Accent Tag Vermont (Southwestern, VT)
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2015
- I reviewed a couple of the other ACCENT TAG Vermont CZcams videos, and did not hear one that resembled the accent that I grew-up hearing in my area of Vermont.
My own observation has been that, even though Vermont is a small state, there are distinct differences in the culture and speech between both Northern and Southern Vermont, and also between Eastern and Western Vermont.
The most common “Vermont accent” I heard other than the one I grew-up with, sounded more like a “Boston accent”. Because I’ve heard people from New Hampshire and Maine also speak with that accent, I assume that such Vermonters are from the Eastern side of the state, closer to the New Hampshire border. That accent is totally different from the deep mountain back woods Vermont accent I heard in my youth.
I grew up in what is called the “Manchester and The Mountains” area. Manchester is a town in Southwestern Vermont, between Bennington to the South, and Rutland to the North.
Manchester is very small, and had a population of less than 2,000 when I grew-up there in early 1970’s. Around Manchester, extending for perhaps a 15-30 mile radius, are many small villages and hamlets. Many of these hamlets were nestled in the mountains along river ravines. Most were impoverished, and quite isolated from outside contact. It reminded me of the populations in the Appalachians in West Virginia.
My family was originally from Western Connecticut, and we moved into the Manchester, Vermont area when I was 7 years old. Even though Manchester was small, I always lived “in town” in a slightly more “urbanized” setting (if you can call a town of 2,000 people urbanized). I attended the local elementary school with many other kids who had also arrived from places other than Vermont, and we spoke what I will liberally call a more “standard American English accent”. However, probably 30-40% of the student body was bused into town from the surrounding mountain villages, and their ancestors had been in the area for generations.
For the comparatively more affluent students who spoke with a “standard” accent, these true “Vermont” accents were immediately noticeable. Unfortunately, we did as kids often do, and developed an “us” vs. “them” mentality, so in my group it was frowned upon to be friends with the mountain people which were referred to as “hicks” or “rednecks”. They dressed differently, practiced customs such as hunting and logging, and spoke in an accent we considered to be uneducated. Regardless, because we shared classrooms every day, it was inevitable that we would learn the Vermont accent. Most of my friends and I learned to imitate it quite well. This is the accent you will hear in the video.
To me, what I believe is this very geographically specific accent sounds like it might have originated from perhaps Irish or English settlers to Vermont. There is a country “twang”, but as I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s very different from its country Southern U.S. accent cousin. Maybe a linguist or historian watching this video would be able to shed some light on this. It would be interesting to know.
I live in Florida now, and haven’t spent much time back in Vermont for many years, but I’m sure things have changed a lot, and many “flatlanders” from New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, have bought much of this land in the mountains outside of Manchester and have built swanky ski chalets. I don’t even know if the Vermont accent I am familiar with even exists any more, but maybe some CZcams viewers who still live in the area can comment on this.
Finally, even though as kids my friends and I used this accent pejoratively, I am certainly not doing so now. I recognize this accent as just one of what I assume is thousands of varieties of American English accents. I apologize to any native Vermonters if this effort isn’t perfect, or if it might sound less than authentic. It’s just the way I remember it. Thanks for your patience. Robert. - Zábava
born and raised in vermont (bennington) this accent is spot on how myself and my friends sound when we speak. nailed it.
Same and same.
He said the T in Vermont 😂 we don't pronounce our Ts
Yuh
Died of laughter when he mentions not liking flat landers moving up there. I was one of them (moved from MA when I lived there). I heard this accent typically from rural area Vermonters (totally spot on) who talked about the same things he’s talking about. Some Vermonters, like my husband who is from northern VT sound Canadian. Defiantly hear more of a mix in the Burlington area-which makes since as it’s the most diverse part of the state.
This is great. I’ve been casually studying old Vermont accents for years since I moved here in 1990 and am a very amateur, self-taught linguist. I’ve definitely noticed at least three distinct Vermont accents. The one you do I’ve found in the rural areas of the central and southwestern parts of the state. I agree that eastern Vermont is traditionally much like NH (other than the Concord/Manchester/Nashua area which is basically the same as eastern Mass.) and non-coastal Maine. There is also a very distinct Champlain Valley accent which has elements of your accent mixed with similarities to the Newfoundland accent and a very unique/distinct hard and drawn out rhotic R sound at the ends of words such as car and farm. Someone from eastern Vermont says a very soft “fahm” with a long A and non-rhotic R. Someone from the Champlain valley says it almost like “ferrrm.”
This accent spread around to other parts of Vermont. I lived on the Canada border in Richford, VT and some of the farmers and country folk had a milder blend of that same accent going on.
