Californian accent
 

Do californians have a strong regional accent or is it more a standard one? Could you describe it compared to a Floridian or a Bostonian acccent?

What you see on TV is typically a California accent. I don't really notice a difference between California and Florida accents. Boston accents are quite distinctive (ever hear Edward Kennedy speak?) Something like "Ih pahked my cahr in Hahavhd yahd." <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Carmen: <BR> <BR>Californians do NOT have a strong regional accent. What you see on TV does not represent California. <BR> <BR>California is the most DIVERSE state in the union, with a majority Hispanic/Latino population. <BR> <BR>California has a significant population and a WIDE variety of Asian, African American and a whole POT of other cultures, ethnicities and the like. <BR> <BR>California is not a homogeneous state by any stretch of the imagination. <BR> <BR>Happy Travels <BR> <BR>Oaktown, a NATIVE California Girl!

Carmen, we don't have an accent per se.. however, we do have a very specific speech rhythm that is remarked upon frequently,(rushed bunches of sentences, then drawn out exclamations) <BR>DUUUUDE,Like............................whered idyouanddebbyendupeating, last night? <BR>Which is an appalling generalization, but subtract the word Dude and insert anyones name or moniker. <BR>in terms of Boston, there is no way you could mistake a Bostoner from anyone native to So. Cal, however 90% of people, here in Los Angeles anyway, come from somewhere else so you really hear just about everything.

Californians don't have an accent. <BR>Nor do native Floridians (exceptions are transplanted northeasterners and Cubans). <BR>Some of the US regions with distinct accents are: Minnesota/Wisconsin/upper Michigan, Chicago area, New England, New York/NE metro corridor, Texas, Arkansas/Miss/Tenn/KY/GA, Carolinas. Then there are the shades of gray between these.

I agree: Californians do not have any sort of accent. I'm from Kansas, spent summers while growing up in LA, and everyone always thought I was from the deep south (obviously no one I ever spoke to had ever heard anyone really from the south.....) Even my father, who grew up in Kansas, after 25 years in SoCal lost his accent and thought mine was hilarious.....

Southern Californians do too have accents -- they originated the nonsense of ending every sentence as if it were a question? Like I was downtown? And I went to the store? They also have some remnants of what sounds like an Okie accent to me -- there's a really robust "r" and tightness to the vowels, as in "how would yih like yer birrgirr kicked? Medium ir weall?" <BR> <BR>Floridians -- my goodness, girl, if you don't think those crackers have accents, it's only because most of the people you talk to are relocated "midwusterners" from Ohiya and Ellannoy. True, born-there Floridians have a soft version of the southern accent. <BR> <BR>The TV accent is not southern Californian -- closest approximation is Connecticut or MAYbe northern California. <BR> <BR>And of course, all accents are relative -- to Brits, we all have an accent.

there is no such thing as a "california accent".

I was in Paris in 1989 and the bartender at our hotel was from Morocco, taught English to French students during the daytime and identified us immediately as Californians when he heard us talk. He easily impersonated a Texan and New Yorker as well. Guess we have an accent.

Susan: Well, there is that very Californian way of talking. Peppy, almost Valley-girl-like. Bet that's how that guy pegged you. But it's not an accent per se.

From the point of view of linguistic study, there is a documentable Californian accent. Not all Californians have it, just as not all midwesterners or Bostonians have their regional accent. But "Grapes" is more or less right about the R and the vowels, and Monica is right about a particular rhythm and pace of delivery. <BR>It's subtle compared to, say, the Boston or Georgia accents, but that's partly because there have been so many influxes of populations in the West, although at one time, most came from the southern midwest with an overlay of Hispanic dialects (which may be where the R comes from). <BR> <BR>As to what's on "TV," that's been determined by where the big TV shows are produced (LA and NYC) and what the voice coaches have been teaching. Since the 1950s, the "standard TV" accent has shifted from the northeast and upper midwest to a distinctly southern sound (Charlie Rose, Dan Rather). You get a better idea of what the local accent is by listening to local car ads or local weekend news! <BR> <BR>It's always interesting to hear natives of a particular area insist that there's no accent there. First, they always seem proud of saying "we have no accent" as if that's somehow a superior thing or proof of intelligence (hah!). <BR> <BR>Second, it almost always means they have a tin ear for accents and can't "hear" beyond their own ears. All they notice is when something sounds very different or extreme -- like Ted Kennedy's accent. Then they conclude that _that's_ an accent; and people around them don't have anything like that, so they don't have an accent. Wrong.

