What is the California accent? It’s hella complex
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Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
- Do Californians have an accent? A UCLA professor is mapping it out.
- California and other states sue the Trump administration over cuts to CDC infectious disease funding.
- 9 excellent new and improved Palm Springs-area hotels for a dreamy getaway.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper.
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Do you talk like a Californian?
What does a Californian sound like? Can you tell if someone was raised in the Golden State or moved here later in life?
Those who only know our dialect from our many pop culture exports may hear us in their heads as some mix of Valley girl, surfer dude and Saturday Night Live’s classic sketches, “The Californians” — plus plenty of like’s thrown in.
But in reality, our supposed accent is largely “a figment of our collective imagination,” Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at UCLA, told me this week.
Her research focuses on understanding different cultures through the evolution of their languages, centering on California.
“The way that you speak is a sort of constellation of all of the different features that are arranged just so to reflect your social history and the way you grew up … your gender, your class, your ethnic identity — all kinds of things about you,” she said.
Californians’ accents are complex and understudied
The stereotypical sounding Californian is widely known, but actual research into our state’s accents is relatively new, Mendoza-Denton said.
For one thing, our big state became the populous place it is today through many generations of migration — from Native Americans to Spanish colonizers to the Gold Rush to the Second Great Migration to the Dust Bowl era to waves of Asian immigrants. An SNL sketch could never reflect that rich linguistic mix.
“That’s one of the reasons why California itself is distinctive, but there is no one California accent, even though we are stereotyped as being full of Valley girls and Kardashians,” she said.
To better understand it requires granular, community-level research, which is what Mendoza-Denton is working on in her ongoing project Los Angeles Speaks.
Her students study speech patterns in L.A. neighborhoods, working in collaboration with communities to understand how their language has evolved over time.
Mendoza-Denton shared how her students embedded in Pacific Palisades — before the devastating fire — and learned that longtime residents could tell who was from the neighborhood or not based on how they pronounced certain street names.
What do we know about Californians’ distinctive speech patterns?
As we spoke, I wondered if I was unknowingly taking part in the linguist’s version of the Voight-Kampff test from “Blade Runner.” Could Mendoza-Denton tell that I was a real Californian and not some out-of-state synthetic?
It was quickly obvious to her I was a lifelong Californian, she said, though she humored me with a couple of questions (quiz yourselves at home!).
How do you say “cot?” What about “caught?” If those are indistinguishable, there’s a good chance you’ve lived in California awhile.
How do you say “pony?” Apparently younger Californians tend to say that last word differently than me, a rapidly aging millennial.
Many Californians employ tell-tale “discourse markers,” Mendoza-Denton noted, such as “like” and “I was all.” And of course there’s “hella” — typically a dead giveaway that you’re talking to someone from Northern California. But our accents and markers can shift over time, she said, depending on our family, friends, work and other social systems.
I also asked how physicality affects the way we speak. One common feature is a lower jaw setting, which some parodic California accents take to the extreme.
We’ve also perfected what’s known as “creaky voice,” a low, scratchy register often associated with younger women, Mendoza-Denton said. That California brand of talking has become a sort of phonetic fashion statement, she explained.
“California is turning into a prestige center of speech,” she said. “We’ve configured it and packaged it, and of course … the L.A. area is one of the hubs of communication for the whole country.”
Want to help chart Los Angeles’ accents?
Mendoza-Denton is recruiting longtime Angelenos to help UCLA “document language, life, and experience in the greater region of Los Angeles.”
There are some eligibility requirements, including using English as a primary language and being a longtime resident in one L.A. neighborhood. Anyone who has questions or wants to volunteer can call (805) 826-3568.
We’ll, like, totally check back with her to see how the project is going. Sounds hella cool.
Today’s top stories
Trump’s Department of Energy targets California and other blue states for budget cuts
- The cuts could include as many as 262 projects in the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, of which roughly 80% are based in states that did not go for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Newsom says sharing his beliefs on trans athletes wasn’t “some grand design”
- Newsom said his decision to share his belief that it’s unfair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports was unplanned during his podcast last month.
- Progressives accused him of abandoning the transgender community and conservatives pressured him to sign legislation banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
Santa Monica offices get unexpected tenants: Children from five fire-ravaged schools
- Thousands of K-12 students will inhabit more than 200,000 square feet of space, positioning schools as an unexpected boost to Santa Monica’s office leasing market, which, like so many others, remains challenged by the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What else is going on
- California and other states sue the Trump administration over cuts to CDC infectious disease funding.
- A retired LAPD sergeant gets $4.5 million in an overtime fraud whistleblower lawsuit.
- A Trump bid for a third term? ‘It could get messy.’
- As investigators close in on the cause of the Eaton fire, activity swirls around Edison lines.
- Trump’s axing of an L.A. federal prosecutor is part of a broader war on perceived legal enemies.
- ‘I want to be remembered.’ A death row inmate auctions his San Quentin journals and art for $80,000.
- Kanye West and the story of Donda Academy’s spectacular spiral.
- Val Kilmer, star of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘The Doors,’ has died at 65.
- Sian Barbara Allen, actor known for ‘The Waltons’ and ‘You’ll Like My Mother,’ has died at 78.
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Commentary and opinions
- Yes, America absolutely should annex Greenland and Canada, columnist Michael Hiltzik writes. Here’s why.
This morning’s must reads
How the Mexican Mafia’s ‘Pomona Mike’ made L.A.’s federal jail his fiefdom. Michael Lerma, 68, hasn’t walked the streets of his hometown on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County since the 1980s, when he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. But according to federal prosecutors, he controls an “empire” of gang members and drug dealers who pay him a cut of their illicit profits.
Other must reads
- Larry Mantle’s L.A.: The beloved radio host reflects on 40 years of ‘AirTalk.’
- Sony reveals Beatles cast, and will release all four films in April 2028.
- She went out for a solo evening trail run. Then she locked eyes with a bear.
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How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].
For your downtime
Going out
- 🌴 9 excellent new and improved Palm Springs-area hotels for a dreamy getaway.
- 🥩🥖🍸 Have menu fatigue? Enter another dimension at a Santa Ana industrial park.
- 💐 A simple way you can actually help save the world? Plant some flowers.
Staying in
- 📺 The Selena streaming guide: Where to watch the many versions of the singer onscreen.
- 🦪 Here’s a recipe for Sandy Ho’s funky fresh oysters.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.
And finally ... your photo of the day
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Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Genaro Molina at the quirky, fun apartment of a Long Beach couple.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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