North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns

1. Click on the map to enlarge it, selecting either the U. S. or Canada.

2. Click again to zoom in more.

3. Click on a state or province to listen to audio or video samples for each location.

(Full instructions)

$Mapping1 1

Western dialects:

7. North Central

8. The West

Dialects that start from the eastern seaboard:

1. Canada

2. Northern New England

3. The North

4. Greater New York City

5. The Midland

6. The South

 

 

 

Web-Based Survey

A group of linguists are gathering data on North American English dialects using a web-based survey. As of June, 2011, they had about 2500 responses but would like a few thousand more. This survey is distinct from the information on this page, but they have asked for our help. If you would like to take this survey, it can be found at: pantheon.yale.edu/~clb3/NorthAmericanDialects. Adj. 21-Oct.-2011

This is just a hobby of mine, that I thought might be interesting to a lot of people. Some people collect stamps. Others collect coins. I collect dialects. Please let me know what you think of this page. - Rick Aschmann (Last updated: January 16, 2012.)

Please be patient! I have worked through well over half of the e-mails I have received since the huge jump in popularity of this site over the 2010 Christmas break, due to a number of web forums about it! Thanks to all of you who have written expressing appreciation for the page! I don’t promise to respond to every e-mail, but I am still trying to answer all those who sent in a sample or other information, or even a complaint. Unfortunately, my life has been very busy the last few months, so I have barely been able to keep up with current correspondence about this page. But I’ll keep trying! Adj. 28-Nov.-2011

 

There are 8 major English dialect areas in North America, listed below the map at left. These are shown in blue, each with its number, on the map and in the Dialect Description Chart below, and are also outlined with blue lines on the map. The first 6 of these begin at the eastern seaboard and proceed west, reflecting western settlement patterns.

The many subdialects are shown in red on the map and in the chart, and are outlined with red lines on the map. All of these are listed in the margins of the map as well.

(If after looking at the map it is still not clear what the dialect boundaries are, check out the new Simplified Map.) Adj. 13-Aug.-2010

In the Dialect Description Chart additional features not shown on the map are provided for distinguishing the dialects.

 

 

What’s New? All additions or changes within the last two or three months are marked with “ New! ” and the date, or with “ Adj. ” (for “Adjusted”.) To see this new information, simply search for these words.

 

Recent additions

 

• I have marked two areas (Dallas-Fort Worth and Little Rock, Arkansas, as border areas where native speakers may speak either Lowland Southern or Inland Southern depending on social class. See Possible Southern Class Distinction? Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

• Continuing survey: please help! I only discovered this year (2011) that many if not most Americans pronounce the “l” in words like “calm” and other words ending in “alm”, which surprised me very much, since I don’t. Some also pronounce the “l” in “folk”, and even a few may pronounce the “l” in “talk”. See the new section The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk” for more details. I would love to know if you do or do not pronounce the “l” in such words, and where you grew up! Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

• I have made major changes in the path of the cot-caught line in Nebraska and Kansas, making it a bit less twisty. New! 15-Nov.-2011

• I have added a new subdialect in the North Central dialect area, the Iron Ranges, Minnesota dialect. This had been suggested by others in the past, but I was not able to properly evaluate it until I received several very helpful samples from contributor Adam Jarvi. New! 25-Mar.-2011

• The curl-coil merger has not completely died out! I have recently found a couple of samples of living people that retain it. New! 3-Mar.-2011

• Oops! I have completed reevaluated Ohio as far as the pin-pen line is concerned! Because of Cincinnati and Dayton (which clearly have “pin”≠“pen”), and because I made the invalid assumption that Gavin Veris from Chillicothe, who also has “pin”≠“pen”, represented the local “white” dialect, I assumed that the pin-pen line ran below Cincinnati and Chillicothe, so I failed to listen carefully to the samples for Urbana and for Yellow Springs, not noticing that they had “pin”=“pen”. It was only when I was watching a documentary in which all of the people interviewed were from Chillicothe that I realized my mistake, and listened again to the samples for Urbana and for Yellow Springs. Since then I have found samples for Columbus and for Washington Court House which are also clearly “pin”=“pen”. The good thing is that the shape of the pin-pen line through the Midland now makes a lot more sense: How likely was it that the pin-pen line would take two deep bends across the Midlands? Now it only takes one: the Saint Louis corridor is well established, but the “Cincinnati corridor” was not. Instead, Cincinnati turns out to be a linguistic island, which matches the conclusions of the ANAE, Dayton having apparently been included in its sphere, and Portsmouth, home of Roy Rogers, which was already clearly identified as “pin”=“pen”, is no longer an island. 21-Dec.-2010

• I have made the cot-caught line a visible light-blue line now, rather than simply allowing the hatching to indicate where it would be. I also adjusted the map colors slightly. 16-Nov.-2010

• Finally! Now all of the maps are fully clickable, including the Full-Scale map. (The only states and provinces that are still not clickable are those for which there are no samples yet.) 4-Nov.-2010

 

Web Forums: There are several web forums or blogs that refer to my map. The most recent ones that I know of are: Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

this one, set up on December 5, 2011, primarily for German speakers New! 12-Dec.-2011

this one, set up on November 15, 2011

 

There are several much older ones, which are mostly no longer active: Adj. 28-Nov.-2011

this one, set up on December 31, 2010

this one (specifically for actors and dialect coaches), set up on December 31, 2010

this one, set up on January 1, 2011

this one, set up on December 30, 2010

this one, set up on December 27, 2010.

this one, set up on June 7, 2010

this one, set up on November, 2009.

 

I have made a few adjustments based on comments made in these, and added some sound samples. However, the main complaint, that the map is too complicated and confusing, I can’t really fix: the subject is complicated, and I am well aware that I have tried to include too many features. However, if people have ideas on how to make the map or web page less confusing, I am all ears! 9-Apr.-2011

Guide to the Sounds of North American English (Now showing pronunciations in IPA as well the Traditional Dictionary Pronunciation System!)

How Many Vowels are there in American English?

How I Use the IPA (and how I don’t)

John Wells’s Lexical Sets

Rick Aschmann’s Lexical Sets

 

Special Interest and Historical Articles:

The Cot-Caught Merger

Did the cot-caught merger come from Scotland?

The Father-Bother Distinction

The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk” 16-May-2011

Inland and Lowland Southern and their relationship to the extent of slavery before the Civil War

Classical Southern and African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives

New York City and Its Offspring

New Orleans

Where do they speak without an accent? Or where do they speak “General American”?

Do some geographic features coincide with dialect boundaries or areas?

Do state or provincial borders coincide with dialect boundaries?

Which states are the most linguistically complex?

The Unique Position of Nebraska

The U.S. - Canada Border and the “Badge of Identity”

 

About Me

 

Print the map!

Several people have asked if I intend to make posters of this map. I do not! I’m not going to get into marketing my hobby!

However, I wanted a poster myself, so I figured out how to print it out in pieces and tape it together. You can do the same. It will print out on 9 pieces of standard letter size paper (81/2 x 11 inches), and you will then need to trim the inner margins with scissors or a paper cutter, and then tape the pieces together. I ended up with a nice poster, and you can too.

Click here to open the printable PDF file.

After you have opened it, you can print it directly to your printer.

I don’t promise to update this PDF each time I update the map, but I’ll try to update it fairly frequently. This PDF was last updated on: January 2, 2012.

 

Small-Scale Dialect Map

The small map below is the same as the Full-Scale Dialect Map that follows, but shows the entire width of the map (on most monitors). 24-Aug.-2010

Click on any part of this map to move to the equivalent part of the Full-Scale Dialect Map. (For now this only moves to the far left or the far right of the Full-Scale Dialect Map, so unfortunately it doesn’t work well for the middle portions, and you will just have to scroll over.) 24-Aug.-2010

$Mapping2 $$width=1000 height=846$$



Full-Scale Dialect Map

Instructions

For many of the cities or towns on this map, you can listen to an audio or video sample of speech of a native (more specifically, someone who was raised there, though not necessarily born there, and whose dialect clearly represents that place). All of the cities or towns with a green center have such an audio or video sample that can be listened to (and a few of the ones with pink centers do also). I will continue adding new audio and video samples, so check back from time to time. So far there are over 700 samples listed, more and more of which are from contributors! Thanks! 20-Apr.-2011

Use the scroll bars to move around on this map, or, even simpler, start at the tiny map above and click the country (U.S. or Canada) that you want to look at. This will take you to the Small-Scale Dialect Map. Click again to zoom in further on your location. (For now this only moves to the far left or the far right of the Full-Scale Dialect Map, so unfortunately it doesn’t work well for the middle portions, and you will just have to scroll over.) 24-Aug.-2010

Finally! Now the entire map is clickable, taking you to the list of samples for that state or province. Only those locations with green centers, and a few with pink centers, have a sample so far. If there aren’t any of these samples yet for a particular state or province, then it will not be clickable, since there is no data to go to! Place the mouse over a particular state or province to see if it currently has any samples. (The map guides, showing the meaning of all the colors, are on the top right and bottom left of the map.) 1-Nov.-2010

 

Help! For many places I haven’t found an audio sample yet. If you know of an audio or video sample on the Internet that features a speaker who was raised in a particular place, and whose dialect clearly represents that place, please let me know, whether that place is currently listed or not! Although many of the people in these samples are prominent people, I actually prefer ordinary local people, but anyone at all will do, as long as their pronunciation represents the local dialect. (The ones I especially need, and cannot find, are those with an orange-yellow center.) Also, if you think that one of the audio examples does not truly represent the local dialect, please let me know in the same way. (Oh, but please keep the samples clean. I have a policy of not using a sample if it uses a word you can’t say on TV in the U.S.!) I will normally list your name as the contributor, to make this more of a community project, unless you’d rather I didn’t, in which case I will use initials. However, I will not publish anyone’s e-mail address. 10-May-2011

Numbered Locations: Thanks to enthusiastic contributor Eli K., much of Kentucky and Tennessee and neighboring areas are about as thoroughly mapped as they possibly can be. That’s the kind of help needed to really fill out this map! In fact, I was forced to go to a numbering system for such areas, since the scale of map is already big enough! I put the key to the numbers off the east coast of Canada. 24-Aug.-2010

 

 

$Mapping3 $$width=2717 height=2342$$

 

 

Data from the Atlas of North American English (ANAE)

I am grateful to the Atlas of North American English (ANAE) by William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg, for a good part of the data on which this map was based. Specifically, much of the information on the map above and in the Dialect Description Chart below was obtained from ANAE chapter 11 (a draft version available on the Internet), as well as from many other chapters of the same work, with a few ideas from a much older version of the same: ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html. (The Table of Contents of the draft version of the atlas can be seen at: www.ling.upenn.edu/phonoatlas/ANAE_ToC.pdf, but this does not link directly to the chapters.)

