I was 38 when I found out I had an accent, which was a huge surprise to me because I was four years old when we moved from Salt Lake to Seattle. I guess I picked it up from my dad? One day I was on the phone with someone and they asked me if I was from Utah. I was blown away.
Not American, but I had the same experience. Actually born in Stockholm, but parents are from elsewhere. Spoke on a video call with a fresh-out-of-high-school recruiter and after a few minutes he nailed my parents home town, despite not being from there himself... He said I had a "dragging tempo" which is the most obscure way I've ever heard someone describe that dialect!
As a transplant from New York, I have been keenly aware of how Utahns speak differently from other Americans. There are a lot of expressions you hear here that you rarely hear elsewhere, such as "Oh my heck", "For reals", "ornery", etc. There are differences in pronunciation too. For example, "ornery" here is pronounced more like "ahnry". "For reals" is pronounced more like "Fer rills". In fact, commonly here an "eel" or "eal" ending to a word is pronounced with a short 'i' sound. So "real, feel, deal" all become "rill, fill, and dill" here. I'd say this tendency is pretty strong here, and I think this is the biggest characteristic of the Utah accent. A lot of people mention how Utahns use a glottal stop instead of a hard "t" sound, such as in "mountain" becoming "moun'n". But that is actually a very widespread practice and can be found in many parts of the country. I'd say it's even a characteristic of the "American" accent, if there is such a thing, that Europeans often talk about.
I was born and raised in Utah, and I hear from a lot of Utahns that they are unique in using the glottal stop. But I hear it ALL the time outside of Utah and on TV. So unless *every* single actor is a Utahn, I agree that the glottal stop in certain words is definitely simply characteristic of American English. I honestly don’t know where this idea that only Utahns use it came from.
What about our famous word “sluff”? It wasn’t until I went to college that I learned this word was only used in Utah. I remember saying to some friends: “I sluffed class yesterday.” and they had no idea what I was talking about lol. 😂 We also conjugate this word in many ways: Sluff Sluffed Sluffing Will sluff Sluffer (a person who sluffs) I am proud of this word as a native of Utah!
I grew up in Spanish Fork (Utah County) and left in the '80's when I joined the USAF. This video made me snort more than once and it didn't even begin to touch on all the weird verbiage used in the state!
My family is from Utah Specifically Orem, Provo, Payson and Springville. The older accent (you might remember it) reminds me of a softer, slower Tennessee drawl. Sadly, when I last visited in 2006 there were few vestiges left. And even less sugar beet!
I've worked in tourism my whole life, from St. George to Salt Lake City, and became fascinated with accents over the years. I worked in a shop at SLC Int. Airport for 14 years and loved guessing people's accents. Anyhow, my boss and some of the airport ops/maintenance guys had very strong Utah accents that always made me chuckle a bit. It baffled my boss whenever I brought it up because he had no concept of a Utah accent, and I'm unable to imitate it effectively. I'm sure I have some version of a Utah accent, but not in the way those old-timers from ops had. HOO-WEE, some of theirs were wild! It's such a strange blend of what I would describe as a "typical" American accent and a slightly southern accent. This video is the only thing I've been able to find on RU-vid with even a tiny bit of specificity regarding it. But even the host's accent isn't **that** pronounced. I'm hell-bent on getting a linguist to come analyze it. (I suppose it could be called a Utah/Idaho or Intermountain accent as well.) I can hear it in my head perfectly, but I can't mimic it worth a crap. And nobody pronounces the T in Mountain.
Interesting thoughts here. I can't seem to mimic either and I'm born and raised Utah'n. EXCEPT-- when I visit my family in Antimony, Utah. They all speak with a heavy Utah accent. When I am around them, my wife pointed out that I start sounding like them. I paid attention last time I was there and it's true.
My dad is from India and has lived in Utah for a while, and I heard him say "crick" the other day. Hearing someone with an Indian accent say "crick" really threw me lmaoooo
As a Utahn, I theorize that some of the pronunciations in Utah like hurricane being pronounced “hurrikin” is because of all the British immigrants that moved to Utah during the 1800s. Im originally from Utah but I’ve lived in southern California for about 12 years so I have both Utah and California accents.
It's interesting, I feel like a lot of this has changed, at least among younger people. Some things are still spot on, like the mou'n pronunciation, quarter and corder being the same or really close, and the use of fake swear words, but I almost never hear some of these things, at least among younger people. (In particular, used to could is something I've never heard here despite living here all my life. Also the dropping of vowels in all those words except probably isn't really a thing I do or hear.) Oh, and I think "you guyses" has been replaced by just "you guys", though you can say like "you guys's books" as a possessive. It's so interesting how things can change a lot pretty quickly when it comes to language, though! I think there might be more influence from California in more recent years, which might affect some of these things.
@@shadowoflugia No, it definitely isnt unique to Utah, its probably just a Western US thing. The accents out here are all fairly similar, with some minor differences.
@@syro33 I’m in Oklahoma and I hear all the time here. I also hear it a lot from people from the Midwest _and_ the East Coast. So I think it’s really just a common pronunciation across the country.
Utah is the weirdest place I’ve ever lived. The way people speak here is comical. I’m from California and have lived in Utah for ten years. It’s almost like the teachers have not been educated enough to teach their students how to speak proper English. It feels like the early 1900’s 😂
The professor that teaches linguistics says there really is no such thing as "speaking properly" when it comes to dialects and changing regions. People from the UK like the lady at 1:45 will different pronunciations with specific words that would also come across as speaking "improperly". So you may have missed the point of the story
