The stereotypical Long Island accent may not actually be native to Long Island. Those who possess most of these speech features can often trace their roots to Brooklyn or Queens, including Griffith, whose grandparents hailed from Brooklyn.
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Where did the New York accent originate?
London
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’.
What is a Bowery accent?
There were references to a “Bowery accent” by the turn of the century.Born in Brooklyn of Irish and Lithuanian descent, the accents in the play were inspired by the voices he grew up around: “It sounded like a Scorsese movie.”
How do New Yorkers say orange?
Bostonians and New Yorkers also pronounce their “o’s” and “a’s” differently from each other and from Connecticut. Ms. MacKenzie said “forest” and “orange” are pronounced FORE-ist and OR-inge in Connecticut, but as FAR-ist and ARE-inge in New York.
Why do Southerners have an accent?
These characteristics were a result of feature spreading and dialect leveling that took place in the post-Civil War era as millions of rural southerners moved to the cities, mixing together rural varieties into a new, relatively uniform vernacular that marginalized Older SAE (American Voices, Wolfram and Ward).
How do New Yorkers say drawer?
So what’s with “draw?” To be fair to my New York friends, most Americans pronounce “drawer” in an “illogical” way. The word technically has two morphemes (smallest units of meaning): draw + er, suggesting a container that can be “drawn” out**. But many pronounce it as if it rhymed with “lore” (i.e. had one morpheme).
Why do New Yorkers add an R?
In the past, the silent “r” was considered a sign of immigrants or the lower class, therefore, it was stigmatized. While still popular, the number of New Yorkers that drop the “r” is dwindling. The intrusive “r” is a different phenomenon where the consonant attaches itself onto words that normally don’t include it.
Is there a Staten Island accent?
There is even a distinct south shore Staten Island accent that can be heard in the speech of those who have lived in the area for a few generations, according to a linguist who grew up there.
How do New Yorkers say coffee?
cawfee
He found that all those charming New Yorkisms (“cawfee” for “coffee,” “dawg” for “dog,” “fawth flaw” for “fourth floor”) are going the way of the Jewish deli.
What is Connecticut accent?
Many of Connecticut’s rich residents speak in a neutral, upper-class accent sometimes called ‘Mid-Atlantic. ‘ People generally have to manufacture that accent, because no one speaks it naturally.You’ve heard the accent if you’ve watched old movies with upper-class characters.
What kind of accent did George Washington have?
For Washington, it was a little bit of Cornwall, that western country English accent with a trace of farmer.” The tremulous nature of Morse’s voice in John Adams adds a quiet, reserved nature to Washington that is not as pronounced in other performances.
What is the most attractive accent in the US?
Each year, a travel website polls people and ranks the sexiest and least sexy American accents. And the TEXAS accent was just named the sexiest accent again. It was #1 last year too. But three other accents fell out of the Top 10 this time: Mississippi, Hawaii, and St.
What state has the most Southern accent?
Mississippi is the most Southern state by a hair
The rest of the top five — Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana — make up the other states of the Deep South. There was a slight drop-off in votes for Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas, but they’re all still unmistakably Southern by readers’ standards.
Does Long Island have an accent?
A wide consensus of people who we asked on Facebook and common sense tells us that yes, Long Islanders do have an accent.Some loved their Long Island accent.
Is the New York accent disappearing?
Kaufman says part of the reason why these accents are fading is that more well-to-do outsiders are moving into Manhattan proper. “Wealthy people, or middle-class people even, from all over the country, speak quite similarly to each other,” he says.
What makes a New York accent?
The variations of the New York City accent are a result of layering ethnic speech with the influence from waves of immigration. Over time, the collective influences combined to give New York City (and surrounding areas) a distinct and recognizable accent.
What is the difference between a Bronx and Brooklyn accent?
Brooklyn, meanwhile, has “a very urban sound,” according to Caban.”It’s got a lot of power to it. You use emphasis with volume, and less with pitch variety,” while the Bronx has “a very fast accent, you get some New York flavors, and you also get some Spanish as a first language flavor too.”
What do New Yorkers call the subway?
trains
The subway system is usually just referred to as the “trains.” Locals say “I can take the train to your place” to generally mean that they take the subway. The subway is never referred to as the metro, underground, or tube.
What is Cawfee?
doozy, doozie n. something excellent, impressive.
How do New Yorkers say awesome?
New Yorkers use the word “lit” when something is cool or awesome.
What is a Massachusetts accent?
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.
