None of those words seem like they would be affected by an Utah accent, tbh. Just generic American.
ETA: Maybe running “you” and “have” together, to be more like “you-uhv.”
The only other thing I'd add is saying "your" as more of the ur in urine or polyurethane or something to that effect than the typical "yore" some Americans apparently use.
Like others have said, be lazy. I would say it like “I trust tch’all have practiced holdin’ yer breath.”
“Tch’all” in this case being a smashed up “that you all.” Not everyone would say y’all, but we do like to smash words together. Also, sometimes wrong grammar is right. Like “I trust tch’all been practicin’ holdin’ yer breath.” But that really depends on the character. Older folks tend to be the ones who “been doin’.”
I see what you’re saying, but I disagree. There is a fair amount of overlap between southern and Utahn. The pronunciation is very different, but the syntax is pretty similar. The dropping of the g is also prominent in the South. A southerner is going to give more play and fullness to the vowels, like “breath” would be like “bray-uth,” but we would say “breth.” Southerners both shorten and add more syllables to words, but I think we pretty much just shorten. And like I said, I would not say “been practicin’ holdin’” but my older family would. They been doin’ things, they gone places, and they’re fixin’ ta head ta Tooele on Wensdee. So I don’t mean to say that’s exactly how we would say it, but the way it is written feels like much more formal wording than an everyday guy would use.
They're not asking for how an older Utahn and smaller population speaks, so your point is moot. I'm middle aged and a native Utahn so I think they would rather have my dialect than an out of date generation. Proper language has always been important to (most every) Utahn I've known, regardless of education level.
Not necessarily. People often forget that Utah was part of Mexico for years after Texas was already a US state. It has a bigger “southern” feel to it than its credit for, largely due to the invasiveness of the Mormon culture in the late 1800s
So am I? They asked for info, people are giving info on how different Utahns would say it. We don’t know when or where this movie is set or anything about the character beyond he’s Utahn and trusts you’ve practiced holding your breath, so that information seemed like something that could be useful. I specified that not everyone would use that grammar, but some would. The actor can make his character choice. I mean, I guess we can square off on just how middle aged we are, but I suspect you and I aren’t going to find common ground, so I’ll leave it at that.
Yes. You think there is a right answer. I think there are several choices he could explore. Artists oftentimes like options. We’re doing different things. That’s okay.
Janelle hits it the best. It’s such a hard one to explain and it is so specific to Utah, not just normal west coast or western. There’s certain things like saying “I seen him…” or “I seen that the other day”.
I promise you it’s not. You may have lived there too long. I didn’t grow up in the state and have met many rural people from outside the state and the accent is very different. It is a very specific dialect. Maybe the “I seen” example is also found elsewhere, but the Utah accent is one-of-a-kind.
No, I was talking about the "I seen". That's a ruralism. I live west coast near Utah and have been in and out of SLC a lot. Never noticed anything, but I'm sure it's there.
I was mostly talking about that example.
I'm a girl but here ya go: [https://voca.ro/1hRNxH7wCuxy](https://voca.ro/1hRNxH7wCuxy)
The Utah accent is fairly neutral west coast American other than a few tells - "pellow" instead of "pillow," "I got it on sell" instead of "sale," as well as the examples you mention (although I've heard the dropped T's just as much across Colorado and California).
The syntax of the line feels a little foreign IMO. I feel like a Utahn would be more likely to say something like "Now I hope you've all been practicing holding your breath." Just my nitpicky two cents.
The rural western drawl (back of the mouth vs front of the mouth like a southern drawl, example: pronouncing "bell" as "behl" instead of a southern drawl "bayl") was more common in utah decades ago. It has rapidly declined, and not solely in favor of the generic western US accent, but I think it's also because a lot of western drawl has been replaced with a southern/texan drawl.
I attribute this to increased media access regarding stadium country music and those personalities via interviews and other pervasive pop culture presence.
Seems like now, if you're 'country', you emulate that texas accent, regardless of where you're at.
Or it takes place in a time period when the western rural accent had not yet been replaced yet. But yeah, certainly not how most utahns speak today, even in rural communities, but some of us still exist haha.
Yeah, used to be widespread, now it's little pockets of seemingly unrelated places. I grew up way north, but I've met people from all over the region from tiny little farm towns that have the same drawl, accent, and even the same little idioms and terms.
I spent my college years trying to lose the accent, and did an okay job of it all things considered. I drop it entirely when I'm at work. People tend to think less of your intelligence when you have a drawl. I'm guilty of this bias too, so I can't blame them haha.
Sorta comforting to hear that there are still kids growing up with it though. When I hear it, it reminds me of home almost as much as the reek of manure.
Y'all've is also a good option in this sentence, replacing you've all, but that might be getting a little too southern? Idk I hear way more varied accents on the internet, than I do local Utah accents.
I dunno about that, I'm born n raised Utahn and use "y'all" all the time, as do many I know. I imagine it's more common the farther you get from salt lake county though
No, I’m from Missouri where we do say, “y’all” but when I say it here on occasion, people ask where I’m from. Utahns don’t say it. But they do pronounce their -ing words with a soft “k” at the end, so it would be more like “holdingk” but the “k” is at like half volume.
I use ‘ya’ll’. I was 6 when we moved here from Virginia. Lost the Virginian accent, but kept the ya’ll. I always get asked where I’m from when it pops out in sentences. I don’t think it’s very common here tbh :)
(I’ve lived in Spanish fork back when it was much smaller and all the high schoolers drove trucks or farm trucks, Provo, Midvale, cedar hills, and downtown slc.)
People in Utah speak with a very neutral American accent. Older, rural Utahns have distinctive pronunciation of certain words, and as you pointed out, the dropped T sound is widespread, but there’s no particularly special way to say “I trust you have all practiced holding your breath.”
So just aim for a neutral American accent. I would say, though, that the word choice isn’t exactly right for American English. Americans don’t generally say “I trust..”. It sounds more British.
I’d recommend “I hope you’ve all practiced holding your breath” or “I’d expect you’ve all practiced holding your breath.”
the whole dropping t’s in the middle of a word is done all over the english speaking world and is not very particular to utah. think about how a cockney might drop t sounds. if anything i find americans weird sounding when they overly hit the t’s in the middle of a word. that’s reserved for posh fucks
I'd really love to know where Utahans got this idea that their pronunciation of t's was different. I live in Colorado with transplants from all over the US, and I never hear a hard, crisp "t" in "mountains."
