New York English


a distincitive dialect of american english that differs from general american english by way of pr-nunciation, vocabulary, phrasing, and vocal inflection. the stereotypical accent (which is becomingly increasingly rare) is often -ssociated with the borough of brooklyn however is no more prevalent in brooklyn than in any other borough. rhoticising of words (dropping of r’s) is seldom found in newer generation natives of new york city and the ‘aw’ or ‘oa’ sound is also becoming less prevalent. orange, horrible, majority, forest etc. are words that are almost always pr-nounced with the same syllable in hot, pot etc. words such as harris and jared are pr-nounced with less stress on the r (the ha in harris for example is pr-nounced much the same way that it is hat).

native new yorkers wait on line rather than in line and use vocabulary such as sneakers and soda in preference over running shoes and pop. stoop is also exclusive to new york english and was borrowed from the dutch. the word american is often pr-nounced with a u rather than an e (amurican). words in a sentence often run into one another and it is generally agreed that some (but not all) new yorkers speak in a very non-distinguished manner. th’s for example often sound closer to d’s but often lie somewhere in between.

the accent was built up from older generation americans imitating european settlers. one of the most notable influences were in fact the british. though americans made a conscious decision to make their brand of english noticeably different from the british, many features of british english snuck back into new york english. because british english is non-rhotic (r’s are often not pr-nounced), new yorkers developed a habit of leaving r’s off of words where it would seem ridiculous to the average american. also words in a stereotypical new york accent can be very close to british pr-nunciation.
examples being,
talk, water, walk, caught, taught, law, all, audio etc.
it is suspected but will never be confirmed that because british migrants were of low social standing, features of their english were also -ssimilated. for example time may often sound like toime for some new yorkers and this is faintly similar to working cl-ss london english.

another influence on the accent was the dutch. most notably in the slanting back of flat a’s. bad then may sound more like bed and bag like beg. this is also found in sections of north eastern new jersey. many other europeans may have inadvertently influenced new yorkers speech patterns but the origins of many features may never be traced back to their original source.

the accent is highly stigmatized in american culture and is closely -ssociated with things such as hip-hop music, mobsters, and the working cl-ss in general. the heaviest accents are receding quickly which is shame as it has been a focal point of nyc culture for many years. not too long from now the accent will be a distant memory and all americans will speak a generic form of english often deemed the ‘correct’ way of speaking. what a shame.
celebrities with authentic accents to check for. the degrees of the accents vary significantly.

ray romano
donald trump
jake lamotta
robert deniro
mel brooks
michael rapaport
jerry stiller
regis philbin
turtle from entourage
victoria gotti and her kids

and sh-tloads of others i can’t think of right now. new york english all the way baby.
a distinct brand of english spoken especially in the nyc metropolitan area, including the buroughs (excl. alot of manhattan, full of transplants), long island, parts of upstate, and a great deal of new jersey and connecticut.

those who portray it as low-cl-ss or ugly, forget that some of the finest speakers of the english language, including robert rinero and christopher walken, have thick new york accents.

some features it is known for were previously common, but are now disappearing (such as pr-nouncing “girl” as “goil” which noone except very old men does anymore).

one of the most widespread features is pr-nouncing the “a” in words kerry and carry seperately. most americans pr-nounce the short a in words like “carry”, “larry” “vary”, and “marry” with an e, giving them the same vowel as “berry”.

a slightly less common, but still widespread feature is an additional vowel not used in general american english, often written as “aww. in words like “caught”, “long”, “off, and sometimes even “dog” or “fog” are pr-nounced with the lips more rounded into an o-like a. most americans and canadians as well just pr-nounce it with a long a, as in “father”.

one feature that’s still easy to find, but not necessarily the norm anymore, is r-dropping, as in other northeastern us accents, pr-nouncing “here” and “there” “hee-uh” and “theh-uh”. many of those that don’t drop the r at least soften it, or only drop it in some words while speaking quickly.
some famous speakers of new york english include:
marlon brando
joe pesci
donald trump
robert dinero
christopher walken
many many good mc’s
rudy giuliani

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