What is your American accent?

[ZuWo]

What American accent do you really have?

Your Result: Northern 100%

Your accent is Northern, which used to be the media standard in the '50s and '60s. Your accent could either be Inland Northern (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo) or the more broadcasting-friendly Upstate NY/Western New England accent. If you have the Inland North accent, outsiders probably ask you a lot if you're from Chicago or Wisconsin.

Northeastern

81% Midland
79% Mid-Atlantic
67% Southern
54% North Central
54% Western
46% Northeast New England

In other words, a mix of a Swiss German/Northern American English accent.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

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Northern: 91%
Midland: 85%
Mid-Atlantic: 78%
Northeastern: 74%
Southern 74%
Western: 51%
North-Central: 42%
Northeast New England: 34%

[Mopsus]

Identical to the thread progenitor: 92% Western.

Same.

And FTR, I drink "pop", not "soda."

Absolutely disgusting.

[ilikeverin]

88% Western
83% North Central
77% Midland
69% Northeast New England
58% Northern
50% Mid-Atlantic
33% Northeastern
33% Southern

Unsurprising as someone who grew up in Minnesota but tried to expunge every Minnesotan thing from his speech, crucially, that I noticed.

Anyway, though I do appreciate that this quiz is asking about real variation in dialects, its obsessive focus on the cot-caught merger is a little weird and probably accounts for some of the odd results.

[Oakvale]

Pretty much the same as every other non-American here.

Your Result: Northeastern
 
91%

Your accent is basically what people speak with around the Tri-State area (New York City, north Jersey, Connecticut) and Rhode Island. If New York City is the greatest city in the world, it's not too much of a stretch to say you have the greatest accent in the world!
 
83%  Mid-Atlantic
 
78%  Northern
 
76%  Northeast New England
 
72%  Midland
 
59%  North Central
 
52%  Southern
 
51%  Western

[Indy Texas]

Midland - 85%
North Central - 83%
Northern - 75%
Western - 65%
Northeast New England - 54%
Mid-Atlantic - 54%
Northeastern - 50%
Southern - 43%

[Sopranos Republican]

Northeast New England 85% Of course, I'm from Northwest New England, but still.

Western, and Mid-Atlantic were 2nd and 3rd respectively.

[Peter the Lefty]

Wtf I got Western.  :/

[JerryArkansas]

Midland with strong Southern undertones.

[memphis]

I suppose this confirms that I was raised by the television. I've lived in the South my entire life.

What American accent do you really have?
Your Result: Western

92%
This is what they speak in the western half of the US, which is a pretty huge area. Like Midland, it is considered a neutral accent, so most people you meet probably think you don't have an accent (unless you're from the California coast).
85%
Midland
79%
North Central
69%
Northeast New England
50%
Northern
42%
Mid-Atlantic
40%
Southern
33%
Northeastern

[LastVoter]

Midland (89%)

[muon2]

100% Northern. Inland Northern to be more precise.

[Хahar 🤔]

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Surprisingly accurate quiz. ilikeverin is right that it's preoccupied with the cot-caught merger, but that merger is kind of a big deal; I can't even comprehend how those two sounds could be distinguished. As I recall, "lot" and "cloth" have different vowels for speakers without the merger, but I have no idea which word has which sound.

[Lief 🗽]

This guy does a good job of showing how some of these sounds are pronounced in different American dialects, if people are curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LulbKb5fOgc

[bgwah]

92% Western

I wonder why every Westerner is getting 92%. Perhaps they got one of the questions wrong.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

What American accent do you really have?

Your Result: Northern 100%

Same here.

[Associate Justice PiT]

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Surprisingly accurate quiz. ilikeverin is right that it's preoccupied with the cot-caught merger, but that merger is kind of a big deal; I can't even comprehend how those two sounds could be distinguished. As I recall, "lot" and "cloth" have different vowels for speakers without the merger, but I have no idea which word has which sound.

     I always thought that I spoke English the same as other people. I asked my mother about it and she was surprised to learn that there are people who pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way. I would suppose that recognizing different accents is a tricky thing outside of a few famous exceptions.

[ilikeverin]

I asked my mother about it and she was surprised to learn that there are people who pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way.

it's funny because you're californian

[Vosem]

Your Result: Northern
 
92%
Your accent is Northern, which used to be the media standard in the '50s and '60s. Your accent could either be Inland Northern (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo) or the more broadcasting-friendly Upstate NY/Western New England accent. If you have the Inland North accent, outsiders probably ask you a lot if you're from Chicago or Wisconsin.
 
81%Midland
 
75%Northeastern
 
71%Mid-Atlantic
 
63%North Central
 
57%Southern
 
54%Western
 
42%Northeast New England

Basically, life in the Cleveland suburbs has overwhelmed my roots in downstate Illinois, New York City, and Siberia. Oh well.

[Хahar 🤔]

While we're on the subject of the cot-caught merger, Wikipedia has this to say:

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I do pronounce barn and born differently, although I analyze born as /boɹn/ because my English lacks the phoneme /ɔ/, but starring and warring certainly do rhyme for me. The pronunciation /woɹiŋ/ for warring seems familiar, so I assume that is the one that is pronounced with /ɔ/, but there's no way for me to tell where a distinction might be made, let alone make it myself.

[LastVoter]

Your Result: Northern
 
92%
Your accent is Northern, which used to be the media standard in the '50s and '60s. Your accent could either be Inland Northern (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo) or the more broadcasting-friendly Upstate NY/Western New England accent. If you have the Inland North accent, outsiders probably ask you a lot if you're from Chicago or Wisconsin.
 
81%Midland
 
75%Northeastern
 
71%Mid-Atlantic
 
63%North Central
 
57%Southern
 
54%Western
 
42%Northeast New England

Basically, life in the Cleveland suburbs has overwhelmed my roots in downstate Illinois, New York City, and Siberia. Oh well.

What Siberian town are you from?

[Vosem]

Your Result: Northern
 
92%
Your accent is Northern, which used to be the media standard in the '50s and '60s. Your accent could either be Inland Northern (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo) or the more broadcasting-friendly Upstate NY/Western New England accent. If you have the Inland North accent, outsiders probably ask you a lot if you're from Chicago or Wisconsin.
 
81%Midland
 
75%Northeastern
 
71%Mid-Atlantic
 
63%North Central
 
57%Southern
 
54%Western
 
42%Northeast New England

Basically, life in the Cleveland suburbs has overwhelmed my roots in downstate Illinois, New York City, and Siberia. Oh well.

What Siberian town are you from?

My father lived in Krasnoyarsk for 18 years, but I myself have never visited Russia.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Your Result: Northeast New England  85%

You have what people call a "Boston accent." (even if you think you don't) Whether or not you pronounce r's, you talk a lot like the people who live around Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine.

 85%Western
 79%North Central
 77%Midland
 50%Northeastern
 50%Mid-Atlantic
 50%Northern
 33%Southern

[Franknburger]

Tie between Northeastern and Northern, both at 92%.

Guess that makes sense - Northeastern is the standard for non-Americans, while Northern should ancestry-wise have some German tone in it.

Considering that my first English language exposure occurred in Boston (before I ever had English in school), I wonder, however, that Northeast New England scores so low with me (54 %).

[California8429]

Northern. Which works because I was born in upstate New York before moving to Colorado