Language/Dialects Test

[Halla74]

...Find out where in the United States your dialect is from by taking this short 25 question quiz: http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/dialectquiz/

Wow - I'm a bit surprised by this!

Again, the cities cited as most similar to my manner of speaking are predominantly from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic United States.
I feel this is primarily a function of the test being driven by selection of words/expressions upon visual cue, as opposed to analysis of an audio (WAV/mp3) file of my voice.
A while ago there was a thread that asked people to make a short recording of their voices and post it; I did so and will try to dig it up; I don't think I sound like I'm from the Mid-Atlantic, however I apparently use a lot of similar vocabulary as people from that region.

Finally, of greatest interest to me was the map presented with the results of my test:

The "hot spots" - or regions where language used by the locals is of greatest similarity to that of my question responses - are all locales of the U.S. that I lived in for 1 to 2 years as a child.
Places I've lived since birth to now are listed in order below; the hot spots of the map are bolded:

1974 - 1979 = Heidelberg, Germany
1979 - 1981 = Fort Hood, Texas
1981 - 1983 = Frankfurt a.M., Germany
1983 - 1984 = Carlisle, Pennsylvania
1984 - 1986 = Indianapolis, Indiana
1986 - 1988 = St. Louis, Missouri
1988 - 1994 = Reston, Virginia
1994 - 1996 = Orlando, Florida
1997 - 1998 = Fairfax, Virginia
1998 - 2012 = Tallahassee, Florida
2012 - Present = Virginia Beach, Virginia

So my hypothesis is that between the ages of 9 and 14 the dialect(s) of the regions I lived imprinted on me and have wound up influencing the word choice/terminology I use conversantly.
Apparently I use a lot of the same words/expressions as people from those regions - but I maintain that I do not sound that way IRL.
I'll find that audio file in the other post to see if I can substantiate my claim, or be told I'm full of shit, whatever the good people reading this thread and who to reply as such decide.

Most Similar Cities
1 Newark NJ 47.0
2 Elizabeth NJ 46.9
3 Brick NJ 46.7
4 Hamilton NJ 46.3
5 Danbury CT 46.1

Least Similar Cities:
1 Sioux Falls SD 32.0
2 Duluth MN 33.1
3 Fargo ND 33.7
4 Sioux City IA 34.3
5 Spokane WA 34.6

 

[Falcarius]

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm impressed.

Most Similar Cities
1 Reading PA 46.7
2 Trenton NJ 44.4
3 Allentown PA 44.1
4 Syracuse NY 43.4
5 Providence RI 43.3

I grew up about 70 miles (?) of Reading, but it's all still part of the lower band of PA and has the same regional dialect, and my parents were actually imports to that area from Bethlehem PA, which is part of the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton (ABE) metro area in eastern PA.


Least Similar Cities
1 Norman OK 33.1
2 Edmond OK 33.1
3 Oklahoma City OK 33.2
4 Tulsa OK 33.5
5 Longview TX 33.7

 

[Stigmata]

Daaaaaang.

 

[Southern Kross]

Thanks for the link. We do have "woodlice" after all, but not the kind that roll up into a ball to protect themselves.

Tricky. So what do you call them?

lol! i love this story!!! you said you were from new zealand? now, that must be a wicked cool place to live.

What makes you say that? Been watching Lord of the Rings lately?

Funny how Fargo ranks number 1, I've only been there a couple of times and NO, I DO NOT TALK LIKE THE PEOPLE IN THE FARGO MOVIE.

Awwww. Don't ruin it with the truth.

So my hypothesis is that between the ages of 9 and 14 the dialect(s) of the regions I lived imprinted on me and have wound up influencing the word choice/terminology I use conversantly.
Apparently I use a lot of the same words/expressions as people from those regions - but I maintain that I do not sound that way IRL.
I'll find that audio file in the other post to see if I can substantiate my claim, or be told I'm full of shit, whatever the good people reading this thread and who to reply as such decide.

Where are you parents from Halla? They can have a lot of influence on the words you use.

And are you an army kid or are you actually German?

Daaaaaang.

That is one confusing map.

You must have some sort of Frankenstein accent.

 

[Stigmata]

You must have some sort of Frankenstein accent.

