Why is the Chicago "Blaccent" More Southern than Boston/NYC/Philly's? (Washington: theater, school)

[marothisu]

First off, not everyone from Chicago sounds like the first guy. In fact, there's tons and tons of people who don't sound like that. It exists, but it's pretty overdone in reality by people not from here, majorly because of the SNL skits in the 80s. The accent isn't fake, but if you expect to hear everyone sound like that when you visit, you may be in for a little surprise IMO. It's kind of like how everyone thinks that everybody from Minnesota has a "Minnesota accent" and is surprised when I don't have one, and when I tell them that it's only a northern thing.

Anyway, the second guy? I personally know people here who sound like that for sure and I hear people who talk like that all the time. Not all black people have a twang here. Maybe you should visit for yourself and be the judge.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by marothisu

First off, not everyone from Chicago sounds like the first guy. In fact, there's tons and tons of people who don't sound like that. It exists, but it's pretty overdone in reality by people not from here, majorly because of the SNL skits in the 80s. The accent isn't fake, but if you expect to hear everyone sound like that when you visit, you may be in for a little surprise IMO. It's kind of like how everyone thinks that everybody from Minnesota has a "Minnesota accent" and is surprised when I don't have one, and when I tell them that it's only a northern thing.

I didn't say everyone in Chicago talks like that. Just like not everyone in New York talks with a New York accent. I just wanted to know if there were any blacks who spoke with that particular accent.

Originally Posted by marothisu

Anyway, the second guy? I personally know people here who sound like that for sure and I hear people who talk like that all the time. Not all black people have a twang here. Maybe you should visit for yourself and be the judge.

You know black people in Chicago with a Philly accent?

[marothisu]

I didn't know that was specific to Philly. I've heard it a bit.

[MichiVegas]

African Americans in the Chicago area are mostly from Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and the like.

African Americans in the NYC area (and to some extent Boston and Philly) are heavily (mostly?) from the West Indies. I would say, for Boston and NYC, probably around half, at least. For Philly, much less, but still significant.

[Larry Siegel]

Chicago is the northern terminus of a bunch of railroads (GM&O, Illinois Central, etc.) that come from or pass through Alabama and especially Mississippi. So that is where the Chicago black accent comes from.

[It'sAutomatic]

Originally Posted by MichiVegas

African Americans in the Chicago area are mostly from Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and the like.

African Americans in the NYC area (and to some extent Boston and Philly) are heavily (mostly?) from the West Indies. I would say, for Boston and NYC, probably around half, at least. For Philly, much less, but still significant.

Most blacks in NYC are from the South. I can count offhand like 15 large African American neighborhoods and only two that are mostly Carribean (Crown Heights and East Flatbush).

[MichiVegas]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

Most blacks in NYC are from the South. I can count offhand like 15 large African American neighborhoods and only two that are mostly Carribean (Crown Heights and East Flatbush).

This is definitely wrong.

All the black neighborhoods in Southeast Queens are heavily West Indian, all the black neighborhoods in the Bronx are either overwhelmingly Jamaican (parts of Northeast Bronx) or heavily West African (parts of South Bronx), and basically every single black neighborhood in Brooklyn, especially south of Fulton Street (with is 90% of black Brooklyn geographically) has a strong West Indian presence.

Canarsie, the majority black neighborhood in NYC I'm most familiar with, is overwhelmingly black West Indian, with representation from basically every Caribbean country, but especially Haiti and Jamaica.

It's actually much easier to identify the NYC neighborhoods with a small West Indian influence, and they tend to be places that are gentrifying heavily and therefore not really hospitable to immigration waves, so places like Harlem and Bed Stuy. The other exception would be public housing, which tends to be heavily African American.

The strongest West Indian influences in NYC are actually not in Crown Heights or East Flatbush, but in the homeowership neighborhoods on the city fringe. Places like Laurelton, Rosedale, Canarsie, Wakefield, etc. are loaded with West Indian homeowners. Some inner suburbs like Elmont and Mt. Vernon are similarly packed with West Indian homebuyers.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

So are there any Black Chicagoans who sound like this?


Chicago Bobbys AccentTag - YouTube

Beanie Sigel has a strong Philly accent.


Beanie Sigel Radio Interview On Jay-Z Calling Police On Him in Philly - YouTube

Chicago Bobby does not have a Chicago accent at all. He sounds more NYish than Chicagoish.

[It'sAutomatic]

Originally Posted by MichiVegas

This is definitely wrong.

All the black neighborhoods in Southeast Queens are heavily West Indian, all the black neighborhoods in the Bronx are either overwhelmingly Jamaican (parts of Northeast Bronx) or heavily West African (parts of South Bronx), and basically every single black neighborhood in Brooklyn, especially south of Fulton Street (with is 90% of black Brooklyn geographically) has a strong West Indian presence.

Canarsie, the majority black neighborhood in NYC I'm most familiar with, is overwhelmingly black West Indian, with representation from basically every Caribbean country, but especially Haiti and Jamaica.

It's actually much easier to identify the NYC neighborhoods with a small West Indian influence, and they tend to be places that are gentrifying heavily and therefore not really hospitable to immigration waves, so places like Harlem and Bed Stuy. The other exception would be public housing, which tends to be heavily African American.

The strongest West Indian influences in NYC are actually not in Crown Heights or East Flatbush, but in the homeowership neighborhoods on the city fringe. Places like Laurelton, Rosedale, Canarsie, Wakefield, etc. are loaded with West Indian homeowners. Some inner suburbs like Elmont and Mt. Vernon are similarly packed with West Indian homebuyers.

You're really overestimating the numbers of black immigrants. Just looking around Wikipedia (not a perfect source, I know), it says that Jamaicans are 3.5% of the population of the borough (1), yet African-Americans (including Jamaicans) are 35.8% of the population (2). This is the borough most associated with West Indian immigration. In the Bronx, Sub-Saharan Africans make up 4.4% of the population versus 30.8% of total blacks (3).

Your tales of non-American black influence are interesting and not incorrect, but I do think you're discounting lots of long-standing AA neighborhoods. There is a lot of West Indian influence in all of these, but Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, and East New York are huge and have been 95% black since before Caribbean immigration was a thing, and while I'm not there on the ground to prove it, I don't think all of the black people got up and moved out. Not to mention Harlem, East Harlem & LES (public housing), the entire south half of the Bronx, and south Queens...


(1) New York City ethnic enclaves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(2) Brooklyn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(3) Demographics of the Bronx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Atlanta_BD]

For a lot of born black Chicagoans, their parents and/or grandparents are from the south. Both my parents were born in the south (AL and MS) but I don't have the southern accent. I know how to "turn it on" but I don't speak like that. Neither do my parents.

I've found that Chicagoans in the poorer areas on the south and west sides have a stronger southern accent. As already mentioned, the northeast has more black immigrants (or descendants of island immigrants) than does Chicago.