Eh, I could imagine saying "I trust" in a certain set of circumstances. Also, I found recently that Utah has the most UK based heritage of the states. That doesn't necessarily mean recent immigration, but just the main heritage of most of the people.
It may also come down to the individual. Everyone has their own way of saying things and their own vocabulary. I've always had a bigger vocabulary growing up from my youth. I also had a strange proclivity to favor British English spellings. Maybe because I read a lot of British authors?
Edit: while looking for some good videos with examples of Utah accent to share with OP I came across this: https://youtu.be/oppbBLDmBnI?si=OAzsdJYsD3kzWb9s
I guess it's a bit more due to late British immigration to Utah that gives us that British English influence. Fascinating stuff! I didn't even make the connection that Hurricane's famous Utah pronunciation was actually quite British.
Hmmm my best phonetic translation and slight conversion:
Eye hope you’ve ahll practiced holding yer breath
Don’t make it too hick or hillbilly, but I said that out loud as I was typing it out. Pretty normal American accent, and I’ve lived in suburban Utah my whole life (even raised Mormon). “I trust” is extremely formal, so if the line is supposed to be formal or vaguely threatening that is fine, and just said with a normal american accent, but otherwise if in normal situations I think “I hope” would be the more regular-talk way to communicate the same idea. Also “have” is very often conjugated rather than pronounced separately. Could’ve, would’ve, that’d’ve, etc.. “Your” can be said totally normally or said as “yer”, I hear both often.
My two cents :)
A great resource for the Utah accent is the film "Baptists at our Barbeque"
Filmed in Utah, set in Utah staring native Utahn's, including my best friend growing up.
This will give you several different examples of Utah accents (there are a few different ones).
The entire movie is on Youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAC9c-eb\_o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAC9c-eb_o)
It might have been a while since I watched it. I thought it was Utah because that was part of the joke of the protagonist born and raised in Utah serving his mission still in Utah.
No problem.
Also saying things like "fer" instead of "for" ( not the case with the number four though)
Yew, not you.
And a'lod've (a lot of) conjuntions
It's just very lazy speech.
Everywhere else the u is silent /s
I’d say that if we say you differently it is to say “yuh” but not always. No idea what the rule would be, just that we do it only some of the time. It seems to turn into “chuh” when the last letter of the previous word is T. Nice to mee chuh, ‘preciate chuh, how yuh doing?
First, try r/asklinguistics
But here's the thing to keep in mind. Most accents are going to be replicated primarily through vowel shaping. If you really pay attention to what you're doing or hearing when you hit a decent replication of a foreign accent, it's largely in the aeiou.
Then you're often applying common "rules" to that. Think of contextual and/or one off things. For example another commenter mentioned the pillow/pellow thing. However, this doesn't apply to all short i sounds. You don't hear "thes" instead of "this".
https://www.englishgratis.com/1/wikibooks/americanenglish/utahenglish.htm#:~:text=Vowel%20shifts,foal%20%2F%20full
Lots of this info is good.
The other thing this does is help to eliminate subcultural bias. Utah isn't overwhelmingly diverse, but there's a stark contrast between a rural or low ish economic class, blue collar Mormon from an SLC suburban Mormon. But they tend to share those core commonalities. On the other hand, you'll hear "seent" a lot but while it's more common here, it's a very specific demographic you'll tend to hear it from, and adopting it might be more likely to lead an uninformed audience in the wrong direction.
Kinda like how your accent will be distinct from Kiwis to natives or discerning listeners, but you're easily mixed up because you bring a lot of vowels from the same part of the mouth/throat, and share the obvious non rhotic pronunciation.
Margot Robbie talking about Brooklyn accents, and Winslet talking about Philly are interesting watches on how to *think* about these things.
My kiwi friend used to always say..”always ask if they’re from NZ first, (upon hearing the accent and inquiring as to where they’re from)), a kiwi will love you, and Australians deserve it. :)
My spouse is from the uk, (also not Australian, as is often asked lol), and always makes fun of our harrrd “r’s”. Our “a’s” are particularly annoying. :)
You will find, those who grew up primarily Mormon, will have very good grammar. All that bible reading growing up. ;)
People in Utah and Colorado speak a fairly clean English. It’s not heavy affected hence the unusual numbers of customer service call centers.
A good example of an Utah accent is Mark Rober on Youtube. He no longer lives in Utah, but sounds both Mormon and Utah.
Good luck.
People say Utahns drop ‘T’s in words, but typically, as in “mountain”, it’s a glottal stop and is pretty common in American English. [Interesting video on the subject from a linguist](https://youtu.be/v_0VY17Ufz4)
Edit: and I agree with the people who say that the example line does not sound like something someone from Utah would say. It would more likely be something like, “Y’vall practiced holdin’ yer breath, right?”. The ‘d’ in “holdin” and ‘t’ in “right” would be a glottal stop.
As a transplant to Utah I've never understood why Utahns think saying "mounTain" or "LayTon" makes them sound less Utahn. Converting the T to a glottal stop is def not unique - I've never pronounced those words that way in my life.
The Utah accent is all about the vowels. I usually tell people to go watch a Siegfried and Jensen commercial to hear it.
I'm a native and I freaking hate it. But I usually hear it the most from transplants who parrot it for some reason and then I point out they *also* drop the t in mountain and they'll be in denial for awhile haha.
I think it might be because people in most places don't talk about mountains very often and then you move here and the word obviously gets thrown around a lot more? idk
Something you also may notice Is that Utahns speak pretty quickly. We don't draw out our sentences as much as some areas so, we tend to be fairly fast talkers
This is the part that gets screwed up by people trying to affect a Utah accent.
If a person from Utah slows down their speech and enunciates, the dropped sounds come back. There is a tendency to even over-enunciate some sounds when speaking slowly (the s sound for instance).
People have been debating hol’n versus holdeen (holding).
IMO if a Utahn is speaking in a normal cadence, it’s hol(d)n where the d is barely voiced. If speaking slowly it’s holdeen.
If you say “hol(d) slowly/draw it out, it’s a Southern accent, not a Utah accent.
I am not from Utah, but it’s like a second home to me. Most of my extended family lives there, so I visit once or twice per year. Their accent is subtle but it’s definitely there once you start paying attention. Words like feel, heal, steel are pronounced like fill, hill and still. Last time I was there my cousin said about a restaurant “they have really good deals” but I noticed that it sounded like “they have really good dills”. I wasn’t aware of the accent until a few years ago while watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City because many people started discussing it (see article below) and then realized my family talks the same. I’ve also noticed other examples mentioned in the article below like the pronunciation of the words “mountain” and “fork”. Of course these examples don’t apply to all Utahns but my family has deep roots there and they all seem to have the accent. Despite the fact that I was born and raised in other states, I have some characteristics of the accent myself.
