| I took the quiz, and it claimed I have the "Inland North" accent. Unfortunately for them, I can honestly say I sound pretty much the same as the popular national tv/radio accent. I might be from Cleveland, but I notice some particular differences in the way we all pronounce things. Since I've had an interstate relationship, and now an international and cross-continent relationship, I'm pretty aware of the differences of language. There are a lot of subtle things to do with accents- while I still sound distinctly american to any aussies, I can actually understand what they're all saying, now (unless they're drunk and from Adelaide - I just looked at that guy and said "I'm from the US, and I have no idea what you're saying" and he gave up). I couldn't before, and that tells me that I've had change in my subconscious - I've adapted to their accent, and now I don't sound like I'm from Ohio.
This reminds me of a friend I had whose husband was scottish. She lived in the states, but because she constantly spoke with her husband, she had a sort of generic british sounding accent. There wasn't enough of any particular accent to make her sound scottish. I could make a safe assessment that SD doesn't sound particularily australian anymore to other aussies. I've even been told here that I sounded slightly Irish, once. Of course, that probably just makes me more conscious of my accent, and less likely to change pronunciation. |