Yeah, I dunno. I've lived in Texas all of my life (minus one year overseas), so I get my similarity with most of the southern states, but those random Northern ones are a bit odd.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

It seems thoroughly convinced that I am from Washington.

It almost had the right idea, though. You can see that western PA is pretty red.



Most Similar Cities
1 Yakima WA 58.3
2 Tacoma WA 57.5
3 Everett WA 57.1
4 Kent WA 56.1
5 Spokane WA 56.1

Least Similar Cities
1 Philadelphia PA 39.0
2 Camden NJ 40.8
3 Lafayette LA 41.8
4 New Orleans LA 42.1
5 Metairie LA 42.1

EDIT: A lot of these expressions that I've never heard before astonish me.

 

[kelric]

Interesting... the first time I tried posting this, my entire browser locked up on me, so I had to take the test again. It gives you different questions (pulls 25 from some greater number of questions - some were the same, some weren't). My results weren't identical, but they were close. Here's my 2nd run:

Most Similar Cities
1 Arden-Arcade CA 56.1
2 Sacramento CA 55.9
3 Elk Grove CA 55.9
4 Roseville CA 55.8
5 San Mateo CA 55.8

Least Similar Cities
1 Philadelphia PA 39.3
2 Camden NJ 39.6
3 Tuscaloosa AL 40.1
4 Macon GA 40.2
5 New Orleans LA 40.5



Both times I got strong correlations with the west coast, specifically Northern California. I grew up in Idaho (and Texas when I was younger), so this seems pretty realistic... I don't think that most westerners have as many variances in accents as folks in other regions may, so this fits. The funny thing is... the only place on the entire map east of Colorado is a very small patch in St. Louis... which is where I live now. I'm fairly impressed with that.

 

[Halla74]

Hey Southern Kross!

Thanks for your reply; my follow up comments are below...

Where are you parents from Halla?

Halla's Dad = Atlanta, Georgia
Halla's Mama = Rheinzabern, Germany

They can have a lot of influence on the words you use.

Absolutely. The bulk of my profane vocabulary is my Father's; and my Mama taught me all the rest I needed to know.
In all seriousness, this makes perfect sense - and I can think of phrases/expressions that I use regularly in conversation yet I know I picked them up from one of my parents.
However, as far as the locales my dialect seems to have a lot in common with - my quiz results seem even more skewed now.

And are you an army kid or are you actually German?

Both, actually.
My Mother is German, I was born there, and lived there until age 5, and then again from 7 through 9 years of age.
I spoke German almost exclusively until about the age of three, at which point in time my Dad realized got word that he would likely receive orders for a new command within the next year or two.
So, at that point we began speaking more English at home to get me caught up and ready to live in the U.S.A.

I've noticed the accents/dialects of each region I've lived.
If anything I've made a consistent effort NOT to pick one up, yet I can easily mimic any of them at the drop of a hat.
It's funny to me because my wife's relatives (from the Atlantic City, NJ area) tell both of us that we sound Southern to them; however friends of ours from many parts of the Southeast U.S. have told us that we don't sound Southern at all.
I guess part of that is relativity at play.

These results are indeed intriguing to me, because they don't make sense to me, and now I get to ponder on it and try to figure it out.

Have a great evening!



-Halla74

 

[EJCC]

View attachment 10101

Most Similar Cities
1 Fresno CA 55.5
2 Clovis CA 55.5
3 Visalia CA 55.5
4 Salinas CA 55.3
5 San Mateo CA 55.2

Least Similar Cities
1 Duluth MN 47.6
2 New York NY 48.5
3 Waterbury CT 48.6
4 Providence RI 48.6
5 Elizabeth NJ 48.7

Makes sense to me. I've heard that I have a pretty standard Hollywood accent (even though I've only been to California once, for a week). As for the other red splotches... Texas makes sense, since my grandmother was from San Antonio, and the Maryland/VA/DC area being red makes sense since I went to school there for three years. As for the rest... no idea!