However, the names of a number of the dialects are my own, and I have made many adjustments to their borders (especially Inland and Lowland South, West Midland, and Allegheny Midland). Also, a lot of the data is from my own research and analysis. - Rick Aschmann

I have only recently discovered that much or all of the audio data upon which the atlas was based is now available on the Internet, on this website (select North American English Dialects). (Replaced bad link.) I will be adding samples from this site as I have time, marked as “ANAE info and audio”. Adj. 31-Dec.-2011

Map Notes

The following notes refer to numbers on the map, and show the corresponding section of the ANAE:

1: Pin-pen merger: See Map 9.5 in ANAE chapter 9 and www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map3.html. This is the only feature in which I find myself in significant disagreement with the ANAE: I have found that the pin-pen merger area is much larger than they show, especially in the west.[1] (See The Pin-Pen Merger, The Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives below.) 6-Aug.-2011

2: Long /ō/ [oʊ] fronting: See Map 20.2 in ANAE chapter 20. 2: The boundary between central-back and central-front (the yellow dots) was used by the ANAE to define the boundary between North and Midland, but this line then extends into the West. The deep dip that it takes southwards in Utah and Nevada would seem to indicate settlement of these areas by Northerners, probably represented by the Mormon settlement. Thus this dip corresponds to a large degree to the “Mormon Corridor”. Many of these settlers were originally from the Palmyra, New York, area and from Kirtland, Ohio. Another northern contribution may have been the early northeastern organized crime influence in Las Vegas. Now I’m not saying that people in these areas sound like northeasterners: they don’t, they sound like westerners, with this one feature being dragged south because of this origin. 20-Jan.-2010

3: R-dropping: See Map 7.1 in ANAE chapter 7. R-droppers are also called non-rhotic English speakers, though I find this term rather obscure and academic. There are two types of r-droppers, which I call Systematic R-droppers and Simple R-droppers. Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

Systematic R-droppers are found in the northeastern U. S., in much of England, and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, much of the Caribbean, and other places. Systematic R-droppers have linking and intrusive r’s. John F. Kennedy is an excellent example of a Systematic r-dropper. In a speech he gave prior to being elected, he says “The hungry children I sawr in West Vaginia.” This quote has one intrusive r, and one dropped r, both highlighted in red. In another speech during the Cuban missile crisis he says, starting at 4:55: “...Soviet foreign minister Gromyko told me in my office that he was instructed to make it cleah once again, as he said his govament had already done, Soviet assistance to Cubar, and I quote, ...”, which again has one intrusive r, and two dropped r’s, again highlighted in red. 2-Apr.-2011

Simple R-droppers are found in parts of the Lowland South. As a general rule, they do not have linking and intrusive r’s. All of the areas in the South marked as r-droppers on my map are Simple R-dropper areas.

Numerous examples of both kinds of r-droppers are given in the audio samples below. This pattern is receding, so occasionally only much older speakers retain the r-dropping in a given location. These are surrounded on the map by a dotted green circle, and in the chart below will be indicated with the phrase “Older r-dropper:”. 3-Apr.-2010

4: Canadian and Tidewater raising: See Map 15.5 in ANAE chapter 15, noting only the info for the /ou/ [aʊ] vowel (which he writes /aw/), not the /ī/ [aɪ] vowel (which he writes /ay/). For Tidewater I have gleaned the info from various sources, including stray comments in ANAE. 3-July-2010

5: Bite-bout line: See Map 14.1 in ANAE chapter 14.

6: “On” line: See Map 14.2 in ANAE chapter 14. This is the only lexical item included in this analysis, but it seems to correlate with the phonological data. Why it turns north at its western end in the Dakotas and does some contortions is unclear. (The ANAE did not have Mitchell, SD or Ashley, ND, which are the surprises. Actually, Mitchell is not a surprise, or even borderline, but one speaker seems to be anomalous.) Miles City, Montana, an outlier of Western North, is also below the line. In San Francisco the pattern seems to be reversed, with the “don” group possibly representing a later influx of some type. 22-Sep.-2010

Dialect Description Chart

 

vowel

of “lot”

fronted

almost

as much

as vowel

of “let”

vowel

of “cot”

more

fronted

than

vowel

of “cut”

vowel

of “too”

much

more

fronted

than

vowel

of “toe”

Vowel

of “far”

fronted

Vowel

of

“caught”

strongly

raised

“hoarse”

=“horse”,

“mourning”

=

“morning”,

“four”=

“for”

Unique

Features

Chapter

and

map in

ANAE

Chapter and map in ANAE

14.8

14.8

10.24,

20.2

10.34

10.31

8.2

7. North Central

 

yes

Like Western North, but “cot”=“caught”

14

Iron Ranges, Minnesota *

 

yes

Subtle differences from the rest of the North Central, particularly /th/ [ð] becomes /d/ [d].

Mat-Su Valley, Alaska *

yes

 

yes

Strongly like North Central, but with some admixture from the main Alaska dialect. (See Sarah Palin.)

8. West

yes

 

yes

Vowel of “too” significantly more fronted than vowel of “toe”, “cot”=“caught”

20

Alaska

yes

 

yes

Same as West (ANAE chapter 11 says there are significant differences, but does not make clear what they are.)

( 11, 20)

Silver City, NM

yes

 

yes

Same as West, but “cot”≠“caught”

1. Canada (main area)

yes

very little

 

yes

Same as West, plus Canadian vowel shift, vowel of “cat” central, raising of “bite”, “bout”

15

Atlantic Provinces

mixed?

yes

 

yes

vowel of “far” fronted (but not “father”)

15

Irish Newfoundland

yes

yes

 

yes

like the Atlantic Provinces, but with a strong Irish component

2. Northern New England
(Eastern New England)

yes

 

no

“far” & “father” fronted, systematic r-dropping, “cot”=“caught”, “father” & “bother” don’t rhyme

16

NW New England

very little

very little

yes

 

yes

vowel of “far” fronted (but not “father”) , “cot”=“caught”

16, (14)

3. The North

mixed

mixed

mostly

 

almost all

Back vowels strongly backed, defined as the “cot”≠“caught” area north of the line of yellow dots, except for the St. Louis Corridor.[2]

14

Western North

mixed

mixed

mostly

 

yes

Least distinctive dialect of the North, some sections are “General American

14

Inland North

yes

yes

mostly

 

almost all

Northern Cities Shift: “bat” strongly raised, most short vowels shifted

14

St. Louis Corridor

yes

yes

Mixed

 

mixed

Northern Cities Shift: “bat” strongly raised, most short vowels shifted, but many other vowels like Midland

19, 14

Indiana North[3]

no

no

yes

Very similar to Western North, but separated from it geographically[4].

14

Eastern North

yes

yes

very little

mixed

yes

Mostly like Western North, but some similarities to New York City

14, 16

Albany

yes

yes

very little

yes

yes

Many vowels like New York City, but no r-dropping

Providence

yes

 

no

vowel of “cat” central, systematic r-dropping, “cart”=“cot”, which is not seen anywhere else in the world!

14

4. Greater New York City

yes

yes

Various unusual vowels, systematic r-dropping, “bad” & “had” don’t rhyme, “father” & “bother” don’t rhyme

17

The Hamptons

 

yes

A lot like New York City, but more research needed!

Downtown New Orleans

 

no?

More like New York City than anything else, although “bad” & “had” probably rhyme 19-Apr.-2011

18

5. The Midland

 

almost all

In many ways is intermediate between Northern and Southern[5]

19

Central Midland

 

almost all

Least distinctive dialect in the U.S., many sections are “General American

Canton, Ohio

 

yes

“bat” strongly raised, “on” rhymes with “don”, not “dawn”

11, (14)

Cincinnati, Ohio

 

yes

Many vowels are pronounced like New York City, “pin”≠“pen”, unlike the surrounding area[6]

19, 11

West Midland *

 

yes

“cot”=“caught”

(19)

Allegheny Midland[7]

 

yes

“cot”=“caught”

19

Pittsburgh

 

yes

Pittsburgh vowel shift: “out” is pronounced [ˈat], with no diphthong, the way a Bostonian says “art”.

19

Oklahoma City * [8]

 

yes

Like the parts of the Central Midland south of the pin-pen line

19

East Midland *

yes

yes

Like the Central Midland, with influences from Atlantic Midland

17

Atlantic Midland[9]

yes

yes

“bad” does not rhyme with “had”, like New York City

17

North Florida

 

yes

Like the Central Midland, “pin”=“pen”

11, 18

South Florida

 

yes

Like the Central Midland, “pin”≠“pen”

11

El Paso

 

yes

“cot”≠“caught”, “pin”=“pen”

11

Corpus Christi

 

yes

Mixture of Southern and Northern features (but no Southern shift), “pin”=“pen”

11

Galveston *

 

yes

Very similar to East Midland, or even to Atlantic Midland, except that “bad” rhymes with “had”

San Francisco Bay

yes

yes

Very similar to East Midland, or even to Atlantic Midland, except that “bad” rhymes with “had”

(11)

6. The South

 

mixed

Partial to full Southern shift: vowels of “ride” and “buy” have no diphthong: long /ī/ is [a].

