A 'California Accent' Exists: Do You Think You Have an Accent?

by AdriHead Posted 2012/09/20 19:00:00

Related Topics: Accents, California, California Accent

702 votes
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	Yes	457 votes	65%
	No	245 votes	35%

A California accent? Like, no way, dude. You can't be serious. Though Californians -- and other West Coasters -- often pride themselves in thinking that they are free of accents and speak in the purest linguistic form, a new study is here to tell us that that's all a load of crock. The California accent is alive and well!

Researchers found that California is actually home to a very distinct dialect and accent. Some examples? "Black" sounds like "block," "pen" sounds like "pin," and in general the Californian "a" is very nasally. So... whether or not you're from California, we've got to ask: Do you think you have an accent when you speak?

JEZEBEL.COM reports:
A team of researchers is canvassing California to try and nail down some of the linguistic peculiarities native to its various regions. Conventional wisdom holds that, aside from garish movie caricatures like Spicoli and Cher Horowitz, the English spoken on the west coast is clean, accentless, and standard.

spicoli cher horowitz english spoken west coast clean accentless standard

+27

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Tunnel Vision 2012/09/23 00:14:16

Yes

+6
Everyone has an accent depending on who is listening.

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More polls by AdriHead

pig soda 2012/09/21 20:50:12

Yes

+3
A tipperary accent. I'm Irish.

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EmoMcPa... to pig soda 2012/09/21 23:52:03

My Grand Parents had an Irish brogue; especially my Grand Father!s both spoke Gaelic ; )

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twizzler265 2012/09/21 20:41:37

Yes

+1
I don't think I do, but all my friends say I do. It must be because I used to live up around Philadelphia when I was younger.

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Manster 2012/09/21 20:36:31

Yes

+2
A former coworker refused to believe that I was born and raised right here in the St. Louis area because she swore that I spoke with an accent from someplace other than here.And to top that off, I was speaking on the phone with a woman who had moved here from the UK, and she said that it sounded like I had a New York accent! OMG!

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Justagirl 2012/09/21 20:14:07

Yes

+5
Why yes, I surely do..a sweet southern drawl. :)

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littleb... to Justagirl 2012/09/21 23:00:12

+2
"Well how Nice!"

"Fiddle di Dee!"

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Justagirl to littleb... 2012/09/22 01:12:34

+1
Well, hello littlebuffalo, I remember you from the 2008 Presidential elections. Happy to see you still bouncing around SH! :)
My pitch is low, my tone is sultry, and my projection is breathy...think late night jazz/blues D.J. ;)
I do adore "Gone with the Wind"; a fictional caricature of the South, but holds some truths. Love what Vivian Leigh could do with that eyebrow too! Cheers!

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littleb... to Justagirl 2012/09/22 04:29:11

+1
Wow...well I am glad that Vivian Leigh was good in your opinion of how to get an idea of the feminine South and that culture. But the take comes also from William Faulkner's "Long Hot Summer" with "Ooooh Bula!" and Tennessee Williams "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" are benchmarks for reference.

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Justagirl to littleb... 2012/09/22 05:17:41

+1
No, not good and not completely accurate, a caricature, fiction, but still, something to learn from. As well as the ones you've mentioned, romanticized from a male perspective and from different eras. Love them as well! Owe it to my English Lit. teacher.

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TombstoneJim 2012/09/21 20:01:57

Yes

+3
Every locality, if analyzed has some identifiable characteristics, ya’ll. The funny thing is that some people actually think that "their" particular one marks them as better informed or educated - as if a southern drawl in a PHD'ed rocket scientist is not quite a impressive as one who speaks with that distinctive Bill Buckley nasal tone...."I say old chap, could you pass the cream, this tea is a bit bitta"......

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Maya Zauberman 2012/09/21 19:54:07

No

+1
By the way isn't that picture from the SNL skit with Mick Jagger?

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timothy.hill.14 2012/09/21 19:49:30

Yes

+1
I wonder what the California accent is. Mexican perhaps? But yeah everyone has an accent whether or not you think you do. Travel internationally and ask locals they will confirm your American accent.

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Bec. 2012/09/21 19:36:11

Yes

+3
EVERYONE has an accent. Even the Queen of England has an accent. There is no such thing as unaccented speech.

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lolitalovely 2012/09/21 19:34:03

Yes

+1
I have a hidden country accent from my area and a northern accent from my parents.

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cpuksta 2012/09/21 19:29:01 (edited)

No

+1
I would say no, but don't we all have an accent since no one place speaks the same, or is an accent something that goes against the correct phonetics. If its the later than no, but when I hear people with accents, phonetically, it seems like it would make sense anyway.... although where I am from there ae some words that we don't use and in place of them use words that might sound strange to others. Like a Secret Santa, we call it a Pollyanna, I perfer t use the word soda when speaking of a soft drink, and Hoggie when speaking of a Sub. Im sure there are others...

