Here’s an interesting test. It has worked for others though the results were completely wrong for me. They said my accent was Inland North, which is "most of the cities along the Erie Canal and on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes region, from Herkimer, New York to Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as a corridor extending down across central Illinois from Chicago to St. Louis.
But I was born in Central Eastern Pennsylvania, where both of my parents were born and raised, i grew up in Northern New Jersey from the age of three and lived there until 25 years ago when I moved to Southern California. I have spent absolutely no time in the area described as Inland North and none of my relatives came from that area, so maybe I’m a space alien!
But maybe yours will be more accurate. I’d like to know how you do.
Before anyone gets on his high horse saying test is unscientific–of course it is, its an entertainment, but surprisingly accurate for many people. There are scientific linguistic tests that are available if you want to pay for them.
I have no idea how this would work for people who grew up outside the US but it would be interesting to know what kind of results they get.
What American accent do you have?
What part of and where in our country is your accent from?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.html
It’s always fun to guess where a stranger is from by carefully listening to their accent/dialect. Sometime I can guess their origin but some stump me, like Australian/parent English, hard to tell until you hear g’day. We have three distinct regional dialects here and I can usually spot them without too much effort. There is even a demarcation line dividing them. The easiest is Virginia tidewater, it sounds similar to parent English with a slower drawl. Next is Appalachian Plateau, a mixture of tidewater and mountain, and of course, mountain, which is the accent of this area. Also known to outlanders as “hillbilly”, but it’s not just the accent but word meaning and usage, e.g. Boughtin’ for bought, and you’uns for you all. The same thing occurred in Ohio. The southern half, that area below the glacial plain was settled by Virginians while the northen half was settled by Pennsylvanians and New Englanders. Both accents are distinct. We also clip words. My son-in-law still maintains his Pittsburg accent even though he’s lived here for 13 years. He still says yuns for you all. Midwest as you say is pretty hard to pin down as it’s been labeled the “non accent” and is used by newscasters. I still like the richness of accents but they seem to be disapearing. We traveled through New England a coupe of years back and rarely heard their old accent, used mainly by older New Englanders. I only heard the word “lobstah” once! What a let down. I blame the media. It’s like seeing a Macdonalds everywhere I travel, yuccccch. I miss diversity. :down:
Cap’t Jack
BTW, I took the test just for kicks and giggles and it says that I have a midland accent too! What?
Cap’t Jack
Here's an interesting test. It has worked for others though the results were completely wrong for me. They said my accent was Inland North, which is "most of the cities along the Erie Canal and on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes region, from Herkimer, New York to Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as a corridor extending down across central Illinois from Chicago to St. Louis. But I was born in Central Eastern Pennsylvania, where both of my parents were born and raised, i grew up in Northern New Jersey from the age of three and lived there until 25 years ago when I moved to Southern California. I have spent absolutely no time in the area described as Inland North and none of my relatives came from that area, so maybe I'm a space alien! But maybe yours will be more accurate. I'd like to know how you do. Before anyone gets on his high horse saying test is unscientific--of course it is, its an entertainment, but surprisingly accurate for many people. There are scientific linguistic tests that are available if you want to pay for them. I have no idea how this would work for people who grew up outside the US but it would be interesting to know what kind of results they get. What American accent do you have? What part of and where in our country is your accent from? http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.htmlIt said mine was "Inland" also. I'm from Baltimore Maryland :question: Lois, If you're from central east PA, we likely have similar - but not the same, accents. You know Midwest speech is far from mid Atlantic speech. BTW, are you from the Wilkes Barre area?
It says I have a Rhode Island, New Jersey accent. I spent my first nine years on the north-east coast and the last seventy-three in Southern California. I think the makers of that test didn’t bother with anyone west of, say, Texas.
And, the dumb question about Mary, merry, and marry offering a) all the same, b) Mary and merry the same, c) all different - they forgot d) Mary and marry the same, which is my choice.
