Accents

I guess this question is really geared mostly to native English speakers but if someone asked you which accent do you have what would you say? I'm asking this because I was recently watching a Youtube video about the different accents in the UK and I had no idea that what is considered to be the "standard" accent is called "R.P." (received pronounciation). I had never heard of that term before. I guess in the US the equivalent to RP would be "Mid-Atlantic".

Anyway, I would personally describe myself as having a "Mid-Atlantic" accent.

I'm a southerner, I have no accent.

I'm sure any native Texan would think you have an accent.

I'm from Ct. and R.I. the people here think I'm from Boston due to an accent

and it's funny how Boston has such a different accent from RI or NH. I'd say New England since I've lived here my whole life but when I talk to accounts in Boston I sound nothing like them.

No, we would think he is normal

Wicked pissah eh?

Mostly "California English" for me.

Same here TG my accent isn't even close to Boston or Maine,,most of the folks here sound Southern to me..New England all my life until i moved to Ohio

I guess either Florker or New Yoridian here.

Common as muck West London

I have what's called in Newfoundland a "towny" accent. Take Waterford Irish and mix it with Devonshire English and let a few hundred years go by When I go to the UK, folks are always puzzled by my accent and when in the states many Americans think I'm Irish

I don't think I have an accent but when I went to college in the far north of Michigan, one of my room mates (a native of Michigan) told me that he could barely understand my mother, who was from Pennsylvania, due to her southern accent.

Not a native english speaker but over here, I get asked whether I'm American or Canadian since my accent does not conform to the local accent. Even when I do agency work and travel and they ask me where I live and I say where I live here in the UK, they frown and say that my accent still doesn't fit.... Even after 7 years....

Hey -Ice wear it proud ..They must have an accent to you also

I'm not sure eh.

When I lived in Philadelphia many people mentioned my "accent". I always thought Michigan didn't have much of an accent. There is something to be said about a southern girls accent. I like the western Pennsylvania accent too.

Panzer, I never really thought you had a specific noticeable accent. Perhaps you do have some mid-atlantic traits, as I understand them.

Do you think I have an accent?

Not much of an accent. I've even been asked where I'm from originally. I think I slip a bit more the older I get. My wife on the other hand, there's no doubt she's from down here.

Like RK, I don't have much of an accent but wife has a bit of a Cajun accent, maybe not as much as she use to (due to age or living away from home for so many years).

Not quite this strong, although I know people who do sound like this, including family...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeR7Ljv_tPc

I would say you have a slight Southern accent kinda similar to what Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have.

North of England, East Lancashire diluted with 40 years of strine.

Oh that's slight, yea.

I'm not sure, but perhaps Mid-Atlantic would be close. I was raised mostly as an Army brat and got schooled exclusively in DoD (Department of Defense) schools. In these situations, accents often get diluted or disappear. This was my first exposure to English after being raised in Germany and attending German first grade and although my step father was a Georgia redneck through and through, his time in the Army diluted the southern accent significantly.

Having spent most of my adult life in Columbus, Georgia, I still wouldn't get mistaken for being from here. I use "southernisms" but don't really have the accent.

By the way, I am fascinated by accents, languages, and cultures. When I see people at my job (university) who look, act, or sound like they might be from another country or perhaps first generation Americans, I find it hard not to ask them where they are from. These days people seem to get defensive about being questioned along these lines, probably because some Americans are still xenophobic. Too bad because I love sharing my German background and experiences.

I speak BBC English old boy.LoL

I was born and have lived most of my life in Florida. I've had people say you sound like you're from South Carolina. I don't think that's true at all though at least to my ears. Perhaps they weren't originally from FL and haven't heard all what there is to hear yet.
Generational Floridians, especially folks of the land and with a FL heritage going way back definitely have a distinct accent. Its Southern sounding by and large but I've heard some that are more akin to a Western drawl when compared to what you might hear in the Carolinas or in Alabama. Both sides of my family came to FL in the early 60s and 70s from elsewhere in the South and Midwest. Much of my family comes from Missouri and Kentucky. My grandmother on my mother's side in her 80s still has a strong accent though she has not lived in Kentucky for a long time. .

I'm pretty sure RP is considered a bit posh and not a commoner accent.

Amazes me how you pick up an accent and language after being in an area for a while. I grew up in Michigan with parents born and raised in Kentucky with a little drawl, but not much. Never thought I had much of an accent growing up, nor did my friends. Went to school at Kentucky and after six months came home for a visit and met up with my friends. They could not believe how I was talking. I now had some southern drawl and was referring to everyone as "y'all". No idea how much I had picked up until I started listening to myself and sure enough they were right. Not sure what type of accent it would be, to someone from Kentucky I sounded like I was from up north, but to someone in MIchigan I sounded like a southerner.

In Atlanta now, and most of the people in the northern burbs have no accent. My kids are born and raised here and no one would know they are from Atlanta by listening to them, no southern accent at all.

Noter, I lived in Atlanta for several years (Stone Mountain, Brookhaven, Duluth) but most people I know are either Yankee transplants or from the Middle East (mostly Iranian). Lot's of different accents but nothing Southern sounding comes to mind except one guy from Mississippi. The melting pot of the South, I suppose.

Atlanta is one of those big Southern cities just like Houston, Dallas, Jacksonville and New Orleans where you have such a huge melting pot of people from all over the country that the "typical" Southern accent that we know of is not really widespread or it's diluted.


The small towns and the countryside in the South is a totally different matter though!

South London mockney.

I lived in South Lousiana for over 10 years. That little thang sounded like she was from Mississippi or Arkansas. Oh, she's from North of I-10...no wonder.

Where I lived if you were from north of the Intercoastal waterway you were considered a yankee! I always said "Yankee hell! I am from EAST of the intercoastal.

Southern-ish accent here. I can pour it on if I want, or limit it also if I try.

Born in MA, btw and lived there 12 years. Keep that to yourselves please.

Oh lord! Not only is Nixer a natural born Yankee but he's an uber Yankee (New Englander).

Nixer, you have a point dar, she sounds more 'neck than Coonass.

Yeah, that I-10 division is real. I have family in Morgan City and Lafayette, they do talk differently than family in Shreveport (clearly anything above Alexandria should be considered the North).

I-10 is also an important hurricane boundary to home insurance companies, raising rates and lowering coverage. My parents were just south of I-10 at the Mississippi River, now living with us they're miles north of it.

Some of my wife's people are true Coonasses from Bayou Sorrel. I remember visiting them when we were dating in the 80's, almost seemed like a different world (truly salt of the earth people, though).

++++++++++

My mom did a lot of training over the years in Boston (IT and Novell network stuff with the FAA), dad would stroll around Cambridge University while she was in classes, they loved the area (I've never been).

What's sad is that I've been a hardcore Red Sox fan since 1979 and yet I've not been to Boston yet. I am hoping to go next year.