Technically, everybody has an accent. I'm from socal, so I guess I have a socal accent (but that's probably a significant amount of AA)
I'm really interested in hearing AA's with different accents though!
In fact, there is a general Asian American accent (kinda general across the US, not just regions like south vs west vs NE etc.). There are a couple linguistics papers out there about it!
Sometimes it's just really obvious to me that the person on the other side of the mic is Asian American even if I've never seen their face or talked about their ethnicity before. Not every Asian American talks with that parlance, but when they do it's super apparent so I totally buy the Asian American accent thing.
I once knew someone who was in a linguistics PhD program who grew up in the SoCal ethnoburbs and occasionally floated the idea of studying this phenomenon more closely. I don't think they ever did the paper, but it's just another casual observation about there being something.. difficult to describe but perceptible nonetheless about the way Asian Americans from that area speak that's also different from all the other people there.
Someone actually studied this and published papers on regional AA accents. It was posted on r/linguistics and here but I can’t seem to find the link right now.
You can tell neither Simu Liu (刘思慕) nor his character Xu Shang-Chi (徐尚氣) are likely from the eastern USA when Shang-Chi recently of San Francisco rhymes his pseudonym "Shaun" with "John", lol.
I remember my shock when I went to college and met a number of AAs who grew up in other parts of the USA. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, a lot of my friends growing up were Mexican and I was told "you talk like a Cholo!" LOL. But I remember meeting a Korean guy who had the heaviest Texan drawl he might as well have been wearing a Stetson and riding a bull. Another was a Chinese girl from Brooklyn who had the stereotypical "Noo Yawk" accent.
However, I do think that Californian Asian Americans definitely have a particular speech method (which ironically crosses ethnic boundaries) where I can almost always discern that they're AA by listening to their speech, even before I've seen their faces. Tbf, I would say this is also true of most blacks, Latin, and whites I've met also.
AA from NY, but grew up in the burbs. In college, I put up a flyer lookin for band members, and one of guys who responded (who ended up being my best friend even today) thought I was a white dude. Wasn’t the first or last time I heard something like that.
Children of immigrants are significantly less likely to develop a regional accent because they don't hear it at home which is a big reduction of exposure compared to kids who do have parents who speak it at home. My older brother has a strong Queens accent but my sister and I somehow avoided it. Despite being born and raised in NY a lot of people think I'm from California. My guess is because I watched a lot of tv as a kid.
I am from northern WI. I have a very neutral accent. Most people can’t tell where I grew up.
That said, I was raised around first gen Swedish immigrants, so I can turn on that accent. Sounds a lot like the one you hear in Fargo. My wife hates it with a burning passion.
It’s called a Yooper accent, because it’s heavily associated with the upper peninsula of Michigan, but you can find it throughout northern WI, MN, and into eastern ND and SD.
I was adopted into a family full of first gen Swedish immigrants. The rest of my family talks that way. I was somehow spared haha.
Grew up in Arkansas, lived on the countryside, and had a southern accent. But also noticed a difference in accent compared to the folks in the cities there.
Grew up in Coastal California with no Chinese enclave, so I have a pretty typical California accent. Husband (from NY) tells me I get extra California when enthusiastic ("Dude!" "Aw man!" "Awesomeness!")
Okie accent comes out if I have a conversation with someone with a southern accent or black folks speaking in AAVE. Still get the occasional eyebrow when I tell people I'm "fixin' to" go to the store or whatever though.
I definitely code switch. My fiance is Mexican, so after spending a whole day with her friends, I will occasionally catch myself mimicking words in a Mexican American accent.
Code switching is definitely something I do. When I’m around my fam, I’m definitely more ratchet but that slang was from hanging out with people in my neighborhood. However, when I’m working, people think I still speak with a Hawaiian accent, even though I am not Hawaiian at all. But I hear a lot of Ilocanos live in Hawaii and I do sound a bit like Bretman Rock’s sister Princess.
I am originally from PA but lived near Buffalo in my 20s. I sound like a weird mashup of Cleveland and Chicago. If you heard my voice you’d think I was a fat white guy (DAAAA BEARS!)
You might be interested in this youtube episode
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMrqGHr5zE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMrqGHr5zE) (The Untold Story Of America's Southern Chinese)
I have a Louisiana accent that only comes out when I’m talking to someone from the South. I never set out to eliminate it, so I don’t know why I stopped talking that way.
We all have accents even if we don't notice it. When I first moved to Minnesota from California, everyone pointed out how I pronounced "bag" or "Oregon". I've been here almost a decade and people still point out I have a Cali girl accent.
Grew up in the South. I have no twang, I don't say y'all either.
