28/09/20

DIALECTS

I. SOUTHERN AMERICAN DIALECT (Deep South: Virginia, Carolinas [North and South],
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas [only the eastern part])

Phonetics of the Southern American Dialect

• Monophthongization of [aɪ] > [a:]

o E.G.: Nice white rice: /na:z wa:t ra:z/
o E.G.: Piece of ice: /pi:z av a:s/
• [e] > [ɪ] in words like pen, get, hen, ten, very.
o E.G.: /pen/ > /pɪn/….
o E.G.: Veggies: /vidʒi/
o Phenomena called pen/pin merging
• Non-rhotic dialect
o E.G.: car keys, card, comfort (/ka:, ki:z, ka:d, /ˈkʌmfɚt/).
o Until the 18th C. the “Rs” were pronounced, until aristocracy adopted this
speaking innovation Jamestown is the first English speaking colony estate
(1607). Also happened in New England and New York. In the rest of the
nation, it is pronounced.
• [ju:] like in new, reproduce, due
o In the rest of America, it is pronounced just /u:/
o For example, new in America it is pronounced like this /nu:/ but in southern
American is pronounced like this /ˈnjuː/
• [s]/[z] Use of the voiced sound followed by a nasal turns into a d + n
o E.G. isn’t > /ɪznt/; business > /bɪznɪz/ - /bɪdnes/; /idnt/
 My new pen isn’t here > /ma: nju: pen ɪdnt hɪa:

Morphosyntax of the Southern American Dialect

• You all > y’all (plural), standard 2nd person plural pronoun in the South. One of
the most distinctive features. In the rest of the nation probably “you guys” is used
more often. You (more formal, for the king), thou (more informal, wooing scenes)
Y’alls as a possessive pronoun.
• Cluster of Modal Auxiliar. “You might could do it”. “You should could will do it”
• To be fixing to. To be going to (semi-auxiliary) / to be ready to. Both ideas can be
expressed by the idea of “to be fixed to”. Example: “I am fixing for a change” ( I am ready
for a change)
• Like to. Connected to “likely”. Like to is present in Dickens’ books for example, it
was used at that time (the cat likes to be run over > the cat is almost ran over)
• Existential there substituted by “it” or “they”. E.G. “It’s not milk in the fridge”,
“they are cookies in the kitchen”
• Double deixis. Over-emphasizing if something is near or close. E.G.: this here book.
• Completive DONE. Completive: an action has been completed, usually for
emphatic purposes. E.G.: I done told you – I have already told you.

Lexis of the Southern American Dialect

• Spigot: tap, faucet

• Snack > bite > piece
• Hey
• Sack: bag
• Carry > take. E.G: Carry me to the cinema.
• Tote: lifting something that is heavy. E.g: “Tote the bags”. Sounds similar to “tota” an
African word > the people carrying the heavy things were slaves.
• Typical intensifier in the south is mighty (very) (/ma:tɪ/)
• Purdy = pretty (as an adjective). Pert = pretty (very) (as in pretty good)
• Chuck = throw.
• Coca cola: any soda drink
• Ida Claire = I declare
• Reckon = think
• High falutin (adjective) = pretencioso, showing off, talking “big”, sort of boasting
• Youngun = child
• A spell: a brief moment
UPPER SOUTH, SOUTH MIDLANDS DIALECT

Appalachia, Ozarks (West Virginia, Southern part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, part of Missouri
and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky)

Phonetics

• Ditto/Idem as in the Southern American Dialect:

o Monophthongization of [aɪ] > [a:]
▪ E.G.: Nice white rice: /na:z wa:t ra:z/
▪ E.G.: Piece of ice: /pi:z av a:s/
o Pen-pin merging: [e] > [ɪ] in words like pen, get, hen, ten, very, everly, fresh,
energy, ever, tempted
▪ E.G.: /pen/ > /pɪn/. Anymore-> /ˌɛniˈmɔːr/ turns into -> /ini’ mɔ:/
o Non-rhotic dialect
▪ E.G.: car keys, card (/ka: ki:z, ka:d/).
▪ Until the 18th C. the “Rs” were pronounced, until aristocracy
adopted this speaking innovation Jamestown is the first English
speaking colony estate (1607). Also happened in New England and
New York. In the rest of the nation, it is pronounced.
o [ju:] like in new, reproduce, due
▪ In the rest of America, it is pronounced just /u:/
o [s]/[z] Use of the voiced sound followed by a nasal turns into a d + n
▪ E.G. isn’t > /ɪznt/; business > /bɪznɪz/ - /bɪdnes/; /idnt/