From this map (esp. the CA thing), it looks like somehow I avoided all three primary dialect influences, growing up, or they somehow merged into something less distinctive: my dad is from the Carolinas via Kentucky, my mother is from northern Louisiana, and I grew up in the Rocky Mountain west. So unlike my parents, I don't pronounce "pen" and "pin" the same and I don't pronounce the days of the week like "Mond-ee tues-dee wednes-dee"... but unlike my regional peers, I don't use paper baygs and I don't fish at the crick. On the other hand... if you heard me talk, I'm pretty nasal, in a way that you wouldn't associate with California or the South at all. People usually assume my accent is either nasal Californian or subdued Midwestern... because people forget the Rocky Mountain region even exists, let alone that it has an accent and slang of its own.

(p.s. I appreciate the fact that my hometown is actually within the bright red area! I was worried that it wouldn't be.)

 

[Southern Kross]

Hey Southern Kross!

Thanks for your reply; my follow up comments are below...

Halla's Dad = Atlanta, Georgia
Halla's Mama = Rheinzabern, Germany

Absolutely. The bulk of my profane vocabulary is my Father's; and my Mama taught me all the rest I needed to know.
In all seriousness, this makes perfect sense - and I can think of phrases/expressions that I use regularly in conversation yet I know I picked them up from one of my parents.
However, as far as the locales my dialect seems to have a lot in common with - my quiz results seem even more skewed now.

Both, actually.
My Mother is German, I was born there, and lived there until age 5, and then again from 7 through 9 years of age.
I spoke German almost exclusively until about the age of three, at which point in time my Dad realized got word that he would likely receive orders for a new command within the next year or two.
So, at that point we began speaking more English at home to get me caught up and ready to live in the U.S.A.

I've noticed the accents/dialects of each region I've lived.
If anything I've made a consistent effort NOT to pick one up, yet I can easily mimic any of them at the drop of a hat.
It's funny to me because my wife's relatives (from the Atlantic City, NJ area) tell both of us that we sound Southern to them; however friends of ours from many parts of the Southeast U.S. have told us that we don't sound Southern at all.
I guess part of that is relativity at play.

These results are indeed intriguing to me, because they don't make sense to me, and now I get to ponder on it and try to figure it out.

Have a great evening!



-Halla74

How interesting!

I would think that kids that move around a lot (especially between countries) are a great deal more adaptable to local culture and are probably more attuned to the little idiosyncrasies of a region (including language).

It's strange that a short period in a couple of places stuck with you more than others. Is Carlisle a military town too? I was just thinking, maybe it's because military bases tend to be quite an amalgamation of people and accents, and that homogenised your language/speech in a way that wasn't specific to start with - that is, until you lived in places with more distinct and uniform dialects/accents. That might have solidified it for you. OTOH it could just be the age you were at that time is a more formative period for children in terms of developing speech patterns.

BTW can you still speak German or have you lost most of it?

 

[93JC]

Tricky. So what do you call them?

 

[Southern Kross]

These tiny creatures have really flummoxed you.

 

[93JC]

These tiny creatures have really flummoxed you.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to say 'flummoxed', but they're not common here and we just don't have words for every little bug crawling around.

 

[Halla74]

How interesting!

Thanks so much!

I would think that kids that move around a lot (especially between countries) are a great deal more adaptable to local culture and are probably more attuned to the little idiosyncrasies of a region (including language).

Absolutely, I was, and still am, adaptable to local culture, however I am also cognizant that whatever the local culture is - it is not my own including the "localized language" - so I might have consciously pushed back against it from move to move simply for the sake of being able to retain my own core identity, while still being able to enjoy the people and ways of my new surroundings.

It's strange that a short period in a couple of places stuck with you more than others.

Agreed. Considering the tight grouping of the places on the map presented at the end of my quiz (3 cities in a row, all in chronological order) - I cannot help but consider that those places imprinted on me more so than others - whether I knew it or not.

Is Carlisle a military town too?

Yes, it is the site of the U.S. Army War College.
Assignment there is typically to attend a 1-year curriculum to qualify candidates for promotion from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel.

I was just thinking, maybe it's because military bases tend to be quite an amalgamation of people and accents, and that homogenised your language/speech in a way that wasn't specific to start with - that is, until you lived in places with more distinct and uniform dialects/accents. That might have solidified it for you.