Occam
My son-in-law still maintains his Pittsburg accent even though he's lived here for 13 years. He still says yuns for you all. Cap't JackHaha, those Yinzers. I'm supposed to hate them, because of football rivalry, but they have a special place in my heart. They say "yunz", and we in Bmore and Philly say "youze". I think NYC says "youze" as well. It's all the Irish immigrant's fault. %-P
Didn’t seem very accurate for me. I got “Inland North.” I grew up dividing my time about evenly between Illinois and Northern California until settling permanently in CA (Southern until my twenties then Northern) at about age 8 (almost 40 years ago). I was teased about my mid-western accent for about 6 months, and since then everyone who has ever offered an opinion guesses I’m from California, so I suspect I have a CA accent.
On an unrelated note, only my deep fascination with language and linguistics could overcome my loathing of libertarianism enough to make me visit lewrockwell.com. I’m still queasy from clicking the link! 
Haha, those Yinzers. I’m supposed to hate them, because of football rivalry, but they have a special place in my heart. They say “yunz", and we in Bmore and Philly say “youze".Yeah Mike, "yunz" is a better phonetic representation. They also nazalize words while we drawl them. But you guys say "Baltumur", accent on the first syllable. I hear that a lot when we visit there. BTW, we say y'all here. Cap't Jack
Yes, it says I have a ‘Midline’ accent too…no accent at all, which is about right. I’m often told my ‘accent’ is difficult to place. People ask me where I’m from all the time.
I retook the test and found that I had misinterpreted one question. It now places me correctly in NJ/NY/ RI area. My husband, who is from England also is shown to have a NJ/NY/RI accent. He lived in NJ for more than 20 years, though he still sounds English to me.
Most of my friends and relatives who took the test reported surprisingly accurate results. I think it’s amazing how a few questions can reveal where a person likely grew up.
BTW, I took the test just for kicks and giggles and it says that I have a midland accent too! What? F Cap't JackWell, its designed for people who grew up in the US. My husband, who is English, got the NY/NJ/RI result. He learned his American English in NJ for 20 years, though he still sounds English to most people. It probably identified you as midland because it could not detect any American regional speech patterns. That area is considered the American standard with no regional "accent". Lois
Here's an interesting test. It has worked for others though the results were completely wrong for me. They said my accent was Inland North, which is "most of the cities along the Erie Canal and on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes region, from Herkimer, New York to Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as a corridor extending down across central Illinois from Chicago to St. Louis. But I was born in Central Eastern Pennsylvania, where both of my parents were born and raised, i grew up in Northern New Jersey from the age of three and lived there until 25 years ago when I moved to Southern California. I have spent absolutely no time in the area described as Inland North and none of my relatives came from that area, so maybe I'm a space alien! But maybe yours will be more accurate. I'd like to know how you do. Before anyone gets on his high horse saying test is unscientific--of course it is, its an entertainment, but surprisingly accurate for many people. There are scientific linguistic tests that are available if you want to pay for them. I have no idea how this would work for people who grew up outside the US but it would be interesting to know what kind of results they get. What American accent do you have? What part of and where in our country is your accent from? http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.htmlIt said mine was "Inland" also. I'm from Baltimore Maryland :question: Lois, If you're from central east PA, we likely have similar - but not the same, accents. You know Midwest speech is far from mid Atlantic speech. BTW, are you from the Wilkes Barre area? Ha, you hit the nail on the head. I was born in Wilkes Barre. My father grew up there and my mother lived there for several years, though she was originally from Jim Thorpe in Carbon County. See my later posts. I had misinterpreted one of the key questions. Now it identifies me as from NJ, which is where I grew up.
Didn't seem very accurate for me. I got "Inland North." I grew up dividing my time about evenly between Illinois and Northern California until settling permanently in CA (Southern until my twenties then Northern) at about age 8 (almost 40 years ago). I was teased about my mid-western accent for about 6 months, and since then everyone who has ever offered an opinion guesses I'm from California, so I suspect I have a CA accent. On an unrelated note, only my deep fascination with language and linguistics could overcome my loathing of libertarianism enough to make me visit lewrockwell.com. I'm still queasy from clicking the link! :-)Others have said that. I didnt know who he was. Well, i don't like his politics either but the quiz is very good. Most likely he got it from someone or somewhere else and he didnt write it. Lois
It says I have a Rhode Island, New Jersey accent. I spent my first nine years on the north-east coast and the last seventy-three in Southern California. I think the makers of that test didn't bother with anyone west of, say, Texas. And, the dumb question about Mary, merry, and marry offering a) all the same, b) Mary and merry the same, c) all different - they forgot d) Mary and marry the same, which is my choice. OccamI think it's highly unusual to say that Mary and marry sound the same. A lot of people I know say Mary and merry the same way, though.
