North American English Dialect Map

[Wheelingman04]

Overall it very accurate but hard to read and some things are a little off, but its well done.

[Cirrus]

Yeah, pretty unreadable map.

The accent divide between Midland and South is misplaced near DC. On the west side of DC the divide is in Northern Virginia, not suburban Maryland. Reasonable arguments could be made to locate it anywhere from the Beltway to the western boundary of Fairfax County, but it is *definitely* on that side of the river.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by urbanactivistTX

I'm confused by the circle around New Orleans... is it south or is it just independent?

Many native New Orleanians sound like they could be from Brooklyn.

South Texas, El Paso, and anything on the Mexican Border should have a very specific division for Spanglish.

As a native Arkansan, I can also attest that the speakers they chose all miss the mark for the Central Area of the state. Bill Clinton is from Hope, which has a much stronger connection to East Texas speech as part of the Ark-La-Tex region. The white male student is indicative of Arkansas, but it's more of an Ozark twang than a Delta twang. The way you tell is by the arrangement of diphthongs (or lack thereof). A word like "store" which is one syllable in most recognized English is a two syllable word in Arkansan speech... "sto-wer". "On" becomes more like "own" the further north you go into the state, and in the Ozarks (depending on the age and general speech speed of the person) flirts with being a two-syllable word also... "ow-un".

Whereas long "i" vowels... "like" "bike" should be two syllables (laa-eek) are just one in Arkansan speech (laahk, baahk).

Everyone I ever met from Arkansas, from Fayetteville to Little Rock and especially in the SW part around Magnolia, have thick 'southern' accents with deep drawls. In Oklahoma the 'southern' accent isn't as thick and is more of a twang like the Texas accent. In OKC, Tulsa, and the northern part of the state adjacent to Kansas there isn't as much of an accent which the map depicts.

[Strange Meat]

Originally Posted by strongbad635

Colorado has an awful lot of Midwestern influence. They call coke "pop" and pronounce "Colorado" with a short "a" sound instead of an "ah."

if they're from chicago i guess.

all my friends say soda. and "color-ah-do" as well.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Snodrifter

if they're from chicago i guess.

all my friends say soda. and "color-ah-do" as well.

from the famous pop/soda/coke survey

Denver
sample size: 220

Pop: 140
Soda: 54
Coke: 22
Other: 4

http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/CO-stats.html

[WilliamTheArtist]

You can see some of the cultural differences which have historically influenced the Tulsa/OKC rivalry in these maps. Tulsa was built and modeled after the upper mid-west Chicago area cities where many of the middle class teachers, doctors, etc,,, and many of the wealthy upper crust came from who became the local oil barons. Anyone with a southern drawl was seen as being somewhat suspicious or likely being uneducated, white trash. OKC had more of a Southern, German farmer, influence. Hence the old "culture and sophistication" of Tulsa and the dusty, "cow town" OKC, stereotypes. The cities were in the same state, but might as well have been from different worlds. The old differences are diminishing with time, but are still there.


But even within Tulsa there was the "Outsiders" Greasers and Socks differences. The middle to upper class socks and the poor working class who lived across the tracks or on the refinery side of the river were the greasers. Moms side of the family was from Minnesota, Socks,,,, Dads side of the family were decidedly poor Greasers lol.

[nouveau_Mauvilla]

"Don" and "dawn" don't rhyme the way I say them. They are actually quite different. Neither do "don" and "on" rhyme.

Also, I've only ever heard the "dropping of the r" from the Old Mobile folk (old south), but most of us don't. A good example is how Mardi Gras is pronounced (Mahdi Gra vs. Mardi Graw).

Also, there are quite a few different dialects in our area.

Overall, it looks like a pretty good effort, if not a little crowded and over-simplified.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by strongbad635

...
Colorado has an awful lot of Midwestern influence. They call coke "pop" and pronounce "Colorado" with a short "a" sound instead of an "ah."