I think you've summarized things very nicely above.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
It is very likely that I began speaking English from a very "sterile" and non-dialectic perspective, and then wound up being influenced by the commonality of dialect/language of the three locales that I lived in during that span of my childhood.

OTOH it could just be the age you were at that time is a more formative period for children in terms of developing speech patterns.

Another very good point; I would not rule that out either.

The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head that is potentially relevant is that the Mid-Atlantic states were the first settled, the first to be bought out and taxed, and the first left by pioneers - who ultimately settled west and/or South in an effort to have a chance at being landowners. -AND-

Those pioneers settling in all the places they did had had some residual impact of the Mid-Atlantic dialect spreading and propagating (even if it were of partial influence, or morphed over time to form a new local vernacular of sorts) to geographic regions far from the heart of its origin, but long lived in the conversations of the pioneers' descendants up through the present...

BTW can you still speak German or have you lost most of it?

I can still speak German at a basic level - but sound more German than most who learn it as their second tongue - simply because there are some syllables that are difficult to pronounce unless learned at an early age.
I can find a train station, order a beer, and ask where the bathroom is - everything else I just communicate with gestures and somehow I get along just fine.

 

[Rail Tracer]

Interesting... the first time I tried posting this, my entire browser locked up on me, so I had to take the test again. It gives you different questions (pulls 25 from some greater number of questions - some were the same, some weren't). My results weren't identical, but they were close. Here's my 2nd run:

Most Similar Cities
1 Arden-Arcade CA 56.1
2 Sacramento CA 55.9
3 Elk Grove CA 55.9
4 Roseville CA 55.8
5 San Mateo CA 55.8

Least Similar Cities
1 Philadelphia PA 39.3
2 Camden NJ 39.6
3 Tuscaloosa AL 40.1
4 Macon GA 40.2
5 New Orleans LA 40.5

View attachment 10100

Both times I got strong correlations with the west coast, specifically Northern California. I grew up in Idaho (and Texas when I was younger), so this seems pretty realistic... I don't think that most westerners have as many variances in accents as folks in other regions may, so this fits. The funny thing is... the only place on the entire map east of Colorado is a very small patch in St. Louis... which is where I live now. I'm fairly impressed with that.

Holy smokes, you speak more like a North Central Californian than I do (or I think you do,) and I lived here my whole life. Either that, Or I keep answering some of these questions incorrectly.

Both times, I keep getting Kansas and Okies.... everything West is Orange or Red-Orange (specially North Central California... all the way to Washington State.)

EDIT: I give up, this is the closest, I think.

1: Livonia MI 44.3
2: Warren MI 44.2
3: Fremont CA 43.9
4: Roseville CA 43.8
5: Arden-Arcade CA 43.7

 

[FDG]

Never been to the US. I got:

Most Similar Cities
1 New York NY 39.7
2 Elizabeth NJ 39.2
3 Bridgeport CT 39.2
4 Danbury CT 39.1
5 Stamford CT 38.8

Least Similar Cities
1 Everett WA 28.8
2 Spokane WA 28.9
3 Yakima WA 29.1
4 Wichita KS 29.5
5 Hillsboro OR 29.9

I guess people from the northeast have a lot of common vocabulary with england and europe in general, being the earliest settlements.

It's not visible from the ranking, but I got a second "red" center around Miami, which I would guess comes from my italian accent.

 

[chickpea]

Most Similar Cities
1 Elizabeth NJ 54.7
2 Toms River NJ 54.6
3 Newark NJ 54.4
4 Yonkers NY 53.7
5 Syracuse NY 52.4


Least Similar Cities
1 Baton Rouge LA 32.3
2 Metairie LA 33.7
3 New Orleans LA 33.7
4 Lafayette LA 33.8
5 Sioux Falls SD 34.0

Ummm I have never lived in jersey or new york I'm a little offended tbh.

I guess that's what 10 years in Michigan and 10 years in Maryland will do to you.

 

[Cimarron]

Grey crustacean is a rolly poley
Road parallel to the freeway is a service drive

Haha I didn't get the rolly poley question though! Did you take the long form?

Service road, not drive. Actually, I like frontage road better. And it's a highway, not a freeway. Hmph.

 

[five sounds]

Service road, not drive. Actually, I like frontage road better. And it's a highway, not a freeway. Hmph.