New Zealand Girl Reacts to Accent Expert Gives a Tour of U.S. Accents - (Part 2) 

the Minnesota area was settled by Scandinavians, especially Norwegians, so that's where the vowel sounds come from.

Hilarious how she's mindblown by a vowel shift while pronouncing "accent" like eck-sint with the most shifted vowels I've ever heard

I love how easily these experts slip in and out of accents! Makes me wonder how they sound when they're singing!

There used to be a Cajun humorist and chef called Justin Wilson, who had several cooking shows on PBS. I used to love watching them just for the way he talked. He had some very good recipes too. There are still some videos of him on RU-vid.

I’ve lived all over the US and I think the most notable accent changes I’ve heard come from the Minnesota/Chicago area and Southern Georgia/Carolinas. Those accents sound so wildly different that they sound almost as different as Standard American English and British RP. The pronunciation, timing and grammar are immediately noticeable and many times I have a hard time understanding what they are saying without stopping them and asking. If people think all Americans sound alike they really need to travel into the deeper corners of the country.

As a New Zealander you should be very familiar with a cascading vowel-shift, because you have your own version that's very similar and is one of the main things that makes it distinct from Australian. The NZ vowel shift means that (to Americans or Brits) your deck sounds like dick, back sounds like beck, pickle sounds like puckle :-)

The country has a lot of different influences from other countries. As he said some pockets are very isolated and develop new sounding accents. If you love a southern accent you must love the movie Forrest Gump. They have many other accent in that one too. Good reaction.

Anthropologist here. Much of the time dialects (and languages for that matter) develop due to four different reasons: 1. New groups mixing together and communicating with one another and/or a mass of foreign speakers learning a new language (you see this most in large diverse cities) 2. Cultural identity (if you resonate with an area, you may be more likely to adopt some of their cultural traits, including pronunciation). #3 is prestige, because often people may be pushed away from their mother tongue and/or to another due to its cultural perceptions. An example of this is the Cockney accent in England being associated with lower class speak, and their speaker’s shifting towards General Pronunciation. Lastly and most importantly #4 is TIME.

A similar vowel shift happened between 1400 and 1700, called the great vowel shift, which influenced vowel pronuciations in all modern English speaking countries today. For example, the a in make used to sound like the a in father, ou in house sounded more like u, making house sound more like whose, and all words with ea sounded just like bread or break, including meat and sneak.

I was born in the Detroit area but lived most my life in Florida…Some words still come out that identify me, for instance a roof of a house is pronounced ruff. Goin back to visit I get “notified” I’m saying words all southern now like tiiiime..It’s wild to notice your own accent change depending on who you hang out with or where you move to.

The number of vowel sounds that fit in a single new Zealand long "o" sound amazes me.

It sounds like you might be interested in learning about the settlement patterns of the United States. During the 19th Century, not only were people from the eastern States migrating west, but there were also European immigrants coming in, & ending up concentrating in Midwestern & Great Plains States.

In the song "Surface Pressure" from the Disney movie "Encato", singer Jessica Darrow, who is Cuban-American born in Miami, says "Moun'in" for mountain.

I always thought I had a fairly generic American accent, but its so freaking complicated. My personal favorite accent is the super heavy Cajun of deep Louisiana, its damn near its own language.

For the Minnesota accent: it's mostly driven by Scandinavian settlers (nearly 30% of the state has Scandinavian heritage). In the Twin Cities area it tends to be fairly subtle - the "face" and "goat" vowels do get drawn out a little as he said, but one of the things I actually find more noticeable is the sound of the vowel in words like "mouth" (not quite the same as the stereotypical Canadian accent, but there's some subtle tweak to it that I can identify when I hear it). The full-on "Fargo" accent doesn't really start until you get up into the North Woods.

Being raised in and around Detroit Michigan I have the midwestern accent. At least a sub regional accent from the great lakes area. I didn't think I had an accent until after living in Alabama(southeast region) long enough to recognize someone from the midwest by their accent. Many midwesterners have a high pitched nasally voice that reminds me of the stereotypical telephone operator in old movies, especially the women. As a matter of fact actress/comedian Lily Tomlin did a character of an old school telephone operator and it just so happened to be that she's from Detroit.

This makes me laugh so much cuz you’re like. “Hey welcome guys were doing American accents”. But you’ve got the hardest New Zealand accent ever and I love it. Like no joke this isn’t a diss. I fuxking love it. Also I’m Canadian I know I sound silly.

I could listen to this woman speak all day long. Like, she could describe drying paint to me and I would still want to listen to her talk all day long. That New Zealand accent is absolutely nuts.

