When Utahns talk about their state’s accent, one word seems to surface again and again: mountain.
The Utah stereotype is that locals drop the “t”, pronouncing it like “moun’ain." Some Utahns even go out of their way to over-pronounce the “t” to sound more “correct.”
Lisa Johnson, an assistant professor in BYU’s Department of Linguistics, calls this “linguistic insecurity,” a natural tendency to tweak our speech when we suspect our way of talking might be seen as wrong.
But linguistics isn’t just a talent for listening to people. It’s a science.
“We can take sound waves, and we can measure resonant frequencies," Johnson said. It’s not just something I think I’m hearing. I can actually measure it. And that’s really cool.”
Joey Stanley, another assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics, is working with Johnson on an ongoing, long-term project.
For the past three years, they have been building a large database of speech samples from people across Utah. Their goal is to understand Utah accents more deeply.
Stanley specializes in sociophonetics, dialectology and quantitative methods.
He found that when Utahns were asked if their state has an accent, the word “mountain” was the most common example mentioned. Along with similar words (fountain, gluten, satin, etc.)
In his research survey, he found three common pronunciations:
Way #1: Moun’n – surprisingly, the standard American English pronunciation, and not necessarily unique to Utahns.
Way #2: Moun’in – said this way roughly 15% of the time, more common in Utah than in the other states.
Way #3: Mountain – full T sound, often an overcorrection due to negative perceptions of the first two.
In the research survey, Utah had by far the most uses of Way #3, using the hyperarticulated "t" sound.
Ironically, Stanley found that in trying not to sound like a Utahn, many end up sounding exactly like one.
Johnson, having grown up in Utah, said she finds herself correcting her speech based on the Utah accent. Sometimes, she even overcorrects her speech.
For example, saying “can you feel that pitcher of water?” while trying to say fill.
This is a feature of the Utah accent where certain vowels get merged or shortened. Speakers may show fewer distinctions between words like fill and feel, or dill and deal.
Measuring an accent is difficult. Johnson pointed out that not everyone does everything. We each have our own unique voice.
“None of us is just one thing … I am a middle-aged mom in Utah who grew up in a particular area and has a particular level of education. All of these experiences make us who we are,” she said.
Accents are shaped not just by geography but by gender, race, age and cultural background. Accents even change depending on the situation. One may talk differently in front of their parents versus when they're with friends.
Stanley said that for the past four or five generations in Utah, there's been a shift.
“There's sort of this old school Utah accent, and then there's the new Utah accent. So when people think or hear the term 'Utah English,' they often think of sort of how their rural grandparents or great-grandparents sounded,” he said.
In the chart above, the younger speaker’s “ee” (FLEECE) and “ay” (FACE) sounds are higher and farther forward than the older speaker’s. Her “oh” (GOAT) sound is also farther forward.
Johnson said Utah’s accent is evolving as the population becomes more diverse. She knows that there will be differences not only based on age or location, but also ethnic diversity.
Utah was approximately 90% white through the 1970s, but this has since dropped to about 75.6%.
“We're a nation of immigrants,” she said. “In this place where we sort of have an idea that everybody's the same, we're not all the same.”
Johnson said she’s interested in researching differences based on ethnic diversity because it hasn’t been explored as much in Utah.
“Partly because it hasn't been seen as very diverse, but I think it's been more diverse than we have generally acknowledged,” she said.
For Johnson, studying people’s speech is a way to gain a deeper understanding of others.
“The more we understand about where different people are coming from and why they speak the way they do, I think the better appreciation we have for just the whole picture of God's children,” she said.
Utah's accent may not be as unique as people assume, or even more unique. What’s clear is that accents are continually evolving.