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Tag Archives: northern cities vowel shift
“Fargo” Redux: Dialect Work in TV’s Renaissance
When Fargo was released in 1996, “Minnesota speech” was largely unknown to the majority of the American populace. With a handful of exceptions, the dialect had little representation in popular culture. The film’s appeal lies not only in the quality of … Continue reading
Posted in American English Tagged dialects in film, dialects in TV, northern cities vowel shift 8 Comments
Pre-R Raising in Cleveland
One of my favorite Food Network personalities is Michael Symon, a decorated chef from Cleveland. Celebrity chefs, refreshingly, tend not to alter their accent much (all those fancy French terms belie the industry’s working-class ethos). Symon is no exception, with … Continue reading
Midwestern English is Not “Dictionary Standard”
In a recent column, Marilyn Vos Savant (a columnist with an alleged record-setting IQ) wrote: I’ve retained 99+ percent of my Midwestern ‘accent,’ which sounds like no accent at all because nearly all the words are pronounced according to dictionary standards. A … Continue reading
“Interstate Farty-Far” (St. Louis English)
It’s easy to prematurely assume that certain rare American dialect features have become extinct. Such is the case with St. Louis‘ “Interstate Farty-Far” quirk, whereby words like “for” and “born ” are pronounced more or less as “far” and “barn” … 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
Chicago [shi-KAW-go]
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
Just What is General American English?
I’ve spent the last week on vacation with my girlfriend’s extended family. Most of them are from various parts of Pennsylvania, a state noted for its relative diversity of accents. Indeed, this was my experience throughout the week: I heard … Continue reading
Why Vowel Shifts?
[Ed. Note: I’m on vacation till Saturday, July 30th, so I’m publishing some old posts that I drafted but never published for various reasons. Some of these might be a little rough around the edges. Also note that it may … Continue reading
Belated Thoughts on Obama’s Accent
This post is four years late. I admit it. The president’s accent has already been scrutinized ad nauseum, and there have been political controversies about this very topic. But after watching a speech by Obama this morning, and finding his … Continue reading