Actually, this /is/ standard (broadcaster's) Middle English, last I heard....

[aureantes]

...and whoever wrote this quiz must have a bias towards the southern part of Midwest, out where the cornbelt blooms and blows....

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

A pronuciation difference is a difference, and one has to be able to sense these differences in order to do other accents atall, which I most certainly can. Besides, I learned phonics when I was little, so that is "right out of the dictionary" English, dinguses!

(Maybe the dingus ate your baby.....:P)

And I used to say "pop" 'cause that's what my family says, but I'm just as likely or more to say "soda" lately...among other reasons, 'cause "pop" strongly connotes the flavours of orange and grape (or purple), both of 'em artifically flavoured and as sugary-bright as possible, and in a sixpack instead of bottles. Which makes a nice cold bottle of natural-brewed ginger beer sound really really appealing in comparison.

Or not. Have I mentioned it's gotten butt-ass cold out here?

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

That's what I got, too. :)

[massagediva.livejournal.com]

I got this too. (?) Actually, many broadcasters with terrible accents are sent to Terre Haute Indiana for a few weeks to hear the dialect. It's considered the heart of mid-American accent. The second choice location is Dayton Ohio. There's a special crash course phonetics class for broadcasters based on midwestern speech called Heartland Speaking, or something similar. A former theatre dialect coach created it, so of course it is noted in all theatre dialect books. Jessica Savage, Walter Cronkite and even Bill O'Reilly have taken the class.

[aureantes.livejournal.com]

Well, when I was in my first year of highschool and went to the speech pathologist for a follow-up (had had therapy years before that when I was little), she told me that I had the sort of educated accent and intonation that could get me into any job (of course, I had a bit of a British accent then from years of PBS, so that wasn't totally standard Midwestern). And then in my Journalism class I was told that the upper Midwestern/Illinoisan accent was actually the one considered standard in broadcaster training -- not an urban "Chicago ('Shicaago') accent", which is actually rather nasal and quick (and sometimes mistaken for a New York/Brooklyn accent), but the more solemn and staid upper-suburban-to-nearly-rural intonation favoured by PBS broadcasters and the announcers on WFMT (the only classical radio station remaining in the Chicago area). And I can say the name of the city any way, really, though I started out saying it as a rather staid "Shicawgo". So if that's not the one currently considered standard, then it must have gotten a bit more egalitized since my instructor got his info. I was pretty much told that this 'Standard Midwestern' accent was the closest to British English while still remaining (neutrally and "unaccentedly") "American" in sound, and that it was the model that American broadcasters were taught in order to sound articulate and well-educated (without coming across as too snobbish, of course...).

Not that I worry about that, of course.....I've been known to convince people that I was from Scotland or Ireland in casual business conversation, just because I'm so instinctive at modelling and sinking into the accents I use for roleplay -- even if it's only going out as text.

I can project voices 'audibly' too....right through the screen. And often hear them aloud from others as I read them too, usually depending on the intensity of the sentiment. With some actors, whether they're writing/blogging or speaking in interview their voices come through just marvelously in your head....>:)

[massagediva.livejournal.com]

The speech and diction books used in many theatre departments are Teach Yourself Transatlantic, which is a cross between American and British speech. It is the 'accent' used for most Shake Fests. The other is "An American Speech" and it's what Kate Winslet studied for Titanic. It is based on Midwestern Central. I had looked into becoming a dialect coach early in my career, but sadly they are often the most underpaid support in the theatre. I'll try to dig up the guild so you can check it out!