Illinois Accents (Chicago, Des Plaines, Washington: elementary school, agriculture, moving)

[j33]

My cousin in in Baahston is more apt to say "so I drove my cah over theah but skidded into my friend's yahd"

...oh, I know that accent well, my mom, grandmother, cousins, uncles, aunts all have varying degrees of it (and passed a bit of it on to me despite me being born in the midwest ... I constantly git ribbed about sounding like "I'm not from here).

What Plains10 is trying to do is articulate how the some Northern midwest sorts say their 'o's' and 'a's' sort of funny.

[Drover]

And remember, if you need some vitamin C in Boston, you drink "arnj" juice.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Juice13610

That looks more like how my cousins talk in Boston.

It can definitely sound similar to some who live in Chicago as well.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by j33

My cousin in in Baahston is more apt to say "so I drove my cah over theah but skidded into my friend's yahd"

...oh, I know that accent well, my mom, grandmother, cousins, uncles, aunts all have varying degrees of it (and passed a bit of it on to me despite me being born in the midwest ... I constantly git ribbed about sounding like "I'm not from here).

What Plains10 is trying to do is articulate how the some Northern midwest sorts say their 'o's' and 'a's' sort of funny.

You know the northern influence immediately as soon as you hear a person say the word o(w)tside. Emphasis is placed on the first two letters of the word.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Plains10

You know the northern influence immediately as soon as you hear a person say the word o(w)tside. Emphasis is placed on the first two letters of the word.

Sort of. That's more of a northern Midwest thing. In New England there's much less emphasis on the "w" part of "owtside" to the point that it's almost "otside." Speaking of which, this is EXTREMELY prominent in the Pittsburgh accent: there is no "ow" sound. Then combine that with the fact that there is an slight Appalachian twang in the Pittsburgh accent, and words like "downtown" become "donton." (but not quite "dahntahn"). Someone with big shoes, face make-up and a big red nose is a clon, not a clown. There's no "ee" sound either; the local football team is The Pittsburgh Stillers. No long "i" sound either, so iron becomes "arn" and Irish becomes "Arish" (that's the Appalachian influence). Meanwhile, many pronounce their own city name "Picksburgh."


Here is a fabulous clip of a woman with a "Picksburgh" accent. I particularly love it at 00:36 when she describes Pittsburgh as a "still tahn" (steel town). If you weren't familiar with the accent, you'd probably have no idea what the hell she said at that point. It's truly one of the strangest accents in the country, mostly because it's so isolated and localized and very few people outside of Pittsburgh have ever heard it.

[arpschneider]

Originally Posted by Plains10

"Jaaahn, go owtside and pick up thaat larrge braanch that is near the oopening to the garage!"

That would be an example of the northern cities shift accent that is common in areas of Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota etc.

I have noticed a HUGE difference between the way folks in Michigan talk VS southern Wisconsin. The latter is a very "halting" style of speaking, in order to note "waste" effort on syllables (drawl)

Very different from Michigan.8

[Barncat]

I didn't bother reading all the posts but I have heard central Illinois accents called a 'Prairie Drawl'.

[Barncat]

depending on where you live in Southern Illinois you are practically in Dixie Land .

[denise67]

Originally Posted by dkc

I've lived in southern Illinois my entire life, I just started college and a good portion of the students are from the Chicago area, everyone always comments that I have an accent. I find this kind of interesting, thing is, I can't tell I have an accent. So what I'm wondering is what exactly is the southern Illinois accent? Because I can't notice it.

Here's an example to see if you've got that"southern accent" or not. Say the word OIL outloud. If you don't hear the "Y" sound in the middle of the word, you definately have that S.I. accent. Does it sound like "ol" when you say it? Trust me, I am from Chicago, and I have 2 sisters living down south who still don't think they have any accent at all after living there for quite a few years.

[Illborn]

Originally Posted by dkc

I know it's strange that I'm asking you this, since I'm the one who has the accent, but I honestly can't notice it. I can walk to Indiana from my house in about 10 minutes. And about an hour or so drive to get to Kentucky. Would that put me in the slightly Kentucky accent category?

I have been told that I also have that midwest drawl. I couldn't hear it either of course, but a good way to hear it is to record yourself just talking in general. You will then hear what others hear. I couldn't believe it was me.