What's your accent?

[afleitch]

West-Flemish, a language even Belgians cannot understand lol

West Flemish (Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a Germanic language closely related to Dutch, and sometimes considered a dialect of Dutch, that is spoken in western Belgium and adjoining parts of the Netherlands and France.[3]

West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a further 120,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders and 10,000 in the northern part of the French département of Nord.[1] Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Dunkirk, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare, Ypres and Newport.

West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.

This might be the time to reveal a lot of my childhood and adult holidays were in West Flanders; my family had a place in Oostende and I went everywhere along the coast as well as Bruges, Kortrijk etc.

I live in Kortrijk and my parents have a place in Middelkerke, neighbouring town of Ostend.

Yes; I've stayed in Middelkerke a few times close to the tram stop near the camping grounds. Kortrijk I've spent some time in as I used to go from the coast to there, to Lille and then on to Paris if I had a lot of travel time.

[Grassroots]

Interesting how Midwestern populist nationalist traditionalists can speak the same as social liberal globalist leftist elitist bay area residents.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=2&



So, I'm not from the Upper Midwest or Northwest!!  Many people (who only have influences from one place get three cities right next to each other, but mine was more generic- anywhere in the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic.  It guessed Montgomery, Shreveport, and Mobile.  My least similar were Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland (OR).  But, North Carolina seems to be the darkest red on that map if we look at the whole states, just darker than Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Arkansas.

Why isn't the picture from the Gallery showing again?  Here is a link to the map: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=2&r=82000850180010b00000j04000n0400j8811000020200l000j&

This time, I got Raleigh, Greensboro, and Richmond. 

Basically, North Carolina, Virginia, Middle and West Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North Georgia, parts of Upstate South Carolina, and the St. Louis area in Missouri were all dark red.  Most of the rest of the country was at least light red, as I don't really have a super obvious, distinctive accent.  The only real blue areas were New England,  much of the Great Lakes (especially Minnesota and Michigan) plus North Dakota, the Northwest, and Utah.

My least similar were Boston, Worcester, and Minneapolis.

This is based on vocabulary more than pronunciation.  My actual accent is probably closest to a mild version of a North Carolina accent, but it's more complicated than that.  I have three main influences on my accent- the Carolinas, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Tennessee (all three places I have lived or that I have family from).  The thing is that, while the Philadelphia/Scranton part (grew up in PA) will come out in a few words (though less and less with each passing year), I don't really use any of the local Pennsylvanian vocabulary as it's been a while since I was there on a regular basis.

My mom's from North Carolina, and I probably learned how to talk mostly from her.  She grew up with a thick Southern accent and consciously tried to get rid of it, though some traces remained (like the pen/pin merger, which I inherited).  Add in the fact that my grandparents have/had very pronounced accents, and I grew up with some traces of a North Carolinian accent.

I've lived in Tennessee since I was 18, and it (plus my friends mostly from Tennessee/the South) becomes more and more of an influence on how I talk (my brother loves to make fun of me for it).  The thing is that a blend between Tennessee and Pennsylvania actually kind of sounds remotely similar to a North Carolinian accent, so that's probably the most accurate even though it's more complicated than that.

Now, I have one friend who insists that he can hear a Pennsylvania accent in me, but then, when I went to my HS reunion, a bunch of people commented that I had developed a Southern accent.  I think either is very mild, but it is sometimes interesting to watch videos of me talking from different points in my life to hear how it changed over time.

[Mexican Wolf]

Spot-on! I got Philadelphia-Yonkers-Paterson, so a standard Mid-Atlantic accent.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?r=02004048000041200882004020404005020jj18040020l0000


Pretty neutral with northern leanings. Makes sense considering my parents are northerners.

[T'Chenka]

I'm not signing up for NY Times to do this. I have a "normal" non-southern USA accent here, with very tiny differences that make it Canadian. I sound like most of the superheroes from Marvel/DC in terms of accent... Batman, Superman, Iron Main, Captain America, etc. 99% the same.

