I have traveled a fair bit in my life, and whenever I meet someone from somewhere else, I ask them if I have an accent. Usually, the answer is no, which always disappoints me. Occasionally, someone says that I do have an accent, and then I make them imitate my accent, which is always a lot of fun.
I always wondered why many people thought I had no accent. I decided that the news media and Hollywood use my accent, so it has become the General American accent, and my research showed that this is partly true.
However, my research taught me something I didn't previously know. The accent that I think of as the California Accent actually has its roots in the Midwest. Apparantly, large numbers of Midwesterners emigrated to California after WWI (I'm thinking probably because of the Depression and Dust Bowl). They brought their accent with them, and it soon became integrated into California's main accent.
Interestingly enough, most Midwestern states have continued developing their own accent in the meantime, so at this point, they sound distinctly different. Also, California has incorporated other forms of English because there are so many immigrants here.
The California dialect is certainly full of foreign words that have been adopted by English. I know one term, “hapa,” which is Hawaiian meaning “half,” is often used to described people of mized ancestry. I am hapa, and I am half white and half Asian/islander.
Of course, many Spanish words have become incorporated into English, and this is true for the entire South. For example, the word “rodeo.” Usually, Americans pronounce it wrong, as is the case with “rodeo.” However, we do pronounce “Rodeo Drive” correctly, which is interesting.
In fact, most of the cities in Southern California are Spanish names, and of course, we pronounce them all wrong.
e.g.:
Los Angeles = City of Angels, ought to be pronounced like “Loes Ahn-hell-es”
So, question to the readers: Where are you from? Do you have an accent? If so, what is unique about it and what do you think about accents?
Here is a cool video that I found on YouTube about accents. How accurate do you think she is? I know she got the California one down perfectly (although I would have thrown in a few "like"s):
