American Dialects

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American Dialects
7 Regions
24 American English Dialects
The eastern part of the United States has the most diversity
of dialects.
This is because early arrivals were surrounded by a diverse
number of English accents and words. The environment also
played a role as water ways and mountains would isolate
people.
 Northern Dialects (Non-Rhotic) (R
dropped)
Boston Dialect
◦ Pahk the cah

New York City Dialect

◦ Dey sell tirlets on doity-doid street and
◦ fugedaboudit (forget about it)
◦ Pepperidge Fahm remembuhs

◦ Tidewater Dialect
◦ Long drawn-out diphthongs
◦ House..Mouse
◦ Sounds a lot like Canadians
Midland Dialects
North midland
◦ Pennsylvania Dutch
◦ They a-celebratin' his birfday by a-goin' to see 'Old Yeller' in the theatah
◦ bodacious, heap, right smart (large amount), set a spell, and smidgin.
◦South Midland
◦Ozarks
◦Southern Appalachians
◦Smokey Mountain English
◦“They’s (There’s) ten mile from here to the school“
◦workingest, completest
 General Southern (Tend to Drop Rs)
Southern
◦ Virginia Piedmont (four dogs becomes fo-uh dah-awgs)
◦ Coastal Southern
◦ South Florida
◦ Acracoke (Hoi Toide= High Tide) (I tends to go up and be emphasized)
◦ Gullah (Creole language spoken by people on coastal island of Georgia and South Carolina)

◦ Words: catty-corner (diagonal), dope (soda, Coca-Cola), fussbox (fussy person), kernal (pit), savannah (grassland), Sunday child
(illegitimate child). They call doughnuts cookies

◦ Gulf Southern
◦ Louisiana (Cajun English)
◦ Influenced by Boston dialect and French Louisiana Creole
◦ “un-YON" (onion) and "Let de good times role!"