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A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#151

Post by toomanybeersies »

saudioger wrote: post #149
dmix wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised to see that as well. I thought it was for particular group, not as a replacement for 'Latinos'. Similar to people getting upset at using "guys" which the dictionary defines as referencing all genders, and only male when used as "guy". Latinos makes perfect common sense in the same way. This seems like a bit of activism by the author rather than entirely necessary, especially considering it links to an…

Is using "guys" not plainly kind of dumb though? Once someone pointed it out to me, I can't help but feel foolish using it to describe a group of women. Conversely, if you call a group of men "ladies" you're being playfully derisive...

In romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian...) it's considered standard for a collective group of males and females to be referred to by the male pronoun. A group of exclusively females gets referred to with a female pronoun.

I guess the same applies to "guys".

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#152

Post by exabrial »

paddy_m wrote: post #131
henshao wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might change your results if this were done based on drive times instead. I noticed because Chatham seems to be furthest from Boston radially, but Provincetown is definitely further by car.

Agree. I was just playing with distances and populations. Also I limited the max distance to 500 mi. Alaska certainly has further zipcodes. It was a fun exercise.

500miles is the distance from Kansas City to Denver, I would definitely double that to 1000!

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#153

Post by exabrial »

paddy_m wrote: post #131
henshao wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might change your results if this were done based on drive times instead. I noticed because Chatham seems to be furthest from Boston radially, but Provincetown is definitely further by car.

Agree. I was just playing with distances and populations. Also I limited the max distance to 500 mi. Alaska certainly has further zipcodes. It was a fun exercise.

And nice work, that's incredible!

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#154

Post by workinthehead »

petecox wrote: post #20
danielhanlon wrote: post #3

Strange-the pronunciation changes that she demonstrates with "hand" seem to be bringing the accent closer to RP English!

Yes, I noticed the sounds in hat and hand still weren't identical but perhaps she's exaggerating an 'RP-like' sound to emphasize the distinction with general nasalized American English.

It's not general. It's purely a midwestern phenomenon.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#155

Post by sorokod »

baxtr wrote: post #6
exabrial wrote: post #5

Ah, an article about my home state. It's worth pointing out how isolated this town is... Interstate doesn't even run through that part of the state, and the nearest 'big city' is hours away.

Isolation is probably an important factor for the development of an accent

Also a factor in retaining the accent while the rest of the world moves on ( e.g. Canadian French )

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#156

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

matt_the_bass wrote: post #146
DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent a lot of time in RI myself. Can you say more about the differences you have in mind? All I can think of is Cranston vs. elsewhere.

Well I’ve noticed the accents mostly with people who’s family have been here for at least a few generations. Cranston acccent is quite different than providence even though they are adjacent. Johnston also has a similar accent to Cranston but a little different still to an acute ear. I don’t know how to really describe them in words. I’ve also noticed quite bit of difference in accent by age group. For example, my gr…

Thanks. I spend most of my time in South County, so I'm not exposed to a lot of the accents you're talking about.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#158

Post by matt_the_bass »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #156
matt_the_bass wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I’ve noticed the accents mostly with people who’s family have been here for at least a few generations. Cranston acccent is quite different than providence even though they are adjacent. Johnston also has a similar accent to Cranston but a little different still to an acute ear. I don’t know how to really describe them in words. I’ve also noticed quite bit of difference in accent by age group. For example, my gr…

Thanks. I spend most of my time in South County, so I'm not exposed to a lot of the accents you're talking about.

Yes I haven’t heard much variation in south county accents. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cranston and Johnston and providence accents sound the same to many south county residents.

I find it amazing that there is so much difference in so small a distance.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#159

Post by acobster »

KAMSPioneer wrote: post #123
acobster wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Listening to the audio, it's subtle but it definitely sounds unique to my ear. :)

Really? That's interesting. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?

I live in the Pacific Northwest.
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