Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not true at all. Regional accents are still very much alive. New Yorkers just dont go to these places or aren't familiar with them but they're still there.
I never said they don't exist. I was saying that younger people have accents that are less strong... smoothing out in response to the other poster.
But Russian-Americans (second generation) and second generation Chinese-Americans don't have an accent. Why do Hispanics?
Not all Hispanics do, and it's a very subtle accent anyway.
But Spanish as a spoken language is more ubiquitous in NYC than Chinese and especially Russian, so it's more likely to be influential on the way 2nd generation people speak. That being said, I don't think second generation Asians sound exactly the same as white people, so there could be some Asian influence in their accents too.
Yea, the "old school NY accent" (which was primarilary used by whites) is dead, atleast in most of NYC (it possibly survives in NJ, Staten Island, Long Island, and Upstate NY among older whites).
But NYC natives still have a distinct way of talking, thats very different from Southern, Midwestern, & Western accents, even noticably different than other Northeast accents. If you cant notice a NYC native from a native of Boston, Philly, Baltimore, or Buffalo just by the way they speak, then you must be stupid. I would say theres 2 NYC accents, a urban one primarily used by blacks (& to a lesser extant americanized Hispanics), its very distinct. And then you have a more mainstream NY accent that is used by almost all white natives as well as others, its basically a Heavily watered-down version of "old NY accent" almost neutral sounding, is the best way to explain it, but whites in NY definetly speak different then whites in most other cities so i guess its a accent. Immigrants usually speak the mainstream one but with a very heavy immigrant flair.
I actually agree with this post for the most part.
While the stereotypical Paulie Walnuts/Bugs Bunny accent is pretty much dead, people from NYC/downstate NY do have a regional accent that is distinct. It's like how we pronounce the word "coffee".
And yeah, the urban accent in NYC is distinct from the "mainstream" one you mention.
I would say that there is variance among Hispanics though, there are a lot of Puerto Ricans and to a lesser extent Dominicans who speak similar to AAs, but a lot of Hispanics talk either with their own flair or like white people. Or some combination of the three. It depends on what kind of neighborhood they live in, and who they hang out with, and what subculture they belong to.
Another thing, I think it's interesting how black people in Philly and South Jersey have Southern sounding accents, while in NYC/New England they don't.
Not all Hispanics do, and it's a very subtle accent anyway.
But Spanish as a spoken language is more ubiquitous in NYC than Chinese and especially Russian, so it's more likely to be influential on the way 2nd generation people speak. That being said, I don't think second generation Asians sound exactly the same as white people.
I work with people (predominately black) from all over NYC, their slang doesn't seem to vary at all.
Work?? What type of real slang would you hear at work??? Unless u on a construction site, people dont talk at work like how they talk on the street. And if they was, you wouldnt be hearing it.
__________________
"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Work?? What type of real slang would you hear at work??? Unless u on a construction site, people dont talk at work like how they talk on the street. And if they was, you wouldnt be hearing it.
I work in a warehouse, we say whatever we want lol
Rosie Perez has a stereotypical Nuyorican accent (heavily AA influenced with some Latin flair), it has nothing to do with borough.
The fact that these people don"t sound exactly the same does not mean their accents are different because of what borough they're from. Donald Trump and Nicki Minaj are both from Queens, do they sound the same to you?
Those stereotypical NYC accents have now "migrated" to the suburbs. The growth of the nonwhite populations, the heavy immigration from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia and the arrival of mainly white transplants from diverse small towns and suburbs has changed the NYC accent. I think you will hear more of it on LI. Folks can debate amongst themselves as to whether its Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens.
What I can assure folks is that 80-90% of people living in NYC in 2017 have no idea what "kvetching" is all about.
Has anyone noticed that some/many Hispanic people in NYC (even if born here) at times have an accent in English? Sometimes they roll their "l"s in English, like people do in Spanish.
No shock. The stereotypical NYC accents have their roots in the various immigrant languages that arrived in the late 19th century. Much of the slang too.
I was surprised when about 20 years ago I was in Greenpoint and I heard many of the white immigrant kids there with what I thought were AA inflected accents. Likely that their English was influenced by Puerto Rican kids who in turn have been influenced by AAs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
