I was wondering if the map would capture the Alaska Mat-Su Valley/Minnesota connection. Back in Fall 2008, people started asking me why I, being from Minnesota, talked like Sarah Palin, doncha know. I was amused to discover an article that October which explained that the US Government had relocated a bunch of Minnesotans to Alaska in the 1930s[1] as part of a government relief program, eh.
edit: regarding that American accent quiz elsewhere in the thread[2], I score a 93% 'north central' accent: "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
So, I actually grew up in the Mat-Su Valley. I lived in Palmer (a quick bike-ride from Wasilla) from 1987 through 2004. I was born in '86. My grandparents were some of the original settlers in the area in 1936.
Sarah Palin's accent is not typical there, nor even common. My own and those of my friends growing up would probably be classified squarely as "General American" and unaccented. I recall knowing exactly one person with a noticeable Minnesotan accent while I was growing up, and I think they were actually Minnesotan.
As far as I can tell, calling upon the influence of a portion of Minnesotan settlers 80 years ago to explain Palin's atypical accent is more of a back-justification than a real explanation of cause-and-effect.
Too bad I missed you - I've been growing up here for the last 18 years. Lived in Talkeetna for a while, now I'm near Wasilla, soon to be in Anchorage for school.
And you're absolutely right. Palin's accent is very atypical of the accent here. The accents are very eclectic, because the population is, but it's generally unaccented. I might add that her politics are atypical - despite her being a very conservative politician on the national scene, she was actually among the most left-leaning Republican politicians up here.
One thing I find strange is how this Minnesota accent has come to represent "Canada's" accent in American pop culture. It is, unsurprisingly, somewhat similar to nearby parts of Canada (Manitoba, Northern Ontario) but it is not the accent of a large percentage of people in Canada, and it never was.
edit: regarding that American accent quiz elsewhere in the thread[2], I score a 93% 'north central' accent: "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
[1] http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2008/10/wha...
[2] http://lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.html