• Intrusive R in words containing st or sh

o Master > marster
o Washing liquid > warshing liquid
o Past> parst
• Omission of unstressed initial syllables (usually prefix or opening syllables)
o Important > portant.
 o Imagine > magine

o Account-> count

o About-> bout

Morphosyntax

• Ditto as in Southern American Dialect

o You all > y’all (plural), standard 2nd person plural pronoun in the South.
One of the most distinctive features. In the rest of the nation probably “you
guys” is used more often. You (more formal, for the king), thou (more
informal, wooing scenes)
Y’alls as a possessive pronoun.
o Cluster of Modal Auxiliar. “You might could do it”. “You should could will
do it”
o To be fixing to. To be going to (semi-auxiliary) / to be ready to. Both ideas
can be expressed by the idea of “to be fixed to”.
o Like to. Connected to “likely”. Like to is present in Dickens’ books for
example, it was used at that time (the cat likes to be run over > the cat is
almost ran over)
o Existential there substituted by “it” or “they”. E.G., “It’s not milk in the
fridge”, “they are cookies in the kitchen”
o Double deixis. Over-emphasizing if something is near or close. E.G.: this
here book.
o Completive DONE. Completive: an action has been completed, usually for
emphatic purposes. E.G.: I done told you – I have already told you.
• Drop of “to be” in positive sentences with the verbs “Need/Want/Ask” + -ed
o The baby needs to be washed > the baby needs washed
o This job needs to be done > this job needs done
o I need to be fed > I need fed
• Reversed order of the words:
o Whatever> ever what (written together or in separate words)
o Whenever> ever where
• “Everly” as an adverbial like “always”

• “A” as a marker of progressive aspect (the action is in progress)

o A-coming: “I saw her a-coming”
o A-doing
 Lexis

• Check (in the rest of America it means the bill, but in the South Midlands it is a
snack)
• Poke (sack)
• A jag of (a little bit, a small amount of)
• Mangoes (green peppers)

(Algunas palabras del vocabulario del southern dialect se repite en este dialecto).

• Spigot: tap, faucet

• Hey
• Carry > take. E.G: Carry me to the cinema.
• Tote: lifting something that is heavy. E.g: “Tote the bags”. Sounds similar to “tota” an
African word > the people carrying the heavy things were slaves.
• Typical intensifier in the south is mighty (very) (/ma:tɪ/)
• Purdy = pretty (as an adjective). Pert = pretty (very) (as in pretty good)
• Chuck = throw.
• Coca cola: any soda drink
• Reckon = think
• High falutin (adjective) = showing off, talking “big”, sort of boasting
• Youngun = child
• A spell: a brief moment
AFROAMERICAN VERNACULAR (AAVE)

PHONETICS

• [aɪ] > [a:] Monophtongization

• Pen/pin merging
• Non-rhotic
• Omission of the last consonant in consonantal clusters
• Yet you cannot get rid of p, t, k after a nasal
• [ð] > [d] INITIAL POSITION
• [θ] > [t] INITIAL POSITION
• [ð] > [v] FINAL POISITION
• [θ] > [f] FINAL POISTION
• Middle position: both are possible (mother with [d] or [v])
• Metathesis: reversal of the order of consonants (ask > aks)
• L-lessness: weevil, fool
• [ŋ] > [n]: -ing verbal forms; morning; hungry
• [st] > [sk]: street > skr
• [tr] > [tʃ]: true>chew; trial child.