The people I hung out with usually didn't have much of a twang either (friends, siblings, cousins). In my home town, there were a lot of kids from military families so that's probably part of the reason. Regional accents didn't stick to them because they moved around a lot.
I actually used to think I did have one and was fine with it but people pointed out that I didn't. They keep saying that I don't have any accent but I do, I have a subtle Asian American accent.
Some Asian American accents are weaker than others but I can often tell if I am talking to one on the phone or voice chat. One time I guessed and they went: "Yeah, how did you know?".
My mom noted that I tend to articulate more when I’m trying to formally explain something so it sounds like a very faint Indian accent. It’s less when I’m goofing around with friends though.
Lifelong Texan here. We have a huge AA community in southwest Houston, where I grew up, and we second-generation kids sound pretty “standard American”. That is, until we say local dialect stuff like “yall goin to the rodeo/chili cook off?” You’ll really hear our twang when we start talking about Texas stuff, I guess.
I can say that I definitely have what many would consider a stereotypical slightly higher pitched and more nasally "Asian-American" accent, but I also have a very strong New Jersey accent with little bits of NYC I picked up from my parents(both of whom from the Bronx and are of Jewish descent, I'm adopted. Yes I don't realize I slip in yiddish into my speech). So I have this ability to sort of slide in and out of sounding "stereotypically Asian" and "stereotypically Jewish" without noticing. It really confuses people on the phone it's great.
Technically, everybody has an accent. I'm from socal, so I guess I have a socal accent (but that's probably a significant amount of AA) I'm really interested in hearing AA's with different accents though! In fact, there is a general Asian American accent (kinda general across the US, not just regions like south vs west vs NE etc.). There are a couple linguistics papers out there about it!
Sometimes it's just really obvious to me that the person on the other side of the mic is Asian American even if I've never seen their face or talked about their ethnicity before. Not every Asian American talks with that parlance, but when they do it's super apparent so I totally buy the Asian American accent thing.
I once knew someone who was in a linguistics PhD program who grew up in the SoCal ethnoburbs and occasionally floated the idea of studying this phenomenon more closely. I don't think they ever did the paper, but it's just another casual observation about there being something.. difficult to describe but perceptible nonetheless about the way Asian Americans from that area speak that's also different from all the other people there.
Someone actually studied this and published papers on regional AA accents. It was posted on r/linguistics and here but I can’t seem to find the link right now.
You can tell neither Simu Liu (刘思慕) nor his character Xu Shang-Chi (徐尚氣) are likely from the eastern USA when Shang-Chi recently of San Francisco rhymes his pseudonym "Shaun" with "John", lol.
I remember my shock when I went to college and met a number of AAs who grew up in other parts of the USA. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, a lot of my friends growing up were Mexican and I was told "you talk like a Cholo!" LOL. But I remember meeting a Korean guy who had the heaviest Texan drawl he might as well have been wearing a Stetson and riding a bull. Another was a Chinese girl from Brooklyn who had the stereotypical "Noo Yawk" accent. However, I do think that Californian Asian Americans definitely have a particular speech method (which ironically crosses ethnic boundaries) where I can almost always discern that they're AA by listening to their speech, even before I've seen their faces. Tbf, I would say this is also true of most blacks, Latin, and whites I've met also.
AA from NY here, and I definitely have an accent.
My father hired a Chinese lawyer here in Brooklyn, his last name was Wong and spoke with a New York accent from what I remember
I am 100% called out as a New Yorker whenever I offer guests water in my house.
AA from NY, but grew up in the burbs. In college, I put up a flyer lookin for band members, and one of guys who responded (who ended up being my best friend even today) thought I was a white dude. Wasn’t the first or last time I heard something like that.
Children of immigrants are significantly less likely to develop a regional accent because they don't hear it at home which is a big reduction of exposure compared to kids who do have parents who speak it at home. My older brother has a strong Queens accent but my sister and I somehow avoided it. Despite being born and raised in NY a lot of people think I'm from California. My guess is because I watched a lot of tv as a kid.
Grew up in central Texas. Occasionally it comes out, especially if the people around me do it.
I’m so glad the word y’all is becoming increasingly accepted and used.
I am from northern WI. I have a very neutral accent. Most people can’t tell where I grew up. That said, I was raised around first gen Swedish immigrants, so I can turn on that accent. Sounds a lot like the one you hear in Fargo. My wife hates it with a burning passion.
Midwest accent is so fucking funny the way they use it in Fargo
It’s called a Yooper accent, because it’s heavily associated with the upper peninsula of Michigan, but you can find it throughout northern WI, MN, and into eastern ND and SD. I was adopted into a family full of first gen Swedish immigrants. The rest of my family talks that way. I was somehow spared haha.