Here’s an article about it: https://www.gawkerarchives.com/culture/a-utah-linguist-talks-to-gawker-about-whitney-roses-hilling-journey
I’m also from the Midwest and Utahns speak pretty similarly to Midwesterners. If anything, the little bit of an accent that Utah does have is most similar to Minnesota or Wisconsin.
Change the line to: “I hope you all feel comfortable holding your breath.”
Then pronounce “feel” like “fill”. And enunciate, like you’re talking to a room full of kindergarteners.
Perfect Utah accent.
Am I the only one who wonders, "Which Utah accent?" I swear there are some pretty big differences between the type of accent you'll hear from rural S. Utah vs. rural N. Utah vs. the typical suburban West Coast type of American accent in Salt Lake and Utah Counties.
Having lived here my entire life I honestly can't think of any time -ing was replaced with a long E and n, but I always hear and use hold'n, just apostrophe n in place of -ing.
I feel like it’s more common with the older Mo’s. Maybe more so outside of salt lake. Shopeen... It’s not drawn out, said with the normal speed.
It’s like sandpaper on my brain, so maybe that’s why I notice it so much.
When Utahns enunciate/speak slowly it comes out holdeen. In casual speech it’s hol(d) said quickly.
If you draw out hol(d)n, that’s Southern; not Utah.
I recommend the album Presure Machine by the Killers. The album is about the singers experience growing up in Nephi, a small town in central Utah. Each song is introduced with audio field interviews of people who grew up in central Utah, each great examples of the Utah accent and colloquialism.
I also recommend the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Although it was shot in Idaho, the movie has good examples of accents like the ones you’re looking for.
Yeah. I grew up here and could send you a recording of me saying that, but I doubt it’ll be all that interesting (also, turns out the dropping of the T is somewhat a stereotype and not completely accurate to what Utahns sound like these days. Nothing wrong with the stereotype though cause I’ve heard someone say “mittens” as “minnins” with a hard “n” sound)
Try half dropping only letters at the end of a word. Like the d at the end of practiced or g at the end of a word. I'm born and raised Mormon from Utah and have been told I have a Utah accent. Never could figure out how but reading your sentence I definitely slide the t but only if it's at the very end. I did drop a d and a g but only at the end. T in the Middle of the word is definitely there.
Truss , practice and holding would be more like Holden
In all honesty if you wanted to send me a paragraph you would like me to read and record reading it, I would do that for you. As long as he learns how to make fry sauce and salutes seagulls when they fly by he will be an 80% Mormon native.
You also need to pull your RS to the back of your throat and down a bit. Often there are a lot of gs and ks at the end of words. Ie thing with a hard g.
Near the end of the video he covers what you need to know: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k
First And foremost, most Americans wouldn't even say that phrase. It is too British. Here in Utah, a lot of true Utahns would say somethin' like: I trust you've all (or y'all) been holdin' yer breath. It's more of a western or cowboy accent.
But it goes deeper too. Utah is a mixture of many cultures due to so many immigrants from the LDS church. So you'd have to take into account what culture the character is from and how many cultures have entered the family. A Norwegian person would say it differently than an English person. Or a southern American person. Or a Polynesian. So in short, you'd have to really know the background of your character to know the best way to say the phrase.
Southern and rural Utah hit their vowels a little different. Eg:
Horses - harses (HAR-sez)
Milk - melk (MALE-k)
They also drop Gs off of gerunds. Eg:
Thinkin
Doin
Somthin
So Utah is known as one of the more "neutral" and hard to detect American accents. The dropping of T's is a big thing but otherwise it's a fairly straightforward western pronunciation and dialect. I don't see a ton in that line that would distinguish it from a general western United States accent, so mainly with that I would try to avoid getting any other regional markers into it.
A few other Utah accent points that might be worth noting would be the pronunciation of vowel sounds in a few odd words. The "i" in pillow and milk is more of an "eh" sound. For some this vowel pronunciation extends as far as words like pill. But it's not generalizable because spill, will, kill, bilk, willow, and other mid word "i" sounds don't get this treatment.
Depends on the context. If we’re talking rural Mormon in a serious movie it’s going to be pretty standard rural western American accent. But we’re talking a suburban modern Mormon and especially if it’s a goofy or comedic scene you could add that nasal kind of dorky, lilty inflection to it.
Oh also, I think the church might have videos up on their YouTube or website? They usually have Mormon actors if you want to get a flavor for the accent in general.
Some movies that some it fairly well, if you can find them. The best two years, the rm, and mobsters and Mormons. They are all fairly centered around the Mormon faith so if that's something you would rather avoid then I would not watch them. But from what I understand most of the actors in those movies are Utahn so accent wise should give you a pretty good idea.
I’m concerned that the director said to speak in an Utah/Mormon accent and gave this line.
This line should sound like a general American accent. There are no “tells” that would give away a person’s Utah origin with this line.
More often than not, people “from Utah” in media get a a weird rural/southern accent that is completely inauthentic but may play into an uninformed filmmaker’s preconceptions.
It looks like a few rural Utahns have linked their renditions, but unless the character is explicitly from a rural community, it would be better to just use a general American accent.
The line works if it’s delivered formally. If it’s informal, I’d change it to “hope you’ve all practiced holding your breath”. Drop the I trust in favor of ..hope; the I isn’t needed.
“Hope you’ve all” should be “HO pyaVOL. Where the HO and VOL are stressed and the pya just links those sounds. FFS don’t say y’all’uv.
With holding, it would be more like hol’n with the d barely voiced.
Don’t leave a beat where the sounds are omitted; if you leave a beat and draw it out it will sound Southern.
There’s nothing here that would sound specifically Utahn but maybe make it a little less formal and say
“I trust you’ve all practiced holdin’ yer breath.”
Americans in the west specifically tend to say “you’re” more like “yer” and we’re big on contractions as well as dropping “G”’s from words.
“I” sounds like “eye”.
The “t” at the end of “trust” would be softer.
And then “you have” might contract to “you’ve” but how modern is the time period for the movie? If it’s like a biopic for pioneers/Joseph Smith time, it might just stay “you have.”
“Practiced” would sound like “pracktiss’d”
“Holding” would also have a slight drop/softness at the “ng”.
“Your” would also sound a little more like “yer” and “your” melded together if that makes any sense.
“Breath” would probably be how it sounds, again, softening the end of the word.
