Posted on 08/24/2012 2:10:57 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
On July 4, 1960, the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard rang in Independence Day with a dire Associated Press report by one Norma Gauhn headlined “American Dialects Disappearing.” The problem, according to “speech experts,” was the homogenizing effect of “mass communications, compulsory education, [and] the mobility of restless Americans.” These conformist pressures have only intensified in the half-century since the AP warned “that within four generations virtually all regional U.S. speech differences will be gone.” And so as we enter the predicted twilight of regional American English, it’s no surprise that publications as venerable as the Economist now confirm what our collective intuition tells us: “Television and the Internet are definitely doing something to our regional accents: A Boston accent that would have seemed weak in the John F. Kennedy years now sounds thick by comparison.”
Before you start weeping into your chowdah, though, I have some news: All these people are wrong. Not about the Boston accent, necessarily; that one might really be receding. But American linguistic diversity as a whole isn’t dying—it’s thriving. Despite our gut-level hunch about the direction of the language; despite the fact that 70-cent, three-minute, off-peak, coast-to-coast long-distance calls that cost four inflation-adjusted dollars in 1970 are now free; despite cheap travel, YouTube, and the globalization of film and television, American dialects are actually diverging.
There are multiple examples of such divergence. But none is as dramatic, as baffling to linguists, and as mysteriously under the collective radar as what’s happening in the cities that ring the Great Lakes. From Syracuse, N.Y., in the east to Milwaukee in the west, 34 million Americans are revolutionizing the sound of English. Linguists first noted aspects of the change in the late 1960s.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I like it that different parts of the country speak mildly different "dialects", it gives each region its own flavor.
I’m from central MN and I don’t get it. after reading the article, it mentions the vowel sounds which often sound like 2 vowels instead of 1. I don’t recall hearing that type of dialect in my town.
There are, however, small towns which still retain some of the immigrant accents of northern Europeans. That is mostly amongst the older folks though.
In my area, we do have sme idiosyncracies regarding certain words, I’ve been told one such word is “aunt”. This word can be pronounced differently in areas of the country. It can be “aahhnt”, or “ont” or “ant”. I have always thought the difference may come from the ethnicity of the area, as the German word for “Aunt” is Tante - which is pronounced as “tahn’ta”. Since my town has a lot of German descendants, the prevailing pronounciation here is “aahhnt”.
“Tuh” is one of the giveaways that Obama thinks he’s talking to an audience of morons (i.e., his base). When you hear him talking about “folks,” you will also hear him saying “tuh.”
Well, somebody’s got to git ‘er dun....
We drink bee-ah and pahk somewhehhh we cahnt remembah 'cause lahst night we had a pissah time aftah goin' to the packy an' buyin' a shitload o' bee-ah.
Hell, weah the only ones speakin' friggin' ENGLISH
Let’s call the whole thing off.
People in the western upper peninsula sound like they’re from North Dakota don’t’cha know.
How Americans near the Great Lakes are radically changing the sound of English
All i can say is “ever been to fon du lac WI” Ay ?
lol
Great post, thanks! I’ve always been fascinated with the subject of language and how it evolves.
And Cajun Land still is doing fine. The land where consonants are used as if they cost a a hundred dollars a letter. (In my book there is nothing better than listening to a Southern Gal talk!)
My brother in law grew up in the Upper peninsula and works downtown in Detroit. I think he’s the only Packers within at least 100 miles.
Just say ya to to da UP.
I noticed the loss of regional accent when the children participating in a special Mass in my parish, whose parents have strong local accents, spoke with no accent at all. Also in 2000 when GWB went to a ‘townhall’ appearance at a Texas high school, the students did not have Texas twangs. That was my first recognition that it is happening everywhere.
“My DH says I speak, “Monroe-vian.””
Can it be that you are from Monroe, MI?
We retired and moved from there (actually Newport) 2 years ago. We now live in Mesa, AZ.
Down where I live its "O-hi-ah"
I’ve traveled the world over, yet always seem to return to Wisconsin, the only place I’ve found where the people have no accent.
I grew up saying “Up north” when speaking of northern Michigan and was shocked to find my neighbors saying I came from “Downstate” when I lived up there for a while.
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