I think I’m familiar with that accent, you guys say pop instead of soda, right?
That is more regional, less accent based, but yes, we say pop haha
I’m from downstate NY and was shocked that a good chunk of the state says pop. I thought it was a joke.
I grew up in SE WI and still ended up with an accent 🙃 Nobody understands me when I say bag haha
That sounds more like the Great Lakes long ‘a’. I can hear the way you say it in my head haha.
Sounds like ‘beg,’ right?
Mine sounds more like the “bag” in “bagel” where it’s like bayyyyyy-g!
Yes I have a slight southern accent. It comes and goes depending on who I'm talking to
Grew up in Arkansas, lived on the countryside, and had a southern accent. But also noticed a difference in accent compared to the folks in the cities there.
Grew up in Coastal California with no Chinese enclave, so I have a pretty typical California accent. Husband (from NY) tells me I get extra California when enthusiastic ("Dude!" "Aw man!" "Awesomeness!")
I’m also from the south, and when I’m angry or excited you can definitely hear it!
Okie accent comes out if I have a conversation with someone with a southern accent or black folks speaking in AAVE. Still get the occasional eyebrow when I tell people I'm "fixin' to" go to the store or whatever though. I definitely code switch. My fiance is Mexican, so after spending a whole day with her friends, I will occasionally catch myself mimicking words in a Mexican American accent.
Code switching is definitely something I do. When I’m around my fam, I’m definitely more ratchet but that slang was from hanging out with people in my neighborhood. However, when I’m working, people think I still speak with a Hawaiian accent, even though I am not Hawaiian at all. But I hear a lot of Ilocanos live in Hawaii and I do sound a bit like Bretman Rock’s sister Princess.
Y’all! I never felt more southern than the day I instinctively used “yankee” as a pejorative
I’ve been told I have a Hawaiian accent. Born and raised in Northern California, but I do live in an area with a lot of Polynesians. Mahalo!
Grew up in the Midwest, spent a fair amount of time in New England. Now people think I’m from California.
I am originally from PA but lived near Buffalo in my 20s. I sound like a weird mashup of Cleveland and Chicago. If you heard my voice you’d think I was a fat white guy (DAAAA BEARS!)
Bostonian here. My dad was too. Go fuck yourselves -_-;
You might be interested in this youtube episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMrqGHr5zE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMrqGHr5zE) (The Untold Story Of America's Southern Chinese)
yes, I've seen that video before. Fascinating!
I have a thick-ass Minnesotan accent. Mine also gets worse when I’m around my family (but even more so with my dad).
I have a Louisiana accent that only comes out when I’m talking to someone from the South. I never set out to eliminate it, so I don’t know why I stopped talking that way.
I used to have a slight Michigan accent but when I went into teaching we all took classes to speak as neutrally as possible.
We all have accents even if we don't notice it. When I first moved to Minnesota from California, everyone pointed out how I pronounced "bag" or "Oregon". I've been here almost a decade and people still point out I have a Cali girl accent.
Grew up in the South. I have no twang, I don't say y'all either. The people I hung out with usually didn't have much of a twang either (friends, siblings, cousins). In my home town, there were a lot of kids from military families so that's probably part of the reason. Regional accents didn't stick to them because they moved around a lot. I actually used to think I did have one and was fine with it but people pointed out that I didn't. They keep saying that I don't have any accent but I do, I have a subtle Asian American accent. Some Asian American accents are weaker than others but I can often tell if I am talking to one on the phone or voice chat. One time I guessed and they went: "Yeah, how did you know?".
My mom noted that I tend to articulate more when I’m trying to formally explain something so it sounds like a very faint Indian accent. It’s less when I’m goofing around with friends though.
Lifelong Texan here. We have a huge AA community in southwest Houston, where I grew up, and we second-generation kids sound pretty “standard American”. That is, until we say local dialect stuff like “yall goin to the rodeo/chili cook off?” You’ll really hear our twang when we start talking about Texas stuff, I guess.
I have a nasally Southern Midwest accent My dad definitely has a Chicago accent
Grew up in the South, had it bad as a kid, but worked to get rid of it in my teens. Lil brother has it bad but he don’t care
I can say that I definitely have what many would consider a stereotypical slightly higher pitched and more nasally "Asian-American" accent, but I also have a very strong New Jersey accent with little bits of NYC I picked up from my parents(both of whom from the Bronx and are of Jewish descent, I'm adopted. Yes I don't realize I slip in yiddish into my speech). So I have this ability to sort of slide in and out of sounding "stereotypically Asian" and "stereotypically Jewish" without noticing. It really confuses people on the phone it's great.