The Cincinati Accent?

[BR549a]

I grew up in Cincy. What I remember most about the dialect, is that Cincinnatians don't say Cincinnati, Ohio, they say Cincinnata, Ahia. Weird, but true.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by BR549a

I grew up in Cincy. What I remember most about the dialect, is that Cincinnatians don't say Cincinnati, Ohio, they say Cincinnata, Ahia. Weird, but true.

Ahia is more of how people in bordering states say it. Pittsburgh people say Ahia, and Kentucky people say Ahia. Many Ohio natives know the name of their own state.

However the whole "Cincinnatuh" thing most likely comes from Cincinnatus.

[Nomomo07]

It is also primarily only a thing among people 50+. I'm 28 and I've never heard anyone under that age demographic pronounce Cincinnati that way.

[EddieOlSkool]

Apparently the Cincinnati accent has its roots in the Mid-Atlantic. It is the only Midwest accent that follows a New York City/Philadelphia short a pronunciation system where a word like map has a separate vowel sound from a word like mad. Cincinnati has its closest cousin to this in the New York accent.

It also has its long O pronunciation similar to the Mid-Atlantic and the South (similar to a West and South England pronunciation). Accents in England such as Bristol, Cornwall, London, Sussex, Liverpool, and Received Pronunciation also have this long O sound. In the US, this gives off a very "country" like sound associated with the South. But it also heard as far North as Central Jersey and in the majority of the Lower Midwest.

Cincinnati then exemplifies a blend of Northern and Southern pronunciation but without a drawl so it is never grouped with Southern accents for this reason. Its nasal pronunciation of the short a is also a Northern trait that to many Southerners gives Cincinnati a very "Yankee" sound.

[1watertiger]

Everyone south of Cleveland (columbus, Cincinnati) sound very different to me. Southern, drawl, country sounding, but definitely different.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by 1watertiger

Everyone south of Cleveland (columbus, Cincinnati) sound very different to me. Southern, drawl, country sounding, but definitely different.

Yeah but only Cleveland has the Inland North dialect whereas the rest of Ohio speaks in the Midland/General American variety. Your sound is more nasal and associated with the Great Lakes/inner Northeast.

[veetzvino]

My take has always been, it depends on who you talk to. Being from MN/WI, you can really hear an accent with some people, and others sound midwestern to us. I always assumed it was more the people from Kentucky that had that southern sounding accent. We definitely got called out a lot for our accent when we moved here!

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by veetzvino

My take has always been, it depends on who you talk to. Being from MN/WI, you can really hear an accent with some people, and others sound midwestern to us. I always assumed it was more the people from Kentucky that had that southern sounding accent. We definitely got called out a lot for our accent when we moved here!

Minnesotans and Wisconsinites think their accent is the standard Midwest accent which is funny because it doesn't even cover all of their own states.

The Cincinnati accent is closer to being "neutral" than anything in Wisconsin or Minnesota.

Also what does Kentucky have to do with anything? Cincinnati borders Kentucky but they don't need to have Kentucky accents and they don't. They have accents that are typical of Ohio rather than Kentucky. Actually the Cincinnati accent manages to make its way into Northern Kentucky and not the other way around. If you ever go to Northern Kentucky it is a different world than the rest of Kentucky. It definitely leans Midwest rather than South.

But the rest of Kentucky does speak in Southern drawls.

[Blue2020]

I was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH. I've been in the Air Force for 22 years. I've never heard anyone call Cincinnati- "Cincinnata"! If they have, they are definitely NOT from there. All i've ever heard is that I have that nasally drawl and sound exactly like Edie Falco.