specifically, urban accents and "jewish" accents. let me explain what i mean (though i'm pretty sure you already know what i'm talking about).

i'm watching something on television, some reality show. in this episode there are a bunch of jewish women. they all sound the same, having that stereotypical new york jewish accent. could they all just happen to be from new york thus share the same accent? maybe. but then what about that same accent in the jewish community here in chicago? obviously not everybody has it but there are a lot of people NOT from nyc who happen to be jewish and speak with that stereotypical accent.

the other one is the stereotypical urban accent. it doesn't matter if you're in philadelphia, chicago, nyc, atlanta, dc, san fran, la, mpls...there is a very distinct national urban accent.

how is this possible? why does this phenomenon occur? ok, its a pretty random question and, admittedly, based on generalizations but i was watching this show and it popped into my head. maybe someone here has studied language and has some insight into this very curious occurrence.

I don't know how it works, but I assume somewhere in the same vein as how you can almost always tell a city person from a country person, no matter where you are.

could it be from also speaking hebrew? i mean, the way you can
hear that someone's native language is French eventho they try
their best to speak english as well as possible?

I've not learnt all the different accents here in the UK yet but in Australia you can definately tell a city accent from a country one

Natisse said:

yeah, eh

charlottegelin said:

mhm

it's an organic proces... a result of surroundings, circumstances and also the racial/etc background/stock of the area.

David Cross (Arrested Development, Mr. Show) does a funny bit on the accent some gay men have, no matter what part of the country they're from. Kind of the same thing.

I hate my accent. I'm very self conscious about it when I talk to people from the org. In my day to day life I don't think about it but when I talk to people who don't tawk like me it makes me feel ...I don't know dumb.

Sweeny79 said:

oh, how delicious! I never thought of you as having an accent, but now I'm thinking it makes you all the more adorable!!

CarrieMpls said:

Thanks but

A few weeks ago I saw Jack White's side band and the only thing he said to the crowd was " New YAWK, New YAWK, New YAWK" when he came on stage, as much as I love him I wanted to kick himfor that...motherfucker was shaking his head as he did it too. Most people giggled but I guess it touched a sore nerve with me.

Sweeny79 said:

I totally want to hear it now.

And don't worry. I certainly don't sound like the crazies in the movie Fargo, but you can definitely hear a Minnesota accent out of me if you're not from here. And it makes me feel silly too.

CarrieMpls said:

I'm gonna go to bed soon, but one day soon we'll talk on Yahoo.

Sweeny79 said:

As Jews go, the accent you're referring to is, in fact, a cultural lingering of Yiddish. And the reason you can find it everywhere is because all those Jewish families can likely trace their roots back to a rather small region of eastern Europe -- particularly the German-Czech border (the Bohemia area). The accent remains thick particularly among Jews who are raised in very insular communities (so, more detectably among Jews with immediate Orthodox and Hasidic ancestry), but it lessens with each successive generation. And you gotta remember, though Jews are highly visible, they've only made up a consistent .2% of the global population for centuries! They're a strikingly tight-knit cultural group... moreso than most would ever guess!

Also, while a Long Island accent does sound the same as, say, an Orange County Jewish accent to us, I bet a Jew can detect differences. Same goes for that "urban" accent you mention...

Many inner city dwellers sound totally the same to those on the outside, but get them together with peers and family from elsewhere (I've seen this happen in my own extended family), and those regional differences are easily detectable -- and even become the subject of light-hearted teasing and jokes.

I'd add that where "urbanspeak" is regarded, I'd wager there's an element of trend involved. Particularly among younger folk, speech patterns, pronunciations, inflections, etc... even unspoken gestures... can be as fashionable as clothing, hairstyles and music.
[Edited 4/26/06 20:43pm]

I love Charlotte's accent.

ask Madonna, she has a new one every week

Tom said:

charlottegelin said:

Bumpkin!

althom said:

you're not from around 'ere, are youse?

charlottegelin said:

althom said:

when I was in tassie this guy came up to us and said that and he also said "smoke a bit of pot do youse?"

charlottegelin said:

Did he have two heads?

althom said:

no, just red eyes

personally..i would love to have a hispanic accent..and now to sound like a 12 year old girl..in which i do.

weepingwall said:

Same here!

althom said:

oopsy wrong thing..to say.
[Edited 4/26/06 21:34pm]

Charlotte, your accent is really interesting actually... i got the dvd of you on Rove today and you sound mostly like suburban Aussie with a bit of Swedish... I think it's a cool combination.

oh fuck ... no I didn't really say that

JPW said:

ha ha! funny cause I have been in this country since I was 7!!