I watched this mainly cause I wanted to see if he'd get the Texas accents right, which a lot of accent folks don't. In Texas, we call them the drawl, and the twang accents. Then you got your more city, non-Southern accents. One thing across both is the way we pronounce certain things. Like street. There's a slight melding in the st, so that it comes out almost like shtreet, only not so pronounced. Never really thought about it, but yeah, we talk from the back of the mouth, and often one side or the other of the tongue. I have the drawl accent from the Western half, and tend to lean on the back left of my tongue. Your lips sit tighter, but your tongue is more relaxed.

Those northern accents you're curious about are due to the same reasons all American accents develop. Settlement patterns and time. The areas that had the vowel carousel were settled heavily by people from Scandinavian countries. I don't think there's an area in the U.S. with a heavier Scandinavian ancestry than That belt in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. BTW, native of Memphis here, and for some reason we pronounce "man" like "Main." (but really clipped off and short). "C'm on main, you godda be kiddin' me."

These two videos were fascinating, and so well produced! Great reaction too as always, Courtney.

APPALACHAIN (WHERE I LIVE) HAVE A SCOTTISH UNDERTONE, WE EVEN USE SOME OF THE SAME WORDS, STILL, 250 YEARS FROM MY ANCESTORS COMING FROM THAT LOCATION. IT'S CRAZY! I LOVE SOUTHERN ACCENTS TOO

WHAAAAAAT OMG I NEVER KNEW CAJUN ACCENTS IN THE USA WERE INFLUENCED BY FRENCH. Also what is goosefront hahaha 🤣 bruh I thought the usa only had like 4 accents!!!! Wow! Such a cool video, I love this!!

As I said in your Part 1 video, I'm from Southern Illinois, very close to Kentucky...55 miles to the south or 20 miles to the east, but I have some relatives up in the Chicago area, and I always discreetly made fun of their accents. And when he said "bed" in that accent, I was like, yep, that sounds like my cousins.

You would love the RU-vid channel “Sh!t Southern Women Say.” And also, in central New Mexico people also skip the middle consonants in “mountain” and “button” and say “een” for -ing, like “We’re goween to the mao-ennz.” And you might even be able to find some videos that show a specific Albuquerque accent, which has really formed itself in the last couple decades.

I’m from southern California and I have the accent that changes the button and mountain t sounds. Noticed it on a video about people in SoCal who say Sanna Ana instead of SanTa Ana or Sacrameno instead of SacramenTo

Happy Thursday Courtney. What a great conclusion this was. The Utah accent is accurate we sure do like to drop the T from things. I'm working on developing my Texas accent.

Minnesota here. people think we talk like Canadians... we do not! their is a stereotype which i think is highly exagerated. i have scandinavian ancestry, swedish norweigian. But whenever i go to another state people constantly ask are u from Minnesota? and it pisses me off lol

If you want a taste of that Cajun accent, see if you can find an episode (or two) of the History Channel series "Swamp People" online. It's about the Alligator Hunting season, and the crews that do it. Their accents are so thick that they need English subtitles to understand them a lot of the time. One of the funniest "memes" to come out of that show is when the cast member Troy Landry yells "Shoot'em!" and it sounds like "Chute'em!" Most of the series takes place in the swamps of Louisiana, but there are some teams that operate out of Eastern Texas, and Southern Florida.

I'm an early 20 year old central Oregonian but have lived all over the country (lived in Oregon the longest) and I don't pronounce the T's in mountain unless I speak super slowly and especially not in button unless I try kinda hard. Never noticed it before!

11:11 Minnesotan accents, especially the northern stereotype that he did I love. Favorite accent.

Utah's pretty famous for dropping the t's from the middle of words -- like he said, mountain and button are pronounced more like moun-uhn and buh-uhn. There are also place names like Layton and Brighton where this happens also - pronounced like Lay-uhn and Bry-uhn. And then there's Spanish Fork. Massive vowel shift there, so "Spanish Fork is where you throw the apple core out that car window" actually sounds more like "Spanish Fark is where yuh throw the apple car out the core window." It's pretty fun to hear. I'm from Chicago area myself, but I've been in Utah long enough that people don't ask me where I'm from anymore, so some level of accent does seem to be slowly acquired over time even by adults.

As a North Carolinian, you would love traveling around our state and listening to the variety of accents here.

There’s one where he talks about New Zealand and your “fush and chups” 😀

I grew up in Florida, but both my parents lived in suburbs around Detroit, so I have a Midwestern accent. I've since moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and unlike my time in Florida, I am noticing my accent slowly change. The "Yooper" accent is a unique far eastern variety of the Upper Midwestern (think Minnesota and Wisconsin) accent. Lots of Scandinavian settlers here, so people often say "yes" or "yeah" as "ja (yah)."

i was born and raised in california didnt know i had an accent till i move out of state

As far as Native American languages that AREN'T threatened with fading away, tribal groups who've successfully opened hotel/casino complexes -- and thus have economic stability and power -- their native languages have been able to thrive.

