Category Archives: American English

The accents and dialects of North America.

Chicago [shi-KAW-go]

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Ben

Some of the most intriguing dialect mysteries involve place names. One of the more peculiar of these head-scratchers is the local pronunciation of ‘Chicago.’ The Chicago accent, being affected by the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, pronounces ‘ah’ words with something … Continue reading →

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Vocal Fry

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Ben

I don’t have time for a full-on post today, but I would be negligent if I didn’t point out the recent buzz on the web and elsewhere about ‘vocal fry.’  This term, which is more or less synonymous with creaky … Continue reading →

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Dialects and Registers

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Ben

One afternoon some years ago, an overheard conversation on the subway piqued my interest. A few train stops before my apartment, a pair of young men got on the car and sat across from me.  After exchanging a few friendly greetings … Continue reading →

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What’s with the Western US and Velars?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Ben

I’d like to address something that has frequently been brought up in the comments.  One of the most salient (and ‘exotic’) features of accents in the Western US is the way vowels behave before voiced velar consonants (i.e. ‘-g‘ and ‘-ng‘).  This … Continue reading →

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Chicano English?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ben

It’s not often that an American newspaper devotes a 1000-word article to a single dialect of English. So I was delighted to read an in-depth profile of Chicano English in this week’s LA times. Author Hector Becerra highlights one of … Continue reading →

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Guy

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Ben

‘Guy’ is one of American English’s most amorphous nouns. Like many three-letter words, this monosyllable is more complex than it seems at first. Its basic definition is obvious to virtually any native English speaker: it means a person of the … Continue reading →

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The Mississippi Accent in 1893

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Ben

I recently stumbled upon a remarkable 1893 tome on Google Books entitled Some peculiarities of speech in Mississippi by the delightfully-named Hubert Anthony Shands.  A glossary of words native to the dialect(s) of that state, the book opens with a detailed … Continue reading →

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Do Southerners Speak Slowly?

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Ben

One of the most commonly held assumptions about American accents is one with arguably negative connotations.  That would be the pernicious rumor that Southern people speak ‘slower’ than Northerners.  I put this assumption in quotation marks, of course, because it … Continue reading →

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Accents of the Pacific Northwest, Part II

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Ben

Since moving across country, I’ve only had intermittent internet access.  I’ll be more active here and in the comments once we get everything set up on Friday.  A brief anecdote, however. As I foreshadowed some time back, I just moved … Continue reading →

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Why Americans Don’t Get ‘Dialect’

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Ben

I first heard the word ‘dialect’ within a bizarre context. It was the 1980s, and some adult (whose identity I forget) used it as a euphemism for African American English*. It was something along the lines of, “He speaks dialect, … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged | 11 Comments