After so many of you enjoyed the American accent quiz we shared earlier, we wanted to highlight another impressive online dialect tool. This newer quiz is notable for its accuracy and the interesting insights it gives into regional speech patterns. It was created by the New York Times and adapted from linguistic data, so it combines a reputable source with an engaging, interactive format.
The quiz works similarly to other dialect tests in that it asks how you pronounce specific words, but it goes further by asking which terms you prefer for everyday objects and concepts. For example, it might ask whether you say “firefly” or “lightning bug,” “semi-truck” or “tractor-trailer,” or “yard sale” or “garage sale.” Those small vocabulary choices help the quiz place your speech in a particular geographic context.
Once you complete the questions, the quiz produces a dialect heat map of the United States that visually shows where your speech patterns are most likely to be found. It also identifies three cities where your dialect closely matches local speech and three where it differs most. The map uses color intensity to indicate the strength of the match, which makes it easy to see whether your speech is typical of a specific region or more generalized across the country.
When we tried it, the results matched our backgrounds surprisingly well. For instance, I grew up just outside Washington, D.C., near Arlington, Virginia, and my map highlighted that general area. My results showed a broader pattern across several nearby regions, suggesting my accent is somewhat generalized for that part of the Mid-Atlantic.
Sherry’s results were different and equally telling. She grew up in northern New Jersey, and her map lit up strongly in that immediate region. Her results were more localized, indicating a distinct regional profile tied to the New York City and New Jersey area. The contrast between our maps illustrated how one speaker can have a more geographically specific dialect while another’s speech reflects a wider regional blend.
One interesting point we noticed was the relative “warmth” of our maps. A “warmer” map means the quiz found more concentrated matches in specific areas. Sherry’s map showed brighter, more concentrated hotspots, suggesting a tighter regional identity in her word choices and pronunciations. My map was somewhat “cooler” and more spread out, which is a hint that my speech patterns are shared across a larger swath of the country.
Results can vary each time you take the quiz because the questions you receive may change slightly. Different sets of prompts might emphasize certain phonetic or lexical features over others, and that can shift the mapping subtly. We even saw a result one time that included Richmond among the top matches, which shows how fine-grained the comparisons can be.
If you enjoy language and regional differences, the quiz is a fun way to explore how word choice and pronunciation tie you to particular places. It’s also a neat demonstration of how linguists use data on pronunciation and vocabulary to map dialect boundaries and understand how language varies geographically.
For anyone curious to try it, the quiz is readily accessible and only takes a few minutes. Give it a spin and see what your dialect map reveals about where your speech fits on the linguistic map of the United States.