Chicago-area accent - a relative of the Minnesota accent?

[freepcrusher]

I had always thought of Chicago as being the most accent-neutral part of the country and for the most part it is. But I've heard an accent, especially from the older generation there, that, when I first heard it, sounds like a WI/MN accent. Does anyone else notice this?

[Torie]

Chicago when I was in college most definitely had its own accent, and it did not have the Scandanavian lilt that Wisconsin and Minnesota have. Muon2 himself has some of that accent. It's related though. The north shore Chicago suburbs supposedly are where the standard American accent comes from, but the city itself is far away as it were from that north shore accent.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Yes, some older people have the stereotypical "Chi-cuaww-go" accent, but it's dying off. I don't hear it much whether I'm in the suburbs, the south side, or downtown. I don't know about it being north of the city, since I don't go there much, though.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Strikes me as a faster Midwestern accent with a touch of Boston.

[muon2]

I lived in MN from when I was 10 to 21, but was born in Chicago and have lived here for most of my adult life. The accents are quite different to my ear, and didn't pick up much from MN during my years there, probably since my parents were not native to MN (Chicago and eastern IA). Chicagoland does have some speech patterns separating the north side from the south side, but neither is much like MN.

[King of Kensington]

I had always thought of Chicago as being the most accent-neutral part of the country and for the most part it is. But I've heard an accent, especially from the older generation there, that, when I first heard it, sounds like a WI/MN accent. Does anyone else notice this?

Is the accent in Milwaukee closer to that of Minnesota or Chicago? 

[CountyTy90]

I live southwest of Chicago, in LaSalle County, and I definitely think Chicagoans have an accent. And to me I do see traces of Wisconsin, not so much Minnesota. Even in places like northern LaSalle County I detect a bit of Wisconsin. The city of Mendota I say with a long "o". Some people from the area pronounce it MendOOta which sounds Wisconsin-ish to me.

Small observation, but I definately think some parts of northern Illinois do not have that neutral accent that I am positive I have.

I work with a woman who grew up her whole life 5 miles away from me and she sounds like she's from northern Wisconsin.

[jimrtex]

I live southwest of Chicago, in LaSalle County, and I definitely think Chicagoans have an accent. And to me I do see traces of Wisconsin, not so much Minnesota. Even in places like northern LaSalle County I detect a bit of Wisconsin. The city of Mendota I say with a long "o". Some people from the area pronounce it MendOOta which sounds Wisconsin-ish to me.

Small observation, but I definately think some parts of northern Illinois do not have that neutral accent that I am positive I have.

I work with a woman who grew up her whole life 5 miles away from me and she sounds like she's from northern Wisconsin.

Isn't a neutral accent like that of Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Its all related.  Da bärss and daaaaa bullssssss becomes some ruddy faced blonde chick with severe features in Wisconsin (holy creeeeeeyaaaap you guys I just drank 16 apple pie shots with everclear...WisCAAAAHNsin forr ever!)

It then gets quieter, liltier, and more swallowed so it sounds like you're talking in a chant.

http://youtu.be/x-XEHwUBubk

[they don't love you like i love you]

There is definitely a Chicago accent. The "neutral accent" is more found in central Illinois, like the area around Peoria. It's in a belt that basically runs from eastern Nebraska, starting at about Lincoln to Peoria, and kind of stops around Champaign-Urbana (which makes sense, since I imagine that all the students are mostly from the Chicago metro or outside the region). But the Chicago accent has a lot more to do with a sort of rust belt one than Minnesota.

Incidentially there's a Mendota in Minnesota, and it's pronounced with the long o. Southeastern Wisconsin accent and dialect is not at all like Minnesota's, though western Wisconsin (lik Eau Claire and La Crosse) certainly is.

[RINO Tom]

I am from Peoria, but I now live in Iowa City.  If I'm being honest, people from Peoria have an accent compared to Eastern Iowans.  It's extremely subtle and not anywhere near as noticeable as Chicago area people (spend a weekend out at the bars in Champaign and tell me the drunk guys and gals of the U of I do not have an extremely noticeable accent, LOL), but it's there.  I've been told I say everything "normal" except for some of my vowels (two extremes being saying the name John as either "Jawn" or "Jahn," with me being the second one).  I'd say there isn't anywhere in Illinois with ZERO accent (remember, for all intents and purposes - geographically and culturally - the very southern part of Illinois might as well be Dixie), but Central Illinois is definitely the closest.

