I've seen references to the American Midwest as being the home of the least accented form of American English. I always think of the Northern Midwest as having an accent that I associate with Canadians and that the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) is the closest to "Standard American English."
What are the features of the "West Coast" accent (if any)?
Best Answer
The Atlas of North American English has a rather broad definition of the West. Its primary characteristics are:
So, these features more or less distinguish the West from its neighboring dialects, but don't do much to specifically define the West. There are also some finer grained distinctions within the West that would make a broad and complete definition impossible. For example