Soinmoviesorontelevision, oftentimesthatBostonaccentisassociatedwith a kindofliketough, nononsenseattitude, and I'm surethey'retough, nononsensepeopleinBoston.
I'm suretherearepeoplethatarenotsotoughandtolerate a lotofnonsense.
Thatisprobablytrue.
Trueanywhere.
Allright, I I'm gonnachoose.
I'm gonnastartwhere I wasbornandplacethat I lovetomakefunofallthetime, theCalifornianaccent, I saytheCalifornianaccent.
Eso a typicalCaliforniaValleygirl, if I cangiveanexample, islike, um, today I wasgoingtoworkonand I sawthisguyandhe's like, really, reallyscaryAnd I didn't knowTodoisvery, like, whinywayofsharingstoriesandexplainingthingsnotandactually, inthatseriesofexample, questionsorsorryinthatseriesofstatements, nothing I saidwas a question.
Buteverythinghadthatupwardintonation.
Sothoseare a fewthingsthatarekindofcharacteristic, um, sortofcharacteristicsamongwomen, uh, thisway.
I don't eventhinkaboutithonestly, isquiteinteresting, butCaliforniahas a rangeofaccents, a rangeofdifferentwaysoftalking.
Sothat's justonewaybacktoyoursideofthetable.
Absolutely.
We'restillinalphabeticalorder, which I like.
Andi, I amgoingtodo a Chicagoaccentnowforyou.
Chicagoaccent.
VerykindofstereotypicalMidwesternaccent.
I thinkthereis a widerkindofMidwesternaccent, andChicagoaccentismaybe a subsetofthat.
It's notjustlikethewiderMidwesternaccent, butthere's a Chicagoaccent, too.
I don't knowthisaccentsuperwell, but I chosethisonebecauseit's anaccentthat I usedtoseeinoneofmyfavoriteSaturday, SaturdayNightLivesketcheswhen I was a kid, whichwerethe, uh, theBearsfans, TheBears.
But a lotofCanadianaccentsdifferfromAmericanaccents, too, inthevowelsrounder, longervowels, uh, comparedtosortof a GeneralAmericanaccent, and I thinkMinnesotanaccentareupperMidwest.
Accentsaretowardsthatendofthespectrumaswell.
So I thinkMinnesotaaccentsaresimilartotwo, maybe a CentralCanadianex e.
I thinkthemostfamousexampleof a MinnesotanaccentisfromthemovieFargoCoenbrothersmovie, whichisFargoisnotinMinnesota.
Okay, butthataccentis a veryclassicMinnesotanaccent, right?
Thecharacterissuesright, and I wasthinkingaboutthat, too, andinchoosingthataccenttodescribebecauseAndthisispartofthereasonwhy I saiditsoundskindofcheerfulisthatthatmovieisIt's a suspensemovie.
DifferentpartsofthosestateshavedifferentSouthernaccents, butthere's also a sortofgeneralSouthernaccent.
I'm fromtheSouth.
I grewupintheSouth, but I donothave a Southernaccent, but I liketotryandpickoutwhen I hearSouthernaccent.
I'd liketotryandguesswherepeoplearefromfromhearingtheiraccent, but I'm notalwaysright, eh?
Sothere's sortof a generalSouthernaccentintheirpocketsofspecifickindofaccentsintheSouth, And I alsothinkthere's a bigdistinctioninSouthernaccentsbetween, like a ruralSouthernaccentand a moreurbanareorcitySouthernaccent.
Thecityaccentsare a littlebitmoresaw, theirsofter, moregenteelandtheruralaccentsaretwanghere, I wouldsayso.
Forexample, a gentleSouthernaccentwouldbesomething.
Hey, yo, blessyourheartinsomethinglikethat.
Whereisthe 20 accent?
Yeah, letyourheartmustSharper, sharper, a littlemore.
Ah, Roadie, baby.
Okay, okay.
ButthereisThere's a drawlandanelongationand a slownessto a Southernaccent.