Might be a good idea for him to watch some of the Mormon movies like The Singles Ward or Sons of Provo.
It was said already about sister wives but also go with any Mormon film:
Brigham City (horror-ish film),
Singles ward,
Gods army &
The RM
These will all have super great actors you can get an idea from for the Utah accent.
Found this reel which I think sums it up pretty good in a short vid. [Old timer Utahn accent.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8Kum4ABePS/?igsh=YXZzbXBhcGpnbjR3) My grandpa talks like this.
Utahns are pretty big on speaking "correctly". But for the most part words are spoken how they are written on paper and not changed too much. You've not got a "T" phrase to drop in this sentence; say it as it's written and that's the way.
Not sure if this is relevant or not but my mother was a German immigrant who grew up in woodland hills Adelaide and moved to Utah, makes for an interesting accent. [https://www.byutv.org/9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76?player-open=true&content-id=9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76&s=902&e=948&utm\_source=byub&utm\_medium=share&utm\_campaign=share\_2024&utm\_content=clip](https://www.byutv.org/9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76?player-open=true&content-id=9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76&s=902&e=948&utm_source=byub&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_2024&utm_content=clip)
Check out @mikeyandthemrs instagram. Just posted a few “Utah-isms”. His take is definitely more rural, but elements seep into the rest of the states dialect.
I’s and E’s get flipped - i.e. pinch=peench, peel=pill; T gets dropped from words that have one and added to words that don’t - i.e. moun’ain, but Siegfried and Jen(t)sen; “ay” sounds becoming “eh” sounds is so prominent that even semi-intelligent Utahans have an annoying tendency to write “for sale” as “for sell” - and that’s just a few examples from southern Utah…
" [I] Trus' ya'll've practiced hold'n yer breath?'
Source: born in rural-ish northern Utah the 'ya'll've' is imperitive here. Could be replaced with 'yuvall' depending on preference/location
[I] is optional. Likely to be left out.
Okay so not all of these are just Utah some are from just like the general western US. Also this is partially just how I personally would say it as someone with a Utah accent, so take some of this with a grain of salt if you wanna.
But for that sentence first off, LOTS of contractions, people from the American west in general use tons of contractions, so “I trust you have all practiced holding your breath” would become with contractions,
“I’d trust you’ve all practiced holding your breath.”
I don’t know why but “I trust” I would never say naturally but I would say “I’d trust.”
Second most westerners do NOT pronounce ing in words as ing they pronounce it in’ so it’d become,
“I’d trust you’ve all practiced holdin’ your breath.”
And lastly just saying it out loud so many times while typing this to see how it sounds it to me sounds way more natural and like a Utah accent to say “been practicin’” instead of “practiced”, been is a word people in the west use a lot more than others I think (for example we wouldn’t say “I was there a while ago” we’d say “I’d been there a while ago” or instead of “that’s what i was doing” we’d say “that’s what I’ve been doing” and you’re addressing a group so I’m pretty sure we’d say “breaths” not “breath”. So the way I’d say that line and I think a lotta others would would be,
“I’d trust you’ve all been practicin’ holdin’ your breaths.”
P.S. Americans in general don’t usually pronounce your like “yor” or “your” we pronounce it “yer”.
so, Utah is in this weird state of having influences from both sides of tha' mason dixon line so it can be tricky to emulate us.
"i trust you've all practice' hold'n you' breath"
None of those words seem like they would be affected by an Utah accent, tbh. Just generic American. ETA: Maybe running “you” and “have” together, to be more like “you-uhv.”
The only other thing I'd add is saying "your" as more of the ur in urine or polyurethane or something to that effect than the typical "yore" some Americans apparently use.
Yer
I second this
Thank you! I truly appreciate it.
I support this, maybe also make the you are sound slightly like "yer". Like "holdin' yer breath"
Like others have said, be lazy. I would say it like “I trust tch’all have practiced holdin’ yer breath.” “Tch’all” in this case being a smashed up “that you all.” Not everyone would say y’all, but we do like to smash words together. Also, sometimes wrong grammar is right. Like “I trust tch’all been practicin’ holdin’ yer breath.” But that really depends on the character. Older folks tend to be the ones who “been doin’.”
That's not how Utahns talk though. That's more southern.
I see what you’re saying, but I disagree. There is a fair amount of overlap between southern and Utahn. The pronunciation is very different, but the syntax is pretty similar. The dropping of the g is also prominent in the South. A southerner is going to give more play and fullness to the vowels, like “breath” would be like “bray-uth,” but we would say “breth.” Southerners both shorten and add more syllables to words, but I think we pretty much just shorten. And like I said, I would not say “been practicin’ holdin’” but my older family would. They been doin’ things, they gone places, and they’re fixin’ ta head ta Tooele on Wensdee. So I don’t mean to say that’s exactly how we would say it, but the way it is written feels like much more formal wording than an everyday guy would use.
They're not asking for how an older Utahn and smaller population speaks, so your point is moot. I'm middle aged and a native Utahn so I think they would rather have my dialect than an out of date generation. Proper language has always been important to (most every) Utahn I've known, regardless of education level.
As a native Utahan now living in San Antonio, there are just as many, if not more “southern sounding” people in Ogden/slc than here in San Antonio.
I'd argue that's due to immigration, wouldn't you? Edited: I meant migration. Or, both.
Not necessarily. People often forget that Utah was part of Mexico for years after Texas was already a US state. It has a bigger “southern” feel to it than its credit for, largely due to the invasiveness of the Mormon culture in the late 1800s
You're a silly internet person, aren't you?
So am I? They asked for info, people are giving info on how different Utahns would say it. We don’t know when or where this movie is set or anything about the character beyond he’s Utahn and trusts you’ve practiced holding your breath, so that information seemed like something that could be useful. I specified that not everyone would use that grammar, but some would. The actor can make his character choice. I mean, I guess we can square off on just how middle aged we are, but I suspect you and I aren’t going to find common ground, so I’ll leave it at that.
You're giving a complicated answer when there's a simple one to the OP.
Yes. You think there is a right answer. I think there are several choices he could explore. Artists oftentimes like options. We’re doing different things. That’s okay.
Fair enough.
The cast of Sister Wives' nails the Utah accent.
Okay, we will have a look. Thank you!
Came here to say Sister Wives and also Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. You get a lot of the typical Utah accent on both those shows.
Lmao this. Or just look up a supercut of Whitney Rose speaking about her “hilling journey” 😂
Tan France also lives in Salt Lake City, look him up too! /j
Tan doesn’t have an Utah accent.