18

Lowland South

 

mixed

Partial Southern shift: vowels of “ride” and “buy” have [a], with no diphthong, but “right” does ([aɪ]), “pin”=“pen”.

Classical Southern

 

mixed

Outlined in dark green rather than red, a catch-all for all R-dropping dialects in the South, includes or cuts across some of the dialects below.

7

The Tidewater

 

mixed

Outlined in pink rather than red, a catch-all for those parts of the coastal south that have the Tidewater raising, as explained on the map. It actually includes two areas that lack the Southern shift, Down East & Outer Banks and Charleston.

Note 4

Savannah

 

yes

R-dropping, “pin”≠“pen”

18

Cajun English[10]

 

yes

East is R-dropping, west apparently not, “pin”=“pen”, French influence, th > t,d.

New Orleans, Mid City

 

no?

See New Orleans inset on map and the New Orleans section below

18

New Orleans, Irish Channel

 

no?

See New Orleans inset on map and the New Orleans section below

18

Inland South

 

almost all

Full Southern shift: vowels of “ride”, “buy”, and “right” all have [a], with no diphthong, “pin”=“pen”

18

Anomalous peripheral areas that resisted the Southern shift:

 

Charleston

 

yes

No Southern shift, R-dropping, vowels of “bait” and “boat” are not diphthongs, but simple [e] and [o].

11, 18

Down East & Outer Banks *

 

 

 

 

 

yes

No Southern shift, long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel often almost like /oi/ [ɔɪ], “pin”=“pen”[11] 11-July-2011

(18, 11)

Chesapeake Islands *

 

 

 

 

 

yes

No Southern shift, long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel less like /oi/ [ɔɪ] than Down East & Outer Banks, “pin”≠“pen”

 

 

* Those dialects marked with an asterisk are not in the Atlas of North American English (ANAE).

 

Colors:

Transitional areas within main dialects

Distinctive or innovative features of a given dialect

Transitional areas outside main dialects

Intermediate or partial features

Other Sources

I have added and adjusted a lot of the information on the map based on the following audio and non-audio data. - Rick Aschmann

Regional non-audio data

Location

Source

English, French, and indigenous mother-tongue areas of Canada

atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peopleandsociety/lang/languages2001/mt

French mother-tongue areas of Maine

Wikipedia, www.francomaine.org/English/Carto/carto.htm

Indigenous languages

www.ethnologue.com/web.asp

the eastern boundary of Inland North

ling.upenn.edu/~dinkin/GapHandout.pdf

Greater New York City

ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/Papers/TD.pdf

Eastern boundary between Eastern New England and Providence

ling.upenn.edu/~johnson4/pwpl_draft.pdf 30-Mar.-2010

Multiple-region audio samples found on the Internet

Location

Source

Comment

Samples from al­most all U. S. states

International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA)

Few indications are given as to whether the speakers are natives of the area in which they were interviewed, or if they represent well the local dialect. Also, locations are often limited, and often only urban locations are given. Even so, in many cases the data is useful, and I have used it (see the next chart), especially when clearer indications are given of “nativeness”. If anyone finds any of these that I have left out and shouldn’t have, please let me know! 25-Feb.-2011

Samples only from north-central U. S.

csumc.wisc.edu/AmericanLanguages/english/eng_us.htm

Again, not always clear if the speakers are natives of the area in which they were interviewed, or if they represent well the local dialect. However, includes rural speakers, which can help fill in holes. Used occasionally. If anyone finds any of these that I have left out and shouldn’t have, please let me know! 25-Feb.-2011

Guide to the Sounds of North American English

In many places on this web page the pronunciation of a name or other word will be given after it. These pronunciation guides will have two forms: a phonemic guide between slashes / /, based on the Traditional Dictionary Pronunciation System (TDPS) that is found in many dictionaries, and a phonetic guide (providing the phonetic details) between square brackets [ ], based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). (Thanks, Maria Mikkonen![12])

The advantage of the phonemic guide is that it allows different dialects to use the same pronunciation key and get the right result for each dialect. For this guide I have used the system used in the American Heritage Dictionary, rather than the one used by Merriam-Webster, since it is more complete and applies to more dialects.

However, I have included the phonetic guide as well, partly to give a more precise phonetic pronunciation of local variants, and partly because many have complained that they prefer the IPA or are familiar only with it. (I recently realized that to do this consistently, I also needed to include aspiration on voiceless consonants, which is conditioned by stress and word position. I have now added these, though I may have missed a few! I also realized that I had left off primary stress on many monosyllabic words, and have added these also, as well as making other adjustments to the phonetic spellings, in particular the phonetic realization of /r/. However, it would be impractical to represent all the fine detail, such as the rounding that many English consonants have, or the differences between “clear l[l] and “dark l[ɫ].) 10-Mar.-2011

 

In the phonemic guide I have followed the American Heritage Dictionary system to the letter, except for a few minor adjustments in the vowel system, and the following differences:

1. I write the syllable with primary stress using bold and underline, and syllables with secondary stress with just bold, rather than using an apostrophe after it like the AHD. In other words, I show the pronunciation of “underneath” as /ŭndərnēth/, whereas the AHD does it as /ŭn'dər-nēth'/.

2. I do not separate syllables with a hyphen except when absolutely necessary, as in “cartridge” /kärtrij/ versus “cartwright” /kärt-rīt/, or “mission” /mĭshən/ versus “mishap” /mĭs-hăp/; although technically in these two cases the underlining of the primary-stressed syllable gives enough information, even so the hyphens help to clarify.

3.  I show the pronunciation of words like “needle” and “sudden” as /nēdəl/ and /sǔdən/, rather than treating them as having syllabic /l/ or /n/, which they clearly have phonetically: [ˈniɾl̩, ˈsʌdn̩]. Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

 

The ANAE does not use either the TDPS or the IPA, but instead uses a completely different transcription system, described in ANAE chapter 2. This system is phonemic, like the TDPS.[13] 3-July-2010

 

How Many Vowels are there in American English?

No, the answer is not: “Five: a, e, i, o u.” Granted, in traditional English spelling those are the vowel letters, yes, but I’m talking about our spoken language: How many significant vowel sounds are there? Well, if you consult any popular American English dictionary, and study the Pronunciation Key, there will be a long list of vowels. In the Pronunciation Key to the American Heritage Dictionary, 19 different vowel symbols are listed (not counting the ones only used in foreign words)! However, some of these are special vowels that only occur before the /r/ sound, which are “colored” by the /r/, so these can be separated out as special cases. And one of these vowels, /ə/, only occurs in completely unstressed syllables, never in stressed syllables (whether primary stressed or secondary stressed), so it also can be separated out as a special case. This leaves us with 15 vowels that can occur in stressed syllables. Very few North American English speakers have all of these vowels: Many have 14 (lacking the /ä/ vowel), and many have only 13 (lacking both /ä/ and /ô/). New York City has 16 vowels, the 15 in the American Heritage list plus one that is not usually listed in dictionary pronunciation guides, which I have chosen to spell /ăə/! These 16 vowels are listed below in the second column, with sample words shown in the first column. 10-Mar.-2011

The remaining columns show what happens to vowels before final r, showing the “R-colored” vowels used in most of North America, and showing the Southern System in the final column, representing the system used in much of the South, which does not have “R-colored” vowels.

(I have included the IPA equivalents of these vowels in brackets [ ] as well. However, keep in mind that the actual pronunciation of a given phonemic vowel may vary greatly from region to region. For example, the /ŏ/ vowel is pronounced as [a], an open front unrounded vowel, in much of the Inland North, but is pronounced as [ɔ], an open-mid back rounded vowel, in England. A whole gamut of vowel sounds in between these two occurs somewhere in North America: in much of Canada and in some other “cot”=“caught” areas the pronunciation is [ɒ], whereas most others use [ɑ] or [a] or something in between. Many other vowels have similar variants. The most distinctive Southern pronunciation is shown in a separate column. However, keep in mind that I have not listed all possible variants for any region.) 3-July-2010

If anyone finds that any of the symbols in the chart do not display properly on their web browsers, please let me know. Most of them are standard Unicode characters. 25-Feb.-2011

 

Ordinary Stressed Vowels

 

 

 

“R-colored” Stressed Vowels

phonemic

IPA

IPA

South

 

 

keepers

droppers

Southern System

beat, bee, fleece

ē

[i]

[ɪi]

 

 

fear, pier, peer, near

îr

[ɪɹ]

[ɪə]

intermediate

between ē and ĭ

/ēər/ [ɪiə(ɹ)], rhymes with “skier”

bit, fill, kit

ĭ

[ɪ]

[iə]

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bait, bay, face

ā

[eɪ/e]

[æɪ]

 

 

fair, bear, care, square,
pair, hair

âr

[eɹ]

[eə]

For most speakers,

intermediate between

ā and ě,

but ăər [eə(ɹ)]

in areas with ăə.

/ăr/ [æɹ/æə], “hairy”=“Harry” [ˈhæɹɪ],

but “merry” is different.

bet, help, dress

ě

[ɛ]

[e]

 

 

bat, had, trap

ă

[æ]

[æiə]

 

bad, man

ăə

[eə]

 

(NYC, Atlantic Midland)

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

father, Bach’s, palm

ä

[a/ɑə]

 

(E. New England, NYC)

 

far, farther, heart, start

är

[aɹ/ɑɹ/ɒɹ]

[a/ɑ/ɒə]

Everyone has this![14]

/är/ [ɒ(ɹ)/ɔɹ]

cot, lot, bother, box,
watch, yacht, lock

ŏ

[a/ɑ/ɒ]

[ɒ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

caught, thought, balks,
paw, talk, cough

ô

[ɒ/ɔ/oə]

[ɒʊ]

(Eastern U.S. See map.)

 

for, horse, morning,
north

ôr

[ɔɹ/oɹ]

[ɔə/oə]

Varies a lot!

