Introduction to American Dialects | Southern Drawl | Tawking the Tawk in Noo Yawk | New England's Wicked Good Accent
Philly Talk and Pittsburghese | The Midwestern 'Non-Accent' | Da Chicago Dialect and the Northern Cities Vowel Shift

The American Midwest is generally believed to consist of the states around the Great Lakes and some of the 'corn-belt' states to the west of the Great Lakes. However, the 'Midwestern' English accent, as it is known, extends much further west to include land all the way to the West Coast. For that reason, linguists prefer to call this accent the 'Midland' dialect. What characterises the 'Midland' accent is that it is plain, flat, easily understood and fairly standard. Unless someone has an obviously unique accent or dialect, they are considered to have a plain American accent, which is associated with the Midwest and Great Lakes region. If you ask a Midwesterner what kind of accent he has, he'll more likely than not say that he doesn't have one. Of all Americans, people from the Midwest are least aware of their speech patterns [And some sociolinguists contend that this results in Midwesterners having a weak regional identity, as ]