They clearly didn't vet her VOICE

[underpants]

it's not nails on a chalkboard it is some high pitch Moose mating call or something.

Similar to "Fargo" but higher and she holds the last syllable really long.

I think it wears on people over the long haul.

Just an observation.

[searchingforlight]

1. AMEN! n/t

[AllieB]

2. Like nails on a chalk board.

Ugh.

[thereismore]

3. Is her lilt Canadian or is it Alaskan or what? nt

[TomInTib]

4. I was watching it on a system with monster sound.

Probably be a few days until I am able to tune a guitar by ear.

I was thinking she sounded a lot like Yoko Ono, back in the old days.

[greenman3610]

5. sounds like a character from "Guy Noir"

[mamalone]

6. I'm thinkin' RoseAnne Barr...

and what in heaven's name is up with that accent??? I don't want to be too harsh in case it's just an Alaska thing... but whew, baby, is it ever annoying!

[Hardrada]

7. Like my Minnesota female cousins she hisses the "s" sound

but they are nice people and she is not so her hissing is more Slytherine!

[symbolman]

8. I lived in AK for 10 years and I've been calling it

BEAR CLAWS on a Chalkboard :)

[underpants]

10. Ha!

:rofl:

[Phoonzang]

9. Uh, did anyone else notice that when they interviewed other Wassillans

they didn't have a strong accent like that?

[underpants]

12. Ah so it is like W the further south he goes*

* not counting So. Florida

That makes sense. She is trying to country it up. As usual-fake.

[samuraiguppy]

11. I think she needs

to be examined by a veterinarian--is that what they mean when they say she needs to be vetted?

[underpants]

14. babaappa bbowBOW

(cue Cinemax music)

[Talisyn]

13. It's the sound a snowmachine makes on dry land

[underpants]

17. LOL

:bounce:

[myrna minx]

19. LOL. Welcome to DU.

:hi:

[Talisyn]

20. T/Y it's good to be back!

[Sensitivity]

15. GIVE THANKS. I am hoping folks don't get used to it.

[eShirl]

16. it's Fran Drescher doing Edie McClurg's accent

[underpants]

18. 10101

that is a really obscure Edie McClurg reference.

Yes there is some McClurg in there isn't there?

Don'tyaknow

[Igel]

21. Here's some discussion.

First, some terms. "Raising" means one of two things here: the change of a low vowel to a high vowel (ae > e, for instance). Or "Canadian raising", seen in standard Canadian English and some American dialects.
Canadian raising" makes the "i" vowels in "writer" and "rider" not rhyme (and renders the "you scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream" couplet pointless).

Two mergers are discussed in the link: pin/pen (which is fairly common in the West, esp. NW) and caught-cot (which is standard most places west of the Mississippi). They are as they sound--speakers don't distinguish /i/ and /e/ before /n/, or merge a and open-o to /a/. (Once had a guy ask me to let me know when "Don" showed up; he was annoyed because "Dawn" showed up and waited for 20 minutes before he checked. He had the merger in his speech; I do not.) Apparently AK misses, or is now acquiring, the cot/caught merger.

The link is:
http://mr-verb.blogspot.com/2008/08/sarah-palins-accent.html?showComment=1220503380000

The most useful bit, IMO, is this:
------------
The dialect which has caused so much fervor here is what might be termed “Mat-Su Valley English”, after the Matnuska and Susitna Valleys where it is spoken. Palmer was a colony settled by immigrants from Minnesota and surrounding regions, and hence they brought their characteristic dialect with them. It has been merged over time with the predominant white dialects to form Mat-Su Valley English which differs only somewhat from generic Alaskan English. Sarah Palin speaks this Mat-Su Valley English, as do some friends of mine who grew up in Palmer and Wasilla, but I have other friends born and raised there that speak Alaskan English instead, so it’s not homogeneous. This again is due to pressure from the English of surrounding areas, particularly Anchorage.

No linguistic work has been done on any of the English dialects in Alaska. I did a fairly extensive literature search last year and came upon only a handful of articles from educators who were concerned with “stamping out” Alaska Native English, and ensuring that children learned to speak English “correctly”. The phonetic descriptions were amateurish, as would be expected from nonspecialists. There has been some okay lexical documentation of Alaskan English varieties, but nothing professional.
-------------

There are posters that say otherwise, but this sounds reasonable, not making bad generalizations. The moderater does a good job sifting through the chaff.

One point to notice is that people often say, "It sounds like she's from X", and people from X say, "No, she doesn't" or "she sounds like somebody pretending to be from X". Natives pick up on details outsiders miss.

Interesting idea, though, to go and survey the state to check up on nascent dialects--it would make for good follow-up studies in a generation, esp. looking at contact phenomena with Native and foreign languages. (Check out Copper Island Aleut for some good linguistic fun.)

[underpants]

22. VERY interesting thank you for posting

I read half way or so though-excellent

All I can say is that the Minnesota part makes sense. This is from what I know-growing up basically in Virginia but I seem to have quite and ear for voices (I can pick out voiceovers in a second). Also we had a candidate for Governor here in Va. named Kilgore (he lost to Tim Kaine) who came from the far western part of the state (hill/coal country west of Roanoke) his sweet sweet accent was so prevalent that a voice coach was hired (this is confirmed by the highest of sources) to try to tone it down a bit...see to the unknowing his accent sounded on the "gay" side which would not sit well with his Republican base. He lost anyway.