accent.gmu.edu — Everyone who speaks a language, speaks it with an accent. When people listen to someone speak with a different accent from their own, they notice the difference, and they may even make certain biased social judgments about the speaker.Browse 500+ sound clips from all over the world. Released under a Creative Commons License.
Mar 18, 2006 View in Crawl 4
socoolismeMar 18, 2006
I don't have an accent I'm from America.
grzelakcMar 18, 2006
This is bollocks. According to the website('s bias) the only correct way to pronunce the English language is the way it's spoken in the States and the UK. According to them this guy:<a class="user" href="http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=2">http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=2</a>makes pronunciation mistakes, while this woman:<a class="user" href="http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=121">http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=121</a>speaks 100% perfect English. Give me a f**king break
demagogueMar 19, 2006
My parents are from Baton Rouge, LA, and I grew up in Indiana..... Yeah my accent is all screwy...
nichevoMar 19, 2006
Too bad they missed out on Newfoundland, I honestly can't understand what they are saying half the time.
inbalMar 19, 2006
It would have been smarter to let people read in their own language. None of those people were speaking in their natural accent, the only thing I learned is in what countries people work harder to sound like English-speakers... When you try to adopt a different accent, most sounds get stuck somewhere between your accent and the accent you're trying to adopt, so you can't learn anything without hearing a person's first language.
gfixlerMar 20, 2006
The SoCal accent took me 2 years to notice after I moved to LA, but now it hits me every time like a bucket of cold water in the face. I can tell someone who's grown up in S. California in usually 1 or 2 setences, and it's shown me just how many people in movies, TV, and commercials are from the LA area (answer: most). In fact, I recently met a woman who was visiting California, but was supposedly from Denver. Her accent smacked of socal, though, and then I found out she was born and raised in the LA area. The most obvious shift is short "e" to short "a." "I bet you're my best friend" for me sounds like "I bat you're my bast frand" where all the letters "a" in the sentence sound like those found in dad, apple, bat, crack, and blast.Of course, if you have the Bugs Bunny accent, wherein words like apple sound to me like aya-pull, or "I'm a baaad boy," which sounds like "I'm a beeeeyaaaaad boy," with extreme nasal tonalities, then what I've said is unlikely to help you imagine any of this. LA is very nasal and high-pitch to my S. NJ ears, but then, my friends and family in S. NJ sound kind of foreign to me now that I've lived in Sarasota, FL for 6 years, and LA for about 4. I've learned I can also now tell FL people, but it takes longer. Mostly it's just me comparing them to FL natives I knew while I lived there, and in that, it's not just the southern drawl, but intermixed colloquialisms.The fact that short "e" shifts so completely to short "a" in LA, yet short "a" doesn't make much of a shift reminds me of the pin/pen merger:<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin-pen_merger">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin-pen_merger</a>I've found the LA accent to mostly be a heavily toned down version of Valley Girl, and in that, I've run into a few uptalkers out here, too, which is exceptionally annoying :) This is saying everything like a question. I worked with an uptalker for several months in the same small office, and I got to the point where I just wanted to shake him and yell "YES! YES! I AGREE! ALRIGHT? I AGREE WITH ALL OF IT!" More on uptalking:<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptalk">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptalk</a>There's a great deal more fun here:<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phonetic_topics">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phonetic_topics</a>
zedikerMar 20, 2006
actualy, the standard american accent called (General American) is located in a strip from nebraska through iowa to illinois (<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American).">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American).</a> This was conducted in 1998. A more recent study (couldnt find the link) now states the most neutral english-based language dialect is based in east-central ohio. It is called the most neutral because it has the least variation from the correct pronunciation of phenoms according to language experts. This does not mean they speak 'perfect english' it just means they are the least wavering from the correct pronunciation.
commodore64Mar 21, 2006
It's missing a Newfoundland accent...for you yanks it's basically a bastardized irish accent with poor grammar.
vanepsJun 15, 2010
The valley girl accent is not confined to California. It is everywhere in this country. A girl at a local convenience store qouted the price of an item as "a dollar tan cents. A prime example of someone swapping short A vowels for short E vowels is Savanah Guthrie of MSNBC. who speaks of "halthcare" and em ass an bee see for MSNBC. But it isn't confined to a few. TV commercials are loaded with women saying things like "These sunglasses are impaccable (which must mean impeccable). They say bast for best, perfaction, axperts, averything,etc on and on. I read an article somewhere explaining this warped pronunciation as being caused when women open their mouths to wide when pronouncing short E vowels. Try saying "expert" with a wide open mouth and you will find the word comes out as "axpert". What really is interesting is this accent is by far mostly confined to women. It may be harmless but for parents who try to teach their children correct pronunciation it is a bit irritating.