[ilikeverin]

Chicago, like many cities around the Great Lakes, has the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  Its spread is something like this, although I've usually seen a tendril extend to St. Louis:



Although Minnesota is starting to be affected by some of the changes that occurred in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, it also has some differences of its own from surrounding locations, as well as some changes that are oozing in from the west.  I'd put the dividing line between the dialect that characterizes Minneapolis and the dialect that characterizes Chicago at somewhere around Eau Claire.  See also Benson, Fox, and Balkman (2011).

[freepcrusher]

Chicago, like many cities around the Great Lakes, has the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  Its spread is something like this, although I've usually seen a tendril extend to St. Louis:



Although Minnesota is starting to be affected by some of the changes that occurred in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, it also has some differences of its own from surrounding locations, as well as some changes that are oozing in from the west.  I'd put the dividing line between the dialect that characterizes Minneapolis and the dialect that characterizes Chicago at somewhere around Eau Claire.  See also Benson, Fox, and Balkman (2011).

would you say Jim Sensenbrenner has the typical Northern Cities Vowel Shift dialect?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Chicago, like many cities around the Great Lakes, has the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  Its spread is something like this, although I've usually seen a tendril extend to St. Louis:



Although Minnesota is starting to be affected by some of the changes that occurred in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, it also has some differences of its own from surrounding locations, as well as some changes that are oozing in from the west.  I'd put the dividing line between the dialect that characterizes Minneapolis and the dialect that characterizes Chicago at somewhere around Eau Claire.  See also Benson, Fox, and Balkman (2011).

Why isn't our accent spreading? its such a sexy, edgy accent (now dontcha know)

[Oldiesfreak1854]

All Midwestern accents are related, including the Inland North "Chicago/Wisconsin accent" that dominates where I come from (and most would say I talk with.)

Chicago, like many cities around the Great Lakes, has the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  Its spread is something like this, although I've usually seen a tendril extend to St. Louis:



Although Minnesota is starting to be affected by some of the changes that occurred in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, it also has some differences of its own from surrounding locations, as well as some changes that are oozing in from the west.  I'd put the dividing line between the dialect that characterizes Minneapolis and the dialect that characterizes Chicago at somewhere around Eau Claire.  See also Benson, Fox, and Balkman (2011).

I've heard about the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, but I've never noticed it wherever I live.  At least half the people around me don't speak like that at all.

[Mr. Illini]

The Chicago accent share some similarities with the Minnesota accent. Each share certain vowel shifts, while maintaining different ones as well (the Chicago 'a' is a more drastic shift than in Minnesota).

[ilikeverin]

All Midwestern accents are related, including the Inland North "Chicago/Wisconsin accent" that dominates where I come from (and most would say I talk with.)

Chicago, like many cities around the Great Lakes, has the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  Its spread is something like this, although I've usually seen a tendril extend to St. Louis:



Although Minnesota is starting to be affected by some of the changes that occurred in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, it also has some differences of its own from surrounding locations, as well as some changes that are oozing in from the west.  I'd put the dividing line between the dialect that characterizes Minneapolis and the dialect that characterizes Chicago at somewhere around Eau Claire.  See also Benson, Fox, and Balkman (2011).

I've heard about the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, but I've never noticed it wherever I live.  At least half the people around me don't speak like that at all.

Some of that's just your own sociolinguistic norms.  A few studies have found that Michiganders have some of the highest self-opinions of their own "correctness" of just about every state in the country, despite the fact many of you vowel shift like mad.  However, you might also be in the wrong demographic group to hear a lot of these sorts of changes; it tends to be lower-middle-class young women who change the most in almost every linguistic change that has been observed.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The young poor girls seek change.  The old wealthy men seek to exaggerate.  Same as it ever was.