Hey italki community,
So I found this interesting Regional Dialect Quiz that sort of tells you where you're from/which part of the US your dialect is based on.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0
I did it and think it's pretty accurate.
I had taken a similar accent test before that was totally wrong. (I am from Wichita KS but it said I was from Michigan). I agree with you though, this one assessed it accurately. It showed the three cities with accents most similar to mine as Wichita (my city) and two relatively close by cities in Nebraska (Lincoln and Omaha).
I found it most interesting to look at the ¨map¨ of similarity on the left after each question. For each question, there were similarities to a lot of different places, but the aggregate of the answers really did accurately show where I am from.
In Kansas we usually are considered to have a pretty neutral American accent and I have never had a person guess where I am from by listening to me. So I am pretty impressed that it could do so based on the use of words.
I did it out of curiosity but got an error message and no results at the end. I think it knew I was an imposter. :)
Regardless, it was fun to see some of the words that people use to describe things.
Susan, I found the ¨map¨ of similarity interesting too. My result showed that I'm from Illinois which is where I am originally from. Well I guess nowadays people are constantly moving so the regional accents/word choices have become more mixed (relatively).
Thanks for sharing the video!