I have never understood why in the south all pops are called this thing called Coke [Generic]? Go in to a resturant Texas and ask for a Coke with you meal. They well say what kind of Coke? And I do not mean Cherry or diet or Coke Zero, they mean like 7-UP, Root Beer, Orange Crush.... Everything is Coke to them

That map above explains this well.


No just give me the Coke please, as in Coca~Cola for petes sake.

It is easy if you try.

What kind of pop would you like? I would like a Coke thank you.

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by Patel

I have never understood why in the south all pops are called this thing called Coke [Generic]? Go in to a resturant Texas and ask for a Coke with you meal. They well say what kind of Coke? And I do not mean Cherry or diet or Coke Zero, they mean like 7-UP, Root Beer, Orange Crush.... Everything is Coke to them

That map above explains this well.


No just give me the Coke please, as in Coca~Cola for petes sake.

It is easy if you try.

What kind of pop would you like? I would like a Coke thank you.

The only place I hear soft drinks referred to generically as "Coke" is in forums like this. I've lived in the South all of my life, and I have NEVER heard someone refer to soft drinks that way. Unless people are retarded:

If they want a Sprite, they call it Sprite.
If they want a Dr. Pepper, they call it Dr. Pepper.
If they want a Diet Coke, they call it Diet Coke.
If they want a Coke, they call it Coke.

Anything else is ludicrous. I'm not saying that there couldn't possibly be people who use the word "Coke" in reference to every soft drink, but they are a very small minority. It's would be a very stupid thing to do.

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by urbanactivistTX

I'm confused by the circle around New Orleans... is it south or is it just independent?

Many native New Orleanians sound like they could be from Brooklyn.

South Texas, El Paso, and anything on the Mexican Border should have a very specific division for Spanglish.

As a native Arkansan, I can also attest that the speakers they chose all miss the mark for the Central Area of the state. Bill Clinton is from Hope, which has a much stronger connection to East Texas speech as part of the Ark-La-Tex region. The white male student is indicative of Arkansas, but it's more of an Ozark twang than a Delta twang. The way you tell is by the arrangement of diphthongs (or lack thereof). A word like "store" which is one syllable in most recognized English is a two syllable word in Arkansan speech... "sto-wer". "On" becomes more like "own" the further north you go into the state, and in the Ozarks (depending on the age and general speech speed of the person) flirts with being a two-syllable word also... "ow-un".

Whereas long "i" vowels... "like" "bike" should be two syllables (laa-eek) are just one in Arkansan speech (laahk, baahk).

You've got that down really well. In East Texas, my cousin David's name is pronounced Di-vid, with a long i in the first syllable.

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by Wheelingman04

Overall it very accurate but hard to read and some things are a little off, but its well done.

Wheelingman...I should ask you something. My friend is from the Fairmont area, which is not far from Wheeling. His family pronounces "bush" as "boosh". It was interesting to hear them talk about President "Boosh". When I asked my friend about it, he said he wasn't even aware of how they were saying it. Have you heard it pronounced that way?

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by Patel

I have never understood why in the south all pops are called this thing called Coke [Generic]? Go in to a resturant Texas and ask for a Coke with you meal. They well say what kind of Coke? And I do not mean Cherry or diet or Coke Zero, they mean like 7-UP, Root Beer, Orange Crush.... Everything is Coke to them

That map above explains this well.


No just give me the Coke please, as in Coca~Cola for petes sake.

It is easy if you try.

What kind of pop would you like? I would like a Coke thank you.

When I go out to dinner or lunch, I ask specificially for what I want, and so do my friends and relatives. Seems like when I was a kid I did hear that at times ("coke"), but not in a long while. Maybe I just don't hang out with the "coke" crowd.

If I don't know what kind of soft drink I want, I might say "I'm going to have a soda pop." And then I'll get more specific.

[Dan Denson]

I should have combined my posts...sorry about that.