MORPHOSYNTAX

• Cluster of modal auxiliaries

• Existential It.
• Like to / liketa > almost
• Gonna/wanna/gotta
• Fixing to / fixinta
• Completive done
• Omission of Copula/Zero Copula: you dirty
• Invariant be (habitual): he be working when the boss comes in / he working when
the boss comes in
• Double negation
• Ain’t: be (isn’t/aren’t) / have
• Lack of subject – verb agreement (he go, they’s)
• Possessive and pronouns: I had me a family > I had my family / its they book
• Past tense: irregular verbs treated as regular verbs
• Remote past marker BEEN (bin): I started the paper so don’t ask / I been married /
I been shot the bird.
LEXIS

• Of African origin.
• Wolof: DOON (>done); banana (“any kind of fruit”, 1563); cat; jam (slave),
jamboree (celebration of the slaves for the hard work); hep (be aware,
understand), honkie (hong; light read, to refer to white people) (honky tonk; night
club where music is played by black people to a white audience); yam (nyam;
group of people; sweet potato)); jive (talk in a very special manner, misleading);
chick (jigen; young girl); sock (to strike, with a mortar, sexual overtone); dig (dega)
• Mandingo: TOON (>done); bad (sexual meaning, naughty. Active sexually
speaking); jelly (roll); a crooner singing love song; then, in Caribbean area, means
“liquid of coconuts, sexual connotation, like semen; in Harlem it means “vagina” or
referring to a girlfriend); jitterbud (jito; “offensive way to call a black person”)
• Bantu: Tote (tota; “carry”); fiffy (tsipi: short); hullabaloo (halua balualua; “those
who are waiting for are coming”, implies a lot of noise linked with the way this
people are coming – “a lot of noise and confusion”); okra (African veggie, main
ingredient of gumbo); gumbo (dish in the south, spicy, veggies and meat); pinder
(peanuts in crops for industrial ussage); goober (peanuts); jambalaya (typical dish
from Louisiana, ‘dirty rice’, rice and inner organs of animals); jigaboo (offensive
word to refer to black people); bozo ((low witted, stupid person).
• Sierra Leone: zombie (jombi; African believe that the dead are around us); bogus
(when something is not real, a fraud); palooka (low witted, stupid person, also big
person).
• Harlem Jive:
o Beat it/blow/split (“dares el piro, pirarse”)
o Blip/groovy/solid/frantic/mellow (“cool)
o Long/short bread/benjies/cabbage/cheese/cholly/paper/bones/chips/cake
(money, if you have long bread you got a lot of money, and the opposite
goes for short bread/benjies/… etc)
o Dead presidents/bank (“money”)
o Dude/bro/ace/Fool (“fool” is pronounced “foo”, the l-eness rule has
applied here) (“a way to refer to someone who is a friend of your or you
want to grow familiar with). Dude is used to be somebody who whas
supposed to be a gentleman dressed in fancy clothes, it was originally used
by black people to refer to the whites, who were supposed to be
gentlemen. Foo can also be used to address somebody who is your friend
or someone that is stupid.
o Drape/threads/sky piece (“clothes”, sky piece “hat”)
o Benders (knees)/choppers (teeth)/peepers (eyes)/ grabbers (hands)/
hookers (fingers)/frame (body)/top (head)/map (face)
o Spiel (the original meaning referred to the long and winding speech that
people made use of when they wanted to sell something: black people
were sold at an auction and then the owners went on a long spiel about
how good the slaves were. Anyway, spiel nowadays means simply “talk”).
Also “lay the spiel on” means talk about something.
o Chimer/slammer (“alarm clock”)
o Lush/juice: words for “booze”. Booze is a Dutch word for alcohol, it is not
originally American.
o Box (“radio” or “record player”)
o Sides (“record”, in music)
o To leg – to bone – to smash – to make cookies: “sex”
o Candy: “drugs”
o Kitchen “the part of the back of your neck where you can have some grown
up hair”)
o Breezy (“easy girl”) – booper (“woman with an interest in men just because
of their money, interested” – ho (“prostitute”. How black people
pronounce whore) – hoochie – coochie mama (hoochie: “vagina”; “a girl to
have sex with)
o Bling bling (something bright and shiny)
o Dog (“walk”)– short (“car”)– call (“reason”)– stay (“live”)
o Tore up – plastered – stoned – folded – juiced – lit up (“drunk”)
o Oreo (black guy with a white soul, a traitor, someone that is black but
behaves as if he were white)– cracker (white person)– Ofay (“white
person”)– patty (“white person”)– splib dude/chuck dude (came into being
during the Vietnam War)
o Brick (“cold”)– hawk (“cold wind”)– jump salty (“Get angry at somebody”)
– motherfucker (offensive slang or a welcoming greeting)– mofo
(euphemism for “motherfucker”)
o Hustle – chill out (get my chill on). The origin is to be found in the
expression “hot under the collar” which means “going through a hard or
stressful time, not doing very fine”, “work”; the opposite is “chill”, the
opposite of stressful time.
o Shucks! (“a pack of lies”, “bullshit”, expression that you are annoyed or you
don’ like something). Word comes from the corn shucks, everything that is
not eatable in the maize.
o Bae/digits (“baby”, “phone number”)
o On fleek (something that is cutting edge)
o Strapped (“pusher”) – pipe (“shotgun”)- blade (“knife”)
o T Jones (“mother”)
o Digits (“phone number”)/holla (“call someone up over the phone”)
o Keep it real (“be yourself”, “stick to your own culture”)
o Kicks (“have fun”)
o Crib/pad (“house”)
o Player (“man wearing all the paraphernalia of a rapper”)
o My bad (apologize after a mistake)
o Yo (way of addressing people)
o Whack (negative at the beginning, now is good “cool”)
o Whip (like “short”, that means a mean of transport that gets you
everywhere in short time).
o Saddity (people who want to show off they are the best. It means
“pretentious” or “snobbish”)
o Hood (“neighborhood”)
o 187 (when a cop calls a cop immediately, it is a case of murder. “I’m gonna
187 you” means “I’m going to kill you”)-211 (code number of robbery)
o Dis (“disrespect”)
o 5-0 (bacon, fuzz): “police”
o “Blast”: kill by shooting
o “Crack”: cocaine that is smoked
o “Huey”: activist fighting for the rights of the black people
o “Dope game”: selling drugs
o “Being real”: work honestly, to have a decent job
o “Jack you up”: inject heroine on yourself.
o “Back you up”: to find the vein to inject heroin
o “Crack you up”: giving you cocaine.
o “Pimps smack you up”: pimp beating the prostitute up when she’s not
doing her job.
o “Bust”
o “Strapped”: carrying a weapon
o “Pay back”: revenge
o “Buck”: derogatory for black people
NEW ENGLAND DIALECT (Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Maine).

