Believe it or not, you can tell if someone is from the Northwest just by how they talk.
If you grew up in the Seattle area, you may be under the impression that in the Northwest people speak a general or non-distinguishable dialect of English. Accents are generally thought to belong to people from the South or in New Jersey, right? In truth, there are way more accents on the East Coast, but the West Coast is beginning to pick up on some regional linguistic differences. I have often heard from my out-of-state relatives and friends that I sound “Seattle” because of how fast I speak and the slang I use. Although the differences are subtle, linguists studying in the West Coast have noted in recent years the nuances found in speech along many of the great Pacific cities. In fact, Seattle may have one of the most distinguishable accents along the Pacific Coast.
Coincidentally, our accent is even shown in the way we say "accent."
You use the Canadian vowel shift, eh?
Linguists are calling it the Canadian Vowel Shift as Canadian-born speakers are now pronouncing "I" like "E" and "O" like "Aw." Meanwhile, "E" is sounding more like "A" and more commonly, "A" is ending up as "Ah."
Seattle shares many things in common with our neighbors to the North, but speech is the most noticeable. There are many emerging and distinctive features of the Seattle accent when compared to the rest of the country. Listeners who pay attention will notice how the word "accent" is pronounced with the "E" sounding like a short "I." So the "E" is replaced with a sound more similar to the "I" as in the word "In." Seattleites also tend to swallow hard consonants. So when saying our city name, the "Ts" sound more like "Ds." This is a very distinguishable language trait, and a dead giveaway that you are from Seattle.
Spelled differently, pronounced the same.
If you're still not convinced people from Seattle have an accent, try saying the following words as you normally would:
"caught" vs. "cot"
"don" vs. "dawn"
"collar" vs. "caller"
If these words sounded relatively the same when said aloud, then you possess a unique feature of speaking where low-back vowels like "ah" and "aw" are merged. U.W. Professor Alicia Wassink says many of her students from this corner of the United States can’t hear their own accents. She says one of the most distinguishing features linguists have noticed in the general population here has to do with words that are spelled differently, but can be pronounced exactly the same way. A commonly cited example is the pair of words, “caught” and “cot.” Even words like "don" and "dawn" are indistinguishable.
Only a true Seattleite can say "Sequim" correctly.
Local place names and other regional vocabulary get unique treatment, as well. Many words and city names are borrowed from the languages of the Salish people native to our region. The
Salishan languages are among the most tongue-twisting known to linguistics. Words like "geoduck," "Puyallup," "Issaquah," and "Snoqualmie" are all examples of local places that really only other locals can say. We all know there is some amusement in listening to people from other states try and work out these pronunciations.
There are many more ways of telling someone is from Seattle -- besides being distinctly laid back and fond of flannel shirts and coffee. Speech shows a lot about the environment and community you live in; close your eyes and take a minute to see how the way you speak reveals new knowledge about the world around you.
