Chicago Accents (Virginia, Time: neighborhoods, designs, architectural)

[Milwaukee City]

Question: Is the "Chicago" accent found more in certain areas of the city such as the south side? It's seems like where you hear the accent the most is in "real Chicago" areas for obvious reasons that there aren't many transplants living there. Well I have always been told you find it the most on the south side due to the large section of the working class but if you know who Mike North is then you know he has one of the more famous Chicago accents and he grew up in Rogers Park. Is the accent more of a working class accent?

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Question: Is the "Chicago" accent found more in certain areas of the city such as the south side? It's seems like where you hear the accent the most is in "real Chicago" areas for obvious reasons that there aren't many transplants living there. Well I have always been told you find it the most on the south side due to the large section of the working class but if you know who Mike North is then you know he has one of the more famous Chicago accents and he grew up in Rogers Park. Is the accent more of a working class accent?

I don't know but the other night while walking my dog in Daniel Webster Park I fell into conversation with a yuppie, within 5 minutes of his finding out I was a retired tradesman and a "regular guy" he'd reverted to his Chicago accent was cursing often too. It was interesting to see the transition.

[illstate89]

I have lived in St. Louis, central Illinois and Chicago. My friend is from Chicago and he pronounces 'mom' as 'mam' and 'dog' as 'dag'. I have also noticed this accent is thicker with women for some reason.... As for the black thing... the black people in Chicago do talk differently than central Illinois and St. Louis blacks. They shorten their words more I think, for example 'care' they just say 'cah' like they don't pronounce their 'r's or something.

[thePR]

Originally Posted by illstate89

I have lived in St. Louis, central Illinois and Chicago. My friend is from Chicago and he pronounces 'mom' as 'mam' and 'dog' as 'dag'. I have also noticed this accent is thicker with women for some reason.... As for the black thing... the black people in Chicago do talk differently than central Illinois and St. Louis blacks. They shorten their words more I think, for example 'care' they just say 'cah' like they don't pronounce their 'r's or something.

That's Boston.

[illstate89]

Boston is totally different from chi.. what are you talking about? I guess it'd be easier to say than to type how they pronounce things.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by illstate89

I have lived in St. Louis, central Illinois and Chicago. My friend is from Chicago and he pronounces 'mom' as 'mam' and 'dog' as 'dag'. I have also noticed this accent is thicker with women for some reason.... As for the black thing... the black people in Chicago do talk differently than central Illinois and St. Louis blacks. They shorten their words more I think, for example 'care' they just say 'cah' like they don't pronounce their 'r's or something.

Originally Posted by thePR

That's Boston.

Nah, what he's talking about is the non-rhotic accent blacks brought up to Chicago from Mississippi and still influences the speech patterns of their descendants today.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Being a black guy from South Philly, my perspective is that the Southside Black Chicago accent seems to have a southern twang to it. The accent may not be truly southern but you can definitely hear the southern tone in their speech.

[linicx]

Now that the problem has been removed, the forum is where it was before the disruption.

[linicx]

I don't know that there is one exact Chicago accesnt. I think it probably has a lot to do with parents, work and play. I've heard accents that were slightly nasal, some had a note of old European family, a bit Brit and others. I am not sure that the Chicago accent is so much a 'one size fits all; as it is who you know.

The Chicago sound from a native is neither unpleasand nor contrived and is as natural to the speaker as much as it to define an intersection by neighborhood. For someone who spent years with maps, words like "Near North Side" conjur up something entirely different and totally wrong than words like Lake Shore Drive. I don't miss the traffic and all the trappings associated with a large metropolitan area as much as I do the Chicago sound.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by linicx

I don't know that there is one exact Chicago accesnt. I think it probably has a lot to do with parents, work and play. I've heard accents that were slightly nasal, some had a note of old European family, a bit Brit and others. I am not sure that the Chicago accent is so much a 'one size fits all; as it is who you know.

The Chicago sound from a native is neither unpleasand nor contrived and is as natural to the speaker as much as it to define an intersection by neighborhood. .

Exactly. I grew up like many others in the Nort Seit being a bit snobby about the southside accent, only to find to my chagrin that once I left Chicago everyone could tell where I was from in seconds. I'd be like "but I don't have an accent!"

So it really depends - waves of immigrants have all contributed different words and different ways of adapting to the hybrid/bastardized form of English that the USA has created.

Oh, and if you want to think about a funny concept - ask the English what they think about American English.

This was a great read, and a real eye-opener:

Amazon.com: The Story of English: Revised Edition (9780140154054): Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil: Books

I loved the parts where they explained how many words we think of as English are actually from the Old Irish version of Gaelic. This happened with other groups as well, but the Irish had been having their language beaten out of them long before they got here.