Sounds very much like the UK's West Country accent!
Sounds more akin to Irish accents you would hear in Munster province also sounds very similar to Newfoundland accents.
That’s a wicked strong one, most of the kids in Manch have the accent but with less of the -eow sound and we still never actually pronounce our Ts. We still say “mikerwave” “akshully” and “cosh country shkeein” but we say “cow,” never “keeow.”
I'd agree. I'm Upper Valley/Central VT and I'd argue the whole state is very similar in terms of accent and dialect. I don't have a heavy one but I don't pronounce Ts very sharp. I have family with the accent so I can mimick it well. The Logger does a decent job and Bob Marley from Maine isn't much different either. VT-NH-ME are all pretty close minus southern NH
Nvm The Logger sounds irish lmao
Oh my gosh! I am young and was born and raised in Massachusetts myself, but we have family friends that have a place in Southwestern VT that we visited (and still do) a lot! They have a caretaker up there who has this accent, but he has it exceptionally deep. In fact, his accent is so deep, when I was really young and first met him, I legitimately couldn't understand most of what he was saying! This accent is exceptionally rare, and in my hours of scouring the internet trying to find the right video portraying this accent, I have to say that this one is most definitely the best! It is definitely lighter than the one I grew up hearing whenever the caretaker came to visit, but it's spot on nonetheless. I am currently studying linguistics and anthropology, and it is now most definitely my goal to try and study what I can of the accent! It is rapidly dying out, but it's a fascinating piece of unique history that lives on today with what time it has left. At any rate, thank you so much for making this video; it is accurate and insanely heart-warming to hear that old twang of what my friend described as a Southerner doing their best Irish accent!
Very much what I remember when I lived in Stowe and went to UVM 45 years ago.
Wow it's really spot on! I miss hearing this accent now that more out of staters have moved in. I'd also say that you can find this all over the state if you look around enough, it's not just specific to one area.
Love it!! Makes me think of my uncles taking as they were farming... 😊
Ah you nailed it. This is the accent I was looking for, not the Canadian type accent that people try to say is a Vermonter accent.
The pure VT accent just listen to a crossway auto sales commercial lol
From Bennington vt here. Wicked gud content guy😉
Born in raised in Vermont from Rutland area and we don’t pronounce are T’s very well.
ZoeBug Pickles nobody in Vermont pronounces T’s. I’m from Lamoille county and I don’t pronounce them
Daniel Manning lmao it’s so true my T’s are never there
I’m from western mass and we don’t say our Ts here either. I’m curious about how far that tendency stretches. My dad has a little bit of a western mass/pioneer valley accent which comes out stronger when he’s chit chatting with strangers or occasional acquaintances- I think I’m response to getting a tad anxious? The pioneer valley accent is disappearing fast with so many people moving here from all over
awesome thanks grew up in rutland all my life and you’re spot on the blue collar folks sound exactly like you
so it’s like irish-canadian-minnesotan-bostonian haha. i’m reading a book that takes places in vermont where most of its protags arent from vermont so when they describe the vt accents of its actual residents, in the mountainside towns, i wondered what it could at least somewhat be. thank you!!!
My nana (and adoptive mom) is from bennington, but i’ve lived in south mississippi all my life. I didn’t realize how much you can hear it in my speech that my family isn’t from here!! i by no means sound like a vermont native, but i definitely don’t sound like a south mississippi native either. it’s like a slightly twangy south vermonter haha
We recently got a cabin in Southwestern Vermont (about 15 miles away from Manchester), and I have been obsessed with figuring out the accent -- this is pretty right on, though the "I" is a little more musical than I hear there (as another poster said, a little Irishy). But that sort of flat, wh
at I tend to think of as a matter-of-fact, real, honest work, kind of sound, but also potentially, a tad drunk at times --- that's it! Wow. I love hearing regional accents like this one and also hope they don't die out anytime soon.
It does indeed sound very Irish sort of the accents you would hear in the province of Munster, also sounds very similar to Newfoundland accents. People on here are saying it sounds like West country English and to a certain extent some of it does but it sounds much more like Munster Irish dialects than west country English to my ears. It sounds very similar to Newfoundland accents also and even some Canadian accents with heavy Irish communities like Listowel, Ontario.