Yeah, that I thinkisverynice, right?
And I thinkgoingbacktowhatyoumentionedabouttheBostonaccentinthewaythearesoundsinparticularchange, I thinkthatyoucanhearthatwithkindoflikelikeyoudescribethemorecityversionof a Southernaccent.
Oh, asinsteadofsaying, Oh, myGod, likethatwasthesouthernwayofsayinglordyortherewas a wayofsaying, OhmyGod.
Butshewouldsay, Asyoujustsaid, Oh, lawdyliketheoursoundwhenwespellthatwordonpaper, it's L O R D.
Why?
Butwhenshepronouncedit, itwaslike L a w theWhy, Lord, thatwasThatwasthewayshemadean O.
Andinoursoundrighttosoisthisverysoft.
Ah, slow.
It's lowaccent.
A lotofthesoundskindofblendtogether.
It's it's and I thinkit's a niceaccentmostofthetime, butunfortunately, a Southernaccentalsohasassociationsthataregenerallykindofnegativeinotherpartsofthecountry.
A lotofpeoplehere a Southernaccentandthinkthat a personwith a Southernaccentismaybeuneducated, notverysmart.
Andagain, I thinkthat's veryunfortunate, becausethat's notalwaysthecase.
I thinkthatisanunfairstereotype.
AssociateIDwiththeaccentforsure.
Okay, thenlet's allgoformylastone.
Ah, ittotheWestofyou, I suppose, thoughthiscouldprobablybeblending a littlebitwithSouthernaccents, I feelAh, I choseTexasforthenextaccentesoTexasbordersMexicoonand I would.
I wasthinkingaboutthisactuallyinpreparingthiscard, and I waskindofthinkingit's interestingthatyoudon't hearmoreofaninfluence.
Ah, atleast I shouldsay, atleastamonglikewhiteEnglishspeakersininTexasandinthatregionlikethere's notmoreofaninfluenceintermsoflikethewaySpanishspeakerstalk, butinstead, theTexasaccents, thetraditional, I guess, stereotypicalTexasaccentsoundsmuchmoresimilarto a Southernaccent.
But I thinkthatthathasalsobeeninfluencedhere, intherebythepeopleandtheaccentsthat I'vespentmytimearound.
Soit's mostlyWestCoast.
I wouldsayThere's notreallyonespecificregionforme.
Howwouldyoudefineyouraccent?
I wouldsay I have a fairlystandardAmericanaccent.
Andso I grewupintheSouth, as I said, but I don't have a Southernaccentwhen I gohome, myfamilystillallintheSouth.
I'm notintheSouthnow, butwhen I gohome, someofmySouthernaccentcreepsout, and I kindofletitcreepout a littlebithonestly, becauseithelpsshowpeoplethat I'm fromthere.
I mean, accents, in a wayarelike a membershipcardthioto a communityon, So I letmySouthernaccentcomeout a littlebitwhen I'm home.
Butotherwise, thisismymynormalaccent.
SortofstandardAmericanaccentand a standardAmericanaccentissortoflikethenewscasteraccent.
SopeoplefromBostonmightnothave a strongBostonaccent.
PeoplefromCaliforniamightnothave a strongCaliforniamax, andtheymighthavemoreof a standardAmericanaccentthatyoumightpeoplemightpickupfromjustwatchingTVgrowingup, whichismaybewhathappenedwithme.
But I alsoknowthat I haveoneinterestingthingaboutaccents.
We'vebeentalking a lotaboutpronunciation, butwordchoiceisalso a bigpartofaccents, thedifferentwordspeopleusefordifferentthings.
Like, forexample, inMinnesota, it's hotdish, butotherpartsofthecountryit's casseroleandthingslikethatandsomeofthewordsthat I usethat I haveinmylexiconinmyvocabulary.
IfyouwanttoknowmoreabouttheseaccentsanddefinitelycheckoutisilglossmapsasDavyrecommendedtolearn a littlebitmoreabouteachregionwheredifferentaccentsarespokenandphrasesforgossip.
