AA Mid-atlantic Accent (working, culture, factory)
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Yeah, those videos definitely confirmed my thread revival post. The DC/PG Black accent and Tidewater/757 region Black accent share some words in each other's dialects but one side's accent sound even more on the Southern twangy side with some East Coast influences (Tidewater) whereas the other sound more on the East Coast side with some Southern influences (DC/PG).
Hampton Roads peeps are definitely our brethren nonetheless.
What do you mean by "East Coast" influences? You mean the non-rhotic pronunciation that is common from Maine down to Georgia? Because as far as East Coast linguistics commonalities, that seems to be the only one I can think of, with Philly and Baltimore being the exception (except South Philly).
I'm trying to understand this idea of "East Coast" sound in dialect. What exactly is it? Someone from 757 doesn't sound like someone from NYC, other than dropping the R. Vowels are different, as are colloquialisms. Help me understand what you mean by sounding "East Coast".
It's not a "Mid Atlantic dialect" if we are talking about what linguistic researchers refer to as a "Mid Atlantic dialect." Baltimore falls within that linguistic regional pattern but not the DC area.
Yup, the traditional Southern dialect is a non-rhotic pronunciation not heard in the Mid-Atlantic. Also, the Baltimore/Philly sound can also be called "Atlantic Midland", and it is at the southern edge of the Midland.
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Some linguists don't even acknowledge a Mid Atlantic dialect. They break Midland speech into Northern and Southern.
Yup, of which DC straddles between southern extremities of Midland, and Southern.
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It's impossible to get sense of how many people speak a certain way through YouTube videos since there are only a handful of samples from a region of millions. In my experience, the accent ranges from General American (neutral) to Southern. The more education, the closer to General American people tend to sound.
Which is why many people from DC have no discernible regional accent. Blacks from DC can sound pretty Southern with a hint of Midland pronunciation found in Southern extremities of the Midland dialect.
People from DC, Maryland and Virginia sound similar to me. The accents sound a little bit more northern the farther north you go and a little bit more southern the farther south you go from Washington, DC, but they still sound relative to each other really.
Basically, people in that area don't sound as far away from Washington, DC as Pennsylvania or North Carolina.
People from DC, Maryland and Virginia sound similar to me. The accents sound a little bit more northern the farther north you go and a little bit more southern the farther south you go from Washington, DC, but they still sound relative to each other really.
Basically, people don't sound as far away from Washington, DC as Pennsylvania or North Carolina
I feel like NOVA people speak General American for the most part, as do Whites around DC suburbs of Maryland.
In fact I'd be hard pressed to find a White person from DC around my age (29) that has any discernible accent. But the ones that do have a Southern-lite accent.
I will disagree on the North Carolina thing, though. At least in Baltimore there is a hint of the Carolinas left in the Black population's dialect.
^ I agree with you on that too. You know people from Virginia love the water and all types of rad stuff. It kind of reminds me of a California on the east coast really.
@PurpleHaze1100, there isn't a big difference between the Baltimore and DC accent, so if you say "DC accent isn't distinctive", that also applies to Baltimore's accent. DC also pronounces ready as "rey", depending on the usage and context. While no one would use it as "I'm rey" or "you rey?" They would say "I'm gi (get) rey (ready) go" or "They alrey (already) left". DC has the "dee" at the end of the days of the week as well (we alternate between "dee" and "day"), and pronounces "Saturday" as "Surrrdee" or “Surrday”. "Water" is pronounced as "warda" but without the "r" or as "wuda"; it sounds like “or” with a light “r” or stressed “u”. The phonetic spelling is not always accurate when trying to capture the differences in black speech. The word "Alley" is pronounced as "Ailley" or "Illey", in DC, and even the word "everybody" is pronounced as "errrybahee" with the "d" completely dropped. Another example is "wanna" pronounced as "wuun". Ex. "What you wuun do today?" or "Iown (don't) wuun do nothin' today".
In words, you said that DC has so much slang because we have no distinct accent, but you are incorrect in your assessment. DC certainly has a recognizable accent, and slang has absolutely nothing to do with accents. Accents are the pronounciations of words and are many times interconnected with Dialects. Dialects are word usage and meaning along with pronunciations, and slang can be a part of a dialect, but has absolutely nothing to do with accents. I can hear a person from DC speak without using slang, and easily recognize their DC accent.
Here is a perfect example of a DC accent (without slang). I knew he was from DC as soon as I heard him speak:
Even the Baltimore dialect spans a continuum between the Midland and the Southern region. Baltimore speakers have more Southern pronunciations than Philly speakers despite both being Midland dialects. This gives Baltimore more of a drawl than Philly, but it still maintains strong rhoticity, and inconsistent glide deletion. Like is pronounced "luik" and not "lahk" like in the Deep South. In fact, even places like Kentucky are similar in which glide deletion happens only SOME of the time, not all of it. Consistent glide deletion like "nahs waht rahs" (nice white rice) is only a Deep South thing.
@PurpleHaze1100, there isn't a big difference between the Baltimore and DC accent, so if you say "DC accent isn't distinctive", that also applies to Baltimore's accent. DC also pronounces ready as "rey", depending on the usage and context. While no one would use it as "I'm rey" or "you rey?" They would say "I'm gi (get) rey (ready) go" or "They alrey (already) left". DC has the "dee" at the end of the days of the week as well (we alternate between "dee" and "day"), and pronounces "Saturday" as "Surrrdee" or “Surrday”. "Water" is pronounced as "warda" but without the "r" or as "wuda"; it sounds like “or” with a light “r” or stressed “u”. The phonetic spelling is not always accurate when trying to capture the differences in black speech. The word "Alley" is pronounced as "Ailley" or "Illey", in DC, and even the word "everybody" is pronounced as "errrybahee" with the "d" completely dropped. Another example is "wanna" pronounced as "wuun". Ex. "What you wuun do today?" or "Iown (don't) wuun do nothin' today".
In words, you said that DC has so much slang because we have no distinct accent, but you are incorrect in your assessment. DC certainly has a recognizable accent, and slang has absolutely nothing to do with accents. Accents are the pronounciations of words and are many times interconnected with Dialects. Dialects are word usage and meaning along with pronunciations, and slang can be a part of a dialect, but has absolutely nothing to do with accents. I can hear a person from DC speak without using slang, and easily recognize their DC accent.
Here is a perfect example of a DC accent (without slang). I knew he was from DC as soon as I heard him speak:
Baltimoreans do be sounding quite....different lol but I do see and agree with your point though, great post! Good ear with the dude in the video, sounds like a typical Southside DC accent.
Btw for "everybody", that is true but another common pronunciation is "urrybody".
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