[ɒ(ɹ)/ɔɹ/ɒʊ]; /är/ for many speakers, /ôr/ for others

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

boat, goat, toe

ō

[oʊ/o]

[əʊ]

 

 

four, hoarse, mourning,
force

(ōr)

[oɹ]

[oə]

See ANAE map 8.2

/ôər/ [ɒʊə(ɹ)], rhymes with “rawer”

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cut, strut, rush, love, rough

ŭ

[ʌ]

[ə]

 

 

fur, urge, nurse, term,
firm, word, heard

ûr

[ɝ]

[ɝ/ɜ/ɜɪ]

Varies.

/ûr/ [ɝ] or /ŭr/ [ʌɹ] or /ŏŏy/ [ɜɪ]

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

foot, took, put, bush

ŏŏ *

[ʊ]

[ʏ]

 

 

poor, tour

cure, pure

ŏŏr

(yŏŏr) †

[ʊɹ],

etc.

([jʊɹ])

[ʊə],

etc.

([jʊə])

Many lack this,

using /ōōər/, /ōr/,

or /ûr/ instead

/ōōər/ [ʊuə(ɹ)], “poor” often /pôər/ [ˈpʰɒʊə(ɹ)]

boot, goose, true, through

ōō *

[u]

[ʊu]

 

 

cue, beauty, you

(yōō) †

[ju]

[ɪʊ]

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bite, by, price

ī

[aɪ/ɑɪ]

[a]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bout, mouth, now

ou

[æʊ/aʊ/ɑʊ]

[æə]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoyt, noise, choice, boy

oi

[ɔɪ]

[ɒʊɪ/ɔə]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unstressed Only Vowel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

about, item, edible,

gallop, circus

ə

 

 

 

 

butter, motor, solar

ər

[ɚ]

[ə]

 

Same

 

Black: The black vowels are those which all Americans have as distinct vowels.

Red: The red vowels are those which many but not all Americans have, as distinguished from the other vowels. I decided to make /ŏ/ the default vowel of the ä/ŏ/ô group, since for those who make the distinction it is by far the most common. 5-Oct.-2010

Green: The green vowels are those which a small minority of Americans have, as distinguished from the other vowels, in particular regions or dialects.

* These two sounds are actually spelled as  and  instead of ŏŏ and ōō in the AHD and most other dictionary pronunciation systems, but since there is not a practical way to display such a combination in Unicode, I have followed the example of this web site. (Technically there is actually a way to do  and  in Unicode, as contributor Brian Ewins showed me[15], but I have tried them in various browsers, and they will not display consistently.) 25-Feb.-2011

† The /yōō/ sound is not a single sound, but is simply /y/ followed by /ōō/.[16] Thus, there really is no “long /ū/” vowel. Similarly, /yŏŏr/ is simply /y/ followed by /ŏŏr/.

 

How I Use the IPA (and how I don’t) 2-Feb.-2011

When I show the pronunciation of a place, I try to always show how someone from that place would actually pronounce it. However, occasionally even the natives can’t agree. For instance, apparently most Chicagoans say /shĭ/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒˌɡo] or even /shĭgə/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒɡə], but there are also many who say /shĭ/ [ʃɪˈkʰaˌɡo], and the latter group may be growing. Keep in mind that all of these definitely have “cot”≠“caught”. I have always called it /shĭ/ [ʃɪˈkʰɑˌɡoʊ], with a couple of slight vowel differences, since I don’t have an Inland North accent!

 

I have noticed that many people who use the IPA to show the pronunciation of place names on Wikipedia do several things that I have chosen not to do.

For one thing, they often write both [ə] and [ɨ] in showing the pronunciation of the weak vowel /ə/ in American English. Now this is not incorrect, since for me the word “sofa” /fə/ would usually be phonetically [ˈsoʊfə], whereas the word “broken” /brōkən/ would be phonetically [ˈbɹoʊkɨn]. However, in actual practice I find I have a lot of variation: for instance, “sofa bed” /fə bĕd/ would usually come out [ˈsoʊfɨˌbɛd], and “sofas” /fəz/ could come out [ˈsoʊfəz] or [ˈsoʊfɨz] depending on how deliberately I am speaking, or its position in the sentence. And I find that others have the same problem: in the Appalachian Mountains article the pronunciation is given as “/ˌæpəˈleɪʃɨn/ or /ˌæpəˈlætʃɨn/”; for me the vowels shown as [ə] and [ɨ] in these pronunciations are exactly the same for me, probably both [ɨ]. So for strictly practical purposes I am writing both [ə] and [ɨ] as [ə].

Another thing I find people doing is using British phonetic transcription to show the pronunciation of American place names. For instance, in the Lafayette, Indiana article the pronunciation is given as “/ˌlɑːfiːˈɛt/”. Now, in British English there truly are phonetically long and short vowels: “beat” is phonetically [ˈbiːt], where the vowel [iː] is phonetically long, whereas “bit” is phonetically [ˈbɪt], where the vowel [ɪ] is phonetically short. However, in nearly all North American English dialects, this is not the case: both “beat” [ˈbit] and “bit” [ˈbɪt] have vowels which are phonetically the same length, in spite of the fact that the first has what is traditionally called a “long e”, while the second has what is tradtionally called a “short i”. Scottish English is like American English in this respect. In fact, the “/ˌlɑːfiːˈɛt/” pronunciation is wrong for both British and American English: in British it would usually be [ˌlɑːfɪˈɛt], the [ɪ] being short because it is unstressed, whereas in American English (at least in West Lafayette, Indiana) it would be [ˌlɑfiˈɛt].

 

John Wells’s Lexical Sets

Words in pink in the chart above are from John Wells’s Standard Lexical Sets. Note that he has a sample word for each of the 15 stressed vowel sounds and the 7 stressed r-colored vowel sounds in the American Heritage Dictionary’s list, but not for the more localized /ăə/ vowel. I have included all of the words in John Wells’s list except for the following two words, which we could call Skew Words, since they have different vowels in different regions: 17-July-2010

 

Skew Word

Most Americans

 

Southern England

 

bath

băth [ˈbæθ]

 

bäth [ˈbɑ:θ]

(also Eastern New England [baθ])

cloth

klôth [ˈkʰlɒθ]

(for those who distinguish cot, caught)

klŏth [ˈkʰlɔθ]

(also possibly New York City??, other places in northeast??)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compare the above with:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

math

măth [ˈmæθ]

 

măth [ˈmæθ]

 

Goth

gŏth [ˈɡaθ/ɡɑθ/ɡɒθ]

 

gŏth [ˈɡɔθ]

 

1-Oct.-2010

This skewing of the /ŏ/ and /ô/ vowels between the British and American systems is typically seen only before the consonant phonemes /f/, /th/, and /g/ ([f], [θ], and [ɡ]), as can be seen in the chart of Other Examples in The Cot-Caught Merger article, comparing the blue items with those in preceding column. 17-Aug.-2010

Rick Aschmann’s Lexical Sets

However, it seems to me that John Wells’s list above was not well selected to show contrasts in a similar environment. Instead, I would draw your attention to all of the words in blue below, all of which end in /t/, and most of which begin with /b/, and also to the words in dark red, which similarly show contrasts in other environments. Thus, my lexical sets would be the following: 1-Oct.-2010

 

Main set:

beat, bit, bait, bet, bat, cot, caught, boat, cut, foot, boot, bite, bout, Hoyt

This list lacks only two of the Ordinary Stressed Vowels, /ăə/ and /ä/, which do not occur in native words before /t/ (except where an /r/ has been dropped, as in “part” /pät/ (ENE [ˈpʰat], NYC [ˈpʰɑət]). These two vowels are also lacking in most North American English dialects. I could have used “quoits” in place of “Hoyt”, which is a surname, but I suspect that many more people are familiar with Hoyt than with quoits!

R‑Colored set:

fear, fair, far, for, four, poor, tour, fur

 

For determining how many R-colored vowels a speaker has. (No one has more than 7, though I have listed 8 here. Those who have /ŏŏr/ usually say /tŏŏr, pŏŏr/, but others often do not rhyme these words, many saying them as /tōōər, pōr/ [ˈtʰuɚ, ˈpʰoɹ].) Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

Skew sets:

bath, math; Goth, cloth

 

For checking for what I call “skewing”.

Other sets:

had, bad; father, bother; Bach’s, box, balks

For determining if various pairs of Ordinary Stressed Vowels are distinguished by a given speaker.

 

Record Your Own Voice! 26-Mar.-2011

If you want to help me complete this map, or even to provide more sound samples for locations that already have them, there is an easy way: record your own voice and post it on YouTube. Nora Young, host of the program Spark on CBC radio, and a native of Toronto, Ontario, has done a sample recording of her own voice, and has set up a YouTube page where others can do the same.

She did this after interviewing me on her program in March of 2011, where I explained the need for more samples of this kind. To listen to the interview, go to www.cbc.ca/spark/2011/03/spark-142-march-27-30-2011, then scroll down till you see “Youtube Dialects Map”, or search for “Youtube Dialects Map” or “Rick Aschmann”. The interview can be heard by clicking the link below the paragraph.

If you grew up in one particular place in Canada or the U.S., then I would very much like a sample from you. In particular, if you lived in one town for most of your childhood, in particular between the ages of 5 and 15, and speak like people from that place, then you should be a great sample. (That is, unless you tried to consciously change your accent after that: I know a gal who moved from the South to the Midland before her senior year of high school, and she was subjected to so much ridicule that she completely changed her way of speaking.) And obviously, if you moved around a lot throughout your childhood, then you won’t really work for my map.

You can do just a simple recording, like Nora did, as short or as long as you like, just telling a bit about yourself and where you grew up. Or, if you want to be quite thorough about it, or just don’t know what to say, I have prepared a version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (slightly expanded to include certain key words) that you can read. This way if I need to check a particular word to nail down the dialect of your hometown I will be able to. Either way, please be sure to say where you grew up, and if only for part of your childhood, from what age to what age.

All of your clips sent in like this will be labelled “(Self-recording for this site. Thanks!)” in the table below, so that will make them easy to find. 30-Mar.-2011

Note to Canadians: Nora points out that Canadians are currently underrepresented on the map. So, this is your chance to change that! Send in your samples!

