of the ppl in HK (chinese aka "hongkies") tends to adopt more of an American accent.

In HK we get a mixture of people who have studied in UK, Oz and the US, but some of these people (and it really pisses me off sometimes) that even they studied in the UK or Oz for like a good 5 to 6 years they still adopt an American accent.

I too have an interest in phonetics and language, but I must say I'm not very good at it.

 

[nirvana]

I have a English brummy accent mixed with a Worcestershire twang not a good mix, county bumkin and brummie

 

[JLam21]

I've been working with some Japanese folks lately. Most of them speak good English but I find myself applying a Japanese accent to my English when speaking with them. I also find that when I am not around them but am around other Americans that are working with them we both tend to apply the accent.

The same thing happened with me. I taught English conversational classes to mostly Japanese and Korean students over the summer and I found that when I spoke with them, my accent changed a bit. I almost adopt a very light version of their accent (I find that it is much easier for them to learn and understand me). Though this may be obvious, since English is not their first language, I tended to speak much slower, accentuated more, and I also paid a lot more attention to my choice of vocabulary.

 

[Leukeh]

I have an Australian accent... because I live in Australia! =O So no not really...

 

[skye]

yup i have the broad o's and a's of a typical minnesoooootan

 

[jdgti]

My mom is from New Hampshire/VT area and my dad is from Atlanta. So I say Soda Pop not Coke, Bought (northern way), Wicked (northern slang), Fight (northern way) but I also say river not riva', and maRio not merio, and roof not ruff.

So I guess it depends on what I am saying which accent I have.