Anyway, there are many Texas accents. I've known native Dallasites who spoke rapidly and it sounded like they were mumbling. That seems to have phased out in the last few decades, though. The East Texas piney woods area is extreme south regarding accent, but still different from Mississippi and Alabama. It's almost like the sentences are sung. In the Hill Country near Austin, there's an accent that I can't even describe, and it's so harsh it hurts to hear it (e.g., the car salesmen who do commercials from Hill Country towns). Houston is a big jumble because so many people are from all over the country and world. You do hear some deep South, though. El Paso residents sound to me just like those in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California. It's all interesting! Oh...in my entire life, I've never met a Texas native who drops the r. Yet, Hollywood consistently protrays our accent that way. Of course, Hollywood gets a lot of things wrong.

[llamaorama]

I call it soft drink and I live in "Coke" territory. Everyone should call it soft drink because that's what it is. Coke refers to Coca-Cola, "Pop" makes little sense, and "soda" means something like mineral water I thought.

It's like Kleenex-its freaking tissue

[3rd&Brown]

The upstate New York accents are interesting to me; I have a friend who's originally from the Schenectady/Albany area and to me she sounds "normal," she sounds like she could be from California; she does NOT sound like someone from NYC. But I met someone who was originally from Syracuse, and to me he sounded like he was from Chicago. And this map shows that that accent extends from that part of upstate NY into the Midwest. Very interesting.

very true. cornell grad here. spent 4 years in upstate NY and have friends from all reaches of the state. albany has virtually no accent; or a very clean "american accent". i think this is generally true of the areas up and down the hudson river until lower west chester county (weirdly...because albany is closer to worcester ma than it is to nyc).

ithaca/corning/horseheads and points north and west have VERY mid-western accents. it is most pronounced in buffalo...where people pronounce "yard" and "card" in much the same way that people do in the chicago area...but even with more nasal intonation...sort of wisconsin-y. binghampton has very little accent.

as for long island/west chester around ny...very different accents. perhaps this has something to do with the ethnic neighborhoods people migrated from within ny...but similar patterns can be drawn around philadelphia. while there are general traits that are shared...there are distinct local dialects within the region. northeast philadelphia and parts of south jersey...for example...have different accents from the rest of philadelphia. ditto for south philly and pockets of delaware county. it is not surprising that long island and west chester would not have identical "accents".

[Buckeye Native 001]

As the old saying goes, head in any direction away from Cincinnati and within a half hour you'll find an accent different from your own.

[austlar1]

Maybe this map speaks to some truths about how people in these regions have traditionally sounded, but It gets harder and harder to generalize about local accents. Young middle class kids in Texas, for example, do not sound at all like the kids I grew up with in Texas in the 50's and 60's. Instead, they sound a lot more like their counterparts in California or suburban areas of large Midwestern or Mid-Atlantic coast cities. Actually, they sound a lot like the kids they hear on television and in the movies. Ditto for African American young folk who have acquired a lot of Northeastern US speech patterns from exposure to media outlets and the music scene. The working class white kids in Texas still have accents that are somewhat like the ones I grew up with back in the day. Speech patterns and accents change from generation to generation. Listen to the way actors and announcers sounded from movies and newsreels from the WW II era and earlier. Nobody sounds like that anymore, except for a few very old people.

[emathias]

I'm from the Northwest, and I can hear subtle differences between the speech of people from Seattle, Portland, Boise, Southern Oregon, Eastern Washington and definitely Nevada. Whoever did the map needs to study the northwest a little more closely to really fully describe the differences in that region.

[MolsonExport]

what about the Newfoundland dialect? quite different than that of PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by emathias

I'm from the Northwest, and I can hear subtle differences between the speech of people from Seattle, Portland, Boise, Southern Oregon, Eastern Washington and definitely Nevada. Whoever did the map needs to study the northwest a little more closely to really fully describe the differences in that region.

Yeah, Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Plains in general. But overall a great research effort. Figuring out how to convey so much information with so many overlays is tricky indeed.