Speak with an Accent do you?

[Neeka Keet]

I have a bit of a generic Midwestern accent I got from my mom who grew up in Milwaukee but I've been told that like most people who have Spanish as their mother tongue some of my vowel pronunciations give me away.

 

[QCzar]

I would say I have the typical accent for DC metro/southern Maryland (think Dave Chappelle, though way less nasally), et.al. The caveat being of course the fact that black Americans, on the whole, have a remarkably different set of accents than their white counterparts (with variations, of course). A lot of foreigners, I find, can't pick up the differences and just assume we all have a uniform "black accent". But most Americans can tell the difference, especially with Northeasterners/NY'ers and of course Southerners.

I would say that most black folks have the same sort of generic American accent as whites, just a "black" version of it (think pretty much every black actor on Trek except Nichelle Nichols).

If I could change my accent to any other in the Anglophile, I would pick a Caribbean one. West-Indians speak with such remarkable accents, especially Jamaicans (more of a dialect than an actual accent). It's like this weird mish-mash of various British and West-African accents. I love it.

I don't know anyone, white or black, who is able to fake an island accent (without sounding like an ass). There was this one girl from London, though. She came pretty close.

 

[stoneagepunk]

I suppose it is impossible not to have an accent of some sort.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I have a bit of a generic Midwestern accent I got from my mom who grew up in Milwaukee but I've been told that like most people who have Spanish as their mother tongue some of my vowel pronunciations give me away.

It's funny you say that. I was at a restaurant waiting for the waiter and the waiter spoke spanish and we got to talking and he wondered what country my family is from and as soon as i said something, he said, Mexico! I was like, yeah. One word gave me away ...

 

[CommanderRaytas]

I speak with an Essex/East London accent, guv'nor. Cor blimey, would you adam and eve it ?

Does anyone really speak like that or do you lot just do it for the tourists?

I have a southern (English) accent all right and people frequently call me posh because of the way I speak.... but in Corby, that doesn't mean anything.

I guess that my accent is pretty much what people in the business call non-regional received pronunciation.