Is the New York City accent gone? (Boston, Florida: money, mayor)

[DAS]

Originally Posted by K.O.N.Y

the old new york is basically in every borough out of manhattan. Thats good though i wouldnt want manhattan to be like the old new york. You should go to arthur ave

I used to live in the Bronx, near Arthur Ave at one time. I know it well.

All the real NYers have not left Manhattan, we are still here.

[Jackson Pollock]

Manhattan still has some old school Noo Yawk left in it. Mostly it's old and poor white people in neighborhoods with poor subway access and proximity to the rivers (Hell's Kitchen, Yorkville, the Lower East Side, Gramercy, Inwood). And of course, Dominicans and black people are still in Manhattan and should be counted true old school too.

[DAS]

Originally Posted by Jackson Pollock

Manhattan still has some old school Noo Yawk left in it. Mostly it's old and poor white people in neighborhoods with poor subway access and proximity to the rivers (Hell's Kitchen, Yorkville, the Lower East Side, Gramercy, Inwood). And of course, Dominicans and black people are still in Manhattan and should be counted true old school too.

There is nothing wrong with being old or poor for that matter. I haven't reached the former yet, and hope never to be in the latter. But I am a true NYer and I live in Manhattan.

[bluedog2]

Originally Posted by K.O.N.Y

the whole immigrant situation hasnt been relevant sice the immigrants first came in, like since the sixties. As far as 2009. The accent cannot be distinguished amongst boroughs. You may hear what you "think" to be a brooklyn accent, than hear someone in the bronx sound the same way. Accents in new york are depedent on ethnicity

First of all,the "immigrant situation" is still quite relevant because immigrants are still pouring in.I live in a neighborhood that is rapidly transitioning into an Asian and Eastern European (Albanian,Romanian, Russian) immigrant neighborhood.They are pouring in because they are doing it legally.Our immigration quota system is heavily stacked in their favor so they have no problem getting the golden "immigration visa" that Mexicans and Western Europeans can't have.No telling what kinds of accents these new arrivals might spawn.

While I agree with you that the older accents that grew out of European immigration waves from the mid 19th century on are fading,they have not disappeared by a long shot.All you have to do is go into some neighborhoods, especially in Brooklyn and The Bronx and find households where the same originally immigrant family has been living in the same house in the same neighborhood for 3 or 4 or 5 generations.

It will take many many more years (if ever) for these accents to disappear completely.I once saw a program on PBS where linguists went up and down the East coast recording people speaking and then electronically analyzing any accents or peculiarities.Among other things,they found that they could trace certain accents found in a specific area of Maine,certain neighborhoods in Boston and on an Island in the Chesapeake Bay, to one town in England! This,after these people have been here for centuries.

The real Boston accent is in fact not an immigrant accent at all.It is what they call a Brahmin (upper class) accent and many of the upper class Bostonian families who have had the benefit of generations of Harvard education are afflicted with it.It has been there for hundreds of years,hasn't gone away and probably never will.To me,as a native Bostonian,it is quite distinguishable from the Boston accents spoken in South Boston (Irish) and East Boston( Italian).You may never be able to hear the differences but I can hear them distinctly.There is no mistaking the Boston accent spoken on Beacon Hill with the Boston accent spoken in Southie. None of these accents are going away anytime soon.

Look at our "southern accent".Linguists say that it too is actually traceable to a different place in England than where the Boston accent comes from.It persists ,generation after generation after generation. It is not going away anytime soon,maybe never. All the same rules apply here as well.You hear one "southern accent" but they(southerners) recognize many different southern accents.Get into a room full of southerners and they will start saying "oh,she has a Georgia accent,he has a Mississippi accent,she has a South Carolina accent,etc.The linguists recognize all these different variations and have been able to trace the differences to various different geographic locations and the influences of different ethnic groups over hundreds of years.

[AmandaCC]

What are the differences in accents between different areas in NY? For example, how can you tell the difference between a Brooklyn accent compared to one from Long Island, Queens, Staten Island, etc. I'm just kind of curious.

[eek]

IMO there is no difference in the accent...except with some ppl in manhattan. manhattan because a lot of out of town ppl are in manhattan.
i still cannot see how a person from bk, a person from queens and a person from long island would have different accents when we're all on the same island...

[K.O.N.Y]

Originally Posted by eek

IMO there is no difference in the accent...except with some ppl in manhattan. manhattan because a lot of out of town ppl are in manhattan.
i still cannot see how a person from bk, a person from queens and a person from long island would have different accents when we're all on the same island...

Ya i hear this alot and its ridiculous the boroughs are not far enough part for their to be a distinc difference

[Reverend TV]

Since there is no such thing as a New york accent, I'll say it is gone because it never existed.

[nycricanpapi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3snAbRpZRA

Originally Posted by Reverend TV

Since there is no such thing as a New york accent, I'll say it is gone because it never existed.

There is a NY accent Take a look at these videos.

NY-Puerto Rican accent


YouTube - Rosie Perez "Pineapple Express" on Jimmy Kimmel Live 8-5-08


YouTube - Jennifer Lopez interview


YouTube - My Cousin Vinny (1992)


NY-Black accent


YouTube - Jadakiss Interview - Either I'm blind or these look like two handguns.


YouTube - N.O.R.E INTERVIEW -LEAKED NEW SINGLE "MONEY" F/SHAWTY LO


NY-Jewish accent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3snAbRpZRA

[Viralmd]

Irish? IRISH? HUH???

Mayor Bloomberg has an amalgamation of a strong Boston accent (he's originally from Boston) and a New York accent. But IRISH? NO.