Audio Samples of Local Dialects

Here you can hear audio samples of different local dialects. These are all found on the Internet:

 

As far as possible these have been restricted to people who were raised in the location, and in many cases have lived there nearly all their lives, and have presumably retained the local dialect, except where indicated. (For most of these people, their birthplace and life history can be found on en.wikipedia.org, or at the links provided.) Items in pink are doubtful as to whether they represent accurately the dialect indicated, or, in the case of the rejected samples at the bottom of the chart, definitely do not represent their local dialect. 1-July-2010

DISCLAIMER: I do not necessarily agree with all of the people speaking here: I have simply selected them as good examples of their dialect! Nor does the fact that many of them are politicians indicate that I particularly like politicians: The fact is that politicians tend to retain their local dialect more than other public professions (actors, artists), to maintain their identity with the locals. Also, they talk in public a lot, so the data is readily available. Country singers and southern gospel singers also tend to be reliable,[17] and I like them better than politicians. Somewhat surprisingly to me, NASCAR racers seem to be very reliable, also: even though they travel a lot for the races, they tend to raise their families in their old home town, from generation to generation, and don’t care in the least how they talk! 4-Aug.-2010

You may also notice that I prefer older people to younger people. This is simply because there has been a lot more dialect mixing among the younger generation than in previous generations.

As mentioned above, the pronunciation of some of the names is given after the name. If anyone thinks I have the pronunciation of a place wrong, please let me know! 3-July-2010

Some of these links may not be current. Please let me know about any bad links. - Rick Aschmann

 

 

Person(s)

Location

State or Province

Source

         1             

Bobby Edwards, country singer

Anniston

Alabama

YouTube video (Clearly Lowland, occasional “northern” long /ī/ [aɪ] vowels) 16-Mar.-2010

         2             

White male, student, born 1988

Auburn

Alabama

IDEA audio (source)

         3             

U.S. representative Spencer Bachus

Birmingham

Alabama

YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) Adj. 31-Dec.-2011

         4             

Bobby Bowden, football coach

Birmingham

Alabama

YouTube video

         5             

U.S. senator Richard Shelby

Birmingham

Alabama

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

         6             

White male, student, born 1980

Brewton

Alabama

IDEA audio (source)

         7             

Governor Robert Bentley

Columbiana

Alabama

YouTube video 11-July-2011

         8             

Charlie Hodge, Elvis associate

Decatur

Alabama

YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

         9             

William Bradford Huie, journalist & writer

Decatur (Hartselle)

Alabama

YouTube video (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern and r-dropping, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!) New! 12-Dec.-2011

     10             

Governor Jim Folsom, Sr.

Elba

Alabama

audio links 30-Jan.-2010

     11             

White male, student, born 1981

Elberta

Alabama

IDEA audio (source)

     12             

Sam Phillips, record producer

Florence

Alabama

YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

     13             

Ron Sparks, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries

Fort Payne

Alabama

YouTube video

     14             

Randy Owen, country singer

Fort Payne

Alabama

YouTube video I could obviously have picked any of 100 other songs, but besides being a cool song this one clearly demonstrates his Inland Southern, also heard in this interview: YouTube video (His clip starts at 3:10.) 12-July-2011

     15             

Steve Grissom, NASCAR driver

Gadsden

Alabama

YouTube video (clip at 9:30) 16-Mar.-2010

     16             

Sonny James Loden, country singer

Hackleburg

Alabama

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

     17             

City council meeting

Hamilton

Alabama

YouTube video All speakers clearly Inland North! 7-Nov.-2009

     18             

Charlie Louvin, country singer

Henagar

Alabama

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

     19             

U.S. representative Bud Cramer

Huntsville

Alabama

YouTube video 1-June-2009

     20             

White female, born and raised in Lanett

Lanett

Alabama

IDEA audio (source) 4-Sep.-2010

     21             

Eugene Walter, writer

Mobile

Alabama

YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009

     22             

Robert Lightfoot, Marshall Space Flight Center director

Montevallo

Alabama

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

     23             

Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Jr.

Montgomery

Alabama

YouTube video

     24             

Steve Patton, football coach

Oneonta

Alabama

audio (more info)

     25             

Tammy Wynette, country singer

Redbay

Alabama

YouTube video (Clearly Inland, though with some inconsistencies, which is not surprising, given that she grew up right on the border) 23-Feb.-2010

     26             

Charlie Louvin, country singer

Section

Alabama

YouTube video

     27             

Jay Barker, football player

Trussville

Alabama

YouTube video

     28             

William Christenberry, artist

Tuscaloosa

Alabama

YouTube video (Classical Southern, occasional “northern” long /ī/ [aɪ] vowels) 16-Mar.-2010

     29             

Winton Blount, politician

Union Springs

Alabama

YouTube video 16-Mar.-2010

     30             

U.S. senator Mark Begich

Anchorage

Alaska

YouTube video

     31             

John Binkley, politician

Fairbanks

Alaska

YouTube video

     32             

Jake Metcalfe, politician

Juneau

Alaska

YouTube video

     33             

Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, V.P. candidate

Wasilla

Alaska

YouTube video (Starts speech at 4:43.) (Replaced dead link.) Sarah Palin talks like she’s from (northern) Minnesota! The original link, now dead, was sent in by Annie Wang (thanks!), but this search link shows the vast amount of discussion on this subject. On another web site it says she talks like she’s from Fargo, North Dakota (actually, like the people in the movie Fargo, actually filmed in Minnesota)! In fact, it turns out that the area of Alaska around Wasilla and Palmer is much more like the North Central dialect than it is like other Alaska dialects. [18]

On the web site above linguist James Crippen describes this dialect as Mat-Su Valley English, after the Matanuska-Susitna Valley where it is spoken. James Crippen has now kindly provided me with information that allows me to set its borders fairly accurately. He says that it probably extends no further west than Willow, no farther northeast than Sutton, and is probably dying out in much of the area anyway, because of a continued influx of people from other parts of Alaska.

So why do they talk like this? Because this area was almost entirely settled during the Great Depression by people from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan as part of a federal project. Historical info can be found in this Wikipedia article, and on this page sent in by contributor Susan Alexander. Thanks! 23-Apr.-2011

     34             

Wayne Salmans, realtor

Wasilla

Alaska

YouTube video Another good example of the original Mat-Su Valley English. 4-Mar.-2011

     35             

Ralph Klein, provincial premier

Calgary

Alberta

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

     36             

Diane Sanbrandt, contributor

Consort

Alberta

YouTube video (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) 30-Apr.-2011

     37             

Andy Devine, actor

Kingman

Arizona

YouTube video (Chubby guy with odd voice. Also plays Friar Tuck on Disney’s Robin Hood.) 1-Sep.-2009

     38             

Carlos Nakai, Native American flutist

Flagstaff

Arizona

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

     39             

U.S. representative Ann Kirkpatrick

McNary

Arizona

YouTube video 1-Sep.-2009

     40             

Joan Ganz Cooney, Sesame Street creator

Phoenix

Arizona

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

     41             

Transportation Sec. Mary Peters

Phoenix

Arizona

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

     42             

Karen Womack Vold, rodeo trick rider

Phoenix

Arizona

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) 30-Apr.-2011

     43             

U.S. senator Dennis DeConcini

Tucson

Arizona

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

     44             

Rex Allen, western actor

Willcox

Arizona

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

     45             

Ernest Tsosie, Navajo comedian

Window Rock

Arizona

YouTube video (more info) 26-Sep.-2009

     46             

Caroline Alfaro, massage student

Yuma

Arizona

YouTube video 23-Sep.-2010

     47             

Pamela Nacke, contributor

Damascus

Arkansas

Audio (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) Pamela clearly speaks Inland Southern (a more western variety), as expected, though she seems to be most consistent in her long /ī/ [a] vowels in the reading of the Goldilocks story. 23-July-2011

     48             

White male, born 1980

DeVall’s Bluff

Arkansas

IDEA audio (source)

     49             

Johnny Cash, country singer

Dyess

Arkansas

YouTube video This interview shows Johnny with his native dialect, which is hard to catch, since in both his songs and his interviews he often seems to suppress it. It is clearly Lowland. This song probably shows it best: YouTube video. 6-Sep.-2011

     50             

Bear Bryant, football coach

Fordyce

Arkansas

YouTube video

     51             

Tracy Lawrence, country singer

Foreman

Arkansas

YouTube video Thoroughly Inland except for the word “lifer”, which he pronounces the Lowland way, not surprising considering how close to the border he is! New! 16-Jan.-2012

     52             

U.S. senator Blanche Lincoln

Helena

Arkansas

YouTube video 23-June-2010

     53             

U.S. president Bill Clinton

Hot Springs

Arkansas

YouTube video 13-May-2009

     54             

Houston Nutt, college football coach[19]

Little Rock

Arkansas

YouTube video

     55             

Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner [19]

Little Rock

Arkansas

YouTube video

     56             

White female, born 1947, medical technician[20]

Little Rock

Arkansas

IDEA audio (source)

     57             

White male, born 1982, student

Palestine

Arkansas

IDEA audio (source)

     58             

Ben Rutledge, Olympic rower

Cranbrook

British Columbia

YouTube video

     59             

Ian Tyson, singer-songwriter

Duncan

British Columbia

YouTube video 6-Sep.-2011

     60             

Jay Hill, M.P.

