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It seems to vary less than white accents, in my experience. I think AAVE dominates in many black neighbourhoods, but many many blacks speak just like other Americans nowadays, especially in California, NY or Boston (outside Harlem, Brownsville.etc). In Tennessee I noticed the blacks had the more white hillbilly type accent, at least in rural TN, Nashville, but even Memphis. New Orleans' is it's own thing. I didn't notice any blacks with the Boston accent, but quite a few whites, while some blacks have a NY accent to a degree, but usually less pronounced than the whites (although you have those like Nicki Minaj).
It seems to vary less than white accents, in my experience. I think AAVE dominates in many black neighbourhoods, but many many blacks speak just like other Americans nowadays, especially in California, NY or Boston (outside Harlem, Brownsville.etc). In Tennessee I noticed the blacks had the more white hillbilly type accent, at least in rural TN, Nashville, but even Memphis. New Orleans' is it's own thing. I didn't notice any blacks with the Boston accent, but quite a few whites, while some blacks have a NY accent to a degree, but usually less pronounced than the whites (although you have those like Nicki Minaj).
I have yet to see any professional linguists come up with a African American dialect/accent map.
I have yet to see any professional linguists come up with a African American dialect/accent map.
It hasn't been well-studied. Part of it is that much of the variation is a more recent thing. Also, from what little research that has been done, it seems that much of the variation in the African American dialects tend to be adoption of parts of the local "White" accent. So, maybe saying "wooder" (and pronouncing the R) in Philly.
Exactly! I agree wholeheartedly because just about all of my friends that were from Chicago sound just as southern as an Atlantan. When I still lived in Atlanta I was on the MARTA train at the time there was a girl on there who asked me where the closest MetroPCS store was and I told her Five Points/Downtown Atlanta. After listening to her accent I just happened to ask her where she was from and she said Chicago, and if she hadn't have told me that I would have thought she was very well from Atlanta, Alabama, or perhaps Mississippi. However I have ran into few Chicagoans that sound more East Coast than southern such as Common, Lupe, & Donell Jones like you stated.
I agree to b/c I was watching this girl live broadcast on You Now and she was talking about how she hates the snow. So I said I wished it would snow where I live and she asked me where I lived and I said Louisiana. So she started going on about how good the food is in Louisiana and how she wished it was in Chicago. I think I told her I was originally from Houston but I started to ask her if she was from the South too.
Not true as a person from the East Coast they sound very alike. With exceptions to St Louis, and Memphis which are very distinct. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Chicago sound very very similar to West Coast accents and I have family all over the Midwest.
Like someone else noted, nor cal and so cal afram accents CAN be strongly rhotic. I've even heard quite a few emphasize the "r" in the word "nigguh," which takes some getting used to (I thought the actor Hassan Johnson—an NYC native—did a great job of nailing the Cali accent in GTA V). Aframs from buckeye, hoosier, and other mid-western states, tend to sound distinct (from west coasters). And certainly, much less rhotic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the resident09
You all may not hear it but many of us do, just like when NY'ers say DC sounds southern, of course WE don't hear that ish, but they hear something that they feel is southern. Midwest and WC def have a similar accent.
I was born and raised in (northeast) Washington DC, and I disagree. The southern quality is easily detectable, in either of the two beltways (capital beltway and Baltimore beltway). All Afram accents for the most part have a southern quality to them. It's the regional origins that can vary. For instance, many aframs from NYC have family that came (during the great migrations) from the Carolinas (in particular North Carolina). So you can often times hear the affect it had in shaping the accents of present-day NYC aframs. (Here's a short video showcasing some NC afram accents.)
With Cali aframs, I find the strongest influences in their accents appear to be Mississipian (with some notable Louisianan).
Last edited by Csarcastic; 01-30-2014 at 10:50 PM..
And this is how one can primarily distinguish an AA west coast accent from a southern one (well the lowland influenced ones at least) and also how I can usually pinpoint which region someone is from. To the untrained ear, one would mistakenly make the claim of all AA dialects outside of the east coast sounding the same. But that couldnt be further from the truth. just as the poster I quoted alluded to, AA west coast dialects are very rhotic as opposed to some AA southern dialects which are fairly non-rhotic.
Case in point, lets take words as simple as "butter" and "girl". A black native Californian will pronounce them as they sound but would place more stress and emphasis on the letter r. so it would sound something like "butterrrr" or "girrrl". A black southerner (esp. in Georgia, Florida, or Alabama) on the other hand would often mute the r sound or pronounce it very softly. to the point of the where the 2 words will come out sounding like "buttuh" and "guhl"
Very true lol! We Californians definitely stretch out the r's in our words. When I still lived in Atlanta (before moving back to the West Coast) people from there called me proper because of that lol and also as you stated Georgians and Floridians (especially northern Florida) do drop the r in their pronunciations of their words
Very true lol! We Californians definitely stretch out the r's in our words. When I still lived in Atlanta (before moving back to the West Coast) people from there called me proper because of that lol and also as you stated Georgians and Floridians (especially northern Florida) do drop the r in their pronunciations of their words
I think that is interesting that even in the same state AFrams (stolen tern but I like it) sound completely different as I mention earlier between Pittsburgh and Philly
I knew someone from Buffalo who was Black and spoke in that Great Lakes accent, like saying Mam for Mom for example.
Whats remarkable to me is how different Blacks from Detriot, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cleveland sound from Whites in those cities. Out here in LA, there are number of Blacks who pick up Hispanic and Valley Girl features, and a few who sound no different from the general accent of the city. On the Midwest, Blacks sound the most different from the local White population.
I was born and raised in vegas. I'm an AA female and I am guilty of the hispanic accent. Funny thing is I speak fluent spanish but I notice the younger AA generation nonbilingual have it too. People from LV swear I'm from so cal. People from Cali think I'm from the south, blacks think I am latina, and mexicans think I'm dominican. I remember being in Biloxi, MS and a guy asked where I was from and if I was latina. I laughed because I grew up in a latin neighborhood. He then. said he understood because he was from LA. I also can recall my cousins in Louisiana and Memphis saying I "talk" like Snoop Dogg.
Westcoast dialect
/ar/ is pronounced /or/ in the hood
Tt is skipped mittens is mi'ins
I say hella and fuc%in a lot
The L in old does not exist it is owed
Very rhotic yet dingy at times (like)
And I stretch the ing as eeng
I never thought I had an accent until my cousin said I sound like Snoop lol!
People from Washington state (I've lived there before) speak the most proper to me. I also get asked jf I am from the midwest a lot. I think because some of my fam is from down south I sound kinda countree at tymes lol!
Last edited by Vegas2death; 05-04-2014 at 06:39 PM..
There are many distinct accents in Blacks throughout the US. Here are the main one's I can distinguish.
-Seattle: Least stereotypical "Black" sounding
-California: Diluted Southern with rhoticy -NYC/Jersey: A bit similar to White NYC accent
-Philly:
-Baltimore: distinct from Southern and Northern accents
-DC:
-Midwestern:
-Chicago: Southernish sounding
-Southern: We call this accent "Country" out here on the West Coast.
- Miami:
- New Orleans:
-Charleston/Gullah: Caribbean Sounding
What about the rest of you?
It is?
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