Yes, it says I have a 'Midline' accent too...no accent at all, which is about right. I'm often told my 'accent' is difficult to place. People ask me where I'm from all the time.Bay area natives do have an accent that I've noticed - at least to my mind. You sound a little bit midwest, mixed with Canadian, and Mexican-American.
Yeah, "Bawtimer" is part of the local lexicon. It must be said that the "Baltimore accent" is mostly confined to lower, to middle class whites, today. The upper - middle class whites in this area have hardly any trace of any stereotypical East coast accent - except maybe "tidewater". The Philadelphia accent is very similar to Baltimore's, but there seems to be far more people in the Philadelphia area with that accent; maybe because it's simply a much bigger city then Baltimore? Pittsburgese, OTOH has some similarities with the Baltimore accent, but not as much as the Philadelphia accent does.Haha, those Yinzers. I’m supposed to hate them, because of football rivalry, but they have a special place in my heart. They say “yunz", and we in Bmore and Philly say “youze".Yeah Mike, "yunz" is a better phonetic representation. They also nazalize words while we drawl them. But you guys say "Baltumur", accent on the first syllable. I hear that a lot when we visit there. BTW, we say y'all here. Cap't Jack
Yep, thanks for confirming what I already know. All my life spent in the South and I still don’t have a Southern accent! I blame television!
It's always fun to guess where a stranger is from by carefully listening to their accent/dialect. Sometime I can guess their origin but some stump me, like Australian/parent English, hard to tell until you hear g'day. We have three distinct regional dialects here and I can usually spot them without too much effort. There is even a demarcation line dividing them. The easiest is Virginia tidewater, it sounds similar to parent English with a slower drawl. Next is Appalachian Plateau, a mixture of tidewater and mountain, and of course, mountain, which is the accent of this area. Also known to outlanders as "hillbilly", but it's not just the accent but word meaning and usage, e.g. Boughtin' for bought, and you'uns for you all. The same thing occurred in Ohio. The southern half, that area below the glacial plain was settled by Virginians while the northen half was settled by Pennsylvanians and New Englanders. Both accents are distinct. We also clip words. My son-in-law still maintains his Pittsburg accent even though he's lived here for 13 years. He still says yuns for you all. Midwest as you say is pretty hard to pin down as it's been labeled the "non accent" and is used by newscasters. I still like the richness of accents but they seem to be disapearing. We traveled through New England a coupe of years back and rarely heard their old accent, used mainly by older New Englanders. I only heard the word "lobstah" once! What a let down. I blame the media. It's like seeing a Macdonalds everywhere I travel, yuccccch. I miss diversity. :down: Cap't JackYou shouldnt blame the media. The media. Is a reflection of what is already going on on the population. People's accents will change whether the media is involved or not. It works just like evolution does. Nothing is going to stop it. I agree, though, that it's sad when our speech homogenizes the way it has, it's inevitable. It comes with universal education and better transportation.
It says I have a Rhode Island, New Jersey accent. I spent my first nine years on the north-east coast and the last seventy-three in Southern California. I think the makers of that test didn't bother with anyone west of, say, Texas. And, the dumb question about Mary, merry, and marry offering a) all the same, b) Mary and merry the same, c) all different - they forgot d) Mary and marry the same, which is my choice. OccamYour accent is pretty much determined by where you spent most of your first 12-15 years. There might be some changes as you grow older but some pronunciations don't disappear. This kind of test is best done with someone to hear your pronunciation. We don't always know how we sound. I was sure I was making a distinction between merry and Mary, but others can't hear it. A scientific test would be oral with a trained linguist. This was more of an entertainment than a real test, but I have found it to be surprisingly accurate in pinpointing most people's origins. The test pinpointed the place of origin for almost everyone I sent it to. Lois
Yep, thanks for confirming what I already know. All my life spent in the South and I still don't have a Southern accent! I blame television! :)You should ask others whether they hear a Southern accent. They may hear it while you do not. If you lived in a cosmopolitan area, you would be somewhat less likely to develop a noticible Southern accent, especially if your parents didnt have one. Where did the test place you? Lois