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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006Identification of American accent?
There is a certain type of American accent that I hear from time to time on US TV shows, seemingly always spoken by younger women, that I can't identify. It is characterised by what sound to me like "mangled" vowels. I don't know if it is regional, or social-class-related, or what. There was an example today on the BBC one o'clock news, which you can currently pick up from the BBC website. I don't know when they will replace this with the next bulletin - at 6 o'clock today I suppose. So, if the bulletin doesn't show the Ohio voter I mention below then I guess it will have changed, and I apologise for wasting your time. Anyway, at the moment you can locate the bulletin as follows (sorry for the complicated instructions): 1. Go to www.bbc.co.uk 2. Click "Watch/Listen to BBC News" in the centre of the home page, just below the "Today" banner. 3. Down in the bottom right corner of the ensuing window, click "News bulletins - One, Six and Ten O'Clock News" 4. At 6 minutes 35 seconds into the bulletin is a clip of a young female Ohio voter, which starts with her saying "Everybody talks about things that they're going to accomplish when they're running..." (Assuming your setup works like mine you can zip straight to that part - you don't have to watch to all 6 and a half minutes!) How would her accent be described? matt271829-n...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: <snip> > I don't know when they will replace this with the next bulletin - at 6 > o'clock today I suppose. 6 p.m. UK time, that is. > There is a certain type of American accent that I hear from time to > time on US TV shows, seemingly always spoken by younger women, that I [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > How would her accent be described? I don't find her accent at all unusual. A bit nasal, almost Californian "valley girl" talk, but I don't talk to many teens or late teens of the female variety, so I maybe tend to clump them together. I do find that many "man on the street" interviews make the speakers a bit self-conscious and mannered. (Ohio has a very strong division in accent between the lake area and the Ohio River area. I was very surprised to hear a strong southern twang on a trip to Pittsburgh this fall. We stopped in Zanesville, Ohio and found the waitresses and store clerks a bit difficult to understand. They bragged about their southern accent. This reminded me of a correspondent in this NG about 4 years ago who was very upset when I suggested that Ohio was part of the Midwerst. I think he was associating himself with tidewater Virginia, or anyplace _but_ the Midwest. If his neighbors sounded like the people in Zanesville, I think I could agree, today. Of course, maybe not the Tidewater, but at least mountain--West Virginia--talk.) > There is a certain type of American accent that I hear from time to > time on US TV shows, seemingly always spoken by younger women, that I > can't identify. It is characterised by what sound to me like "mangled" > vowels. I don't know if it is regional, or social-class-related, or > what.... <snip> Since my example BBC clip had such a short shelf-life, I later remembered another speaker who exhibits the same sort of speech traits that I'm referring to, albeit in a fairly mild way. It is Kendra Todd, who you may remember won one of the series of "The Apprentice" (shown here in the UK just a while back). There's a clip of her at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhWAoEYKhuI, and another one at http://www.foxnews.com/yourworld/index.html (link "Home Sweet Home" under "FOX MEANS BUSINESS" a little way down the page). Hopefully these links will stick around for a bit. There just seems something exaggerated and strained about how she says the vowels in "so" and "you" and "now", and so forth, compared to other American accents. A good example would be the word "you" in "Good to see you", which see says at the very start of the "Home Sweet Home" interview. However, Pat's earlier reply says my Ohio subject's speech wasn't at all unusual, so maybe I'm imagining some difference that isn't really there, or at least doesn't amount to anything that could be labelled as a specific accent... > > There is a certain type of American accent that I hear from time to > > time on US TV shows, seemingly always spoken by younger women, that I [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > there, or at least doesn't amount to anything that could be labelled as > a specific accent... I hear a slight nasal quality to her speech, but I'd call that an individual characteristic, not an accent. I don't hear anything remarkable about her vowels, or those of the Ohio interviewee. My own accent is Californian. "Mangled" is a bit strong. I could use it for some of those peculiar diphthongs I hear on British TV -- "ayoo" and "ah-uh-ee" or whatever. I suspect you and I are just noticing what is different about the other's standard speech, and we've gotten to the level of vowels.  SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > > > There is a certain type of American accent that I hear from time to > > > time on US TV shows, seemingly always spoken by younger women, that I [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > "Mangled" is a bit strong. I could use it for some of those peculiar > diphthongs I hear on British TV -- "ayoo" and "ah-uh-ee" or whatever. Yes, I wasn't making a value judgement - there are plenty of "mangled" vowels in British accents too! > I suspect you and I are just noticing what is different about the > other's standard speech, and we've gotten to the level of vowels. Having trawled around a bit more, I wonder if, as Pat Durkin mentioned in his post, Valley Girl-speak is actually what I am thinking of. I remember a song called "Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit; I just listened to a clip, and the characteristic traits that I hear in the speech of the Ohio voter and Kendra Todd do to my ear bear a definite resemblance to Moon Unit (though obviously much less exaggerated). I also found several articles claiming that "Valley Girl" speech has infiltrated a whole generation of US females, or words to that effect - so perhaps most young American women now talk like that to a greater or lesser extent, and no-one really notices it. > Having trawled around a bit more, I wonder if, as Pat Durkin mentioned > in his post, Valley Girl-speak is actually what I am thinking of. I [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > to that effect - so perhaps most young American women now talk like > that to a greater or lesser extent, and no-one really notices it. I'm afraid that doesn't really fit, either. The "Valley Girl" stereotype is not pronunciation but behavior, personality, and vocabulary. (See Wikipedia.) These words would be spoken by someone with a normal Southern California accent, which is quite similar to the "standard English" heard over much of the US. If some linguist were to manage to distinguish the exact vowels used by "Valley Girls" (or even Southern Californians), such description would have to be quite subtle and technical. Only the common rising tone ("uptalk") is easy to recognize and it appears in many other regions as well (and even other countries). I noticed the rising tone on your Ohio clip but not with Kendra Todd. I assure you, if millions of Americans talk in a way that you (slightly erroneously) think of as "Valley Girl," it's not because they were inspired by a handful of media characters to do so, but that those who were labeled "Valley Girls" came from the same mainstream. I wish I could think of an analogy. There are probably hundreds of thousands of youngish women in the UK who speak in the same way as one or another of the Spice Girls, but not because they copied them or were infiltrated by them. It's because the Spice Girls were drawn out of the pool of young UK women of the time. I'm not surprised you found some articles with these claims -- a lot of nonsense is passed around on this sort of topic. But back to your original question -- in case you hadn't realized it, Californians *do* have different vowels from Britons. There's a tape of me saying "father, bother, on, swan, all, sorry, wash, saw, pop, caught" at http://www.euronet.nl/users/trio/father.wav SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux Formerly of Northern California matt271829-news@yahoo.co.uk filted: >Having trawled around a bit more, I wonder if, as Pat Durkin mentioned >in his post, Valley Girl-speak is actually what I am thinking of. I [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >to that effect - so perhaps most young American women now talk like >that to a greater or lesser extent, and no-one really notices it. Some years ago, but decades after the Zappa/Zappa collaboration, I happened to park the car in front of a boutique called "Foothills Woman"...my companion wondered aloud what a Foothills Woman might be, and I suggested that it's what Valley Girls became when they grew up....r Signature"Keep your eye on the Bishop. I want to know when he makes his move", said the Inspector, obliquely. |
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