Romney's Unusual Accent.

[retromike22]

Is it just me, or does Romney have an unique accent? I know in the U.S. there are regional accents,  and each have their qualities. I remember reading that the midwest English was the most neutral, which is why newscasters tend to be from the area and why Hillary Clinton is so difficult to imitate. I also read that the way most people speak in movies and tv shows is really a Southern California accent, and coming from L.A., I know that's true.

But with Romney, the way he speaks just sounds unique. I've always noticed that whenever there's an "a" in the word, it sounds midway between a neutral American "a" and a British "a." Also when "r" is at the end, it sounds real soft.

Here's George Romney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_LT9lKUtnk

Reading up on the Romney's family history, their first immigrant was Miles Romney, who was born in England, but once he and his wife emigrated to the U.S., they very quickly moved to Utah. Utah because of its location and Mormon characteristics was very isolated from the rest of the country and the family living in Mexico from 1885-1912 (almost 30 years) isolated them further.

I'm thinking that because of the Romneys' isolation (and time in Mexico), it preserved more British English traits than usual, but also preserved some older western American English traits than usual as well.

[Simfan34]

Only thing I ever notice is Obama's lingering "s" sound.

[Adam Griffin]

He sounds to me like how with the 'Hollywood Accent' did back in the 1940s-1960s. That sort of proper sounding, not-quite-American yet not-quite British sound.

[Simfan34]

He sounds to me like how with the 'Hollywood Accent' did back in the 1940s-1960s. That sort of proper sounding, not-quite-American yet not-quite British sound.

The Transatlantic accent? I wish. I wish we all spoke in British accents, indeed, I wish we were Britain in general. Except for the economy- Blighty can keep its economy. And the chavs. Okay, I wish we had the British culture of the 1930s. But this shouldn't be new.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Agree with Griffin here.

If it's worth anything, George Romney sounds a little bit like a lot of older folks from Ontario.

[後援会]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

[Adam Griffin]

how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

NYC sounds like an Italian and a Jew had a baby, whereas people from Philly sound a bit handicapped - kind of like Bostonians.

[5280]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

In the south, people usually talk with a drawl accent, like 'yall' or have a strong second and third letter noun pronouncation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English

[Zanas]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

Could you be more spiteful and uninformed about linguistics ? When you live in a country, of course you can differentiate people from regional linguistic traits, phonetic or syntaxic or vocabulary.

Hell, I live in France and can tell someone from Lyon, Nancy or Reims apart, and they're 3 or 400 km apart...

[LastVoter]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

Boston and the South are like two different languages.

[afleitch]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

Could you be more spiteful and uninformed about linguistics ? When you live in a country, of course you can differentiate people from regional linguistic traits, phonetic or syntaxic or vocabulary.

Hell, I live in France and can tell someone from Lyon, Nancy or Reims apart, and they're 3 or 400 km apart...

I can tell the all the nuances in the Scottish dialect and there's about 10 distinct ones in a nation of 5 million. It's easy to the well tuned ear.

[Donerail]

How the hell do Americans tell apart like their tiny differences in accents and intonation? It's ridiculous. I barely can tell the difference between Boston and the South - how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

Boston and the South are like two different languages.

^^^I'm bilingual. I speak English and Southern.

[Averroës Nix]

He sounds to me like how with the 'Hollywood Accent' did back in the 1940s-1960s. That sort of proper sounding, not-quite-American yet not-quite British sound.

I hear that, too. Romney does not carry himself like someone from the twenty-first century. Pay close attention to his mannerisms and word choices. He's a living anachronism.

[ilikeverin]

I've always noticed that whenever there's an "a" in the word, it sounds midway between a neutral American "a" and a British "a."

Please elaborate.  Use examples.

[Phony Moderate]

He sounds to me like how with the 'Hollywood Accent' did back in the 1940s-1960s. That sort of proper sounding, not-quite-American yet not-quite British sound.

The Transatlantic accent? I wish. I wish we all spoke in British accents, indeed, I wish we were Britain in general. Except for the economy- Blighty can keep its economy. And the chavs. Okay, I wish we had the British culture of the 1930s. But this shouldn't be new.

Most British people don't speak with a "British" accent.