Phonetics

East of Connecticut (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) river classic
New England dialect. The other part, slight differences (Vermont or Connecticut)

• Non-rhotic
• Intrusive “r” between vowels or at the end of a word ending in a vowel
o “Today Cuba(R) is lost to freedom”.
o “I will drive my car to Canada(R)”
• Broad [a:] is kept up:
o Ar: garden, bar, Barney
o Ath [θ/ð] father, rather / path, bath
o Ass: glass, class
o –Ast: blast last, pastor
o –Ant: ant, plant, can’t, aunt, grant
o –And: Sandra, demand, slander
o –Ansc/Anc: answer, France
o –Ask: ask, mask, basket
o –Aft: after, craft
o –Af: half, laugh

Lexis

• Scrod: catch of the day . Most affordable fresh fish that has been caught that day.
Region of sailors.
• Mug up: coffee break.
• Widow’s walk: part of the house where the wife expected for his husband’s arrival
(sailor usually didn’t come back) – balcony on top of the house.
• Common/green: square.
• Brook: small river. Creek in general American, branch in South American
• Barrel: trash can.
• Packy: where you get your alcoholic drink off-license.
• The T: the tube, subway.
• Hannah Cook: Hand or Cook – expression to refer to the lowest paid job in a ship;
something with no good quality, or not well prepared (“it is not worth a Hannah
Cook”)
• Carriage: shopping cart, trolley.
• Number plate: license plate.
• Spa: convenience store, opened 24/7.
• Elastic: rubber band.
• Wicked: intensifier (like mighty in the South).
• Cellar: basement.
• Cocked: drunk.
• Bubbler: drinking fountain.
• Pissah: Cool, fantastic, good. Used in combination with “wicked” – “wicked Pissah”
• Tonic: any soda drink, like co-cola in the South.
• Barney: student of the most important university of the nation (Harvard)
NEW YORK STATE DIALECT (The whole state, not only NYC)

PHONETICS

• Non-rhotic: E.G.: car keys, card (/ka: ki:z, ka:d/).

