American accents

American accents

1. accents may differ in a region

   • Socioeconomic background
   • age
   • ethnicity and race
   • individual factors

2. part of identity

3. do not follow political boundaries

   • may follow geographical ones
   • settlement patterns and contact

4. Boston

   • non-rhotic
   • start front vowel

5. New York

   • based on identity and group belonging
   • AAE
     • /d/ instead of th
     • turn l into vowel
     • ellision of sounds in consonant clusters
     • influenced both by English and African languages
   • Latino English
     • inluenced PR and Dominican Spanish
     • light /l/

6. Rhode Island

   • non-rhotic
   • start back vowel

7. DC (AAE)

   • ask questions with a falling tone
   • raised thought/cloth vowel

8. Pittsburgh

   • smooth the mouth diphtong

9. Virginia

   • tidewater raising
     • smooth the diphtong in a raised tone

10. North Carolina

    • Goat fronting
    • words and grammar influenced by Irish
    • Lumbee tribe
      • tide-toid

11. Gullah geeche

    • softening of the t
    • inverted vowels
    • dropped consonants on vowels