Let's go.
Oh, myGod.
SothefirstphraseisOh, myGod.
SosoOh, myGod.
Sois, ah, introductoryphraseyoucanusetostartyourtopicwith, like, a surprisefactor.
Soyousay, Oh, myGod.
Andthensoisyourtransitionphrase.
So, forexampleOh, myGod.
So I havetotellyouaboutthismovie I saworOh, myGod.
So I sawmyneighborintheshoppingmallthismorningorohmyGod.
So, didyouseemynewdog?
It's kindofweird, I think.
Usuallyit's about a person, notabout a dog, butwhoknows?
I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet, sowecouldusethislike I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet.
I'm goingtoFrancenextsummeror I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet, but I brokeupwithmyboyfriendlastnightor I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet, but I'm throwing a bigpartyformycoworkerthisweekend.
Canyoucome?
Otherexamples.
I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet.
I sawmybossoutfordinnerwithsomeonewho's nothiswife.
Oh!
Oh, myGod, That's nottrue.
That's nottrue, O r.
I haven't toldyouaboutthisyet.
I heardthatthecompanyisgonnagobankrupt.
Oh, alsonottrue.
Okay, sotheother's inprettyjuicy, juicygossip.
That's anexpressionweuse.
Wesayjuicygossipissomethingthat's like, really, reallyinterestinggossipor a reallyinterestingstoryaboutpeoplewesayjuicygossipforthat.
Theotherday I wassittingatmydeskintheofficewhenmymanagercameandaskedifhecouldspeaktome.
Thatthedoneorso.
Theotherday I wasshoppingand I ranintomyexboyfriend.
Orsotheotherday I wasrenting a car, andtheformerpresidentoftheUnitedStatescameintothecarrentalshop.
What?
Allright, sotheotherday, justsomedayinthepast.
So I wastalkingwithandthenextoneyoucanuse, Um, maybeforgossipsometimes.
Butalsoyoucanuseformakingplans.
It's so I wastalkingwithsomeoneandblah, blah, blah.
So I wastalkingwithsomeonemeansyouwerehaving a conversationatanothertimewith a person, andyouwanttokindofreportinformationorsharesomethingfromthatconversationwiththepersonlisteningnow.
So I mightsayso.
I wastalkingwithTheresa, and I thinkthatweshouldplan a partyforthisweekend.
Whatdoyouthinkso?
I wastalkingwithmyteamaboutthis, and I thinkthatweshouldmakesomechanges.
Sothat's a verykindofeverydayworksituation.
Useofthisphrase, Um, butyoucanalsouseitforgossiplikeSo I wastalkingtomybestfriendand I think I'm gonnamoveor I wastalkingtomyparents, and I thinkit's bestifwebreakupcoolsoitcouldbeforplans.
Itcanbeforgossip.
Itcanbeforjustanyconversation, plus a report.
What's upwiththenextexpressioniskindof a littlelikemysteriousthantheexpressionis.
It's just a soundpreferenceand a littlebitof a formalitydifference.
So I hopethatthislessonhelpedyouunderstandthedifferencesbetweenthesewords a littlebitAs I said, ifyouwantsomemoreinformationaboutthedifferencebetweensomeandany, youcansearchtheYouTubechannelforthatvideoaswell.
FirstquestioncomesfromFlavia.
Hi, Flavia.
Flaviasayshi, Alicia, canyouexplainwhyyouuseif I wereyouinsteadofWaas?
Yeah.
Sothepatternif I wereyouisanexampleofwhat's calledthesubjunctivemood.
Soweuseif I wereyoutotalkabouttheunrealizedsituation, theunrealpresentsituation, whichreferstolikethefactthat I amnotyoulikethat's not a truesituation.
SoweusethissubjunctivepatternIf I wereyoutotalkaboutthat.
If I was, howeverwouldbegin a simplepaststatementssosomethinginthepast.