I'm from California, and I can recognize accents easily. I've always wanted an accent... But to the rest of the world, do we have accents?

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• lived in CA for 10+ years, they all sound similar to generic TV midwest type accents to this NY ear.

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  by Spice* free Leonard Peltier. on January 21st, 2012

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• News Flash midwesterner, you certainly don't have the mythical 'neutral' American accent. There is no such thing. You have the "Midwest Accent" most of the midwest has.
  
  It just amazes me how some of you don't think you have any accent. You all do when you go to other places. Like NYC or the South and the rest of the world.

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  by Spice* free Leonard Peltier. on January 21st, 2012

• My my...so many misrepresentations to respond to.
  
  Last point first. I absolutely did not say that I "don't think [I] have any accent". As a matter of fact, I explicit stated that I did. It is a linguistically "neutral" American accent.
  
  Specifically, it is this one:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American
  
  I don't have it BECAUSE I am a midwesterner. I have it, and I am a midwesterner.
  
  As a matter of fact, I don't actually a "midwest[ern] accent" at all. That would be this one:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_accent
  
  You've never heard me speak. How did you even imagine you could come to that conclusion?

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  by Stepper on January 21st, 2012

• They sound the same to my Brooklyn east coast ears that's why. And BTW those are not the only american accents either.
  All of other regions South, West and East are also just as American, ....so much for using the word American here. I am surrounded by folks from your midwest, have lived around this big country have heard you all describe yourselfs as the only real american accent, like it is actually reality like the rest are not as real...so not so!
  I have found travel responsible for increasing my awareness of how others perceive things. But then again, I am not stuck in ''neutral'' :D
  
  EVERYONE HAS AN ACCENT, so yo don't have to plan on getting what you already have!

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  by Spice* free Leonard Peltier. on January 21st, 2012

• BTW stepper....like I said don't worry about not having an accent just come to Brooklyn and we will all tell you you have an accent and from your description, quite a heavy one at that, some of us refer to it (all of those accents you describe...) as those/that as that "TV accent."
  
  Thanks for your feedback anyway

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  by Spice* free Leonard Peltier. on January 21st, 2012

• There is no "real American accent". Have you spent any time studying linguistics?
  
  America has no standard for pronunciation in the way that some countries (for example Britain) do. No accent is any less "American" than any other. Given the "melting pot" nature of our combined cultural heritage, any attempt to set a standard would be sure to be pretty arbitrary.
  
  I never (by the way) said that there are no other American accents save for those I mentioned. Please take care to address things that I have actually said. I promise you, I say what I mean, and I mean only what I say. If I wanted to communicate that these two accents comprised the entire spectrum of recognized American accents (let alone unrecognized ones) I would have said so.
  
  The "General American" accent is what's know as a "reference variety". It's widespread use in media, high population exposure, and extensive borrowing from various early American dialects contributes to it's status as such. That's why I put the "neutral" in quotes. No accent can be genuinely neutral, as all are only evaluated by reference to each-other. This is not (however) to say that they don't have traceable dialectic roots from which we can draw certain conclusions.
  
  If "General American" and "Midwestern" "sound the same to [your] ears", I'd encourage you to listen more closely. There are more distinct accents in the US than most of us would (at first) realize.

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  by Stepper on January 21st, 2012

• I just read your last comment.
  
  I've been to Brooklyn, and Have been told that I have an accent. I do. This shouldn't surprise you anymore than it didn't surprise me.
  
  When we say that others "have an accent", what this means is that they have a different dialect from own own. You demonstrate this very well. For me to say (as I did) that "I rarely find Californians to have an accent", this does not ALSO mean that me and my Californian examples don't, in fact, have an accent from the perspective of any party objective to ourselves.

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  by Stepper on January 21st, 2012

• Have you traveled much, or lived inside other cultures here and outside your part of the US? I Have.
  
  It's all a matter of perception, and one does not have to be ''studying linguistics" to know that.
  But having keen perception blesses us with more insight which leads to knowledge in non linear ways that don't need to be ***"studied" in schools***. I don't live in NYC at the moment, but I go back to visit as often as I can. Living out west being on the Rez and walking in to very different worlds on 2 paths at the same time, the linear world of the white man and the non linear world of the indigenous peoples of north and central america and those of my ancestors far east has enabled me to be aware of what most in the dominant american society does not see. So I have a very holistic world view.
  My point here is to point out your comparisons are very linear, mine are not, nor is the way I hear and see things.
  So yes, just as my ears cannot detect different midwest or what ever you wish to call all of them, yours are not likely to detect which borough, or neighborhood within our cities 5 boroughs, brooklyn, queens, bronx and so on and long island too, nor can they detect the jewish from the italian, from the irish nuisances my ears can pick up back home either, so it's all relative and that's really what the poll topic is about, it's about recognizing accents.
  Obviously my perception, is very different from yours since america is a melting pot, than there are many american accents, period and the rest does not really matter to me and perception is subjective based on all the sum of our parts, those vary since we come from different backrounds and cultures.
  So your entitled to your view as I am to mine and it appears to two will not meet but make for interesting discussion at a different time
  
  Have a peaceful night...Buenos noches.
  
  BTW I lived in California for over 10 years and I do believe you when you say they have a different accent from you, but to my ears you both sound the same. Everyone has a different accent and similar accents sound the same to others who speak a lot different from ourselves. So I guess that/this does agree with your last comment

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  by Spice* free Leonard Peltier. on January 21st, 2012