Did you learn to speak English in North America? Your input is required for the North American English Dialect Survey.
It’s easy — you just use your computer’s microphone to record yourself saying various words. They also ask where you went to high school, and where you live now.
They’re going to love me. I still sound like a dang ‘Merkun, but living in Australia for so long has changed my accent in one respect: I have broken free of the cot/caught merger. I say ‘cot’ like I’m British, but my ‘caught’ sounds like Noo Yawk. It might puzzle them for a bit, but they’ll probably understand once they see my current postcode.
28 June 2010 at 2:23 pm
I'll probably do this later, but I have a big question.
Why would ANYONE *WANT* to "break free" of the cot/caught merger?
Vowel merger = superior.
28 June 2010 at 4:40 pm
There ought to be a "Where were you born?" question as well. I speak like a western Canadian but I live in Utah and went to HS in Wisconsin.