Usually I go with an accent adaptation for characters with an unusual speech style (including gratuitous use of non-Japanese words), but the Midwestern accent is pretty much the same as General American (the News Anchor accent perceived as 'accentless' by most Americans), so...

I could Fargo-ize her lines though (meetcha/betcha/etc.). Minnesotan and Northern Iowan accents are close enough.

Another alternative is SoCal, since she's docked in LA, but ehhh, picking an Iowan accent does seem far more appropriate. Never mind that she was born in New York, never set a foot in the double-landlocked state of Ohio, and ended up in a retirement home in California; she's Iowa! Of course she's going to speak Iowan!

NNescio said:

Usually I go with an accent adaptation for characters with an unusual speech style (including gratuitous use of non-Japanese words), but the Midwestern accent is pretty much the same as General American (the News Anchor accent perceived as 'accentless' by most Americans), so...

I could Fargo-ize her lines though (meetcha/betcha/etc.). Minnesotan and Northern Iowan accents are close enough.

Another alternative is SoCal, since she's docked in LA, but ehhh, picking an Iowan accent does seem far more appropriate. Never mind that she was born in New York, never set a foot in the double-landlocked state of Ohio, and ended up in a retirement home in California; she's Iowa! Of course she's going to speak Iowan!

I grew up in Indiana, which is basically just Iowa 1.0, so I feel somewhat qualified to weigh in:

We have no accents. We have no slang. We have no quirks. We speak, essentially, written English. Practically the only letter we don't pronounce is the r in February. 'Fargo' accents are far north of here. (I also lived in Minnesota for a time!)

aceofspudz said:

I grew up in Indiana, which is basically just Iowa 1.0, so I feel somewhat qualified to weigh in:

We have no accents. We have no slang. We have no quirks. We speak, essentially, written English. Practically the only letter we don't pronounce is the r in February. 'Fargo' accents are far north of here. (I also lived in Minnesota for a time!)

Don't you guys use "anymore" like it means "nowadays", like the Irish?

'though I do agree that the Midland accent is also perceived as accentless by most Americans, and General American does seem to be gradually shifting from Midwestern to Midland. Differences seem to mostly only be in choice of certain words or sentence construction, instead of pronunciation.

NNescio said:

Don't you guys use "anymore" like it means "nowadays"?

I've never heard that south of Michigan. Iowa, Indiana, and (rural) Illinois really are ridiculously (American) standard. I've lived everywhere.

Edit: I've also heard 'anymore' way more often from older Southerners, now that I think about it.

aceofspudz said:

I've never heard that south of Michigan. Iowa, Indiana, and (rural) Illinois really are ridiculously (American) standard. I've lived everywhere.

Just curious, but have you heard things like "warsh" or "lawr and order" in any of the places you lived? Basically 'r's inserted in places where there are none?

NNescio said:

Do you hear things like "warsh" or "lawr and order" in any of the places you lived?

Yeah, definitely hear those all the time in North Carolina, where I live now. They call wolves 'woofs' for christ's sake. Pink is 'pank', mink is 'mank'; there are times I literally do not understand what the hell they're saying.