most distinct regional dialect

[novelist_wannabe]

Didn't want to contribute to the thread divergence on the 9/11 feelings thread, but I thought this was interesting ... What do you guys think is the most distinct regional dialect in the US?

We've got Yanks in New England ("Pahk the cah") and the Southern drawl (and I'm not talking about Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary, though others might view it that way).

I've lived in the South all my life, so it doesn't sound all that distinct to me, except when the entertainment industry tries to emulate it. Kyra Sedgwick's version on The Closer is a ****ing abomination. For my money ... and I routinely talk to people from all over the country ... there is no place where you can discern a location more quickly from an accent than from the northeast.

Discuss

 

[Hurricane J]

I've lived in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, California and Georgia. If you believe the Southern accent isn't all that distinct then you probably need to spend some time away from the South. All accents are distinct to some ears ... not as much to others. But the Southern accent, and there are certainly variations, is truly distinct in sound and in world usage. In my opinion, more than any other accent in this country.

 

[imjustagirl2]

Does Cajun count? I mean, most of the Northeast stuff sounds the same, and all the Southeastern stuff does. But like Louisiana? Yowsa.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Does Cajun count? I mean, most of the Northeast stuff sounds the same, and all the Southeastern stuff does. But like Louisiana? Yowsa.

Personally, I think people from Montana talk funny.

 

[imjustagirl2]

I've never heard anyone from Montana talk.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Cajun is definitely in the conversation, sha.

 

[User 1019]

I'd say Montana, Minnesota and the Dakotas are pretty distinct.

 

[Ace]

I'll go with Northeast, too.

 

[imjustagirl2]

I'd say Montana, Minnesota and the Dakotas are pretty distinct.

There's a difference between Minnesota and the Dakotas?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Does Cajun count? I mean, most of the Northeast stuff sounds the same, and all the Southeastern stuff does. But like Louisiana? Yowsa.

I've got to go with IJAG here. The Cajun is not only a unique accent, but the syntax is equally its own. A brief vote here, though, for the upper Midwest Wisconsin-Minne-soooo-ta accent, the one made famous in Fargo.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The thing about the Southern accent is it varies from region to region. The North Carolina accent is different than the south Alabama accent.

Cajun gets my vote too.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

My college roommate was from New Iberia.
I'd go home on vacation and ask my Yankee mother:
"Hey, Ma. Where you at, cher?"
Not only in the Cajun unique. It's infectious.

 

[Ace]

The thing about the Southern accent is it varies from region to region. The North Carolina accent is different than the south Alabama accent.

Cajun gets my vote too.

Cajun is certainly unique, but that accent doesn't seem quite as pervasive in New Orleans as the accent is among New Englanders.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

My college roommate was from New Iberia.
I'd go home on vacation and ask my Yankee mother:
"Hey, Ma. Where you at, cher?"
Not only in the Cajun unique. It's infectious.

You talk about, says the son of a man who grew up in New Iberia.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

The thing about the Southern accent is it varies from region to region. The North Carolina accent is different than the south Alabama accent.

Cajun gets my vote too.

Cajun is certainly unique, but that accent doesn't seem quite as pervasive in New Orleans as the accent is among New Englanders.

There is nothing Cajun about New Orleans, except what you see in the tourist traps (and in a few well-intentioned but misguided movies).

Whole different world of accents in the Crescent City. Can I get a witness, FB?

 

[Ace]

The thing about the Southern accent is it varies from region to region. The North Carolina accent is different than the south Alabama accent.

Cajun gets my vote too.

Cajun is certainly unique, but that accent doesn't seem quite as pervasive in New Orleans as the accent is among New Englanders.

There is nothing Cajun about New Orleans, except what you see in the tourist traps (and in a few well-intentioned but misguided movies).

Whole different world of accents in the Crescent City. Can I get a witness, FB?

OK. Then if we are talking Cajun and mean Lafayette/New Iberia -- I'll go with that. Pretty small area, though.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Well, the Cajun dialect is sprinkled from the Lake Charles area on south, down along the coast and around Lafayette/New Iberia, still further south and east over toward Thibodaux/Houma and in the Cutoff area, down to the mouth of the Mississippi. You can find it scattered throughout the state, but its concentration areas are Acadiana and the bayou parishes. Despite LSU's use of the word "geaux," Baton Rouge is not Cajun. Neither is New Orleans, as I've said. And, sadly, Cajun is dying. CODOFIL teaches real French in Louisiana schools. The Cajun dialect is fading ...

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The thing about the Southern accent is it varies from region to region. The North Carolina accent is different than the south Alabama accent.

Cajun gets my vote too.

Cajun is certainly unique, but that accent doesn't seem quite as pervasive in New Orleans as the accent is among New Englanders.

There is nothing Cajun about New Orleans, except what you see in the tourist traps (and in a few well-intentioned but misguided movies).

Whole different world of accents in the Crescent City. Can I get a witness, FB?

OK. Then if we are talking Cajun and mean Lafayette/New Iberia -- I'll go with that. Pretty small area, though.

Population-wise, but square miles that area is bigger than Bahstan or Noo Yawk.

 

[spup1122]

I think the Chicago accent is pretty distinct. It's infectious, too. I've been to Chicago several times and everytime I'd come home, I'd end up talking like I had lived there for my entire life.

I'm from the mid-south, so I'd get made fun of pretty hard core until I'd slip back into a little bit of the twang again.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

The right Southern twang from the right Southern girl is irresistible.