It was a joke. Hence the /j.
Since it’s for a male character. General conference talks. Depending on the type of character this might nail it.
I’d tone it down a lot though. Men don’t speak with the same degree of affectation. An over-the-top accent like this is an affectation.
Janelle hits it the best. It’s such a hard one to explain and it is so specific to Utah, not just normal west coast or western. There’s certain things like saying “I seen him…” or “I seen that the other day”.
This is just rural from almost any state.
I promise you it’s not. You may have lived there too long. I didn’t grow up in the state and have met many rural people from outside the state and the accent is very different. It is a very specific dialect. Maybe the “I seen” example is also found elsewhere, but the Utah accent is one-of-a-kind.
No, I was talking about the "I seen". That's a ruralism. I live west coast near Utah and have been in and out of SLC a lot. Never noticed anything, but I'm sure it's there. I was mostly talking about that example.
You beat me to it😂 I made the same suggestion
I'm a girl but here ya go: [https://voca.ro/1hRNxH7wCuxy](https://voca.ro/1hRNxH7wCuxy) The Utah accent is fairly neutral west coast American other than a few tells - "pellow" instead of "pillow," "I got it on sell" instead of "sale," as well as the examples you mention (although I've heard the dropped T's just as much across Colorado and California). The syntax of the line feels a little foreign IMO. I feel like a Utahn would be more likely to say something like "Now I hope you've all been practicing holding your breath." Just my nitpicky two cents.
Oh my goodness! You have gone above and beyond! Thank you!
i grew up in a small farm town. so here it is with a more rural utah accent. https://voca.ro/11CEwbnGEVc0
Oh wow that WAS more rural! If I met you in person I would not have guessed you were from Utah. Sincerely A Northern Suburban Utahn.
The rural western drawl (back of the mouth vs front of the mouth like a southern drawl, example: pronouncing "bell" as "behl" instead of a southern drawl "bayl") was more common in utah decades ago. It has rapidly declined, and not solely in favor of the generic western US accent, but I think it's also because a lot of western drawl has been replaced with a southern/texan drawl. I attribute this to increased media access regarding stadium country music and those personalities via interviews and other pervasive pop culture presence. Seems like now, if you're 'country', you emulate that texas accent, regardless of where you're at.
Don’t do this unless the character is explicitly rural.
Or it takes place in a time period when the western rural accent had not yet been replaced yet. But yeah, certainly not how most utahns speak today, even in rural communities, but some of us still exist haha.
We have a few communities with this drawl. I saw a kindergarten aged kid from a South Utah county ultra rural area using it. I was fascinated.
Yeah, used to be widespread, now it's little pockets of seemingly unrelated places. I grew up way north, but I've met people from all over the region from tiny little farm towns that have the same drawl, accent, and even the same little idioms and terms. I spent my college years trying to lose the accent, and did an okay job of it all things considered. I drop it entirely when I'm at work. People tend to think less of your intelligence when you have a drawl. I'm guilty of this bias too, so I can't blame them haha. Sorta comforting to hear that there are still kids growing up with it though. When I hear it, it reminds me of home almost as much as the reek of manure.
Practicin’
Id drop both g’s
I’m a Utah county native and former Mormon of 19 years, and here is my voice recording. https://voca.ro/1axY6SHYXWMm
And it’d be said like “now I hope you’ve all bin practiceen holdin’ yur breaf”
It’s more like “I got it on sill” instead of sale
Y'all've is also a good option in this sentence, replacing you've all, but that might be getting a little too southern? Idk I hear way more varied accents on the internet, than I do local Utah accents.
Very few Utahns use “y’all”
I dunno about that, I'm born n raised Utahn and use "y'all" all the time, as do many I know. I imagine it's more common the farther you get from salt lake county though
Yep. That one always nails me as a southerner. (Which is funny, bc asking for fry sauce always got me found out as a “yankee”)
It's common enough here it doesn't sound out of place when you hear it though. Some people use it semi sarcastically as well
No, I’m from Missouri where we do say, “y’all” but when I say it here on occasion, people ask where I’m from. Utahns don’t say it. But they do pronounce their -ing words with a soft “k” at the end, so it would be more like “holdingk” but the “k” is at like half volume.
A texan transplant and i agree. People do not see yall as a normal phrase.
I use ‘ya’ll’. I was 6 when we moved here from Virginia. Lost the Virginian accent, but kept the ya’ll. I always get asked where I’m from when it pops out in sentences. I don’t think it’s very common here tbh :) (I’ve lived in Spanish fork back when it was much smaller and all the high schoolers drove trucks or farm trucks, Provo, Midvale, cedar hills, and downtown slc.)
People in Utah speak with a very neutral American accent. Older, rural Utahns have distinctive pronunciation of certain words, and as you pointed out, the dropped T sound is widespread, but there’s no particularly special way to say “I trust you have all practiced holding your breath.” So just aim for a neutral American accent. I would say, though, that the word choice isn’t exactly right for American English. Americans don’t generally say “I trust..”. It sounds more British. I’d recommend “I hope you’ve all practiced holding your breath” or “I’d expect you’ve all practiced holding your breath.”
Thank you!
the whole dropping t’s in the middle of a word is done all over the english speaking world and is not very particular to utah. think about how a cockney might drop t sounds. if anything i find americans weird sounding when they overly hit the t’s in the middle of a word. that’s reserved for posh fucks
I'd really love to know where Utahans got this idea that their pronunciation of t's was different. I live in Colorado with transplants from all over the US, and I never hear a hard, crisp "t" in "mountains."
I agree regarding the "I trust" bit. It does not sound Utahn or American.
I’d’ve gone with “I’m imagining” or “I hope” or “I bet” I trust does sound British or at least like transatlantic.
I would go with “….hope you’ve all”. I think the I would be dropped in informal speech.
Eh, I could imagine saying "I trust" in a certain set of circumstances. Also, I found recently that Utah has the most UK based heritage of the states. That doesn't necessarily mean recent immigration, but just the main heritage of most of the people. It may also come down to the individual. Everyone has their own way of saying things and their own vocabulary. I've always had a bigger vocabulary growing up from my youth. I also had a strange proclivity to favor British English spellings. Maybe because I read a lot of British authors? Edit: while looking for some good videos with examples of Utah accent to share with OP I came across this: https://youtu.be/oppbBLDmBnI?si=OAzsdJYsD3kzWb9s I guess it's a bit more due to late British immigration to Utah that gives us that British English influence. Fascinating stuff! I didn't even make the connection that Hurricane's famous Utah pronunciation was actually quite British.
