Illinois Accents (Chicago, Springfield, Carbondale: restaurant, office, areas)

[Drover]

How to rid yourself of your accent? Live here for six months to a year, and most of it will be gone. By the way, Chicagoans also reduce "maintenance" to two syllables: "Maint-nence" with a "t" being more of a stop rather than actually pronounced. At best, there is a VERY short middle schwa between the other two.

[j33]

Chicago has glottal stops too bro as Drover mentioned in words like "maintenance' and ' button' ... oh, and if you get too caught up trying to talk like someone from the great lakes area, you'll be made fun of if you move somewhere else. So don't worry about it too much. Personally, I have plenty of friends from the south, and could not care less about how they speak if I tried.

[LisaLisa]

Hey I gotta girl from Ducoin living up here... I love the "inflections" of her talk. I think it's good for your gray matter to listen and be confused by incorrect grammer. I thought youze guys no dat we talk ok.

@^)

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by JRA2000TL

Since you guys are on the topic of accents, I thought I'd chime in. As you can see from my profile, I'm from Mobile, AL (on the Gulf Coast). After 6 or so trips to Chicagoland, I've decided I'd eventually like to relocate there--notably Aurora/Naperville. I have been told by a native Chicagoan that my accent is not that bad (i.e. not a Mississippi boy accent). I am trying to rid myself of any trace of a Southern accent partly because of the poor stereotype. (Not everyone down here is a hillbilly; I didn't choose to be from here either).

How do I rid myself of this? I find that the more I'm around Chicagoans, the easier it is to adapt to the different accent. I pronounce my "t's" and other sounds correctly as in maintenance and not the Southern (main'in-ince). I just want to get rid of any trace of a Southern accent! Unfortunately I've grown up here all my life, so it may take some work.

Dont rid yourself of a big part of yourself.Alot of us find southern accents soothing and charming

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by via chicago

I believe that used to be the case, but not anymore. Last year or so PBS ran an entire program on accents across the US.
Do You Speak American | PBS
if you can track it down, its pretty fascinating.

heres the section that deals with the midwest accent
Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Midwest | PBS

Nebraska is supposed to have the standard "newscaster accent". Tom Brokaw once worked for a TV station in Omaha. He is originally from S. Dakota, which is just north of Nebraska.

[GraniteStater]

I knew someone who was originally from Omaha, NE and he had a Minnesota accent.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by JRA2000TL

Since you guys are on the topic of accents, I thought I'd chime in. As you can see from my profile, I'm from Mobile, AL (on the Gulf Coast). After 6 or so trips to Chicagoland, I've decided I'd eventually like to relocate there--notably Aurora/Naperville. I have been told by a native Chicagoan that my accent is not that bad (i.e. not a Mississippi boy accent). I am trying to rid myself of any trace of a Southern accent partly because of the poor stereotype. (Not everyone down here is a hillbilly; I didn't choose to be from here either).

How do I rid myself of this? I find that the more I'm around Chicagoans, the easier it is to adapt to the different accent. I pronounce my "t's" and other sounds correctly as in maintenance and not the Southern (main'in-ince). I just want to get rid of any trace of a Southern accent! Unfortunately I've grown up here all my life, so it may take some work.

Don't be ashamed of where you're from! I used to be embarrassed to be a Californian until I moved away. I can guarantee you I'll never make that mistake again.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Plains10

I knew someone who was originally from Omaha, NE and he had a Minnesota accent.

My DH is from Omaha, NE and he does not have a Minnesota-type accent, nor do his brothers or his father. His mom has a slightly more Minnesotan accent than the rest of the family, that is, more northern midwestern. If anything, DH has a more southern midwestern accent, like that of St. Louis (shart for short, etc.).

[Robbied]

Dont forget we all have frontrooms said fron trooms in our homes.
My husband accuses me of leaving words off in my sentenses..

all this and I havent actually resided in Chgo in 27 years but I go back home every chance I get.

[Robbied]

I grew up on the south side of chgo. Went to school on the North side of Chicago and you all know you can tell the difference between a north sider and a south sider.

Now I have lived in Florida (very hispanic) for 27 years. Our closest friends are from Mississipi and my husband is from Philly.


I talk and I always have people asking "are you hispanic and from Chicago or Philly?"