I need to do a Chicago accent for a play (Grease, to be precise) and I have no idea what a Chicago accent sounds like! Can anyone give me some common characteristics or little differences from other accents? Alternatively, can you mention some famous people with Chicago accents who I can copy?
P.S I'm not talking about the dialect. I don't want to get big lists of slang words that people from Chicago use. I just want to know what their speech sounds like.
2007-06-17 05:50:21 · 14 answers · asked by james g 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Theater & Acting
get really drunk and curse alot that should help, and bigger is better and also less is more. And Chicago also has the biggest polish population out side of poland so maybe you could give your version of the play alittle bit of that flavour that would be creative and really tie into the whole drunk theme.
good luck
2007-06-17 05:58:01 · answer #1 · answered by loser 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋
It is difficult to describe but the "a" sounds are different. If you want to hear an accent if you can watch the reruns of Mad About You. Mark, on the best friends of the main characters, is originally from Chicago. Much of the way he talks in this show is just his personality but you can also hear some of the Chicago accent. You can also go to the city's website and listen to the mayor speak. He has a Chicago accent.
2016-05-17 22:59:40 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ok I was in Grease so I think I can help. The accent youre looking for is more New York than Chicago. To get a good NY accent you could watch the movie Moonstruck (yes i know its a chick flick). The basic rule of a NY accent is the "r"s. Don't pronouce them. Heres an example from the musical: "Wheyah goin wit at! The pahty's jus gettin stahted!"
translation: "Where are you going with that! The party's just getting started!"
Hope I helped!
2007-06-21 13:15:26 · answer #3 · answered by Elphaba 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The main difference I hear in Chicagoan speech is in pronouncing short A's. It's a touch nasally. (Or a lot nasally, if you're those Da Bearss guys from Saturday Night Live...) When exaggerated, it almost becomes two syllables: eee-AAAAAH. I'm a Chicago native, and sometimes catch myself calling bags bee-ags, cabs keee-abs, etc.
Yeah, southsiders do sometimes flatten their S's...Yousss guysss, how 'bout dem Bearssss?! And those short I's have a way of turning into the "eh" sound, so that "milk" becomes "melk," "still" becomes "stell," etc.
But, did your director specifically ask for a Chicago accent? I've done Grease before and none of the characters have a Chi-town accent specified in the script. If anything, they have a generic "tough kid" way of speaking--lots of unaspirated h's (that means "hey" becomes "Ey") and Jerseyesque t's becoming d's. Those are the accents you will hear if you watch the movie version of Grease.
I would hate for you to latch on to the Chicago thing at the expense of good characterization. Da Bearss aren't in Da Greassse, you know. Check with your director. :-)
2007-06-18 19:48:35 · answer #4 · answered by waldy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bill Murray. Especially in Caddyshack. He's from the far north side (Rogers Park to be precise). Norm from Cheers is from the opposite side of town, the far south side (the Beverly neighborhood). Both Irish neighborhoods. There are lots of other celebrities from Chicago, such as Joan Allen and Paula Zahn, but they have such cleaned up accents they are not much help. Grease used a tough accent from the wrong side of the tracks. Mostly like Bill Murray, since the writers were also from the north side.
It is a flat accent. Very flaaaaaat. And we clip off syllables; we just don't have time to pronounce all our words. We have things to do!
2007-06-17 05:57:03 · answer #5 · answered by marie 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There are cassette tapes available to help actors with any number of accents and dialects. Check on line.
I find it interesting that your director is pushing for the accent in GREASE. Although, I know it originated there and the collaborators are from there, I would think the appeal of the musical is that it could be any high school anyway in the US in the 50's. Makes it more identifiable for the audience.
2007-06-25 03:52:24 · answer #6 · answered by whitney g 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Chicago we tend to make our AH vary bright. When most people try to make fun of us they put on a nasally voice and say Chicahhgo. But don't over do it or it will turn into a New Jersey accent. Just spreed the corners of your mouth slightly on all AH sounds and you'll sound like you've lived here all your life!
Good Luck
2007-06-17 06:07:20 · answer #7 · answered by allycat091 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I live in Chicago. My choir director told me that our accent is very nasally, especially on AH sounds. For instance, instead of saying Chicago, we tend to say something like "Chicahhgo." Good luck in Grease, it's a great musical!
2007-06-22 09:46:06 · answer #8 · answered by eleanor rigby 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A dialect is not always slang. In college you may be offered a dialects course and that's what it is, accents and ways of speech. I've taken several and they are very helpful. This website can help you, it has sound clips of people who speak this way. Also look for the vowel changes, that will help you the most.
http://web.ku.edu/idea/
2007-06-17 05:59:05 · answer #9 · answered by fixing_uh_hole 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I have a mild Chicago accent, I'm told.
Classic Chicago Accent = Da Bears!
2007-06-17 05:53:16 · answer #10 · answered by Mickey Mouse Spears 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Go to a theater-related bookstore and look for audio tapes of a Chicago accent, if there is such a thing, as a Chicago accent.
2007-06-21 18:53:46 · answer #11 · answered by newyorkgal71 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