I agree that people should have the flexibility to use the words that they like, provided it's reasonably easy to understand them.
Hmmm my best phonetic translation and slight conversion: Eye hope you’ve ahll practiced holding yer breath Don’t make it too hick or hillbilly, but I said that out loud as I was typing it out. Pretty normal American accent, and I’ve lived in suburban Utah my whole life (even raised Mormon). “I trust” is extremely formal, so if the line is supposed to be formal or vaguely threatening that is fine, and just said with a normal american accent, but otherwise if in normal situations I think “I hope” would be the more regular-talk way to communicate the same idea. Also “have” is very often conjugated rather than pronounced separately. Could’ve, would’ve, that’d’ve, etc.. “Your” can be said totally normally or said as “yer”, I hear both often. My two cents :)
A great resource for the Utah accent is the film "Baptists at our Barbeque" Filmed in Utah, set in Utah staring native Utahn's, including my best friend growing up. This will give you several different examples of Utah accents (there are a few different ones). The entire movie is on Youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAC9c-eb\_o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAC9c-eb_o)
(set in Arizona)
It might have been a while since I watched it. I thought it was Utah because that was part of the joke of the protagonist born and raised in Utah serving his mission still in Utah.
Mmm you might be mixing two movies. The protagonist in the movie is guy who moves into town working as a forest ranger
Maybe I'm thinking Orgasmo
"I trust you've all practiced hold'n yer breath?"
Thank you! This is so helpful.
No problem. Also saying things like "fer" instead of "for" ( not the case with the number four though) Yew, not you. And a'lod've (a lot of) conjuntions It's just very lazy speech.
>Yew, not you. Um...have I been in Utah too long? What's the difference?
Everywhere else the u is silent /s I’d say that if we say you differently it is to say “yuh” but not always. No idea what the rule would be, just that we do it only some of the time. It seems to turn into “chuh” when the last letter of the previous word is T. Nice to mee chuh, ‘preciate chuh, how yuh doing?
I guess it would be closer to ew, and not oo (as in oo la la), like the statement "this is for you." In *Utahn* it would be "This is fer yew."
As a Utah girly, I say “holdeen” not “holdin”
First, try r/asklinguistics But here's the thing to keep in mind. Most accents are going to be replicated primarily through vowel shaping. If you really pay attention to what you're doing or hearing when you hit a decent replication of a foreign accent, it's largely in the aeiou. Then you're often applying common "rules" to that. Think of contextual and/or one off things. For example another commenter mentioned the pillow/pellow thing. However, this doesn't apply to all short i sounds. You don't hear "thes" instead of "this". https://www.englishgratis.com/1/wikibooks/americanenglish/utahenglish.htm#:~:text=Vowel%20shifts,foal%20%2F%20full Lots of this info is good. The other thing this does is help to eliminate subcultural bias. Utah isn't overwhelmingly diverse, but there's a stark contrast between a rural or low ish economic class, blue collar Mormon from an SLC suburban Mormon. But they tend to share those core commonalities. On the other hand, you'll hear "seent" a lot but while it's more common here, it's a very specific demographic you'll tend to hear it from, and adopting it might be more likely to lead an uninformed audience in the wrong direction. Kinda like how your accent will be distinct from Kiwis to natives or discerning listeners, but you're easily mixed up because you bring a lot of vowels from the same part of the mouth/throat, and share the obvious non rhotic pronunciation. Margot Robbie talking about Brooklyn accents, and Winslet talking about Philly are interesting watches on how to *think* about these things.
My kiwi friend used to always say..”always ask if they’re from NZ first, (upon hearing the accent and inquiring as to where they’re from)), a kiwi will love you, and Australians deserve it. :) My spouse is from the uk, (also not Australian, as is often asked lol), and always makes fun of our harrrd “r’s”. Our “a’s” are particularly annoying. :) You will find, those who grew up primarily Mormon, will have very good grammar. All that bible reading growing up. ;)
People in Utah and Colorado speak a fairly clean English. It’s not heavy affected hence the unusual numbers of customer service call centers. A good example of an Utah accent is Mark Rober on Youtube. He no longer lives in Utah, but sounds both Mormon and Utah. Good luck.
People say Utahns drop ‘T’s in words, but typically, as in “mountain”, it’s a glottal stop and is pretty common in American English. [Interesting video on the subject from a linguist](https://youtu.be/v_0VY17Ufz4) Edit: and I agree with the people who say that the example line does not sound like something someone from Utah would say. It would more likely be something like, “Y’vall practiced holdin’ yer breath, right?”. The ‘d’ in “holdin” and ‘t’ in “right” would be a glottal stop.
As a transplant to Utah I've never understood why Utahns think saying "mounTain" or "LayTon" makes them sound less Utahn. Converting the T to a glottal stop is def not unique - I've never pronounced those words that way in my life. The Utah accent is all about the vowels. I usually tell people to go watch a Siegfried and Jensen commercial to hear it.
I'm a native and I freaking hate it. But I usually hear it the most from transplants who parrot it for some reason and then I point out they *also* drop the t in mountain and they'll be in denial for awhile haha. I think it might be because people in most places don't talk about mountains very often and then you move here and the word obviously gets thrown around a lot more? idk
To me, we Utahns glide you’ve all even more. More like yuhvall
It would be HOpyaVAHL (pya an unstressed linker) instead of Hope you’ve all.
Something you also may notice Is that Utahns speak pretty quickly. We don't draw out our sentences as much as some areas so, we tend to be fairly fast talkers
This is the part that gets screwed up by people trying to affect a Utah accent. If a person from Utah slows down their speech and enunciates, the dropped sounds come back. There is a tendency to even over-enunciate some sounds when speaking slowly (the s sound for instance). People have been debating hol’n versus holdeen (holding). IMO if a Utahn is speaking in a normal cadence, it’s hol(d)n where the d is barely voiced. If speaking slowly it’s holdeen. If you say “hol(d) slowly/draw it out, it’s a Southern accent, not a Utah accent.
What year or period is the film?
Watch Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to hear it
You should have him watch some general conference clips!