Fort St. John

British Columbia

YouTube video 6-Dec.-2010

     61             

Nilesh Patel /nĭlĕshtĕl/ [nɪˈlɛʃ pʰəˈtʰɛl], filmmaker

Prince George

British Columbia

YouTube video 24-Jan.-2011

     62             

Cam Clayton, student

Sechelt /shĕlt/ [ˈsiˌʃɛlt]

British Columbia

YouTube video (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) 30-Mar.-2011

     63             

Michael Bublé /bōōblā/ [ˈbuˌbleɪ], big band singer, actor

Vancouver

British Columbia

YouTube video 24-Jan.-2011

     64             

Carey Price, pro hockey player

Anahim Lake

British Columbia

YouTube video, (more info)

     65             

Lori McCreary, movie producer

Antioch

California

YouTube video 30-Apr.-2011

     66             

Caitlin Flanagan, author

Berkeley

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 1-Nov.-2010

     67             

Alex Skolnick, guitarist

Berkeley

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 1-Nov.-2010

     68             

37 year-old male, native Los Angelino, “half white and half American Indian”. Surfer.

Canoga Park

California

IDEA audio (source) (Sent in by M.M. Thanks!) 22-Apr.-2011

     69             

Dave Brubeck, jazz musician

Concord

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”. (Interview starts at 9:00.) 1-July-2009

     70             

Lincoln Lageson, film and television producer

Crockett

California

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) “cot”≠“caught”, but they are very close, as might be expected on the very edge of the dialect area, and “on” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”, though you have to listen very close to be sure! 30-Apr.-2011

     71             

Don Hertzfeldt, short animated film maker

Fremont

California

YouTube video 23-June-2009

     72             

U.S. representative Jim Costa

Fresno

California

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

     73             

Chuck Poochigian, judge

Fresno

California

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

     74             

Jack Del Rio, pro football coach

Hayward

California

video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”. 23-June-2009

     75             

Conor Chinn, pro soccer player

La Jolla /lə hoiə/ [lə ˈhɔɪə]

California

YouTube video 11-July-2011

     76             

Various

Livermore

California

audio links

     77             

U.S. representative Jack Kemp

Los Angeles

California

YouTube video (Clip starts at 1:39.) According to contributor M.M., Kemp “would be labelled as standard american/neutral accent by californians themselves”. Contributor Shulamit Widawsky also does not consider him a representative sample. Even so, he clearly has “cot”=“caught”, and retains certain other distinctive California features. 3-June-2011

     78             

John MacArthur, pastor

Los Angeles (various close suburbs)

California

YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) (more info) Adj. 16-Jan.-2012

     79             

Kari Byron, Mythbusters host

Los Gatos /lŏs gătəs/ [ˌlɒs ˈɡæɾəs][21]

California

YouTube video (more info)

     80             

Sarah Austin, alternative media

Mill Valley

California

YouTube video 23-June-2009

     81             

White female, twenties, born 1981, student. Dialect typical of age group.

Mission Viejo

California

IDEA audio (source) (Sent in by M.M. Thanks!) 22-Apr.-2011

     82             

Kenny Roberts, Sr., motorcycle racer

Modesto

California

YouTube video (more info) 25-Sep.-2010

     83             

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder

Mountain View

California

YouTube video (more info) As with several other clips, I had not listened as clearly as I should have, and thought that “cot”=“caught” for him, but it does not! “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 22-Sep.-2010

     84             

Frank Chin, writer

Oakland

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”. “Cutting edge”: that is, peculiar and slightly crude. 2-3 minutes are enough! 23-June-2009

     85             

U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese

Oakland

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 13-June-2009

     86             

“Crash Holly” (Mike Lockwood), “pro” wrestler

Pacifica

California

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

     87             

Bill Martin, weatherman

Paradise

California

YouTube video (more info) (Suggested by Noah Zimmerman. Thanks!) 10-Mar.-2011

     88             

Clint Eastwood, actor

Piedmont

California

YouTube video (Replaced clip.) “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. Adj. 31-Dec.-2011

     89             

Ashley Parker Angel, pop singer

Redding

California

YouTube video 25-Oct.-2010

     90             

Jeff Sutherland, Jeff’s Star Talk

Richmond

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”. (more info Replaced bad link.) 10-May-2011

     91             

Lynn Anderson, country singer & equestrian

Sacramento (Fair Oaks)

California

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) 22-Apr.-2011

     92             

Suzanne Somers, actress

San Bruno

California

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

     93             

Rex Walheim, astronaut

San Carlos

California

YouTube video 23-June-2009

     94             

Dana Carvey, comedian

San Carlos

California

YouTube video 23-June-2009

     95             

Cathy Scott, author

San Diego

California

YouTube video “pin”≠“pen”, but “any”, “many”, etc. are pronounced “inny”. 26-Sep.-2009

     96             

Jolene Blalock, actress

San Diego

California

YouTube video “pin”≠“pen”. Replaced bad link. 4-Mar.-2011

     97             

Jerry Brown, attorney general, etc.

San Francisco

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”. Older

     98             

Pat Brown, governor

San Francisco

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”.

     99             

U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein

San Francisco

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Dawn”, not “Don”.

  100             

Benjamin Bratt, actor

San Francisco

California

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 28-Sep.-2009

  101             

U.S. Transp. Sec. Norman Mineta

San José

California

YouTube video 13-June-2009

  102             

Alicia Silverstone, actress

San Mateo

California

YouTube video “Cot”≠“caught”, “on” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”, but not clear when she moved from San Francisco! 25-Sep.-2010

  103             

Merv Griffin, television host

San Mateo

California

YouTube video “Cot”≠“caught”, “on” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”.13-June-2009

  104             

Brad Lewis, movie producer

San Mateo

California

YouTube video, video Oops! Thought had “cot”=“caught”, but “cot”≠“caught”, “on” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn”. 25-Sep.-2010

  105             

Heather Fargo, former mayor of Sacramento

Stockton

California

YouTube video 25-Oct.-2010

  106             

Ed Rollins, campaign consultant

Vallejo

California

YouTube video 23-June-2009

  107             

Eric Willett /wǐlĕt/ [wɪˈlɛt], snowboarder

Breckenridge

Colorado

YouTube video (more info) 21-Dec.-2010

  108             

Rich “Goose” Gossage, pitcher

Colorado Springs

Colorado

YouTube video

  109             

Ace Young, singer

Denver

Colorado

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

  110             

U.S. representative Tom Tancredo

Denver

Colorado

YouTube video Older

  111             

State representative Randy Fischer

Fort Collins

Colorado

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

  112             

U.S. representative Scott McInnis

Glenwood Springs

Colorado

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

  113             

Dalton Trumbo, film director

Grand Junction

Colorado

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

  114             

Rebecca Dussault, extreme athlete

Gunnison

Colorado

YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009

  115             

Colleen Piatt, grocery store owner

Hasty

Colorado

video & info (Sent in by Kirk Sniff. Thanks!) She is definitely a native, according to contributor Kirk Sniff. He is not sure about Ralph Hogue, and Ralph’s pronunciation suggests that he might be from somewhere more south and east, since he has more secondary features of Inland Southern, though not technically Inland Southern based on his long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] vowels. 21-Sep.-2011

  116             

State senator Kenneth Kester

Cañon City /kănyən sĭtē/ [ˈkʰænjən ˈsɪɾi]

Colorado

YouTube video Oops! I had listed him as being from Lamar, but this web site gives the straight scoop! 21-Sep.-2011

  117             

Scott Elarton, pro baseball player

Lamar

Colorado

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  118             

Kory Sperry, pro football player

Pueblo /pwĕblō/ [ˈpʰwɛbloʊ]

Colorado

YouTube video 21-Sep.-2011

  119             

Drew Dix, Medal of Honor winner

Pueblo

Colorado

video & info Oops! For some reason I had listed him as having “pin”≠“pen”, but in listening again I find that he has “pin”=“pen”, just lke the other samples from the Pueblo area! 21-Sep.-2011

  120             

State representative Wes McKinley

Walsh

Colorado

YouTube video

  121             

State representative Andrew Roraback

Goshen

Connecticut

YouTube video (more info) (Sent in by Darren Farrington. Thanks!) 24-Jan.-2011

  122             

State representative Joe Courtney

Hartford

Connecticut

YouTube video (clip at 2:51) 3-Apr.-2010

  123             

Katharine Hepburn, actress

Hartford

Connecticut

Older r-dropper: YouTube video Drops r’s beautifully, but clearly local, not Mid-Atlantic, since she follows the Providence pattern, with “cart”=“cot”. 3-Apr.-2010

  124             

Ken Sullivan, Director of utilities

Jewett City

Connecticut

YouTube video Clearly drops r’s, though only partially. 3-Apr.-2010

  125             

U.S. senator John Warner

Washington

D.C.

YouTube video (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern and r-dropping, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!) 5-Oct.-2010

  126             

Governor Ruth Ann Minner

Milford

Delaware

YouTube video

  127             

Kevin Mench, pro baseball player

Newark

Delaware

YouTube video 19-Feb.-2011

  128             

Barbara Delledonne, concerned citizen

Wilmington

Delaware

YouTube video (Sent in by Joseph DeSebasco. Thanks!) 14-Apr.-2011

  129             

State representative Nick Manolakos

Wilmington

Delaware

YouTube video (Sent in by Joseph DeSebasco. Thanks!) 14-Apr.-2011

  130             

City council member Kevin Kelley

Wilmington

Delaware

YouTube video (Sent in by Joseph DeSebasco. Thanks!) 14-Apr.-2011

  131             

Mayor John Land

Apopka

Florida

video & info (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!)

