
Which American accent do you have? (2007) - bookofjoe
http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?obj_id=9827
======
tfmatt
I didn't find this test to be particularly accurate. This one on the other
hand blew me away [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-
quiz...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-
map.html)

~~~
oftenwrong
Some of the choices seem poorly selected. For example, on the question about
what term I would use for roads meeting in a circle, both "roundabout" and
"rotary" were choices, but I was only allowed to select just one. I use both
terms, but it depends on the exact road configuration, and to some degree, the
context of who I am speaking to. Other questions had similar issues.

I tend to code-switch when speaking if I can. If I'm talking to a New Yorker
I'll say "truck" and "apartment", but to a Londoner I'd be more likely to say
"lorry" and "flat".

~~~
chrisseaton
> I use both terms, but it depends on the exact road configuration

What’s the difference for you?

~~~
oftenwrong
In general...

rotary: tangential entry/exit, large diameter, high-speed, multi-lane

roundabout: deflected entry/exit, small diameter, low-speed, sometimes single-
lane

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estomagordo
As a Swedish person, I'm apparently northeastern.

Also, for the first 2/3 or so of the quiz, it's pretty much unfathomable to me
how anyone could pronounce any of them the same.

~~~
yorwba
This is essentially testing for various kinds of phonological changes (mostly
vowel mergers) that roughly differentiate between American accents.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_change](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_change)

If you learned English anywhere in Europe, it's most likely that you were
taught an approximation of Received Pronunciation (standard British English),
which is most similar to accents in the northeastern US for historical
reasons.

~~~
gilgoomesh
English classes in Western Europe vary between two types:

* non-U RP (a less formal variant of British "Received pronounciation")

and

* GA ("General American", a blend of midwest and north eastern American accents).

The former is favored by Latin language family countries and the latter is
favored by Germanic language family countries, simply because they better
match the native language sounds.

In either case though... both of these are closer to "northeastern" than any
other US accent.

~~~
wirrbel
At least in Germany, we started with a British pronunciation and then in our I
believe 4th year of learning english we had one year where the textbook
presented american english and we listened to recordings of american speakers.

Overall I think our teachers spoke a mixture of american and english dialects
(and remnants of a German accent) that you could probably not put on a map.

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sureaboutthis
I don't understand why non-Americans are posting their results for a test for
Americans and then some seem to complain about the accuracy.

fwiw, it hit my American accent on the nose.

~~~
benj111
I'm British and got North Eastern, which would fit as New Englanders
supposedly speak English closer to how it sounded historically, than modern
Britains do.

Maybe people who speak Spanish get identified with a more southern accent, and
French speakers, Canadian.

Would they not be interesting results?

~~~
sureaboutthis
Interesting but it means nothing and has nothing to do with a test for people
who live in the USA among other Americans in a region that can influence their
accent.

~~~
benj111
"Interesting"

Well yes, that's all I claimed it to be.

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johnnycab
This ad piqued my interest in the specific articulation (velar pinch?) and
it's origin or the region i.e. where the speaker, who is typically American,
enunciates words ending in '-ing' as '-een' e.g. talk-een, think-een etc. I
have since surmised, that it can be largely attributed to California, Texas,
the surrounding South-West and rather surprsingly - Chicago! It is known as
'Chicano' English.

I would be more than happy to be corrected.

[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/shortcuts/2018/jan/03/di...](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/shortcuts/2018/jan/03/did-
shakepeare-really-say-we-were-happiest-at-home-that-is-the-question)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_English)

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Jach
Got Neutral, but it was missing some utah valley isms that I'll slip into if
careless.. for -> fer, creek -> crick, mountain -> mou'n (or other nt+vowel+n
suffix, n and t are soft enough to not be there and the vowel is replaced by a
pause; clinton -> cli-in/cli'n, mitten -> mih'n...), both -> bolth... The NYT
one linked was interesting too, the heatmap included everything aligned and
west of Utah minus Arizona, plus a bit of the northeast and great lakes areas.
The NYT one was also interesting in that a few examples, like roundabout, had
me think for a minute about what I'd say in a conversation vs what I expect to
hear (traffic circle) in general from e.g. google maps and might say instead
if primed with it.

~~~
stepvhen
is for->fer Utah? I'm in Indiana, born on the West Coast, and I dont know
where I picked that up. I have also started to morph "car" and similar in the
direction of "kerr," and (most embarrassingly) instead of "robot" in
conversation ill say "robit." I havent been able to find out from those around
me, or hear the same changes.

~~~
Jach
No idea where it'd originate from, but in central Utah it's common. A few
others I've remembered include (similar to fer) your -> yer, our -> are,
really -> rilly, prescription -> perscription, sale -> sell.

Robit is pretty funny, like a frog? Haven't heard anything like that.

A random YouTube search shows what I'd consider representative for the area,
at least around my age, only a couple of fers though. Overall fairly
"neutral". [https://youtube.com/watch?v=k3IdMkc-
aD4](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k3IdMkc-aD4) Your sibling mentioned a
similarity with Appalachian people, maybe some of it is a mountain thing,
though if they had in mind anything like
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bn8O6Nx3C6w](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bn8O6Nx3C6w)
I don't really hear much similarity.

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virtualwhys
> You`re not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-.
> Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because
> you don`t really have a local identity.

Well, that's comforting. Apparently I'm from anywhere between Pennsylvania and
Illinois, which is off the mark -- from the other side of the river in Boston,
a Cantabridgiot born and raised. God bless Dachestah, Summaville, and Reveah
(although with gentrification these towns are likely losing the local flavor,
perhaps the Boston accent is dying?)

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morley
When I clicked on the link, I got an alert from my AV about the site having a
JS Miner. I was able to reproduce it 3/3 times. Fair warning!

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giancarlostoro
Apparently Northern, but I was confused for some questions. I've lived in
Florida since at least 2001, before that I only spoke Spanish. I would've
thought for certain I would've gotten a Southern accent, of course I do live
in Orlando, everyone speaks a reasonable range of different American accents
here.

~~~
gnodar
I lived in Orlando for 20+ years, and got Western (mostly neutral). In my
experience, Floridians south of Jacksonville do not speak with a southern
accent.

~~~
giancarlostoro
Well, Central Floridians, if you get between Orlando and Miami... Like
Okeechobee you hear some fun accents. But I guess that's a fair assessment.
It's funny to me cause my wife is from Miami and says I have a "Puerto Rican
accent" but most people from Orlando don't say I do, must be when I butcher my
English now and then or she's just messing with me and doing a good job at it.

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drmpeg
I used to have a wicked Boston accent, but I lost it when I moved to Silicon
Valley. It comes out sometimes, especially when I've been drinking. My test
result was Western.

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cableshaft
I got Neutral, which is what I expected. I grew up right in the area of the US
that they love to set up call centers in because people talk with a neutral
accent.

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workmandan
I'm British and apparently that makes me Northeastern

~~~
ThePadawan
Well, "very very Northeastern" would be accurate again, wouldn't it?

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jedberg
Having studied linguistics, I already knew I had a "flat" or "newscaster's"
accent.

But the word pairs they chose were interesting.

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zunzun
"You in" this group - you'ins

You all" in this group - y'all

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kseistrup
Does anyone here know of a similar test for British English?

