like whom do you sound?

[piperdbh]

There are some threads going right now about accents & linguistics, which prompt this question: when you speak, what famous person do you sound like? I'll go first. I sound like Andy Griffith.

[chasem]

I appreciate the grammar in the subject!

I haven't been told, nor do I feel like, I sound like anyone. I've spent most of my life in Kentucky (since age 5), but I pride myself in not having a Kentucky accent. I feel like, and have been told, I don't have much of a regional accent - just an "American" accent.

[ASinclair]

Having been born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, USA, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, I used to have a Deep South Southern Drawl. However, I have lived in North Carolina, USA for the last 31 years, so I probably sound like Andy Griffith now.

[EagleJCS]

I don't know that I sound like anyone particularly famous.

Having been born and raised in Louisville, KY, living almost all of my adult life here (except for the year I was working in Cleveland), and having received a university education, I am told by folks from other parts of the country that I have almost no discernible accent.

Using the test OCRichard provided in his thread, I have a neutral American accent (as found in the Midwest region and used by most US newscasters).

I can, however, slip into a Kentucky/country accent, particularly when I get extremely tired and don't concentrate on my elocution. There is a tape recording of me when I was five years old (I think Mom has it right now), and I have a quite pronounced drawl. My mother's mother spoke with a particularly strong Kentucky/country accent, so that's probably where I got it from. I also tend to start subconsciously mimicking other strong accents if I'm around them for a particularly long period of time. (I was told by family that I picked up a very little bit of a Northern Ohio accent while I was working in Cleveland, but it disappeared shortly after I returned home to stay.)

[John_Carrick]

I was told in Glasgow once I don't have an accent.
I'm sort of received pronunciation English

[KD Burke]

I was raised in the Deep South (Southeastern US to those unfamilar with the idiom) in the late 60s and early 70s. At the time, the news reports seemed to be filled with terrible things caused by ignorant or hateful people in my part of the world. With the exception of the aforementioned Andy Griffith, every person in the mass media with a "Southern" accent was portrayed as ignorant, foolish, and ususally venal.

I suppose that due to the negative connotations I associated with my own speech, I subconsciously emulated newscasters and others with the generic "Mid-Atlantic" accent. That is how I sound most often.

When I am around my close kin, or very tired, or depressed my speech tends to slow, and some words mysteriously gain syllables. On those occasions, I sound a bit like the late Shelby Foote.

[bniles]

I've never been told I sound like anyone in particular either.

It's funny how many others of you have intentionally changed your accent, though, as I did the same. I grew up in Oklahoma, and as a teenager I decided I didn't want to have the accent, especially once I knew I would be leaving to go to New England.

Of course, when I moved to Connecticut, I was met with much dissapointment. People who knew I was coming from Oklahoma were constantly saying "Oh, I expected a cute little southern accent!" Instead I sounded pretty much just like people native to Connecticut.

Now, almost 15 years later, I actually struggle to do the Oklahoma accent when I try, unless I've talked to someone in my family on the phone very recently.

[sailortats]

I was born and raised in New England, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I have lived in San Francisco California for the past 34 years but people still pick up on my "Boston" accent occasionally. People in the NE of Massachusetts tend not to pronounce the letter "R". As I say to anyone, jokingly, that comments on my accent, "I still pahk my cah in Hahvad yahd". I am always pleased when someone picks up on my accent and I am very happy that I have not lost it altogether.

[Mikilt]

I have never lived any place where folks are known to have a distinct accent. At most, I have picked up local idioms that might identify me as being from a certain place.

[Tobus]

Can't say I've ever had my accent/voice compared to anyone famous. I'd even venture to say that anyone with an accent/voice like mine would probably not become famous. I sometimes stutter or mush my words together, to the point where I often wonder if I have an undiagnosed speech impediment.

I did most of my growing up out in West Texas, so I had a pretty pronounced "Texas twang". It mostly went away, though I still do have a bit of a general Texas accent compared to others. But my twang comes out when I get really excited or flustered.