[opebo]

Its the accent of privilege, with the personally whiney tone you find among some such - like Bush the senior etc.

[Yank2133]

how the hell does someone differentiate between NYC and Philly?

NYC sounds like an Italian and a Jew had a baby, whereas people from Philly sound a bit handicapped - kind of like Bostonians.

Yeah, and NJ is a good mixture of both.

[fezzyfestoon]

Yeah, it sounds to me a bit like a modern, New-England-heavy version of the Transatlantic accent. I'd be interested to see more of what Verin has to say about this.

[milhouse24]

Mitt and his wife were born and raised in Michigan, so I expect them to sound like Michigan people with a hint of the Canadian-French dialects.  Mitt speaks French as well. 

[Lambsbread]

Am I the only one that thinks George and Mitt sound very much alike?

[angus]

Is it just me, or does Romney have an unique accent? I know in the U.S. there are regional accents,  and each have their qualities. I remember reading that the midwest English was the most neutral, which is why newscasters tend to be from the area and why Hillary Clinton is so difficult to imitate. I also read that the way most people speak in movies and tv shows is really a Southern California accent, and coming from L.A., I know that's true.

But with Romney, the way he speaks just sounds unique. I've always noticed that whenever there's an "a" in the word, it sounds midway between a neutral American "a" and a British "a." Also when "r" is at the end, it sounds real soft.

Here's George Romney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_LT9lKUtnk

Reading up on the Romney's family history, their first immigrant was Miles Romney, who was born in England, but once he and his wife emigrated to the U.S., they very quickly moved to Utah. Utah because of its location and Mormon characteristics was very isolated from the rest of the country and the family living in Mexico from 1885-1912 (almost 30 years) isolated them further.

I'm thinking that because of the Romneys' isolation (and time in Mexico), it preserved more British English traits than usual, but also preserved some older western American English traits than usual as well.

I never really noticed that he has a unique or unusual accent.  Then again, I never thought that Kerry "looked" French.  Mitt sounds American to me.  He also sounds like a wealthy, pampered guy, of course, but no more so than most of them do.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Transatlantic? Mitt Romney does not sound like George Plimpton.

[Wonkish1]

Am I the only one that thinks George and Mitt sound very much alike?

Yes underneath it all they do sound a lot alike. You wouldn't think so given the relative lighter tone of Mitt and darker tone of his father, but minus that they sound quite similar.

George definitely has the sound of someone from Michigan. It's just that its a little bit more of a 'proper' accent likely derived from spending so much time in gentlemanly business conversations. Those 2 pieces form most of Mitt's ascent, but it also has just the faintest addition of nasal sound that is indicative of way north east accents like the Boston accent.

And all that makes sense given him growing up in Michigan and then moving to Mass(also makes sense with spending time in France). Also picking up the nasally aspect of North eastern accents without the sharper tone with it does give up a little bit of a reminder of the old 20s-40s accents that others have mentioned.

[opebo]

...a little bit more of a 'proper' accent likely derived from spending so much time in gentlemanly business conversations.

Oh lord.  Don't you know trade is beneath a gentleman?

[ilikeverin]

Yeah, it sounds to me a bit like a modern, New-England-heavy version of the Transatlantic accent. I'd be interested to see more of what Verin has to say about this.

And I'm interested to actually have some speech samples for me to work with rather than incoherent rambling using non-linguistic nonsense terms   Not to mention the terrifying speculation that Romney would have any linguistic characteristics of Mexico or France, both of which would be almost entirely possible.  Romney should sound like his peers as his private elementary and middle schools; no more and no less.  (Of course, his accent should change depending on the circumstances, though as he's male a bit less than, say, Hillary.)

Mitt, to me, sounds rather like my dad, which makes a lot of sense; they both grew up in upper-middle-class (to upper-class) suburban Detroit.  It's not a variety that's particularly regionally distinctive.  But my dad, unlike Mitt seems to be, is somewhat Northern Cities Vowel Shifted, in line with his much more middle-class background.  More interesting to me is the contrast between Mitt and Paul Ryan, who does have a striking NCVS-influenced accent.

But, again, I want people to provide me with examples of Mitt being "Mitt-like" in speech to I can try to figure out what you're hearing, if anything.