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Of course there are differences that give each city their uniqueness in regards to accents but that still doesn't change the fact that Baltimore and Philadelphia are both part of much larger dialect group. Both cities fall under the Midland Rhotic Dialect. This regional dialect group has had a tremendous influence on many parts of the country. You can probably even make the case that what we call the "General America Accent" probably has it's origins in the Baltimore and Philadelphia area.
So did St. Louis and many other cities in the Northeast and Midwest. What's your point? That a city's accent will change based on the number of white Southerners that migrate there? If that was the case with St. Louis, I'd be hearing southern accents all over the place. But I'm not. So hilarious watching you struggle.
Boston, New York City did not see an influx of white southerners, nor any other city in upstate NY or New England. And probably (don't know for sure) Pittsburgh and Philly. I think Chicago had some, but not many.
Boston, New York City did not see an influx of white southerners, nor any other city in upstate NY or New England. And probably (don't know for sure) Pittsburgh and Philly. I think Chicago had some, but not many.
I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think Pittsburgh did (and does) get transplants from the south; I know for sure from West Virginia. Cincinnati supposedly got a lot of southern transplants.
Makes sense, as they weren't too far from the south or at least border states (if Kentucky and West Virginia count). Chicago had a white southern influx:
The article looked interesting, but since I have exactly zero linguistics education, I couldn't figure out what it was saying. Can you give some examples of these "a" words?
I'm not sure how to explain, as not having the accent or hearing someone it's hard to imagine what it's saying. Take the a in these words:
halve, can't, bad, cab, man
have, can*, had, cap, manage**
*the verb, the noun is in the first row
**first a
the a to most speakers of North American dialects in all these words sound identical, or nearly identical. I think, not sure, since they don't sound identical to me. To speakers of mid-Atlantic dialects with the split, the words of the second row have more of an "ah" sound while the top row have a more of a nasally "ah" with an e sound at the beginning. No clue how to describe it. Linguistically, they're considered separate vowels as speakers of the dialect can distinguish between word meaning by changing the vowel sound (halve vs have, for example).
IDK, maybe being from the Northeast (presumably), you think Baltimore just sounds like any old southern accent. Being from the south myself, Baltimore doesn't sound all that southern to me. And its links to Phillyspeak are one reason.
My Results:
Mid-Atlantic: Also known as the "Philadelphia accent" but also heard in south Jersey, Baltimore, and thereabouts.
What are the odds of being raised in the South and speaking with the dialect of a completely different region? Did you grow up in a town that had 100,000 plus transplants from the Delaware Valley? Even kids who grow up in households with two immigrant parents generally do not pronounce words the same as their parents. It's unlikely, for example, to come across a person born to Trinidadian immigrants and raised in Queens who says tree instead of three, pon instead of upon, or gwine instead of going. Nor is he or she likely to refer to a hornet as a "jep" or a "jack spaniard." You speak the way the people around you speak.
This could either mean an r-less NYC or Providence accent or one from Jersey which doesn't sound the same. Just because you got this result doesn't mean you don`t pronounce R's.(People in Jersey don`t call their state "Joisey" in real life)
I think the southerness would stick out more than the traits you've identified. I mean, why would these other things stick out when nearly all Americans are familar with southern accents?
Also, I think there are few Philadelphians whose speech possesses most of those things. You come across plenty of New Yorkers who exhibit all of the characteristics of the New York accent, but the "Philly accent" is harder to pin down. There's really no one person you can point to and say, "Ah, that's quintessentially Philadelphia."
I personally do not have any type of accent (or so I believe). And I've always considered Philly to be the most neutral of northeastern cities in this regard.
Ah, I just had to reply to this post, Yankee! I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a commercial that does pretty much sum up the quintessential Philly dialect. Here is the link: Horizon Services TV Commercial - Quality :30 - YouTube
I think part of the reason our accent is "harder to pin down" is because it's so underrepresented in the larger mass media lol.
I grew up thinking Missouri was southern. Ever read "Huck Finn"? MO was a slave state. I was surprised to find out they consider themselves midwesterners.
So did I. When Nelly first came out with "Country Grammar" you couldn't TELL me that that wasn't Southern influenced
And oddly enough, when I think of the Kansas City Monarchs, and the barbecue, it rings up as being (somewhat) Southern to me...
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Did you grow up in a town that had 100,000 plus transplants from the Delaware Valley? Even kids who grow up in households with two immigrant parents generally do not pronounce words the same as their parents. It's unlikely, for example, to come across a person born to Trinidadian immigrants and raised in Queens who says tree instead of three, pon instead of upon, or gwine instead of going. Nor is he or she likely to refer to a hornet as a "jep" or a "jack spaniard." You speak the way the people around you speak.
When Nelly first came out with "Country Grammar" you couldn't TELL me that that wasn't Southern influenced