I am not from Utah, but it’s like a second home to me. Most of my extended family lives there, so I visit once or twice per year. Their accent is subtle but it’s definitely there once you start paying attention. Words like feel, heal, steel are pronounced like fill, hill and still. Last time I was there my cousin said about a restaurant “they have really good deals” but I noticed that it sounded like “they have really good dills”. I wasn’t aware of the accent until a few years ago while watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City because many people started discussing it (see article below) and then realized my family talks the same. I’ve also noticed other examples mentioned in the article below like the pronunciation of the words “mountain” and “fork”. Of course these examples don’t apply to all Utahns but my family has deep roots there and they all seem to have the accent. Despite the fact that I was born and raised in other states, I have some characteristics of the accent myself. Here’s an article about it: https://www.gawkerarchives.com/culture/a-utah-linguist-talks-to-gawker-about-whitney-roses-hilling-journey
These are the ones I can think of: "you uv all" "yur" "prak-dist"
"Trust y'all've practiced holden yer breath"
Moved there from the midwest and legit noticed no accent from most people.
I’m also from the Midwest and Utahns speak pretty similarly to Midwesterners. If anything, the little bit of an accent that Utah does have is most similar to Minnesota or Wisconsin.
Haha I never got that. But maybe the politeness?… I’m jealous of your experience there now haha
Change the line to: “I hope you all feel comfortable holding your breath.” Then pronounce “feel” like “fill”. And enunciate, like you’re talking to a room full of kindergarteners. Perfect Utah accent.
This is the winner- everything a general American accent except for fill.
Am I the only one who wonders, "Which Utah accent?" I swear there are some pretty big differences between the type of accent you'll hear from rural S. Utah vs. rural N. Utah vs. the typical suburban West Coast type of American accent in Salt Lake and Utah Counties.
We don’t have an accent.
Holding would be pronounced “holdeen”
Having lived here my entire life I honestly can't think of any time -ing was replaced with a long E and n, but I always hear and use hold'n, just apostrophe n in place of -ing.
I feel like it’s more common with the older Mo’s. Maybe more so outside of salt lake. Shopeen... It’s not drawn out, said with the normal speed. It’s like sandpaper on my brain, so maybe that’s why I notice it so much.
When Utahns enunciate/speak slowly it comes out holdeen. In casual speech it’s hol(d) said quickly. If you draw out hol(d)n, that’s Southern; not Utah.
The "gunnew" rather than gonna is what killed me when I moved here. "I'm gunnew go grab a bite to eat." Where the hell did that come from?!
I recommend the album Presure Machine by the Killers. The album is about the singers experience growing up in Nephi, a small town in central Utah. Each song is introduced with audio field interviews of people who grew up in central Utah, each great examples of the Utah accent and colloquialism. I also recommend the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Although it was shot in Idaho, the movie has good examples of accents like the ones you’re looking for.
Yeah. I grew up here and could send you a recording of me saying that, but I doubt it’ll be all that interesting (also, turns out the dropping of the T is somewhat a stereotype and not completely accurate to what Utahns sound like these days. Nothing wrong with the stereotype though cause I’ve heard someone say “mittens” as “minnins” with a hard “n” sound)
Oh yes please for a recording! I would be so grateful!
Try half dropping only letters at the end of a word. Like the d at the end of practiced or g at the end of a word. I'm born and raised Mormon from Utah and have been told I have a Utah accent. Never could figure out how but reading your sentence I definitely slide the t but only if it's at the very end. I did drop a d and a g but only at the end. T in the Middle of the word is definitely there. Truss , practice and holding would be more like Holden
In all honesty if you wanted to send me a paragraph you would like me to read and record reading it, I would do that for you. As long as he learns how to make fry sauce and salutes seagulls when they fly by he will be an 80% Mormon native.
I trust you’vell practiced holdin ur breath
Talk like you have marbles in your mouth
You also need to pull your RS to the back of your throat and down a bit. Often there are a lot of gs and ks at the end of words. Ie thing with a hard g. Near the end of the video he covers what you need to know: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k
lol
Break a leg!
[not sure how helpful this is, but… maybe?](https://www.dialectsarchive.com/?s=Utah) International dialect archive
Reminds me of “these pretzels are makin me thirsty”
They add a "k" sound to the end of lots of "-ing" words. Thinkingk. Drivingk. Walkingk.
[https://saltlake.citycast.fm/salt-lake-life-hacks/how-to-speak-like-a-utahn](https://saltlake.citycast.fm/salt-lake-life-hacks/how-to-speak-like-a-utahn)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgxx2v3IYQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgxx2v3IYQ)
Drop the g on holding.
First And foremost, most Americans wouldn't even say that phrase. It is too British. Here in Utah, a lot of true Utahns would say somethin' like: I trust you've all (or y'all) been holdin' yer breath. It's more of a western or cowboy accent. But it goes deeper too. Utah is a mixture of many cultures due to so many immigrants from the LDS church. So you'd have to take into account what culture the character is from and how many cultures have entered the family. A Norwegian person would say it differently than an English person. Or a southern American person. Or a Polynesian. So in short, you'd have to really know the background of your character to know the best way to say the phrase.
I cannot imagine any Utahn saying that particular combination of words, so no help here. j
Southern and rural Utah hit their vowels a little different. Eg: Horses - harses (HAR-sez) Milk - melk (MALE-k) They also drop Gs off of gerunds. Eg: Thinkin Doin Somthin
Here's a little taste of the Utah accent: https://youtu.be/u3TYTjQgLeQ?si=g2PingLAmO9jCsJR
So Utah is known as one of the more "neutral" and hard to detect American accents. The dropping of T's is a big thing but otherwise it's a fairly straightforward western pronunciation and dialect. I don't see a ton in that line that would distinguish it from a general western United States accent, so mainly with that I would try to avoid getting any other regional markers into it. A few other Utah accent points that might be worth noting would be the pronunciation of vowel sounds in a few odd words. The "i" in pillow and milk is more of an "eh" sound. For some this vowel pronunciation extends as far as words like pill. But it's not generalizable because spill, will, kill, bilk, willow, and other mid word "i" sounds don't get this treatment.
Depends on the context. If we’re talking rural Mormon in a serious movie it’s going to be pretty standard rural western American accent. But we’re talking a suburban modern Mormon and especially if it’s a goofy or comedic scene you could add that nasal kind of dorky, lilty inflection to it.
I’m from Utah, I’ll send a video of myself (female) and one of my partner (male) saying it lol
Did you get it figured out? If not, I can record myself and the members of my household reading the line so you get a few samples.
Oh also, I think the church might have videos up on their YouTube or website? They usually have Mormon actors if you want to get a flavor for the accent in general.
[here is their YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@churchofjesuschrist?si=wyxR2153v3L40KOz)
Watch sister wives!!!
Some movies that some it fairly well, if you can find them. The best two years, the rm, and mobsters and Mormons. They are all fairly centered around the Mormon faith so if that's something you would rather avoid then I would not watch them. But from what I understand most of the actors in those movies are Utahn so accent wise should give you a pretty good idea.