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lilcoco1998 2012/09/21 19:12:16

Yes

+3
Everyone has an accent of some sort.

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Bec. to lilcoco... 2012/09/21 19:36:30

+2
Exactly.

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Jen 2012/09/21 19:07:16

Yes

+1
Very light southern accent. Yes, I say y'all and real _____. It's not good, it's real good. It's not crazy it's real crazy. I live near Atlanta, so it's not that bad.

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plainasitcomes 2012/09/21 18:56:37

Yes

+2
To someone from another part of the world, I probably do.

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Mat 2012/09/21 18:55:06

No

+1
Great humor. Chuckling!!! Lived on the 'Left Coast' for 20 years and while no accent, my vocabulary has changed/eroded. Constantly yelling:

'IDIOTS' and 'WHERE THE HELL DID THIS SHOE LEATHER COME FROM!' :-))

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Sperry23 2012/09/21 18:53:36

Yes

+1
It depends on where I am.

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frozenfire 2012/09/21 18:50:11

No

+2
Ir we go agin. thinkin us midwesterrns got an accent ma giny or whatever those hooligans want to say bout us

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ShelaKay0523 2012/09/21 18:39:06

Yes

+3
Everyone has an accent. An accent is just a different pronunciation of certain words and sounds. Of course I have an accent (I live in the Pacific Northwest) compared to southerners and east-coasters, and of course they have accents when I listen to them.

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boo63 2012/09/21 18:34:32

Yes

+2
Texan accent and proud of my twang

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Papillon 2012/09/21 18:04:22

Yes

+2
Not that I notice, though. Brooklyn has the true purification of language; it's the convergence of all accents. Children there mix accents with one another.

Californians always were nuts and as such do not surprize me whatever they do. However. Another person tried to purify...Adolf Hitler and his pals.

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PandoraBoxe 2012/09/21 17:51:40

No

+1
depends on who i'm talking too. i have a tendency (whether it's good or not) to hear an accent and copy it... i went to England many years ago and came home with a British accent. When I speak to a New Yorker, my Yankee accent comes through, i live in the south and can put on a southern drawl in a heartbeat... etc. etc etc.... ;-}

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Papillon to Pandora... 2012/09/21 18:06:56

+2
Many people are chameleonic with their accents. It just means that they're sensitive to their situation. I'm that way; I'm an artist. Musician.

I think that most people have this quality.

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Pandora... to Papillon 2012/09/22 23:08:31

music heals my heart and restores my soul ... just had a gig at the beach with the band this morning. a benefit walk-a-thon for the local chapter of NAMI (national alliance on mental illness) .. our third year playing for the benefit...

the music tunes our ears to all sorts of things... so, as you say, chameleonic with our voices/accents... *GRINS* and it's fun too

"honor thy music"

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Papillon to Pandora... 2012/09/23 16:15:24

Indeed. What instrument do you play?

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Pandora... to Papillon 2012/09/24 02:17:58

my voice is my primary instrument and I play guitar & harmonica as well ;-}

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belinda baardsen 2012/09/21 17:35:38

Yes

I have an American accent.

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xxdudeitsbellaxx 2012/09/21 17:30:22 (edited)

Yes

+1
i have a multitude of accents i can do queens english,liverpudillian my favey!,southern,new yorker,chicagoan workin on it,cockney Life not lyfe!,paul mccartney lol,and ect ect ect.

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sυιcι∂εsυη∂αε~ 2012/09/21 17:20:01

Yes

+1
I'm not sure but if so.. that's AWESOME!! ♥

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T. James H 2012/09/21 16:54:10
Darr247 2012/09/21 16:53:20

Yes

+1
They say 'bra' when they mean 'bro' too.

Moon Unit Zappa brought the valley accent to everyone's attention in what... 1982?

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mae to Darr247 2012/09/22 01:51:56

The 'bra' is actually 'brah', and comes from Hawaii- shortened Hawaiian pidgin 'braddah' [brother] becomes 'brah'--much of what is counted as 'California' accent is actually Hawaiian Pidgin.

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tmr30 2012/09/21 16:42:42

Yes

+1
I don't do it on purpose though >.<

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littlebuffalo55TBA 2012/09/21 16:37:23

No

+2
I may have one but NO one has ever pointed it out to me.

Who ARE these "Researchers"? I have never heard a Californian say "Block" for BlAck And I annunciate the difference when asking for a pEn to write what I think of these idiots. I may ask pin to stick them in their tone deaf eArs?

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XD 2012/09/21 16:16:18

Yes

+3
Everyone has an accent, even though we see ourselves as having none... Haha Brittish accent right here!!!

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littleb... to XD 2012/09/21 16:23:30

+2
There are several in Britian.

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