A Boston accent is a local accent of Eastern New England English native specifically to the city of Boston and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including New Hampshire, Maine, and all of eastern Massachusetts, though some uniquely local vocabulary appears only around Boston.
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Why is there a Massachusetts accent?
Parts of the accent can be traced back to the earliest settlements of New England and are related the parts of England that prominent Bostonians came from, Ben Zimmer, a linguist who writes about language for The Boston Globe, said on TODAY.
What is a Boston accent called?
Speak in a Southie Boston dialect. The South Boston dialect is sometimes called “Southie.” Southie is the dialect used in working class Boston areas that were made up of Irish, Italian and other immigrant groups. Some blue-collar Bostonians replace “r” with “v.” For example, the word brains becomes “bvains.”
Why is the Boston accent so hard?
One reason actors have such a hard time with the Boston accent is its complexity. Dropping the ‘r’ is only part of it. You have to put it back in some places, sometimes where it doesn’t belong. And you also have to say ‘aw’ for ‘o’ or ‘ah’ (‘hawkey’ for ‘hockey’).
How do Bostonians say chowder?
Chowdah. This is how to say clam chowder with a Boston accent. Chowder refers only to clam chowder, and in Boston there is no such thing as any kind of chowder other than clam (that corn chowder stuff is for the west coast).
Do all people in Massachusetts have an accent?
Not everyone from Massachusetts has a Boston Accent.I have a few friends from Southie and Charlestown that have accents that rival those in The Departed– but thick Boston accents are far and few between.
Why do Bostonians talk funny?
In the 19th and 20th centuries, this accent got reinforced by an influx of Irish immigrants. This combination resulted in the peculiar — or wicked natural, depending — “r”-less dialect you hear today in coastal Massachusetts.
What is a New England accent called?
Eastern New England English, historically known as the Yankee dialect since at least the nineteenth century, is the traditional regional dialect of Maine, New Hampshire, and the eastern half of Massachusetts.
What American accent is the best?
Accordingly, we asked people what the most and least pleasant accent to listen to is. Overwhelmingly, people like the Southern accent best, followed by British and Australian accents. Southern accents tend to be thought of as friendly and welcoming, while British and Australian accents are more exotic.
What does Pissah mean in Boston?
Pissa” Good, excellent. It sounds like an insult, but it’s quite the opposite. The term is thought to derive from the old English “pisser,” meaning something very unpleasant or painful.
Does New England have an accent?
In comparison to Eastern New England English, the western part of New England is hard to pinpoint. It’s in fact very close to a General American accent, meaning it doesn’t really sound like it’s from anywhere in particular.
Is the Boston accent attractive?
In a survey run by travel company Big 7 across its 1.5 million social media followers, the Boston accent was ranked the second sexiest in the country. “One of America’s most imitated and parodied accents, Boston almost comes out on top of the country’s sexiest accents.
Where did Southern accent come from?
A diversity of earlier Southern dialects once existed: a consequence of the mix of English speakers from the British Isles (including largely Southern English and Scots-Irish immigrants) who migrated to the American South in the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular 19th-century elements also borrowed from the
What is some Boston slang?
12 slang phrases Boston gave the rest of America
- Wicked pissa. As in: “Ya new cah’s wicked pissa!”
- Skeezah, tool, igit. Bostonians have created a myriad of insulting words for their friends.
- Bang. Another casually aggressive Boston term, it means ‘to turn’.
- Pahlah.
- Down the Cape.
- Dunkies.
- Spa.
- Badadoes.
What do you call someone from Massachusetts?
Under Massachusetts law, citizens are known, officially, as Bay Staters.
How do you insult a Bostonian?
“Oh my god!
15 Things You Shouldn’t Say To Bostonians
- “You have such a thick accent.”
- “What do you think of Whitey Bulger?”
- “You must be a crazy aggressive driver.”
- “Do you get terrible road rage?”
- “Boston doesn’t have any good food, though.”
- “You’re such a Masshole, haha!”
- “You must eat so much clam chowder.”
When did the Boston accent start?
The Boston Accent
Tourists love to ask if they can “park the car in Harvard Yard” — or rather, “pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd.” This question illustrates the stereotypical Boston accent, whose origins date back to the 17th century.
What does Barney mean in Boston?
Harvard student
barney – a Harvard student or graduate (used by working class residents of Somerville).
Where does the New England accent come from?
How It Started. The New Hampshire accent started with the English colonists who first arrived in North America. They brought with them speech patterns from Elizabethan London and part rural speech from Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Where did the New York accent come from?
According to Prof Labov, the NY accent originates from London. “Back about 1800 all the major cities in the eastern seaboard of the United States began to copy the British pronunciation of not pronouncing the final ‘r’ as a consonant, saying ‘caah’ instead of ‘car’.
Does Western Massachusetts have an accent?
Western Massachusetts (centered on Springfield) shows a universal /æ/ raising to [ɛə] and /ɑ/ fronting to [ɑ̈], following the logic of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, except that it tends towards a cot–caught merger to [ɑ], which is especially completed among younger speakers.
