North American accents quiz, stolen from bluestocking79

[mary_j_59]

Well, this is the second time I've taken this quiz, and I come out a Northeasterner - which is exactly right. I'm from Connecticut.

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Northeastern.
You're probably from somewhere near New York City, possibly north Jersey, or Connecticut or Rhode Island. If you are from New York City you may be one of the types who people never believe when you say you're from New York.

If you are not from here, you are probably one of the following:
(a) A Philadelphian who can't stand the way other Philadelphians say "on";
(b) A Yat from New Orleans; or
(c) Someone from England, Australia, or New Zealand, in which case why are you doing this quiz in the first place?

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different... Different

Comments

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

There are Americans who rhyme "heart" (ar sound) with "court" (or sound)? I actually didn't know that! But yes, a Southern accent is sometimes considered uneducated - rather like the Northern accent in England, I think, or maybe the Bayrisch Aussprache in Germany? It depends on how heavy the accent is, really.

I don't know what it would mean that you got New York! I tend to think of New York city accents as (1) nasal (2) full of diphthongs (3) droppping the 'r's on the ends of some words, and then adding them in on others where they don't belong. I have an Aunt who speaks rather this way - a true Bronx accent. It's actually interesting that, even in America, where there is so much influence from TV and other mass media, and people travel so much, there are still identifiable regional accents.

[sionna-raven.livejournal.com]

The 'heart/court' example was mentioned in a course on English dialects all over the world I did ages ago; it was from Oklahoma. I remembered it , because it seemed so weird.
Funnily speaking Bavarian or the North coast 'Plattduitsch' in Germany are considered a matter of regional pride and therefore accepted, as along as it's made clear that you can speak High German and intentionally choose not to. However it's not a good idea to keep the smallest trace of a Saxonian accent. This is not only considered uneducated, but right out ridiculous and even well-mannered Germans tend to bite their lips not to smile, when hearing it.
The way you describe New York accent looks pretty much what I expected. Add German and Irish to a basic broth of English, stir, add a few dashes of Polish and Italian and let it simmer until it sounds English. The use of the 'r' is probably of German origin; we either drop or overdo it.