So I live in Burlington and Grew up in Castleton so about 30-40 minutes north of Manchester. Your accent sounds very familiar as the billy bobs (hicks) from Fair Haven would sound like that. We had the same dichotomy that you had with the us vs them aspect as Fair Haven was where the Union High School (multiple towns students going to one school). Fair Haven has major slate veins running through it and as a result there were a lot of blue collar family kids in high school. In Castleton we had the state college (now University) and we had Lake Bomoseen which drew many flatlanders during the summer. So as a result we found that the Castleton kids seemed better off than the Fair Haven kids. We would use the billybob accent when ever we would go to parties mainly to fit in but also as a kind of side joke. Now that I live in Burlington that accent type has become quite rare, yet when you go up towards the Canadian border where about 5% of the population learned French growing up before English the accents can be almost unintelligible. I needed my car towed at one point and the driver had such a bad accent, that I really had difficulty understand what he was saying. So all that being said I think in general the Champlain Valley and its lower extremities leading into the Taconic Mountain environs such as where you grew up have that french induced hick accent. I have a wife from San Diego and I can imitate some accents pretty well, received pronunciation English, Posh English, Scottish, Punjabi Indian etc but now that I am older I have the hardest time trying to imitate the Western side of the Green Mountains Vermont accent. I searched for videos of this accent and you pretty much nailed it so, thank you.
Pretty spot on for Wilmington area, it drains down over the border to western mass, you can hear it with some people in Colerain, heath area
Shame nobody has those old Chimney Sweep Fireplace radio commercials uploaded.
enjoyed that!
I went to college in Vermont, and have relatives ( aunt, uncle, cousins) who are Vermonters. I’d say the accent you demonstrated here really isn’t much different from what is spoken in northern Vermont. Perhaps it sounds slightly closer to the Massachusetts accent, whereas northern Vermont’s accent is slightly closer to the Canadian accent. But really not much difference.
I'm from an hour south of Bennington, I've spent enough time up there with my family growing up I should consider myself an honorary Vermonter. This accent is excellent!! the only thing i would add is during conversation the more you say yep (or "Yuhh") the better.
North Adams is not Vermont
This accent definitely still exists in the state, although it is dying out slowly.
You will find it most in Franklin County and even more so the NEK, where there are fewer "flatlanders."
You can also hear it a lot in New Hampshire. I was canvassing there and heard a high schooler using it at a pizza place--the youngest person I've ever heard!
Some working-class folks still have a less pronounced version of this accent as well, even in more populated areas like Burlington. The accent seems pretty much exclusive to Anglo-Vermonters.
I live in Burlington but I still here this accent from time to time. My accent isn’t very strong but there are some noticeable things about it like the T drop.
Been in VT all my life. This is pretty accurate.
Wow! I hear Boston, Irish, Norfolk (UK)
Very heavily Irish influenced sounds alot like Newfoundland accents and even some Canadian accents like Listowel.
Sounds like a British country accent!
Sounds like a Irish accent sort of like what you would hear in Newfoundland.
The west, Like right out of Plymouth UK. More so than Franklin Vt.
I hate people saying I talk with a British accent.
Definitely a West Country accent! Right out of Somerset!
Perfect
I'm from Montgomery north of you and we are about the same
What was that? I grew up in Southeast of NC
I grew up in montgomery VT and it's pretty much the same for us
Were the words "caught" and "cot" pronounced the same, or were the pronunciations reversed from what they are in "standard" American English?
I am from VT and they would most definitely be pronounced the same
I never thought I had an accent until now lol
A little more Irish-sounding than I remember...but I was raised in South Burlington, so maybe that makes a difference.
Well, that, and I've lived in Seattle for the last 20 years.
BionicDance
lol
Think you been away to long.. Sounds like the vermont is running out of you.. Sad...
This sounds like us!!
Wow the Vermont accent sounds like Tanger Island in Virginia maybe because the people in Vermont descendants are also English.
TL:DR Northern Vermont sounds very similar to Canada because it's right next to it, and as you go more south you start to sound more New England.
exactly
During the word list it just sounds like you’re getting progressively more distressed lol
Shore bud
Wow, some of that sounds like a West Country English accent.
Sounds much more like Irish accents you would hear in Munster or Newfoundland or even Canada like Listowel.
Definitely! Straight out of Devon.
Looks almost like a Western British accent pronouncing the R in the end. Nevertheless, cool!
Rutland is where you'll find this type of shit
Why do all the best accents disappear!? How boring is American English going to sound like in 30 years when the whole country will be speaking with the same Kim Kardashian accent :/
IKR I never noticed my T drop was so strong!
Nononono not accurate.
Sounds more canadian or midwest. He's pronouncing Ts too sharp and a bit exaggerated or even irish on some words. Not an accent guy
Actually, this guy has it down. I spent the first 20 years of my life in Bennington County and this brought me right back. Good stuff.
Actually, he does a pretty good job.