I’m concerned that the director said to speak in an Utah/Mormon accent and gave this line. This line should sound like a general American accent. There are no “tells” that would give away a person’s Utah origin with this line. More often than not, people “from Utah” in media get a a weird rural/southern accent that is completely inauthentic but may play into an uninformed filmmaker’s preconceptions. It looks like a few rural Utahns have linked their renditions, but unless the character is explicitly from a rural community, it would be better to just use a general American accent. The line works if it’s delivered formally. If it’s informal, I’d change it to “hope you’ve all practiced holding your breath”. Drop the I trust in favor of ..hope; the I isn’t needed. “Hope you’ve all” should be “HO pyaVOL. Where the HO and VOL are stressed and the pya just links those sounds. FFS don’t say y’all’uv. With holding, it would be more like hol’n with the d barely voiced. Don’t leave a beat where the sounds are omitted; if you leave a beat and draw it out it will sound Southern.
There’s nothing here that would sound specifically Utahn but maybe make it a little less formal and say “I trust you’ve all practiced holdin’ yer breath.” Americans in the west specifically tend to say “you’re” more like “yer” and we’re big on contractions as well as dropping “G”’s from words.
“I” sounds like “eye”. The “t” at the end of “trust” would be softer. And then “you have” might contract to “you’ve” but how modern is the time period for the movie? If it’s like a biopic for pioneers/Joseph Smith time, it might just stay “you have.” “Practiced” would sound like “pracktiss’d” “Holding” would also have a slight drop/softness at the “ng”. “Your” would also sound a little more like “yer” and “your” melded together if that makes any sense. “Breath” would probably be how it sounds, again, softening the end of the word. Might be a good idea for him to watch some of the Mormon movies like The Singles Ward or Sons of Provo.
Edit: “holding” could also be “holdin’” or smooshed together with “your” so it would be like “holdin(soft g)your”
It was said already about sister wives but also go with any Mormon film: Brigham City (horror-ish film), Singles ward, Gods army & The RM These will all have super great actors you can get an idea from for the Utah accent.
“I chrust you ‘uv all prack-dissed holdin yer breath”
“I trust yoov all been holding yer breath.” Not hick though, just standard talk.
Found this reel which I think sums it up pretty good in a short vid. [Old timer Utahn accent.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8Kum4ABePS/?igsh=YXZzbXBhcGpnbjR3) My grandpa talks like this.
Watch "Matt's off road recovery" and "Fab rats" on youtube. Great rural Utah accents.
Utahns are pretty big on speaking "correctly". But for the most part words are spoken how they are written on paper and not changed too much. You've not got a "T" phrase to drop in this sentence; say it as it's written and that's the way.
Not sure if this is relevant or not but my mother was a German immigrant who grew up in woodland hills Adelaide and moved to Utah, makes for an interesting accent. [https://www.byutv.org/9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76?player-open=true&content-id=9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76&s=902&e=948&utm\_source=byub&utm\_medium=share&utm\_campaign=share\_2024&utm\_content=clip](https://www.byutv.org/9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76?player-open=true&content-id=9f48ede4-67fa-4517-9407-abf7c9304e76&s=902&e=948&utm_source=byub&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_2024&utm_content=clip)
[https://youtu.be/aooqjDnPJU4?si=uwnjJNjBQ6mUiVDp&t=1958](https://youtu.be/aooqjDnPJU4?si=uwnjJNjBQ6mUiVDp&t=1958)
Check out @mikeyandthemrs instagram. Just posted a few “Utah-isms”. His take is definitely more rural, but elements seep into the rest of the states dialect.
The dropping the t is very subtle if you get to into you its off. You probably won't find a lot of movies but I'm sure there is other media to study
"I trust youve all practiced holdin ur breth" is how i said it out loud. I think thats just american, not utahn
That’s backwoods Texas
Make sure it's "breath", not "brith".
Watch the Netflix Documentary “Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey” for the Utah accent
I truss all uv ya practissd holdin your breath. Super soft sound for the d at the end of practiced. This is how I would say it.
I’s and E’s get flipped - i.e. pinch=peench, peel=pill; T gets dropped from words that have one and added to words that don’t - i.e. moun’ain, but Siegfried and Jen(t)sen; “ay” sounds becoming “eh” sounds is so prominent that even semi-intelligent Utahans have an annoying tendency to write “for sale” as “for sell” - and that’s just a few examples from southern Utah…
I would honestly just watch ksl news lol. They all have strong Utah accents
I trus'chew all of practiced holding yer breath
" [I] Trus' ya'll've practiced hold'n yer breath?' Source: born in rural-ish northern Utah the 'ya'll've' is imperitive here. Could be replaced with 'yuvall' depending on preference/location [I] is optional. Likely to be left out.
Okay so not all of these are just Utah some are from just like the general western US. Also this is partially just how I personally would say it as someone with a Utah accent, so take some of this with a grain of salt if you wanna. But for that sentence first off, LOTS of contractions, people from the American west in general use tons of contractions, so “I trust you have all practiced holding your breath” would become with contractions, “I’d trust you’ve all practiced holding your breath.” I don’t know why but “I trust” I would never say naturally but I would say “I’d trust.” Second most westerners do NOT pronounce ing in words as ing they pronounce it in’ so it’d become, “I’d trust you’ve all practiced holdin’ your breath.” And lastly just saying it out loud so many times while typing this to see how it sounds it to me sounds way more natural and like a Utah accent to say “been practicin’” instead of “practiced”, been is a word people in the west use a lot more than others I think (for example we wouldn’t say “I was there a while ago” we’d say “I’d been there a while ago” or instead of “that’s what i was doing” we’d say “that’s what I’ve been doing” and you’re addressing a group so I’m pretty sure we’d say “breaths” not “breath”. So the way I’d say that line and I think a lotta others would would be, “I’d trust you’ve all been practicin’ holdin’ your breaths.” P.S. Americans in general don’t usually pronounce your like “yor” or “your” we pronounce it “yer”.
Drop the c in practice, not the t. Pra’tice
OMG this is so so so accurate.
If you can say Tooele and nephi correctly youhv got it made.
so, Utah is in this weird state of having influences from both sides of tha' mason dixon line so it can be tricky to emulate us. "i trust you've all practice' hold'n you' breath"
I’m from the south and have no clue what an Utah accent sounds like. I’d say this like “ I truss you’ll all had practiced holdin yalls breath”
Oootah