• Intrusive r between words (the first ending in a vocalic sound and the other beginning in
another vocalic sound): the(r)elevator
• [ŋ] > [ŋk] for example in “moving”: /ˈmuːvɪŋ/ > /ˈmuːvɪ ŋk /
• [ɜː] > [ɔɪ] (Irish influence) for example in work, first, girls…
• Dropping of [h] at the beginning of a word (Italian influence] for example in home, her,
have…
• Final [s] > [ʃ] (Irish influence) for example in “dress”: /ˈdrɛs/ > /ˈdrɛʃ/
• [θ] > [t] (Italian influence) for example in “think”: /θɪŋk/ > /tɪŋk/
• [ð] > [d] for example in “this”: /ðɪs/ > /dɪs/
• [ɒ] > [ɔː] for example in “want”: /wɑnt/ > / wɔːnt/

MORPHOSYNTAX

• Youse guys (you guys) (Italian influence)

• Inversion of question tags
o He’s a genius, isn’t he? > He isn’t?

LEXIS

• Yiddish
o Schlep (verb): arrastrar algo que pesa “The girls are schlepping the heavy bags”.
o Bagel: donut, ring shaped roll. Half fermented, boiled, put in the oven.
o Chutzpah: nerve to do something. “You don’t have the chutzpah to talk to
the boss”.
o Goy: not a politically correct word, someone who is a non-Jew. Goish – a
meal that is not kosher (cannot combine meat and milk).
o Kibbitz (verb): to chat; to gossip; to make small talk
o Maven (adjective): know-it-all, the most intelligent
o Glitch: Fallo, rotura. “There is a glitch with the oven”. When an electronic gadget is
not working well.
o Schlok: cheap store, not much quality.
o Schlong: male sexual organ.
o Schmuck: small talk about unimportant subjects
o Kosher: ready to be eaten, something that the community can eat, and
complies with the eating standards of the community (rabbit, or inner
organs of animals). It is the same as “halal” but for the Jewish community.
o Nosh: snack. Can be used as a verb, as in “I am noshing on peanuts”.
“you can nosh on ice cream”
 o Oy vey: expression of dismay, something is in a mess, you don’t like
something.
o Gesundheit: “bless you”, after sneezing.
o Dingbat: slow-witted (pocas luces), stupid.
• Action: sex
• Bodega: local convenience grocery store opened extra hours.
• Slice: pizza
• Stand on line (instead of in line; Latino influence)
• Eggcream: drink (chocolate or vanilla milkshake plus soda)
• To be 404: to be lost
• Subway: underground train system
• Mad: intensifier, like mighty in the South or wicked in New England
• Lit: great, fabulous

NORTH NORTH DIALECT (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakotas, Montana, part of Idaho).

Settlers in this place are Scandinavians, so there is a mark on their language.

PHONETICS

• No vowel glide
o [ei] > [e]: cake (/cek/)
o [əʊ] > [ɒ]: ok (/oke/); Dakota (/Dakota/)
o [əʊ] > [ʊ]: about (/abut/); cloud (/clud/)
• [b,d,g] > [p,t,k] at the end of a word: tab > tap; mad>mat; dog>dok

MORPHOSYNTAX

• Question tags replaced by “eh?” In Canada, the same thing happens.

LEXIS

• Uff da!: Norwegian. Like “ups!” Or “ouch!”

• Lefse: Norwegian. “Like a Mexican tortilla made of potato; in between a crêpe and
a Mexican tortilla”.
• Otskaka: Swedish. “Cheeskake”
• Brat: German. “Sausage”.
• Pop: any type of soda.
• Stop-and-go lights: traffic lights.
• Spendy: expensive
• Glorified rice: dessert at a wedding banquet. Rice with pineapples, marshmallows,
candy cherries, cream.
• You betcha: absolutely.
• I better letcha go: time to say goodbye, instead of bye-bye.
• ‘n that
• Oh for cute
• Oh for dumb