  132             

Gregg Allman, rock singer

Daytona Beach

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  133             

Bill France, Jr., NASCAR executive

Daytona Beach

Florida

YouTube video (His clip is at 1:38.) (Replaced dead link.) 10-Feb.-2011

  134             

Jonathan Cohn, author & journalist

Fort Lauderdale

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  135             

Tom Petty, rock singer

Gainesville

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  136             

Marty Raybon, country singer

Jacksonville

Florida

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

  137             

Donnie Van Zant, country singer

Jacksonville

Florida

YouTube video (more info) 30-Jan.-2010

  138             

State rep. Leonard Bembry

Jasper

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  139             

Danny Lipford, TV handyman

Marianna

Florida

YouTube video 5-July-2010

  140             

Michael Wynne, USAF Secretary

Melbourne

Florida

YouTube video 24-Oct.-2009

U.S. senator Bill Nelson [22]

Melbourne

Florida

YouTube video 23-June-2010

  141             

Roy Sekoff, Internet journalist

Miami

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  142             

Ron Dermer, Israeli politician

Miami Beach

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  143             

Lauren Brooke, “pro” wrestling interviewer

Orlando

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  144             

Wilma Burgess, country singer

Orlando

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  145             

Clint Daniels, country singer

Panama City

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  146             

David Eckstein, pro baseball player

Sanford

Florida

YouTube video

  147             

Emilie Richards, author

St. Petersburg

Florida

video & info 23-July-2009

  148             

Lynne Koplitz, comedienne

Sarasota

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  149             

Will Kirby, TV doctor

Tallahassee

Florida

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  150             

U.S. representative Kathy Castor

Tampa

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  151             

Kyle Minor, author

West Palm Beach

Florida

YouTube video 23-July-2009

  152             

Jerry Reed, country singer

Atlanta

Georgia

YouTube video 12-June-2010

  153             

Art Williams, billionaire

Cairo /rō/ [ˈkʰeɪˌɹoʊ]

Georgia

YouTube video 24-Mar.-2010

  154             

Lari Goss, southern gospel singer

Cartersville

Georgia

YouTube video (more info) 4-Sep.-2010

  155             

Mallory Hope, country singer

Cohutta /kəhŭtə/ [kʰəˈhʌɾə]

Georgia

YouTube video Inland! New! 1-Nov.-2011

  156             

Zac Brown, country singer

Cumming

Georgia

YouTube video 23-July-2011

  157             

Bill Elliott, NASCAR driver

Dawsonville

Georgia

YouTube video

  158             

Josh & Dana Shields, southern gospel singers

Flintstone

Georgia

audio (source) 30-Sep.-2010

  159             

Luke Bryan, country singer

Leesburg

Georgia

YouTube video 23-July-2011

  160             

Lewis Grizzard, humor columnist

Newnan (Moreland)

Georgia

YouTube video 13-May-2009

  161             

Col. Joe Jackson, Air Force pilot

Newnan

Georgia

YouTube video 13-May-2009

  162             

Alan Jackson, country singer

Newnan

Georgia

YouTube video He is clearly Lowland Southern, with no apparent r-dropping in spite of being on the edge of the Classical Southern region. YouTube video In this song he sings consistent Lowland Southern, with no apparent r-dropping. YouTube video In this song he mixes Inland and Lowland; it seems to me that the only word he seems to drop the r in is “southern”. 23-July-2011

  163             

U.S. president Jimmy Carter

Plains

Georgia

YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009

  164             

U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter

Plains

Georgia

YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009

  165             

Sonny Seiler, famous dog owner

Savannah

Georgia

YouTube video 26-Nov.-2009

  166             

Hinton Mitchem, Alabama state senator

Watkinsville

Georgia

YouTube video (more info) 7-Dec.-2009

  167             

U.S. senator Mike Crapo

Idaho Falls

Idaho

YouTube video

  168             

Dale Harwood, saddle maker

Soda Springs

Idaho

YouTube video (more info) 30-Nov.-2010

  169             

State Sen. Gary Gorby

Anna

Illinois

YouTube video 22-July-2009

  170             

Buddy Ebsen, actor

Belleville

Illinois

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

  171             

Tommy Johnagin, comedian

Benton

Illinois

YouTube video 8-Jan.-2011

  172             

Bill Grammer, Country Singer

Benton

Illinois

YouTube video 8-Jan.-2011

  173             

Various residents

Brookport

Illinois

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  174             

Shawn Watson, football coach

Carbondale

Illinois

YouTube video

  175             

Alison Krauss, country singer

Champaign

Illinois

YouTube video 12-Nov.-2010

  176             

Richard M. Daley, mayor

Chicago /shĭgə/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒɡə] or /shĭ/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒˌɡo], minority /shĭ/ [ʃɪˈkʰaˌɡo]

Illinois

YouTube video (See How I Use the IPA for a discussion of the pronunciation of this city.) 10-Feb.-2011

  177             

George Gobel, comedian

Chicago

Illinois

YouTube video 1-Jan.-2010

  178             

Dick Van Dyke, actor

Danville

Illinois

YouTube video Replaced dead video link! 11-Jan.-2011

  179             

James Loewen, sociologist

Decatur

Illinois

YouTube video 12-Nov.-2010

  180             

U.S. president Ronald Reagan

Dixon

Illinois

YouTube video (more info) 19-Oct.-2010

  181             

Jimmy Kite, NASCAR driver

Effingham

Illinois

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  182             

Matt Hughes, mixed martial artist

Hillsboro

Illinois

YouTube video Role model: “I want my kids to look at me and do as I do, say as I say.” 11-Jan.-2011

  183             

Jerry Barber, pro golfer

Jacksonville

Illinois

YouTube video :34-1:12 11-Jan.-2011

  184             

Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood

Peoria

Illinois

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

  185             

D. A. Weibring, golfer

Quincy

Illinois

YouTube video

  186             

John Spring, mayor of Quincy, IL

Rock Island

Illinois

MSNBC video, NPR audio (Sent in by Y.I. Thanks!) 24-June-2010

  187             

Mayor Timothy Davlin

Springfield

Illinois

YouTube video 9-Jan.-2010

  188             

Bob Woodward, reporter & author

Wheaton

Illinois

video & info (scroll down to video) 9-May-2011

  189             

Alan Baumler, author

Wheaton

Illinois

YouTube video (Speech starts at 2:25) (Sent in by Alan Baumler. Thanks!) New! 16-Dec.-2011

  190             

Bill Gaither, southern gospel singer

Alexandria

Indiana

YouTube video

  191             

Orville Redenbacher, popcorn producer

Brazil

Indiana

YouTube video (Kinda short, but “pin”=“pen”!) 1-Mar.-2010

  192             

Jamie Hyneman, Mythbuster

Columbus

Indiana

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

  193             

Gary Nabhan, ethnobotanist

Gary

Indiana

YouTube video 15-Dec.-2010

  194             

Don Williams, astronaut

Green Hill

Indiana

YouTube video (His clips: 17:55-19:15 and 20:15-21:38) This seems to be the top left corner of the “pin”=“pen” area! 2-Feb.-2011

  195             

Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel

Evansville

Indiana

YouTube video 20-Jan.-2010

  196             

Mayor Tom Henry

Fort Wayne

Indiana

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  197             

U.S. senator Richard Lugar

Indianapolis

Indiana

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  198             

State representative Jackie Walorski

South Bend

Indiana

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  199             

Dean Schwartz, ceramic artist

Cedar Rapids

Iowa

YouTube video Both his /ou/ [aʊ] vowel and his /ō/ [oʊ] vowel are so far back that I initially thought that Cedar Rapids was above the bite-bout line and above the pink dots, even though the ANAE had put it below those lines, but on listening again I realize that they are just barely below them! 21-Dec.-2010

  200             

Donna Reed, actress

Dennison

Iowa

YouTube video 24-Jan.-2011

  201             

Pamela Gorman, politician

Des Moines

Iowa

YouTube video 1-Nov.-2010

  202             

Dayton Duncan, producer

Indianola

Iowa

YouTube video 1-Nov.-2010

  203             

Dr. William Lane Craig, theologian

Keokuk

Iowa

YouTube video

  204             

Phil Vischer, co-creator of VeggieTales

Muscatine /mǔstēn/ [ˌmʌskəˈtʰin]

Iowa

YouTube video 21-Dec.-2010

  205             

Mike Johanns, Nebraska governor

Osage

Iowa

YouTube video New! 28-Oct.-2011

  206             

Mayor Dale Uehling

Ottumwa /ətǔmwə/ [əˈtʰʌmwə]

Iowa

video & info (Sent in by Kevin McMillin. Thanks!) 2-Feb.-2011

  207             

Carol Morris, Miss Universe 1956

Ottumwa

Iowa

YouTube video

  208             

Everly Brothers, rock singers

Shenandoah

Iowa

YouTube video When these guys sing, they use a clear Inland Southern accent (e.g. YouTube video), but when they speak, as in the interview above, it’s clearly Iowa. The one southernism they have is that “pin”=“pen”, but this is also from this part of Iowa, as seen by the following sample. 12-July-2011

  209             

Charlie Haden, musician

Shenandoah

Iowa

YouTube video. 12-July-2011

  210             

U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower

Abilene

Kansas

YouTube video I found this better clip of him, and realized that he has “cot”≠“caught”! His brother (below) does too. Even so, I would like to find other samples from Abilene to confirm this, since it makes the lines twist quite a lot! Adj. 18-Nov.-2011

  211             

Milton Eisenhower, university president, War Relocation Authority director

Abilene

Kansas

YouTube video. Adj. 18-Nov.-2011

  212             

Mark Schultz, contemporary Christian singer/songwriter

Colby

Kansas

YouTube video New! 6-Jan.-2012

  213             

Archbishop Charles Chaput /shəpōō/ [ʃəˈpʰu]

Concordia

Kansas

YouTube video I had not listened as clearly as I should have, and thought that “cot”=“caught”, but it does not, thereby providing a bridge to Hays and Plainville! 18-Sep.-2010

  214             

David A. R. White, actor, producer

Dodge City

Kansas

YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) Adj. 6-Jan.-2012

  215             

Chuck Reed, mayor of San Jose, CA

Garden City

Kansas

YouTube video

  216             

Victor Ortiz, boxer

Garden City

Kansas

YouTube video

  217             

John L. Allen, Jr., Journalist

Hays

Kansas

YouTube video 18-Sep.-2010

  218             

Various locals

Hugoton /hyōōgətən/? [ˈhjuɡətən]?

