What does Boston have against the letter “R”? Why do miners sometimes prolong the “O” sound? And where did the Texas accent come from? Warm up your vocal chords because today we're diving into the history of America's most well-known accents.
1. 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. The famous Beantown dialect is a melting pot, influenced by both Quakers, Puritans and Algonquian Indians.
By far the most well-known quirk of the Boston accent is its tendency to drop the “R” sound. This is replaced by an “ah”, transforming beer in beeah . Until recently, historians attributed the custom to good old-fashioned Anglophilia. Supposedly, the Massachusetts colonists were trying to imitate the scholarly norms of the English elite, who always made a point of abandoning their Rs. However, this explanation can be reversed.
The abandoned “R” habit first appeared in southeast England, where it was not originally seen as prestigious. In 2012, linguist Richard Bailey used phonetically written records to show that the trend later became popular in pre-Revolutionary Boston. And yet, according to his research, Britain's wealthy only adopted the practice in the mid-19th century. So, in other words, it's possible that English socialites were copying Beantown and not vice versa.
Oh, and for what it's worth, Harvard Yard has very strict parking policies, so you might want to leave your vehicle elsewhere. Just saying.
2. Noo Yawk's Town Accent
As in Boston, the first English speakers to arrive in this region came from southern England. Sometime in the 18th century, New Yorkers also began dropping their “R's” – even those originally from the north of England picked up the habit. This explains why Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Hyde Park said feah instead of fear during the biggest speech of his life:
The lost “R” phenomenon began to wane after World War II, but other norms still persist. Say Guyland Lawn instead of Long Island and you will be considered a native of the region. Some believe this little eccentricity may be a product of Yiddish or Italian influence. However, other linguists are not convinced. Most experts agree that the basic characteristics of the New York accent are British in origin. What is debatable is the exact degree to which any language other than English has affected the pronunciation of specific words or sentence structures. As such, we may never know where they came from the cawfee It is toity-toid street.
3. The Upper Midwestern Accent
The 1996 film “Fargo” made this synonymous with Minnesota. That being said, its variants can also be heard in places like Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Here, local dialects carry the sonorous touch of distant lands. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, America saw a strong influx of immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. Most of these travelers had an agricultural background, so it's no wonder that a large percentage went to the upper Midwest with its abundant farmland. Today, English speakers in the region reflect this story. Consider the phrase “Do you want to go with me?” – which originated in Minnesota. According to linguist John M. Spat, the idiomatic expression owes its strange formulation to the grammatical norms of languages such as Norwegian and German. These sources also influenced the pronunciation of vowels. In parts of Minnesota and neighboring states, the “ohh” sound is famous for being replaced by the lengthened “owe” in certain words. Consequently, Dakota turns into Dak-owe-tah . It is generally considered a remnant of German and Scandinavian languages.
4. The Texas accent
The story of the Lone Star State's world-famous accent began in 1820. That year, Spain opened the underpopulated province of Texas to foreign settlers. Attracted by cheap land, immigrants from the US arrived – and thousands more would arrive after Mexico separated from Spain a year later. Of course, the newcomers brought their accents. Those from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama generally spoke what is known as the “Low South dialect” of American English. Meanwhile, Kentucky and Tennessean expatriates boasted the so-called “South Midland dialect.” In Texas, speakers of both Patoás lived alongside other immigrants from North-Central Europe, as well as Spanish-speaking locals. Over time, these disparate influences gave rise to an entirely new, uniquely Texas accent. An important indicator is the fusion of vowels in words like “far” and “fire”, which sound like fahr .
5. The New Orleans accent
NOLA English is a regional rarity. Although it retains some Southern speech patterns, the Rs are dropped, and instead of “they” or “them,” established families are prone to saying “dey” or “dem” in Brooklyn style. How did this happen? Well, being an important port city, New Orleans often welcomed northern traders, along with other visitors from across the South and Midwest. Additionally, during the Gilded Age, Germans, Italians, and Irish appeared en masse in the Big Easy. Thousands of miles away, these same groups were establishing themselves in New York.
So it's no wonder the Crescent City accent can sound like Yankee. Of course, it's hardly a duplicate. After the Seven Years' War, French Canadians organized a mass exodus to Louisiana. Accompanying them was a unique new version of the French language, which left a tremendous mark on the local language.
Now that's cool
Far to the north, you can hear traces of a Minnesota accent in an unexpected place: Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. In the Great Depression, hundreds of Midwesterners – including several miners – were relocated there through a government program. The average resident now speaks a more generalized American dialect, but prolonged “oohs” and other verbal throwbacks to the Gopher State are still used. "You bet!"
