Many Californians clearly produce the “r” sound, which is not true of some other parts of the United States. For example, the word “really” stresses the “r” a lot, so it sounds like “rrrreally.”
It's not that Californians have an accent that takes some getting used to, as in Boston, or the American South. On the contrary, the standard-issue California accent is about as plain, mainstream American English as you can get.
Emblematic of California teen culture, the word “like” has become one of the most versatile words in the English language. It can be used to replace a verb, stall for time, describe a scenario, describe an action, express approval––the list goes on.
“Yeah no” is used as a response to someone, and it simply means no. “No yeah” on the other hand, means yeah or yes. There is really no reason that these are used in place of yes and no, but sure enough, it is used.
While many phrases found in these extreme versions of California English from the 1980s may now be considered passé, certain words such as awesome, totally, for sure, harsh, gnarly, and dude have remained popular in California and have spread to a national, even international, level.
The Sound Of California
Their accent is indeed similar to General American, meaning it sounds to American ears like it isn't an accent at all. Everyone has an accent, however. As with most accents, the vowels are what really set Californians apart.
As used by actors, the Mid-Atlantic accent is also known by various other names, including American Theatre Standard or American stage speech.
California English (or Californian English) collectively refers to American English in California, particularly an emerging youthful variety, mostly associated with speakers of urban and coastal California. California is home to a highly diverse population, which is reflected in the historical and continuing formation ...
According to the renowned American linguist William Labov, the New York accent is often perceived as the “most American” as it's the one that appears all the time in popular culture.
“Cali” is the abbreviation used for California that only non-natives use. Not only do local Californians never use this slang, it actually rubs them the wrong way.
Reminder: The r is always pronounced in American English, even at the end of words, like in more, far, mother, and before a consonant, like in morning, survive and thirty. Again, this is not the case in British English!
When the first settlers set sail from England to America, they took with them the common tongue at the time, which was based on something called rhotic speech (when you pronounce the r sound in a word).
According to a poll conducted by YouGov, Americans believe Boston is the one place in the United States with the strongest regional accent, with the Southern Coast trailing behind in second place.
The Canadian accent is most closely related to General American English with similar rules for pronunciation and accent. The main difference is how Canadians will speak some diphthongs (a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable) higher than their American neighbors.
In the early 1960s, dude became prominent in surfer culture as a synonym of guy or fella. The female equivalent was "dudette" or "dudess", but these have both fallen into disuse and "dude" is now also used as a unisex term.
(term of address for a man): mate (British, Australia)
California. People who live in California are called Californians and Californiacs.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
Bro. This word is associated with southern California surf culture and is used as a term of endearment for guys to refer to one another. For example, “Bro, there were some killer waves this morning.”
4. “Hella” What does it mean? Hella is not some cool way to say hello, it actually means “a lot”, “very” or “really” and is a surefire indicator that you are from northern California.