Well said, Mona! I found it amusing going through the answers from the Californians saying they don't have accents. Many Californians definitely have a distinct accent. But don't take offense! It's a nice accent.

I grew up in Colorado (no accent there to speak of) then I moved to Texas, now I'm in Hawaii. <BR> <BR>In my opinion Texans have the most sexy, wonderful accent ever. There's nothing sexier than a true Texan drawl. <BR> <BR>You can harldy understand a lot of folks here in Hawaii, they talk pigeon and portegese.

no offense taken...and we don't have an accent :0) Really! <BR>

Toni, you don't get it, do you? You're WRONG!

Older Californians do not have an accent. <BR> <BR>People are confusing syntax and cadence of some of the younger generations' sloppy and affected speech with an accent.

What on EARTH does "not having an accent" mean? Is there some standard of "unaccented" American speech, and if so, tell me where I can look it up and measure other people against it? Is there some established American version of the Queen's English or the French Academy? <BR> <BR>It ain't in the dictionery because all dictioneries do is tell you how to pronounce a word using your own pronunciation of another more familiar word -- the "a" in "blather" is the same "a" you'd use for "fat." <BR> <BR>Posters from California seem to think that their accent is the standard, but about the only way they can substantiate that is to say "TV" accents are supposed to be neutral and Californians are supposed to be close to TV accents. What circular idiocy! <BR> <BR>I remember when people from Connecticut used to claim "no accent." And at the same time people from Georgia seem to be proud of having a "Southern accent." SO we are to conclude that having a northern American accent is having no accent at all???? <BR> <BR>And the latest: "older" Californians? Mydear, what do you think an accent is but some ever-evolving jumble of syntax, cadence, yes, affectation, and -- eventually -- sloppiness, too. And the only thing age has to do with it is that language changes as time does. <BR> <BR>"Older" educated Americans used to be instructed not to drop the hard, gutteral "G" at the end of the "-ing" suffix. Saying "runnin', jumpin', readin', writin' " was considered a sure sign of ignorance, laziness, etc. etc. It still grates on me not to hear that full "ing" sound, but to the huge numbers of Americans for whom the "-in'" sound is "standard," _I_ have an accent when I pronounce the final G. <BR> <BR>This is the weirdest bit of vanity yet coming out of California. Are you taking stereotype lessons out there? And the more y'all protest, the more oddly offensive it's getting. "_We_ Golden Staters have no accent. _You_ deviate from that. Neh neh."

Buck, please look up 'Dictionery in a Dictionary - then you'll know how to spell it !

Bravo, Buck!

Woops, I always have trouble with "stationery" and "stationary" and it spills over to "dictione/ary." (But I don't think the confusion between the two has anything to do with how I pronounce them, do you?) Correction accepted -- doesn't change my points.

