Minnesota Accent (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth: live in, suburbs, farmers)

[ColdLover27]

Forgive me if there's already a thread on this but...does the Minnesota accent really exist (in a non-stereotyping context)? If so, is it mainly concentrated in the rural areas of the state or can you find it easily enough in the larger cities?

[LeTraveler]

Yes, it absolutely exists, and it seems there are several varieties of it.

It exists in the Twin Cities. Slightly less common or more faint in Minneapolis than with St. Paul natives. Those in the nearby non-rural suburbs have accents. Some don't realize they do.

Personally, I love the accents.

[demtion35]

I can hear the accents on any given day, I live in Northern Minnesota

[ben young]

I was in the service with a couple of brothers from Fergues Falls Minn.They were the only guys everyone could understand.

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by ColdLover27

Forgive me if there's already a thread on this but...does the Minnesota accent really exist (in a non-stereotyping context)? If so, is it mainly concentrated in the rural areas of the state or can you find it easily enough in the larger cities?

It exists but it's not like it's portrayed on the movie Fargo. North Dakota has the same accent. I've been here four years and never heard someone say "ya you betcha." Not sure if that is actually used in Minnesota but if it is I've never heard it in Minneapolis.

[Thedosius]

I know that my own speech patterns vary (which is not unusual, really). Much of the time people aren't sure where I'm from...but then suddenly without warning my Minnesota accent comes out to see the light of day, then goes away for a while of its own accord.

[CCbaxter]

I never thought I did but since I moved to California everyone says I do.
FYI I’m from Minneapolis, not N MN where I can easily hear it.

[ColdLover27]

I love the accent so it's great to hear that it exists. I'd love to visit sometime...

[ColdLover27]

It's already been touched on a little, but another question. Do Minnesotans also actually say "don'tcha know" "you betcha" "you know" "oh for cute" etc?

[2x3x29x41]

Originally Posted by ColdLover27

Forgive me if there's already a thread on this but...does the Minnesota accent really exist (in a non-stereotyping context)? If so, is it mainly concentrated in the rural areas of the state or can you find it easily enough in the larger cities?

There are accents in Minnesota, but to call any of them strictly Minnesotan in nature is not accurate. Minnesotans generally speak the North-Central American English dialect. If you're talking about the sort of speech you hear in the film Fargo, you'll commonly hear that coming from northern Minnesota, particularly the Range - influenced by Finnish and the North Germanic languages of Scandinavia - but not nearly so much in the Twin Cities or elsewhere in southern Minnesota. And, of course, these dialects know no borders, so for example people generally speak the same in Duluth and across the harbor in Superior, Wisconsin.

Originally Posted by NDak15

It exists but it's not like it's portrayed on the movie Fargo. North Dakota has the same accent. I've been here four years and never heard someone say "ya you betcha." Not sure if that is actually used in Minnesota but if it is I've never heard it in Minneapolis.

It exists.

I work with a woman who sounds like she's doing a never-ending Marge Gunderson impression. There's a local (Twin Cities) fishing/hunting show on the radio, Saturday mornings I think, and I occasionally catch a bit of it en route to work. It sounds like a round-table where everyone is named Jerry Lundegaard. By no means is that accent ubiquitous, but it absolutely exists.

And as for "Yeah, you betcha"? Two words: Sarah Palin. She regularly uses the phrase, as demonstrated by any number of transcripts of her speaking that can be readily googled, and she does so in the same dialect. What does Sarah Palin have to do with the Minnesota accent? Good question - here's the answer. The Mat-Su Valley of Alaska, where Sarah Palin grew up, was settled by immigrant farmers from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan in the first half of the 20th century. To this day, an isolated pocket of the North-Central American dialect dominates that small part of Alaska.

FYI, here's an excellent map of American (and Canadian) English-language dialects, showing (among other things) the division of northern Minnesota and the southern part of the state [if you click on the link, the image is much bigger]:


https://aschmann.net/AmEng/index_col...shDialects.png