I live in Iowa and it took until I watched his video to realize why People in Des Moines sounded different than my voice from Cedar Rapids. you REALLY do not think of a different accent here, but now it finally connects with what I hear.

I believe that accent shift happened because in the late nineties early 2 thousands there was a push for Ethan ebonics witch which promoted the changes that were discussed

Love your videos

The Cajun accent and Chicago (da Bears) are interesting and more known than others. I love how you say "accent" among other words.

I'm from Minnesota, and I don't have that accent. His "Minnesota accent" sounds like Hollywood's version of a Canadian/Minnesota accent.

It's funny, I was born and raised in the east coast, from Pennsylvania/ Maryland down to Florida and I use a combination of all these lol.

People who claim they don't have an accent are wrong, but the reason they think they don't is because they speak close to General American. More people do these days, because most people in media do (the same way most British are portrayed in media with an RP accent).

Ms Courtney, have you ever checked out zydeco music? Comes from down here in La, so different and so good to listen to, Beausoliel is a good place to start. Of course of the southern accents...favorite has to be Cajun. Completely unique to the rest of the country. Plus in Cajun country, you get the best food on planet earth, good reason for my bias lol. I have a bunch of friends from Lafayette, Raceland, Houma...good people and would be quite interesting to see a New Zealander get used to the accent.

Grew up in S Georgia and my family went back several gens. My Grandma would sing me this nursery rhyme. Bye Bye Baby Buntin, Daddy's gone "a hunting" catch a little rabbit to skin and wrap my baby bunting in. in

As a Finn during my first visit to the US I was asked whether I was a Greek. I was not too happy about that but a few years later I was asked if I come from New York? Needless to say, I felt really happy about the upgrade lol.

I think they missed out on the hodge-podge of accents in Oklahoma

Listen. My BFF's parents were Italian-Americans from New Orleans I can attest that yes, they sound like New Yorkers! So odd. They also nailed the general divide between West and East Texas. He sounds like the patron saint of west texas here, aka Matthew McConaughey. ;p I also could SWEAR Tennessee accents were very similar...now I know why!

im from Virginia and when i was in the army some of my friends called me "hillbilly" because of my accent, yeah it was all in love but i hated it, i tried to change the way i spoke for a long time and for a couple of years i almost completely lost my accent but not long after i came back to virginia surprise, my accent came back.

I’ve lived in the south all my life in Louisiana and have never heard most of these. Honestly it sounds like Hollywood movie southern accents.

I've asked and I'm from the south and I've asked for directions in Louisiana. Got back at the car and looked at my wife and said I have no idea what he said 😂

Love the “Good old Texas accent” quote at the end. But question is which one there is actually about five or six just in Texas. Lol I know was born and raised in East Texas.😸🤠

As a person from Detroit I'm surprised he didn't go over us replacing I's with E's in words or adding S's to the end of words that don't have S at the end lol

He's 100% correct on the New Orleans YAT accent. We actually do call people that speak that way "Yats". "Where y'at?" does NOT mean "Where are you?", it means "How's it going?" If you want to get really yatty, some people say "Where y'at, dawlin (darling)?" They also say terms like "How's ya mamma an 'em (them)?" = "How's the family / how's everyone doing?"

Where I live in Illinois my accent basically half Chicago half Minnesota/ Wisconsin

I'm scary because I can easily slip right into a person's accent, ie. region. Ex Army, been there, done that. So I have the accent perfect and the local restaurant or piece of interest done. Because I've been there.

I am curious, when you say about the treatment of natives regarding school is similar to in NZ, is there also a distinguishable accent identity of the english speaking Maori?

The dropping the g or shortening for mountain has made its way to Cali for sure . Sometimes I say it when I’m not aware of it.

Yeah I got to say I've got a bit of the vowel shift going on myself. Being from central Wisconsin.

I love the Southern accent, too, including my #1 favorite; the Floridian accent.

I grew up just outside of Chicago. Our next door neighbor, Wally, who was originally from the "Nort Side", would make certain syllables disappear. The word battery would be pronounced "BAT-tree" and the word cement would be pronounced "sment". Not sure if this was a regional accent feature or just Wally being Wally. Probably the latter. 😉

Hello Courtney I'll appreciate that you will be active on your another channel as well in waiting for another vid on that channel

Didn’t even realize I had this accent 10:20 till I watched this lol

Australians said the American accent was thick, but I feel like it's exactly the opposite. I don't know what region they were talking about though.

I'm from western KY, which would be a combining of Appalachian, southern and some Midwestern.

I live in Kentucky and grew up in Georgia. Southern accents CAN be gorgeous but it depends on the person. A kind and thoughtful person ALWAYS sounds beautiful.

