{"id":4140,"date":"2021-03-16T11:53:23","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T18:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/english-speaking\/?p=4140"},"modified":"2021-04-07T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T23:53:30","slug":"the-california-accent-or-california-english-a-guide-for-esl-learners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/english-speaking\/the-california-accent-or-california-english-a-guide-for-esl-learners\/","title":{"rendered":"The California Accent or California English: A Guide for ESL Learners"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the largest population of any state in America, there are a lot of Californians around. Odds are, you\u2019ve <\/span>probably <\/span>ran into a Californian or two even if you\u2019ve never traveled to <\/span>The Golden State<\/i><\/b> (California\u2019s official nickname).<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you remember what they sounded like? If you don\u2019t, that\u2019s okay!<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people, even if they\u2019ve met someone from California, still <\/span>portray<\/i><\/b> (describe someone a certain way)<\/span> them as sounding like a <\/span>Valley Girl<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Surfer Dude<\/span><\/a>. Screenwriters from the 80s and 90s overused these dialects in countless movies and TV shows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A variety of other California dialects also made their way onto our screens through the years. Without a doubt, these characters gave viewers a false sense of what a real California accent sounds like. Take this hilarious SNL skit<\/a> for example.<\/span><\/p>\n

To understand the <\/span>California accent<\/span>, we need to look past the portrayals. It\u2019s important to dig deeper and recognize that California is huge, has a population of <\/span>nearly <\/span>40 million as of 2020, and is the most <\/span>ethnically <\/span>diverse state in the US.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sorry to bring things into reality, but most people in California don\u2019t sound like the entertaining characters on TV. So let\u2019s investigate! Here is our analysis of<\/span> the California Accent<\/i><\/b> vs California English.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Early Origins of California English<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To start, let\u2019s look into some of the history of the West Coast in America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States didn\u2019t add Western states like California, Oregon, or Washington until the mid to late 19th century. In fact, California didn\u2019t <\/span>officially <\/span>become a state until 1850\u201474 years after <\/span>the beginning of<\/span> the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Large populations of English speakers didn\u2019t arrive on the West Coast until events like the California Gold Rush of 1849. Until then, Spanish was the most <\/span>widely <\/span>spoken language. But by 1870, English took over as the most popular.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because<\/span> of the late migration and the variety of accents and dialects, Californians didn\u2019t have a unified accent until well after World War II. It took a few generations for all the accents to merge into a common speaking style.<\/span><\/p>\n

But <\/span>that<\/span> doesn\u2019t mean the California accent <\/span>magically <\/span>appeared. Even until the 2000s, linguists grouped most states West of Texas into a single accent. There <\/span>simply <\/span>wasn\u2019t a big enough difference between the speaking styles of California, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pinpointing California English: Dialects Rule California<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If linguists can\u2019t even pinpoint an accent, then how are we expected to define it? That\u2019s the key point of this analysis. The California accent is <\/span>actually <\/span>so subtle that most people don\u2019t recognize it at first. It didn\u2019t even emerge until the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n

But before we point out the single distinguishing factor, it\u2019s important to again highlight the ethnic diversity of the state. For many people, when they hear the term <\/span>California accent<\/span><\/i>, it associates with white people. But only <\/span>37% of the state is white<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

California has a very large Latin American population (<\/span>mostly <\/span>Mexican American) and many people from those communities speak with a <\/span>Chicano accent<\/span><\/a>. Also, the state is home to a large black population with many who speak in <\/span>African American Vernacular English<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, California is home to large communities of Asian Americans (<\/span>specifically <\/span>Korean, Japanese, and Chinese) who may speak in distinctive accents with their own regional dialects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last, recent studies have shown that there is even a difference in dialect<\/a> between Northern and Southern California. There is also a difference between urban, coastal Californians and those that live in inland, rural areas of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labeling all the dialects as a California accent wouldn\u2019t make sense. Instead, linguists put them in a category called California English which <\/span>encompasses<\/i><\/b> (to include) all of the accents and dialects in the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So What\u2019s A California Accent Then?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Even now, most Americans would say that Californians have a <\/span>General American<\/span><\/a> accent. The easiest way to describe General American is: <\/span>anyone would know that the speaker is from America but wouldn\u2019t be able to place the person as from a specific region.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But linguists are now putting many Californians in their own category because of one factor: <\/span>the California vowel shift<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A vowel shift means people move their tongue <\/span>differently <\/span>when pronouncing vowels. And <\/span>when<\/span> one vowel shifts it has a <\/span>domino effect <\/i><\/b>(one event change <\/span>starts to affect<\/span> others) on the others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The California vowel shift moves vowels forward when spoken. So a word like \u201cright\u201d sounds like \u201craught,\u201d \u201ctime\u201d sounds like \u201cTom,\u201d or \u201ccot\u201d and \u201ccaught\u201d have no difference in sound.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear these shifts mainly with younger Californians, and they make up the sound we now know as the California accent.<\/span> Naturally<\/span>, it led to many videos on YouTube and TikTok featuring the <\/span>California accent challenge<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, this vowel shift is becoming widespread with many linguists citing shifts in Canada, the American South, and <\/span>cities in Michigan<\/span><\/a>. Also, <\/span>other cultural dialects<\/span><\/a> have taken in the shift.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cambridge University<\/span><\/a> did a very extensive study on this shift.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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California Slang<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The vowel shift <\/span>is the only distinguishing factor of<\/span> a California accent. But if an ESL speaker wants to understand California English, then they need to understand (or at least know a little\u2026) <\/span>California slang<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The beauty of knowing some California slang is that many of the terms also work or translate into other regions of the country. That\u2019s\u00a0 because the film and TV industry <\/span>is mainly based<\/span> in Los Angeles. Many of these terms appeared on the favorite TV shows and movies of Americans and made their way into the vernacular of other regions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key Terms<\/span><\/h3>\n

Hella<\/i><\/b> – <\/span>Originally <\/span>a Northern California\/Bay Area slang word, it made it way down the coast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shortened version of the phrase \u201chell of a lot of\u201d and means \u201c<\/span>really<\/span>\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n