[ElectionsGuy]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?r=80n24818080402000j00008000l0400k0j10000001020b0400

Very on point.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?r=80n24818080402000j00008000l0400k0j10000001020b0400

Very on point.

Why is far Western New York so similar?

[ElectionsGuy]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?r=80n24818080402000j00008000l0400k0j10000001020b0400

Very on point.

Why is far Western New York so similar?

I don't know. Upstate New York is not super northeastern though.

[Santander]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?r=80n24818080402000j00008000l0400k0j10000001020b0400

Very on point.

Why is far Western New York so similar?

I don't know. Upstate New York is not super northeastern though.

Western New York is very Midwestern in speech, other than a few words like "sneakers".

[Brother Jonathan]

Most similar are Boston, Springfield, and Worchester

Pretty accurate as far as my vocabulary goes, but I don't really sound like someone with a stereotypical Boston accent as far as I can tell, though I do admit I have some odd speech patterns that may be influenced by New England dialects.

[Calthrina950]

I took this, and apparently my accent is most similar to Santa Rose/San Jose, California, and Overland Park, Kansas. Overall, my speech patterns correlate with those of the West. Given that I am a Colorado native, this makes sense.

[DKrol]

My three most similar cities are Rochester, NY, Milwaukee, WI, and Madison, WI. Being born and bred in Western Massachusetts and living in Southern New Hampshire now, this is a little surpising to me.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Ftaghn and Mechaman are the only two who’ve heard it. I guess it’s a Florida cracker accent? I dunno. I spent a lot of time with my West Virginian native relatives on my mom’s side, so I’ve picked up a bit of it.

I pronounce Florida as “Flar-duh” and “hi” is more like “hiiiiigggghhhh.” I never really noticed it until around the time I joined this forum.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Like most 21st century Americans below the age of 40, I obviously do not have a very stereotypical accent (e.g., HockeyDude simply sounds exactly like the traditional "Jersey" stereotype and is more of an exception to this rule). I do not even says wuder/wurter like many of my peers tends to pronounce it, but simply acknowledging the existence of Mischief Night and treating "Merry Mary got married" as the phonetic spelling will produce a map as below:



I refuse to use the disgusting local parlance of 'hoagie' as part of ordinary speech so I will never converge with Philadelphia culture.

[Del Tachi]

Jackson/Birmingham/Montgomery

[Figueira]

These sorts of quizzes focus too much on vocabulary and not enough on what "accent" actually is.

[GeorgiaModerate]

These sorts of quizzes focus too much on vocabulary and not enough on what "accent" actually is.

Very much agree with this.  I got Birmingham/Montgomery/Mobile, and while I probably do have a Deep South vocabulary, I definitely don't have a distinctive Southern drawl.

[Orwell]

These sorts of quizzes focus too much on vocabulary and not enough on what "accent" actually is.

I believe the correct term would be what's your vernacular, but eh.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

These sorts of quizzes focus too much on vocabulary and not enough on what "accent" actually is.

Very much agree with this.  I got Birmingham/Montgomery/Mobile, and while I probably do have a Deep South vocabulary, I definitely don't have a distinctive Southern drawl.

These are both true, but it's kind of hard to get at nuanced questions of pronunciation in an online quiz like that.

[thumb21]

Pretty interesting map though it probably doesn't have much meaning because I'm not American. Apparently the main thing I have in common with the 3 cities that were listed was that I don't have a word for a drive through at a liquor shop.

I have a pretty standard South East English accent really.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Apparently I speak like someone from Vegas.

[Former President tack50]

Apparently I have a Southern accent lol, though I expect this to be very much broken for non-native speakers:



As for in Spanish, I have a fairly noticeable Canarian accent, though my accent is way too soft and close to "generic Spain Spanish" to the point where I've sometimes been asked if I come from the mainland lol (ironically when travelling to the mainland I am instantly recognized for my accent)

[Technocracy Timmy]

Interesting how Midwestern populist nationalist traditionalists can speak the same as social liberal globalist leftist elitist bay area residents.

The atlas is just oozing from this post.

[😥]