[CONNECTICUT ACCENT] - Guess the words II (challenge)

PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING:

1. There are multiple accents in CT. They seem to have yet to be clearly acknowledged or defined (cf. people who say "oh that's just NY/just Mass./just normal"), and this is part of an interest in discovering different aspects of them. It is based on my own accent.
2. Notable features of my particular CT accent are explained in a previous video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TewSeIhyoHw
I am speaking in normal "conversational" register here, whereas in that video it was more of an "explain/teach things" register. I have yet another register which is with friends/workers, which sounds a bit "thicker."
3. The "challenge" is to avoid assumptions and, based on what I've established as the features, be able to know the exact words being said *out of context* . The first "Guess What word" challenge demonstrates how strange a word can sound out of context, but how if you know the CT accent (how "a" sounds before "l", what the dark "l" is like, and the very clipped glottal "t"), then you can deduce it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivn3wxdiTTk
4. The real "purpose" of this is to present examples of comparison. For example (a hint): Why does the "o" in "clot" sound different than the one in "cloth"? It might not be diff. in *your* accent, but it is in mine! And that is what constitutes a "notable feature" of this accent.

A secondary purpose is to discover what listeners' assumptions are about CT accent. So...

What words am I saying? They are all English words.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• accent
• words
• english
• american
• connecticut
• new
• england
• guess
• linguistics

[Courtmello]

I thought everyone pronounced the "o"s in cloth and colt differently! The "o" when I say cloth is like the "o" in the word "off" actually when I say cloth and off they rhyme. The "o" in clot sounds more like an "a".

[hultonclint]

@Courtmello Yeah, *Southern* New England (i.e. CT and RI) and NYC/Long Island (+ maybe a little further down) is where these types get pronounced diff. It's pretty distinct, and u can recognize an American from those area based on that, because in Northern New England (incl. Boston) and in most of the rest of US/Canada they don't do that. It's an "old" feature of the accent, because when you look at a "new" word like "Goth", it's different.

[Courtmello]

@hultonclint theres so much I still want to learn about this Connecticut accent..

[hultonclint]

@Courtmello me too! but I haven't found any books or whatever talking about it. Basically I am just trying to understand it myself, by looking at my own speech and making observations. A lot of people don't get it, they say 'I don't talk like that'...but without a huge survey of everyone, all's :) I can do is look at what I say and try to figure out what's notable. And 1000s of people have googled 'CT accent", so it's def a thing people are aware of

[Courtmello]

@hultonclint also i was wondering if its just me or if others in ct say looket instead of look at it? idk maybe im weird..

[hultonclint]

@Courtmello haha, yeah, me and my friend/siblings would say that, growing up! I have no idea if it is something sorta particular to the area...though it does seem particular to the "younger generation."

One thing funny I say is "all's", like "All's I know is..." "All's I want is one bite." Apparently that's just a random thing that some people say here and there. Dunno where I learned it from...

[hultonclint]

@pas84av2 Hey, did you read the part that says, "PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING"? This is not a comprehensive description of an accent; it is a discussion based on a previous video about SOME of the aspects of PHONOLOGY that are NOTABLE in characterizing this accent. For example, while "most" Americans pronounce "o" the same in /clot/ and /cloth/, this CT accent regularly does not.

[pas84av2]

Cloth is pronounced more than one way and both are correct Clot is only pronounce with the one way. Also, speaking sets of random words is not a good measure of an accent. There other things to consider when talking , such as inflection and context.

I'm a native of Connecticut and have travel spent time in all four corners of the state. There is only a watered down version of either New york or Boston accents in CT. The majority of people in CT don't speak with an accent at all.

[SYRUPnSPRITE]

im from norwalk...and am currently am in new hampshire...and i toulk entirley difrent than these peaple.we can we relate closer to nyc than to boston but im 30 mins from nyc...when i went to texas they found strange how i say kitten. i say ki en and hardly say the T ...i didnt think ne thing of it untill they mentiond it

[hultonclint]

@emilyrose4011 Well, Ellington is kinda in the "country". When you go into Hartford (*the capital*) do people talk exactly the same as you? There are different accents around the state. They may have some things in common, tho, which i hope to discover. See if you can guess the words, and that will give us an idea what the qualities of your accent are. And YES, your speech does have accent.