Maryland a NORTHEASTERN state (Baltimore, Frederick: community college, agriculture, transportation)

[U146]

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

If you count Southern Maryland, over half of the Eastern Shore, and more than a few folks in Western Maryland as "only the far Southeastern portion", sure.

Western Maryland doesn't have Southern speech patterns. It is well north of the dialect line outlined by University of Pennsylvania. I've been to Western Maryland. Heard no Southern accents while I was there.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by U146

Western Maryland doesn't have Southern speech patterns. It is well north of the dialect line outlined by University of Pennsylvania. I've been to Western Maryland. Heard no Southern accents while I was there.

I tend to agree, Western Maryland speech is best described as twangy Midland speech, in the same dialect region as SW PA and northern WV.

That said, please tell me you mean Allegany and Garrett County. If you went to Western Maryland and ended up in Frederick or Hagerstown, you fell about 60 miles short of the region.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by U146

Western Maryland doesn't have Southern speech patterns. It is well north of the dialect line outlined by University of Pennsylvania. I've been to Western Maryland. Heard no Southern accents while I was there.

The majority doesn't, no. But I have heard them there, and from more than a few people. I've heard southern accents from several elderly natives of DC too. Dialect lines are hardly definitive boundaries and vary heavily between publications. UPenn itself has published maps showing the boundary of Southern and Midland dialects as going through Western Maryland and DC.
A problem with ANAE and TESLUR is that they unfortunately don't actually have very many samples in MD - including no samples at all from Western or Southern Maryland or the Eastern Shore. In fact Chesapeake Bay area dialects (even the Tidewater accent) are terribly understudied in general.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

The majority doesn't, no. But I have heard them there, and from more than a few people. I've heard southern accents from elderly natives of DC too. Dialect lines are hardly definitive boundaries and vary heavily between publications. UPenn itself has published maps showing the boundary of Southern and Midland dialects as going through Western Maryland and DC.
A problem with ANAE and TESLUR is that they unfortunately don't actually have very many samples in MD. In fact the Chesapeake Bay area (even the Tidewater accent) is terribly understudied at the moment.

What you have in Cumberland is a historic transportation center between Baltimore to the east, Pittsburgh to the west, and the WV coal fields to the south.

South Cumberland especially has natives that are descended from West Virginians who worked for the rail road and migrated north a few generations ago. There is a local sub-dialect my brother coined as the 'South Cumberland drawl." It is a strange mix of elements of the atonal, harsh Baltimore accent pronounced from the extreme front of your mouth and the sing-song like cadence that is common a bit further south.

Now, go south of Cumberland down 220 and the influence of mountain speech becomes more noticeable. Keyser is only a 1/2 hour south from Cumberland, and is pronounced as "Kahzer" by natives. Long 'I" isn't a dipthong there. Places like McCoole and Rawlings in MD sound very similar.

Head west to Frostburg, and the PA influence become stronger yet. This is my dialect, my parents are both from communities on the outskirts of town. My grandfather sounded just like Mr. Rogers, and I have some very diagnostic Pittsburgh features in my speech, like the merging of vowels in "pull, pole, and poll." My friends with family roots in Cumberland still tease me for this. They can still differentiate these vowels when speaking and listening. I can't do either.

[Infinite_heights77]

*Are you serious????!!!!! Stop lying to yourself! My sister lives in Hagerstown, MD and I've been to Hancock, MD. Those people out there sound very southern and act very bigoted, especially whites.

Originally Posted by U146

Western Maryland doesn't have Southern speech patterns. It is well north of the dialect line outlined by University of Pennsylvania. I've been to Western Maryland. Heard no Southern accents while I was there.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by ialmostforgot

Can anyone post videos of the accents of Irish/Italian Baltimoreans? It is difficult to find videos other than those of Pelosi (who doesn't really have an accent). We have so few that the Italians I've met while living here were all from New York!

Pelosi doesn't have an accent except for the part she sounds like a diluted Miss Kay Robertson.

[BBC99]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

What you have in Cumberland is a historic transportation center between Baltimore to the east, Pittsburgh to the west, and the WV coal fields to the south.

South Cumberland especially has natives that are descended from West Virginians who worked for the rail road and migrated north a few generations ago. There is a local sub-dialect my brother coined as the 'South Cumberland drawl." It is a strange mix of elements of the atonal, harsh Baltimore accent pronounced from the extreme front of your mouth and the sing-song like cadence that is common a bit further south.

Now, go south of Cumberland down 220 and the influence of mountain speech becomes more noticeable. Keyser is only a 1/2 hour south from Cumberland, and is pronounced as "Kahzer" by natives. Long 'I" isn't a dipthong there. Places like McCoole and Rawlings in MD sound very similar.

Head west to Frostburg, and the PA influence become stronger yet. This is my dialect, my parents are both from communities on the outskirts of town. My grandfather sounded just like Mr. Rogers, and I have some very diagnostic Pittsburgh features in my speech, like the merging of vowels in "pull, pole, and poll." My friends with family roots in Cumberland still tease me for this. They can still differentiate these vowels when speaking and listening. I can't do either.

A friend of mine always used to say, "I'm not saying Cumberland is the end of the world, but you can definitely see it from there!"

[brb going fishing]

Originally Posted by ialmostforgot

Can anyone post videos of the accents of Irish/Italian Baltimoreans? It is difficult to find videos other than those of Pelosi (who doesn't really have an accent). We have so few that the Italians I've met while living here were all from New York!

Delegate Patrick McDonough of Baltimore County:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpGi8Yl-EqA

Anyway, I was born in Baltimore and am of half Irish/half Jewish heritage. Neither the Irish nor the Jews in Baltimore have a unique accent from the other white Baltimoreans AFAIK. The Irish are extremely well assimilated (as they are in most of the country), and so are the Jews to a lesser extent.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by brb going fishing

Delegate Patrick McDonough of Baltimore County:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpGi8Yl-EqA

Anyway, I was born in Baltimore and am of half Irish/half Jewish heritage. Neither the Irish nor the Jews in Baltimore have a unique accent from the other white Baltimoreans AFAIK. The Irish are extremely well assimilated (as they are in most of the country), and so are the Jews to a lesser extent.

Perfect Bmore accent. I like that sound a lot.

[ialmostforgot]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

That said, please tell me you mean Allegany and Garrett County. If you went to Western Maryland and ended up in Frederick or Hagerstown, you fell about 60 miles short of the region.

What IS Washington County then??? It's definitely not "central" Maryland.