T the end with Utah basically forgetting about the "T" sound, it reminds me of a joke about some English speakers (from the UK)...Q: "Do you know why they don't pronounce the "T"? A: Because we dumped it in Boston Harbor (American Revolution reference)

Sweet it stopped on us Utahns! And yes many of us don't say the full T sound if it's in the middle of a word.

I find it funny I'm in Kentucky and we do the same low l thing that Utah peps do

I'm went through the original videos, and found your reactions to them. Bet, I'm getting my New Zealand and Chicago down 😉. As in, I say "Axe scents" and you say "eck Since" Bringing the world together, one word at a time

You should check out some of the "Shit Southern Women Say...." series. My favorite is the Hurricane one.

Hey Courtney! So Ik this has nothing to do with this video, but would you mind doing a reaction to Hebron high school 2021? They have what many including myself the hardest high school marching show ever! If you need a link to a video just lmk but there are some out there!

Since it was at the very end. I find it interesting that, being a native Florida girl (through generations on my mom's side) and no one from areas around Utah, I say mountain and button that way. Not sure where it comes from, maybe as he said in the beginning, having easy communication with people all over. Even my mother doesn't say it the way I do and will laugh at my pronunciation 😜

Hey Courtney I was wondering if you could react to Texas High School marching bands as they're aged between 14-18 years old with almost DCI level shows, I suggest Claudia Taylor Johnson 2021-22 show or Hebron 2021-22, my personal favorite!

I have family from New Orleans who sound like they are from New York. Italian descent

The Norther Cities Vowel Shift: You said, "How does it even happen?" You pronounce "happen" as "heppen." That's it!

Am from the ozark’s and no one under 50 talks like that for the most part

He had trouble getting the utah ones right. But came close it's moun'hn buh'hn foun'hn there's no t sound. Forgot to mention the 'on' ending as in crayon ( chrehn) and 'or' as in mirror (mirrh) or horror (horr) and how the rs are dragged more and not only that but all through the west you can just tell by the sound of the voice there's a peculiar tune to a westerners speech tho it's quickly disappearing.

In my regional opinion, Oklahoma is the last frontier of the Southern states.

HEY COURTNEY. this is BK. I am a marine for life and a USA history buff. That is I study USA history. But I whatever studied and watched all these docs. PLEASE IF U HAVE TIME. WATCH THE REVOLUTION. 13 PARTS. About 40 min each. This doc. Is 99.9 percent accurate. Please watch and react to 1st episode and 2nd and so on. Love you courtney.

@Courtney I said like a year your accent kinda sounds kinda southern on some things you pronounce.. Like when you say “accent” .. But people chewed me out like I was crazy for saying that.. I can clearly hear the similarities because I’m from the Deep South..lol

Price Smoothing is by far the most difficult accent to listen to if you don't speak it. Since a lot of words can sound the same, if you missed something they were saying that would allow context you have no idea what they are saying. It can literally turn into "blah blah blah"

If you want to see how the English accent changes in the US, look who settled the area. The North East was settled by the UK, The mid Coast has more of a French influence. The Upper mid west was settled by the Nordic countries. The further west you go the loess these settlers have an effect. As you get to the Rockies to the Pacific, It is evolved from the Eastern US,

When you come to the US come to Louisiana best food music and history.

They forgot the African American New Orleans accent. You know the once where they say “baby” weirdly.

I am a proud Connecticutian. I Love my accent.

They covered 2 distant new Orleans accents... There are many more

I like Boston's accent

Macedonian Dialects: hold my Rakija and Ajvar.

OH OH OH he also really snuck in a nice Texasism there with "hardly at all." I actually had to explain to some rando on the internet the other day that no, the phrase "not hardly at all" is not a caricature and no, it is not automatically bad grammar. It's just a Thing.

He got cajun down pat. Alot of older people here in New Orleans still speak like that. It's a little more toned down in my generation but you can defiantly hear it.

Italian immigrants decendants in Cicero is not a Chicago accent. We don't all talk like the Blues Brothers. The real Chicago accent is listen to any major metropolitan news broadcast and we sound like that. Except, we sound like "dat" if a word starts with "th", it's a "D". "Dees people don't know what dey talkin bout"

Bom ! = Good!

Living my entire life in Cleveland I can assure you that this north inland vowel shift isn’t really that big of a thing. If you want to hear the real Great Lakes accent I would recommend 2 RU-vid videos. First Mike Polk doing a Cleveland accent or something by Kay Timpf. Kay is from Detroit and doesn’t try to hide her accent. The accent isn’t as pronounced as he makes it out to be.

On a long since deleted account ,I use to make videos,Im from Northeast Texas, well I had people from North Carolina saying that I kinda sounded like them. So you never know exactly how you sound,until other ppl point it out.

Still gonna make me laugh when you opened the video with “wilcome bick”.

Stopped the video soon as I heard latinx. No Latin person I know would ever call themselves that mess.

😍❤

Woohoo I have a Texas accent