I believe the answer is because Minnesota has a large population of swedish immigrants.
this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Many linguists attribute Minnesotans' unusual single-tone pronunciation of long "a's" and "o's" to the influence of Scandinavian settlers, as those sounds are common in languages of that region.
But Minnesota's large number of immigrants from Norway and Sweden didn't arrive until the latter half of the 19th century, Haataja noted. The first Europeans to settle the area were largely English speakers from the British Isles. And both Scottish English and Irish English speakers are known for those same long "a" and "o" pronunciations.
Probably helped make it more distinct.
So, kinda like the stereotypical Canadian accent?
Yeah I always thought it was because they were were so close to border and more isolated from other US people.
This meme isn't entirely a joke
Why do Minnesotans have accents?
Everybody has an accent. It's a weird question that seems to indicate that some people either don't have an accent or have some sort of "correct" accent.
If things had worked out differently, an accent like the Minnesotan accent could have been seen as the "correct" accent.
Minnesotan is the correct accent.
Fun fact: all Minnesotaean children are required to lick a light pole in their first winter