All Southerners have a accent but it varies from state to state. New Englanders, particularly those from Maine, have a unique accent. Boston, Bronx, Brooklyn, Waco, Kansas City---All Distinctive accents. Even me as a Californian have what some call a California accent. Canadians? Aussies & Kiwis?
When I talked to AnnMarie @Steve North ' s wife recently, she said, "You have the cutest accent." I didn't even know I had an accent. I thought she was the one who had an accent.
Growing up in the UP Of Michigan, I didn't think I had an accent but I have since met a few people who guessed, not only that I was from the Midwest, but from either the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or northern Wisconsin, the border of which was only about fifteen miles away, and one of them picked up on it even after it has been more than forty years since I had lived there.
I didn't know people from Missouri had an accent until I moved away then went back for a visit. It was very pronounced. And differs between the Ozarks, the eastern / St Louis side and the western/ KC side. Accents fascinate me.
I have 4 different accents. It depends on the words and phrases I speak. My latest and most interesting accent is my dentureless accent, but since that isn't regional, omit that one for conversational purposes on this thread. That leaves only 3. My pride and joy is my Colorado accent that seems to be going extinct even in Colorado where everyone is speaking Californian. Only a Californian or some other liberal implant would call my birth town "The Springs." It is Colorado Springs, you lazy numb brained hipsters. In Colorado, it is "you guuyzees" (you guys) not "dudes" "you peeps" "youse" y'all, or even "you all." I can also say "y'all" and drawl it out until the storybook ends with a waltz across Texas from Amarillo to Brownsville. I also have a Montreal accent on phrases like, "Going indoors to treat your hemorrhoids ay (eh)?" "My auto is in my gaye radge."
I don't think I do, having lived in Indiana until I was 9 then moving to an area of Virginia populated by people for other parts of the country. I think highly-transient areas tend to flush out accents. A quick web search finds a few videos purporting to discern accents by the way you pronounce certain words (roof, route, pecan, etc), but these are common regional pronunciations, not necessarily accents. Phrases (like "you all" or "y'all") are the same way...they may be region-specific phrases, but they can be said with different accents. Having someone from Boston read a sentence that has "y'all" in it ain't gonna fool no one. Now I want to find out if I have a discernible accent.
Funny, we talked to a retired couple last Sunday, in the parking lot of a grocery store, who have lived here for 11 years and they called Colorado Springs, "the Springs". And, since you no longer live here, you really have no right to call any people that call Colorado Springs, "the Springs" lazy numb brained hipsters! How would you feel if Colorado people, who have lived here all of their lives, made fun of the area you live in now? Wouldn't like it would you? Whenever I call my BIL (wife's brother), I say "what's up dude?". And, just to inform you, not everyone living in Colorado is from California (born/raised there). Neither of us are. Whenever I hear someone here say "y'all", I will say, "you do know Colorado isn't a southern state, right?" But, I guess there are those that have moved here from a southern state and bring their "y'all" with them.
From a distant past, a psychologist friend of mine once called me a sympathetic linguist. He explained to me that whomever I come in contact with I automatically pick up their accent and tonal expressions. Whether it is a regional accent or a whole different language, I unintentionally pick it up. Maybe that and my initial testing was the reason the military gave me an option to go to a language school. Don’t know. So far as an everyday accent? Again, dunno. Ya’ll will have to tell me…..
When I was in college in Denver, getting fixed up on dates with guys from the AF Academy, I always heard them call it "C Springs." I'm sure every one of those cadets were lazy numb brained hipsters.
Californians have no accent. Having no accent means that to others who have regional accents, Californians have unmistakeable accents! Hal
I seriously doubt that many lifelong Colorado residents subscribe to the lingo of the newer residents in which Californians have always had the biggest influence. When I left Colorado there were many Texans moving in, especially the Four Corners area. I first noticed the use of y'all in Colorado back in the late 1960s when there were a lot of Texans moving in. I am well aware that people from all over the world live in Colorado, but Californians are the largest group that has moved in and continues to move in according to real estate people that study these things. How would you feel if Colorado people, who have lived here all of their lives, made fun of the area you live in now? Wouldn't like it would you? It wouldn't bother me a bit one bit! Go ahead and take your best shot! Furthermore, living in Colorado for 11 years isn't a lifelong resident unless they are 11 years old. Watch all the videos on YouTube promoting Colorado Springs and you won't find one where they call it "The Springs." Such lingo is a sign of a newbie thinking what some hipster implant started online a few years ago, will make them revered as an old-timer and a local. They are certainly not a good example of people that have been Coloradans for several generations. I have several cousins still in Colorado and not one of them would say The Springs. As I pointed out before, many towns in Colorado have Springs in their name, so in my opinion, saying The Springs just to mean Colorado Springs is just ignorant and lazy since it could mean any of the springs.