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I would say that Manhattan has the most transients, but to be fair with all the recent immigration/transients to the outer boroughs no difference there. Unless your talking about neighborhoods that don't see as much immigration or transients like parts of S.I. and then fringes of the city.
Then there's then youth. It dwindles every year.
Certain groups don't use it at all. Those that have been getting big since the 70s+. I have yet to meet a West Indian (L.A.), Dominican, Central American, Columbian, or Far Eastern Euro with one.
The traditional NY accent is dieing. Oh well.
Eventually New Yorkers are going to all sound like Californian valley girls and surfer dudes.
I'm not wealthy or the offspring of transplants. (Then again, I grew up in NYCHA) Not everyone in Manhattan is either. Just an example we're almost 1/5th jewish in Manhattan. You think you'll find that many jews coming from outside the tri-state area? Lots of people here have a long family history rooted in New York. The Ohio Omaha Iowa Idaho crowd aren't the only people here. We're just like the outer boros in most ways.
I realize that there are plenty of native New Yorkers in Manhattan, but I'm willing to bet that the proportion of transplants to native New Yorkers is highest in Manhattan, and therefore the typical NYC accent will be the least noticeable there.
But when you say Manhattan is just like the outer boros in most ways, I don't know how true that is. I could think of many important ways in which Manhattan differs from the other boros, but I'm not going to go through the trouble of listing them. Just thought I'd mention it.
I realize that there are plenty of native New Yorkers in Manhattan, but I'm willing to bet that the proportion of transplants to native New Yorkers is highest in Manhattan, and therefore the typical NYC accent will be the least noticeable there.
But when you say Manhattan is just like the outer boros in most ways, I don't know how true that is. I could think of many important ways in which Manhattan differs from the other boros, but I'm not going to go through the trouble of listing them. Just thought I'd mention it.
Go ahead and list em. It'll be a short list for sure. We got more people on a smaller island and more taller buildings but really there's not much difference. There's plenty of middle class, native New Yorkers with families in Manhattan, just like the outer boros. The only boro that's all that different from Manhattan is maybe Staten Island, but it's a lot different from the other 3 boros as well. I spend a lot of time outside Manhattan. As a kid I used to have friends and family in the Bronx and Jersey and all over.
People who are insular most of their lives, who were born in one neighborhood, schooled in the same neighborhood, working in the same neighborhood sound like everyone else in the neighborhood...it's an indispoutable fact.
More people in Brooklyn were born there than the people living in Manhattan...another indisputable fact.
People who move around a lot, who went to college in a different state and the worked in several more tend to sound more and more like televion and movies than where they were born.
An inveterate Brooklynite who joins a law firm, or an ad agency in Manhattan and wants to advance, quickly learns to temper that "New York twang."
It's a societal thing...nobody wants to sound too "provincial." You're not gonna get far in an accounting firm in London with a strong cockney accent either.
So that's why people in Manhattan sound less "New York" than people in Brooklyn.
Eventually New Yorkers are going to all sound like Californian valley girls and surfer dudes.
Noooooo! I'm from California (please don't call it Cali) and I HATE that, such as using the word "like" as a filler word, almost as much or more often than Tony Soprano or a mob guy inserting the f-word gratuitously.
My daughters, both born and raised in Manhattan don't talk like me (Blooklin) and my wife (Manh). I think there are a lot more Iowa farm boys in Manhattan than authentic NYers. UWS especially reminds me of DC, where everybody is a transplant.
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