I agree with Buck, the "no accent" thing out of California is ludicrous. <BR> <BR>Californians DO have an accent, only they are so self-absorbed they think that they speak the one, true accent-free tongue. Get over yourselves. <BR> <BR>Native Californians speak with a certain accent (you can especially hear it the letter "L", eg, "curl" "mostly" etc). California transplants take with them what they had at home. <BR>

Geez, what's up with all this California hating? Fine, so we like where we live and we're proud to be here. Don't have a conniption fit over it Buck. <I>Gettin'</I> a little antagonistic about it aren't we? Cool off buddy! <BR> <BR>In response to the question, I thought i'd just offer some input on the whole California thing. I personally don't hear much of an accent when speaking to a native Californian, but then i've been here practically all my life. However, I do notice a difference between the way Northern Californians speak and Southern Californians speak. Not so much the pronunciation of specific words, but there's a difference in the cadence as previous posters have pointed out. However, taking the state as a whole, there really is no "regional" accent. As Oaktown pointed out, CA is an extremely diverse state. Recent census statistics show that there is no longer any ethnic background that holds a majority position here. <BR> <BR>With respect to the "unaccented" standard, I think the people who argue that what's seen on television can be considered "unaccented" have a point. Doesn't necessarily mean that it's Californian, just means that when used, you can't identify where a character originates, thereby eliminating any of preconceived regional stereotypes a viewer may have. May not be fair, but it's what happens. Even CA has a regional stereotype on TV (i.e. picture a guy with a surfboard saying, "Duuuude, whuuuz up?")

Perhaps the only place in the U.S. that does not have an accent is Washington, D.C. That's because hardly anyone is a native.

Amber, my charming friend, you bring such a smile to my face when you actually go to the trouble of transliterating your phrasing so we'll get the point that you don't think you have an accent! <BR> <BR>But you do have a valid point when you try to define not having an accent as speaking without providing obvious clues to your place of origin. That's a great observation. <BR> <BR>But on the other hand, it's also a matter of how broadly we draw the circle. In other words, another American might not recognize from your speech that you come from California (although I bet some might!), but they would suppose you are _not_ from the South or New England -- and someone from England would know instantly that you are from the US. <BR> <BR>The fact that northern Californians and southern Californians might hear differences in their respective ways of speaking is also an indication that they both have an accent of some sort, however subtle.

The "neutral" TV accent is not a myth. It is called the "voice from nowhere," and is meant to not suggest that the person speaking is from any specific region of the country. This is the diction and "accent" that is taught by voice coaches to actors and news anchors/reporters who are tryong to "regularize" their accents. (The big three anchormen--Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings--all have slight accents that betray their Texan, Plains, and Ontarian [respectively] origins, but most news anchors/reporters strive for a "neutral" accent, which is seen as more saleable.) Likewise, before everything was computer-generated, the "time lady" on the telephone had the "voice from nowhere." <BR> <BR>In general, people from the west coasts of the US and Canada tend to have the diction closest to the "neutral" accent (hence the claims to no accent): round vowels and enunciated consonants, in contrast with, say, the flat vowels of the "Midwest" accent, the slur of the "Southern" accent, or the nasal twang of the "New York" accent. Northern California north to Vancouver probably fits this mold most closely, because, as has been noted by other posters, there is a distinctive cadence and inflection in some Southern Californians' speech. <BR> <BR>As has also been noted, a) accent is entirely relative, so anything that's "unaccented" is only so compared with more distinctive or obvious accents, and b) in any area, there are many natives who do *not* have a noticeable regional accent. The majority of native New Yorkers do not have a "New Yawk" accent, and there are many native southerners from many states without a noticeable accent, and so on. I grew up in norhtern California and have met people from all over the country whose speech sounds like mine; I didn't know they were from Memphis, or wherever, until they told me so. <BR> <BR>For Carmen, who originally asked, I would say that, compared to other areas with strong regional accents, such as Boston or the south in general, Californians do not have a strong regional accent. Most native Californians (i.e., born in the state and having English as a first language or early-learned second language), whatever their ethnic backgrounds, will speak with the round vowels and enunciated consonants that you hear on TV commercials, etc., an exception being the noted distinctive inflection and cadence used by some (not most) southern Californians. <BR> <BR>Finally, that's pidgin and Portuguese.

