Help with Californian accent!

[Jennyflower]

Im performing in the musical "Thoroughly modern millie" and I need to do a californian accent but I don't know how it differs from the "satndard american dialect". Can anyone offer any help with this? Thank you in advance :) x

[driftwood_74]

Watch the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
The accent you want to study is from the character "Spicoli." That's pretty much what we sound like out here.
Drift

[Jennyflower]

Ooo thanks for the reply! I'll definately check it out! Love love X

[zillagod]

I have to disagree, Californians do not have an accent different to other Americans. The Spicoli reference is what kids sound like. Otherwise, adults dont speak that way. I was born and raised in San Jose and I never heard others speak any differently and surely not like Spicoli.

[06thenewsummeroflove]

we just speak relatively properly but throw in some hellas and dudes in there

[themnax]

well i think the most, maybe only, distinguishing 'accent' of california speach is the abscence of the accents of other regeons like the south west, the south east, the atlantic seaboard. each of those named regeons has a discernable accent in how the language there is spoken, though tecnicly they all use the same dictionaries.

here in california we just don't sound like texans, or red necks or yankees. so if the abscence of those sounds is an accent, which perhapse it is, well that's us. our sound is just the abscence of the sound that we're not.

southern california has a lot of mexican influence though. well all of the state does, but it doesn't show up in pronounciations all that much here in the north, even though we have a lot of places and things who'se names are of mexican/spanish american, origen.

like i say. the best way to sound like a californian is just to not sound like a new yorker, or a mississippian, or a texan.

i think that's what is ment by saying we don't have an accent. well i mean that IS part of the deffinician of an accent. it never sounds like having one at all to those who speak it. and since i've lived pretty much only on the pacific coast and never further south then nevada and utah, well people in oregon, washington, and northern california all speak pretty much the same that i can tell.

now once upon a time, before about 500 years ago and all the invasions since, the california regeon had all sorts of seperate little regeonal languages, like europe. that's one of the things today's dominant culture has lost.

=^^=
.../\...

[BodyElectric]

When I visited cali I never noticed an accent. I'm Canadian and it all just sounded normal to me.

I did however experience my first US/Canadian language barrier in Ohio this year.

[lynsey]

That's because you lived in San Jose. Southern Californians are a lot different, especially young one's (not to say that you are old!).I have to disagree, Californians do not have an accent different to other Americans. The Spicoli reference is what kids sound like. Otherwise, adults dont speak that way. I was born and raised in San Jose and I never heard others speak any differently and surely not like Spicoli.

[zillagod]

That's because you lived in San Jose. Southern Californians are a lot different, especially young one's (not to say that you are old!).Well, I lived in San Jose and Sacramento, and now I live in Las Vegas. I go to Southern California a few times a year. Mainly to Big Bear Lake and San Juan Capistrano. The only accent I ever hear is the Mezcan accent. Heck, the Mezcans have invaded the whole southwest, but that is another story all together. But as for a California accent, I dont believe there is one. If anything, it is more a younger generation accent which is common all over the US. It seems the younger generation have picked up on a lot of slang and black language. I cant explain why this is, I guess the younger generation is typically rebelious and they need to make a language of their own. I have also noticed, and I will probably catch a lot of flack for saying this, but there seems to be a lot more of the younger people who want to act or talk like black people. I really dont understand this. Oh well, I guess I am getting old. Old and cranky.

[driftwood_74]

^^ Sounds like the "Kids these days...." speech. The answer is "Yes," you are getting old and cranky ;)

I Hope Jennyflower isn't on stage right now sounding like Spicoli. It was mostly meant as a joke. Although, when I get excited by something I start throwing in all of my surfer slang words when I talk.

I 'm not sure about an overall accent, but when I traveled overseas, I was told that I spoke slowly and my words were drawn out. Maybe thats part of the Cali accent (or it could just be me??). I do have roots in rural northern Cali so that could be where I picked it up.

[zillagod]

Oh well. 42nd birthday tomorrow(Sept. 14). Guess I am just looking back at what could have been and looking forward to what will be. I am grumpy, grouchy, cranky, and all of that. Time for a bottle of Jack and a many bong hits I guess. :<))