Pennsylvania Linguistic Diversity (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie: 2014, living in, rich)

[mville1]

Pennsylvania dialects: From Pittsburghese to Philadelphia speak, the Keystone state is fascinating.


This article does a decent job on our states two main dialects, but misses an opportunity to talk about Pennsylvania's other dialects in detail. The author's main argument that Pennsylvania is this nations most linguistically diverse or rich state loses credibility when he mentions that most states have "two or three comprehensive dialects" and then mentions that Pennsylvania has five, but only describes two of them.

There is though a small shout-out to those that live north of I-80.

Nonetheless, I think Pennsylvania's linguistic diversity is just one of the elements that makes living in this state so interesting along with our geographic diversity, our long and instrumental history, and the countless small towns and cities that dot the Pennsylvania countryside.

[CarbonCountyLiving]

Even north of I-80 there are a couple of distinct dialects. People from Hazleton have a different dialect than those from Scranton. It's really a hodgepodge of dialects all over the state.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by mville1

Pennsylvania dialects: From Pittsburghese to Philadelphia speak, the Keystone state is fascinating.


This article does a decent job on our states two main dialects, but misses an opportunity to talk about Pennsylvania's other dialects in detail. The author's main argument that Pennsylvania is this nations most linguistically diverse or rich state loses credibility when he mentions that most states have "two or three comprehensive dialects" and then mentions that Pennsylvania has five, but only describes two of them.

Well, it is a web article, they are required to be short because most readers don't spend a lot of time reading long articles on the net. It sounds like the author would have detailed the other dialects, if he could have.

Wikipedia covers them pretty well instead:
Central Pennsylvania dialect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Philadelphia accent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Northeast Pennsylvania English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pennsylvania Dutch English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pittsburgh English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Ohiogirl81]

I've always been fascinated that the Inland North dialect/Northern Cities Shift skipped right over Erie on its way from Chicaaago, Detroit and Cleveland to Buffalo and Raaachester. Instead, Erie natives speak the Midland dialect. Too much trouble to draw out all those vowels, LOL.

[Icy Tea]

If you've ever watched " Green Acres" and listened to Fred Ziffel talk, that's pretty darn close to how an average old Pennsylvania Dutchman sounded like when I was growing up in the 70s. Its a fading accent and dialect but still around in Mennonite and Amish( although slightly different) areas.
But I read that Pennsylvania dialect is unique in that it didn't produce residents with a noticeable accent like in New England and down South. Its sort of a "normal" zone where its location had the population exposed to newcomers and travelers and they adopted a more universal way of speaking.
Note: If a Dutchman tells you to " Get Out" he doesn't mean you should leave, he means he is shocked by what you're saying.

[JettaPA]

Originally Posted by Icy Tea

If you've ever watched " Green Acres" and listened to Fred Ziffel talk, that's pretty darn close to how an average old Pennsylvania Dutchman sounded like when I was growing up in the 70s. Its a fading accent and dialect but still around in Mennonite and Amish( although slightly different) areas.
But I read that Pennsylvania dialect is unique in that it didn't produce residents with a noticeable accent like in New England and down South. Its sort of a "normal" zone where its location had the population exposed to newcomers and travelers and they adopted a more universal way of speaking.
Note: If a Dutchman tells you to " Get Out" he doesn't mean you should leave, he means he is shocked by what you're saying.

I was reading the wiki entry on PA dutch and its funny how many of those phrases are still used. Some of them I only recognize as things only my Grandparents said, but a few like saying "its all" meaning there is no more, and "yeah, well" are both phrases I use quite often and never realized outsiders might have no idea what I'm talking about.

[mville1]

Originally Posted by JettaPA

I was reading the wiki entry on PA dutch and its funny how many of those phrases are still used. Some of them I only recognize as things only my Grandparents said, but a few like saying "its all" meaning there is no more, and "yeah, well" are both phrases I use quite often and never realized outsiders might have no idea what I'm talking about.

After reading the wiki entry, I had the same reaction. I use "its all" while I am at work and I get some strange looks from my coworkers who are from the Philadelphia region. I also never associated words like doplic or macadam with being unique to south central PA, but dippy eggs is another story.....

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by mville1

After reading the wiki entry, I had the same reaction. I use "its all" while I am at work and I get some strange looks from my coworkers who are from the Philadelphia region. I also never associated words like doplic or macadam with being unique to south central PA, but dippy eggs is another story.....

A lot of people in SEPA order their medium eggs "dippy" as well.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

A lot of people in SEPA order their medium eggs "dippy" as well.

People in Pittsburgh use the term as well.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

I've always been fascinated that the Inland North dialect/Northern Cities Shift skipped right over Erie on its way from Chicaaago, Detroit and Cleveland to Buffalo and Raaachester. Instead, Erie natives speak the Midland dialect. Too much trouble to draw out all those vowels, LOL.

My understanding is Erie (and Youngstown) shifted to Midland English due to the influence of Pittsburgh sometime in the early 20th century. Thus they missed out on the Northern Cities Vowel Shift entirely.