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I’m laughing thinking about a call center staffed with 500 people with thick Rhode Island accents. LOL
I talk to RI people at Amica and Citizens Bank who don’t have much of the local accent so it’s certainly possible to staff it with intelligible people.
Not sure what makes you think there are a lot of RI accents left in these parts. More likely to be either a Boston accent or Brooklyn NY- pouring from these areas.
Yeah because no one from Massachusetts has a funny accent.
For the record, I actually dig both accents, but let's be real here.
The Rhode Island accent is a variation of "Brooklynese", originally spoken in immigration heavy northeastern cities from Buffalo to Philly. I understand it varies from city to city, largely depending on the degree of Italian or Irish immigration. Education has done much to homogenize it all - even in RI.
The Rhode Island accent is a variation of "Brooklynese", originally spoken in immigration heavy northeastern cities from Buffalo to Philly. I understand it varies from city to city, largely depending on the degree of Italian or Irish immigration. Education has done much to homogenize it all - even in RI.
I believe it is more Cockney English- yous or youze being very common- also the treatment of "r" and "h". H sometimes being pronounce "Hach" and/or dropping of H- such as "weel" for "wheel".
I believe it is more Cockney English- yous or youze being very common- also the treatment of "r" and "h". H sometimes being pronounce "Hach" and/or dropping of H- such as "weel" for "wheel".
I could have it all wrong. But, my understanding stems for a long conversation on the subject I had with a Brown professor years ago. The Rhode Island English accent is a derivative of "Brooklynese". Largely influenced today by the combinations of major Italian & Irish immigration to the cities of the northeast. The differences in accents being whether or not Italian or Irish numbers prevailed. To wit, the difference between a Boston accent (Irish) & a Rhode Island (Italian) accent and a New York accent and a Philly accent. All having certain nuances in common, while all having pronounced differences.
As far as Cockney English influence. Could that be Maine & New Hampshire?
Really? Someone from Boston is going to diss a RI accent?
There are wonderful variations of both the Boston & Rhode Island (Newport & Providence) accents, more purely & directly associated with mother England, which can be poetry to the ears. Just not the Brooklynese versions commonly heard on the streets in both places. I followed a perfect stranger one day on a street in Newport, just to hear her talk to her companion. I swear she sounded like she could have been Queen Elizabeth's American sister.
However, as someone who speaks with the most bland, uninteresting midwestern intonation, I can appreciate most all of the robust local accents in the northeast.
I personally think the strongest "RI accent" can be found in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Depends on if the Portuguese immigration favored the Italian or Irish version of English. I personally think the FR dialect is one in its own, but definitely not Boston Irish. I have had old school non-Portuguese friends in FR who sound a bit like Mainers. No Brooklynese whatsoever.
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