Questions about American accent?

Question

1-Do Americans drop the g in smiling?
2-Do you pronounce ..."literally" = lirerally?
3-Do you pronounce ...where is she = whe'is she?
4-What I made = whur'i'made?

Answer 1

America's a pretty big place (even if you only meant the US), so some of us pronounce thing that way and some of us don't. My best guess for the accent you described is somewhere around the Kentucky/Ohio border.

Answer 2

I think it's best to answer your questions one by one:

1-Do Americans drop the g in smiling?

Often they do. This is a feature of colloquial English in both Britain and America which dates back at least, to the 13th century, as seen in the Middle English song "Sumer Is icumen In" (Summer Has Come In ; Summer Has Arrived). The song was composed around the year 1260.

2-Do you pronounce ..."literally" = lirerally?

Americans always pronounce the 't' although some forms of working-class British English have changed it to a glottal stop which some linguists represent as a symbol similar to a question mark (?) or the number 7 (7). Your example (lirerally) is unique showing "rhotacism."

3-Do you pronounce ...where is she = whe'is she?

Most American English is "rhotic" English. Non- rhotic (like standard British English) is spoken only in New York City and New England. So, most Americans would say "Hwair iz shee?" with the 'r' intact.

4-What I made = whur'i'made?

American pronunciation is "Hwut ai meid." Your example (whur'i made) shows "rhotacism" where a consonant (usually 'l' but sometimes ch, n, s or t) becomes an 'r'.

Answer 3

I'm a military brat, which USUALLY means that we have NO REGIONAL dialects. But I've lived in California, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas and I'm unaware of ANY of the pronunciations that you describe!

Smiling is smiling, g intact.
Literally literally includes that all important "t".
Where is she is where is she, where as where's she is another animal all together.
What I made would NEVER become whur'i'made! What???

But I have heard the following:

Wash = worsh
Creek = crick
R = R ra
Police = POE leece
Arthritis = Arther itis
Salmon = SAL mon

Answer 4

You are correct. I love listening to Brits speak English, because it is a more musical, precise language in their intonation of it.

American English sounds like the words are spoken from under a wad of glue or cotton batting.

I had the same experience listening to New World Spanish and then listening to that spoken in Spain.

Interesting, isn't it?

Answer 5

The answer to all of your questions is "no." You may find some of those pronunciations in everyday speech in the southern U.S., but even that part of the country has better pronunciation that what you describe.

Answer 6

They do sound funny don't they; yeah they drop the G.
I think Canadians sound better: not as grating on the ear or twangy.

Answer 7

In some regions they may do all those things but they are not common. Where's is a correct abbreviation for where is.

Answer 8

No, I do not do any of those.