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Category Archives: American English
“Button” vs. “Butter”
Apropos of a recent conversation in the comments, it’s worth noting that Americans generally pronounce /t/ in words like “button” and “Manhattan” in a different manner than one might expect. To take one contrasting example, Americans pronounce the word “butter” … Continue reading
On “Local” Place Pronunciations: “Manhattan”
While on a train to New York, I overheard the following from a young man speaking Nuyorican English (i.e. the Latino-American New York dialect): “I’m on a train in Jersey to visit my cousin in Manhattan.” This would be an unnoteworthy … Continue reading
Why D.A.R.E. Is Important
In the 1960s, an enterprising young linguist named William Labov travelled to Martha’s Vineyard to study a curious feature of the island’s local vernacular. Vineyard natives tended to centralize the diphthongs in words like “house” and “kite” (həʊs and kəɪt), … Continue reading
Dived vs. Dove in American Dialects
The past tense of “dive” exemplifies the quirky differences between American and British English. In Britain, this word is ostensibly “dived,” while Americans increasingly prefer “dove,” the latter likely formed via analogy from drive/drove (Insert joke about America’s auto-centric culture … Continue reading
Northeastern PA’s “Un-Northeastern” Accent
While a college freshman, I assumed one of my classmates to be from Minnesota or Wisconsin (my accent-dar was unsophisticated back then). She hailed from Scranton, Pennsylvania, however, a city a mere two hours from New York City. You might … Continue reading
Drawer-Draw Conflation
I’ve known New Yorkers who, despite exhibiting few traces of “Brooklynese,” pronounce “drawer” as if it were “draw.”* These are folks, mind you, who pronounce each and every other r, yet still maintain this r-less exception. So what’s with “draw?” … Continue reading
NBC Pronunciation Standards
While browsing in a book shop recently, I found a dusty manual titled NBC Handbook of Pronunciation. From the 1940′s through the early 1960′s, NBC published this dictionary of sorts establishing a “standard pronunciation” for newscasters. It is clear from the … Continue reading
“Aristocratic” American, Part 2: Samuel Barber
[This is my second post on the non-rhotic accent once spoken by the Northeastern US Elite. My first post on the subject, about Eleanor Roosevelt's accent, can be found here. West Chester is an town in Eastern Pennsylvania with a beautiful … Continue reading
Lincoln’s “Anachronisms”
[UPDATE: Benjamin Schmidt has an excellent in-depth response in the comments which is well worth reading. He also has an FAQ on his website that answers a number of questions about his process.] I am obviously fascinated by historical dialects … Continue reading
That’s What She Said!
I’m going to veer off-topic today, and discuss jokes. Or rather, a joke that has swept through American pop culture for years, the allusive “that’s what she said” gag. The premise is that by inserting “that’s what she said” after … Continue reading