Distraction: The Alaska Accent Issue

Alright, as a question of honor, we need to straighten this out: I am convinced Sarah Palin's accent is basically alien to Alaska - probably some combination of a small knot of Northern Midwestern farmers who settled around the tiny agricultural area of Alaska outside Palmer, and the crazy fundamentalist churches she's attended, with a heap of affected Hee-Haw.

Diane Benson, a Native Alaskan who recently ran for Congress as a progressive Democrat, has what I would consider a far more distinguishably Alaskan accent.

Being from Alaskan originally has meant daily humiliations on the national news for several years now, and here is where I draw the line: that nasal, corn-pone, Fargo prostitute, Mayberry- by-way-of Falwell accent of hers is not a typical Alaska accent. I spent 30 years there- there are Alaskan accents, and you can hear them on any number of cable channel shows (my pitch for a show: It's More Desperate and Expensive in Alaska) but Minnesota-style accents are spoken by Minnesotans, who might now live there, or perhaps their kids. I simply will not have it said that the harshest, most unappealing of all American accents is in any way typically Alaskan; not without strong evidence.

I've known thousands of Alaskans. Exactly none of them speak this way, unless they were from that region around Minnesota and the Dakotas. On the other hand, I knew many Alaskans with Scandanvian, Canadian, Texan, Samoan, and Japanese accents, all unlike this Palin-esque offense to the mother tongue. I know Alaskan women, and while there is sometimes a rural casualness, thank god they don't talk like this.

Alaskan accents are by and large far more parallel to Seattle and Portland than anything else - remarkably neutral American accents. There is an accent that becomes more pronounced as you go farther out into the deep rural areas, influenced by Native Languages. But this sounds nothing like Sarah Palin.

Discuss. The honor of Alaska is at stake.