Mona, I think you misread my posting. I was expressing the idea that since i'm FROM California, I don't think that Californians have an accent. I wasn't arguing that we don't have an accent, just that it's all relative. Someone from Boston, who is used to hearing fellow Bostonians speak, wouldn't think they have an accent either. It merely depends on where you're from and what you're used to hearing. I believe that I even expressed the idea that the state as a whole DOES NOT have a regional accent, if you look two sentences further. My point that N. CA and S. CA hear differences, was further intended to ILLUSTRATE the point.

Mona, but I do see where you're coming from. When I say CA has no regional accent, I mean nothing you can use as a generalization. We all speak perhaps a little differently in CA because we are such a diverse community. Someone from my neighborhood in SF is going to have a slightly different speech pattern and sound than someone from, say, San Diego.

Amber, some good points. And I'll tell you a little where I'm coming from: <BR> <BR>I grew up around Boston, although my parents came, respectively, from the Conn. valley (mother = "neutral" accent) and Western NY (father = more like a midwestern accent, esp. with a very flat "o" and "a" so that "shopping plaza" becomes "shapping pleahza" to outsiders). However, my mother was raised by an English lit. professor who was a bear about good diction, so I arrived in suburban Boston kindergarten speaking quite differently, and much more carefully, than the other kids ("kids are goats -- 'children' please"). <BR> <BR>I was in a blue-collar neighbor with a very heavy dominant accent, and some of the "big kids" would follow me home and tease me about my accent: "say 'mahthah'!" they would demand, and when I said "motherrr," I'd get hit or knocked to the ground! <BR> <BR>Later, because I am blessed with a particularly sharp ear for such things, I learned to hear and mimic the differences around New England, and there are plenty. That "park the car" phrase can sound very different, depending on whether you hear it in South Boston, Chelsea, Cambridge, Gloucester (Glawstah), or Augusta, Maine. So can the word "butter" -- which can be anything from "budder" to "buddah" to "buttah." <BR> <BR>That's why I got into linguistics, but it's also why I say it depends on where you begin, and how you draw the geographical lines. <BR> <BR>Areas without a lot of coming and going of new ethnic groups tend to preserve distinctive accents. California, as one of the latest areas to be settled by people from elsewhere, is of course going to have a much less distinctive accent. What's interesting to me is why there's any accent _at all_ out there -- what on earth prompted the whole Valley Girl stuff? Where did that questioning "lilt" that "Grapes of Roth" (great name!) described come from? <BR> <BR>And, to pick up on what Buck said, it is really interesting to watch people fight over who has the "standard" or non-deviant/distinctive accent -- what does it say about us that we think this is important?

Hah! Make that: "I was in a blue-collar neighborhood..."!!! No jokes, please, it's Friday!

I think Caitlin summed it up quite nice: Native Californians DO NOT have any regional accent at all -- PERIOD!!!

Um, Bill, that's not what I said.

I have a slight Mexican accent, because I was born and raised among first and second generation Mexican around Los Angeles. Now that I have broadened my life I have lost it a little, but when I am at my mother's home in Montebello it comes right back. Kind of like a southern drawl with clipped vowels.

I can hear my own accent - it drives me crazy, especially since I don't live in LA anymore.

How about a non-American (Toronto) perspective? When I visited California many years ago, one of the first things I noticed was how much like TV many people spoke. I also noticed the SoCal drawl, when a waitress dropped a bowl of soup and exclaimed, "Oh, wo-o-o-o-ow, man!" It's easy to mimic the Valley Girl accent, but much harder to do the straight California. What I also noticed there is that the short "i" sound often has long "e" overtones, e.g. "on a night like thees" (not the full Latino, but definitely not as short and clipped as, for example, my own short i's). And for those from Toronto who think WE don't have an accent (but everyone else does!) listen carefully to your t's -- aside from at the beginning of a word, we pronounce them like d's ("Peppermint Paddy") and we are terrible for dropping or swallowing final consonants. Accents are really interesting; I love trying to pick out where someone is from by the way they speak.