Kansas

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 3-Dec.-2009

  219             

Billy Drago, actor

Hugoton

Kansas

YouTube video 3-Dec.-2009

  220             

Scott Heim, novelist

Hutchinson

Kansas

YouTube video

  221             

Ed Asner, actor

Kansas City

Kansas

YouTube video

  222             

Wantha Davis, jockey

Liberal

Kansas

YouTube video (Her clip starts at 3:40) (more info) She’s back! For a long time this web site was offline, and the video was unavailable, but both are now available again! This is very good, because she is one of only two samples for Liberal, which is the only clear case of Inland Southern in Kansas. Adj. 27-Oct.-2011

  223             

Kasey Hayes, bull rider

Liberal

Kansas

YouTube video Slightly inconsistent on his long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] vowels, but clearly Inland South. (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 24-Jan.-2011

  224             

Caucasian male

Oskaloosa

Kansas

IDEA audio (source)

  225             

Darren Bousman, film director

Overland Park

Kansas

YouTube video

  226             

U.S. representative Jerry Moran

Plainville

Kansas

YouTube video 18-Sep.-2010

  227             

Marlin Fitzwater, former White House press sec.

Salina

Kansas

YouTube video

  228             

Mitch Holthus, football announcer

Smith Center

Kansas

YouTube video I replaced the video I had with this one which is much better, and realized that “cot”≠“caught” for him. This opens up the narrow bridge to Hays and Plainville, which makes more sense. Adj. 15-Nov.-2011

  229             

Martina McBride, country singer

Sharon

Kansas

YouTube video Replaced bad link. 31-May-2011

  230             

Andy McKee, guitarist

Topeka

Kansas

YouTube video

  231             

U.S. senator Pat Roberts

Topeka

Kansas

YouTube video New! 6-Jan.-2012

  232             

Jason Crabb, southern gospel singer

Beaver Dam

Kentucky

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  233             

Jimmy Wolford, singer songwriter, descendant of the feudin’ McCoys

Belfry

Kentucky

YouTube video (first clip at 1:00, but reappears throughout) 30-Apr.-2010

  234             

County schools personnel

Benton

Kentucky

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) Oops! This video has been removed. In any case, I now suspect that Benton is very much a mixed area (which should not be surprising seeing the complexity of the map in that area), since I had a conversation with a native, and she definitely spoke Lowland Southern. Adj. 27-Oct.-2011

  235             

Jason Lambert, web entrepreneur

Bowling Green (Scottsville)

Kentucky

YouTube video (more info) 11-July-2009

  236             

David Williams, Kentucky Senate president

Burkesville

Kentucky

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  237             

Loretta Lynn, country singer

Butcher Holler (officially Hollow)

Kentucky

YouTube video, YouTube video, I have finally decided that for Loretta, “cot”≠“caught”. The problem is that she is inconsistent: In both an early and a recent version of of “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, she always says /dǒtər/ [ˈdɑɾɚ], using exactly the same vowel sound as in “lot” later on in the song, never /dôtər/ [ˈdɑʊɾɚ], the typical Southern pronunciation. This was what made me think that she had “cot”=“caught”, along with the fact that she grew up very close to the “cot”=“caught” area. However, even in this song she uses /ô/ [ɑʊ] in the word “all”, but /ǒ/ [ɑ] in the word “holler”, both before /l/, so she clearly has the phoneme contrast. Similarly, in this early version of “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)”, the word “ought” is clearly /ǒt/ [ˈɑt], not /ôt/ [ˈɑʊt], but in the same song there are clear cases of /ô/ [ɑʊ] in “’cause” and “caught”. 5-Oct.-2010

  238             

Gatewood Galbraith, politician

Carlisle

Kentucky

YouTube video (more info) 22-Aug.-2009

  239             

A whole slew of people at a political rally

Columbus

Kentucky

dead link: YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) (Oops, this video has now been removed! Anyone have another one from Columbus?) Hard to evaluate, but several who say they are definitely locals are clearly Inland Southern, including the guy from between Bardwell and Berkley, the lady standing with her husband, and the man with his wife and two babies. 25-Nov.-2009

  240             

John Michael Montgomery, country singer

Danville

Kentucky

YouTube video, YouTube video 13-May-2009

  241             

Billy Ray Cyrus, country singer

Flatwoods

Kentucky

YouTube video This is a key sample: Clearly Lowland, though occasional words sound Inland. “Cot”≠“caught”. (more info) 30-May-2011

  242             

Brice Long, country singer

Hopkinsville

Kentucky

YouTube video 20-Jan.-2010

  243             

Ernie Brown Jr., turtle man

Lebanon

Kentucky

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  244             

Lardo Moron”, bluegrass artist

Lexington (Loradale)

Kentucky

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) Lowland Southern, but with occasional lapses into Inland on a few words, like “right”. Compare these with the Little Rock samples. 26-Nov.-2009

  245             

Burley Moron”, bluegrass artist

Lexington (Nicholasville)

Kentucky

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) Like the previous, but with a few more Inland lapses, which we would expect, since he’s from slightly closer to the dialect line. 26-Nov.-2009

  246             

Brian Littrell, pop singer

Lexington

Kentucky

YouTube video 22-Aug.-2009

  247             

Silas House, author

Lily

Kentucky

video & info (Sent in by Amanda Warren. Thanks!) 9-May-2011

  248             

U.S. senator Mitch McConnell

Louisville

Kentucky

YouTube video

  249             

white male, born 1933, retired farmer

Marion

Kentucky

IDEA audio (source)

  250             

Kevin Skinner, America’s Got Talent winner

Mayfield

Kentucky

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 26-Nov.-2009

  251             

Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000

Maysville

Kentucky

YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009

  252             

Tim Farmer, TV outdoorsman

Maysville

Kentucky

YouTube video “Cot”≠“caught”, personally confirmed by Tim, thanks! I had thought he sounded more like “cot”=“caught”. (more info) 30-May-2011

  253             

Kevin Denney, country singer

Monticello

Kentucky

YouTube video 1-June-2009

  254             

Dottie Rambo, southern gospel singer

Morganfield

Kentucky

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  255             

W. Earl Brown, actor, singer

Murray

Kentucky

YouTube video (No need to listen to all of it!) 11-July-2009

  256             

Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR driver

Owensboro

Kentucky

YouTube video 12-June-2010

  257             

U.S. senator Wendell Ford

Owensboro

Kentucky

YouTube video (more info) 11-July-2009

  258             

Bobby Green, NASCAR driver

Owensboro

Kentucky

YouTube video (clip starts at 3:30) New! 31-Dec.-2011

  259             

U.S. senator and former governor Julian Carroll

Paducah

Kentucky

YouTube video

  260             

Dr. Herbert Anderson, M.D.

Paducah

Kentucky

audio link & info 9-May-2009

  261             

Ron Hagan, flood fighter

Paducah

Kentucky

YouTube video (His clip starts at 1:18.) (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 11-Jan.-2011

  262             

Patty Loveless, country singer

Pikeville

Kentucky

YouTube video 20-Jan.-2010

  263             

Joe Isaacs, bluegrass musician

Pikeville (Big Hill)

Kentucky

YouTube video (more info) 9-Sep.-2010

  264             

Merle Travis, country singer

Rosewood

Kentucky

YouTube video 18-Oct.-2010

  265             

Bill Monroe, Bluegrass singer

Rosine

Kentucky

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  266             

Adam Crowe, web entrepreneur

Russellville

Kentucky

YouTube video (more info) 11-July-2009

  267             

Tim Elkins, dairy producer

Smiths Grove

Kentucky

YouTube video 18-Dec.-2010

  268             

Joseph Boudreaux, alligator hunter

Abbeville

Louisiana

YouTube video Cajun English! 23-June-2010

  269             

Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock singer

Ferriday

Louisiana

YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

  270             

Mayor David Camardelle

Grand Isle

Louisiana

YouTube video 12-June-2010

  271             

Lynne Spears, mother of Britney Spears

Kentwood

Louisiana

YouTube video 9-Jan.-2010

  272             

Lenis Guillot /lĭnĭs ŏt/ [ˈlɪnɪs ˈɡiˌɑt], witness

Lafayette /lăfēĕt/ [ˌlæfiˈɛt]

Louisiana

YouTube video Cajun English! 14-Feb.-2011

  273             

Deborah Chauvin, profession unknown

New Orleans (Ninth Ward)

Louisiana

I have arranged the following New Orleans speakers in a graduated sequence ranging from almost pure New York City to pure Lowland Southern. No two of them are at the same point in the sequence! Even so, I have not separated the last four into separate dialects, pending further data to determine how large an area talks like the Garden District:

YouTube video (Her clip is at the beginning of this video.) Not Southern at all, and sounds very much like New York City, though impossible to tell in this short clip whether “had” rhymes with “bad”, whether “father” rhymes with “bother”, or whether “pin”=“pen”. 24-Jan.-2011

  274             

“dem two beautiful girls” (self description)

New Orleans (Irish Channel)

Louisiana

YouTube video (Their clip starts at 5:25, and finishes the video.) They sound very much like New York City, hardly Southern at all, but they are Lowland Southern as far as their long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] is concerned. Clearly “pin”≠“pen”! Favorite quotes: “When I want to talk proper, I will”, “Look at dem two beautiful girls, if dey’d shut deir mouts dey’d be great”. 24-Jan.-2011

  275             

Mayor Mitch Landrieu

New Orleans (Broadmoor)

Louisiana

YouTube video Clearly Lowland Southern, but with many NYC features, “pin”≠“pen”, and he pronounces “father” as [ˈfɑəðə], just like NYC, but pronounces “Thompson” as [ˈtʰampsən], again just like NYC! Thus he evidently has the father-bother distinction, and it is likely that the preceding speakers do also. 24-Jan.-2011

  276             

Billy Delle, radio host

New Orleans (Gentilly)

Louisiana

YouTube video He is the narrator. (He kindly let me know that he grew up in Gentilly. Thanks!) (Clips: 0:58-1:15, 4:12-4:35, 5:46-5:56) Clearly Classical Southern, with “pin”=“pen”, but /ô/ = [oə], like NYC, and with more other NYC features than Harry Connick. (End credits: YouTube video, his clip is at 0:43.) (more info) 24-Jan.-2011

  277             

Harry Connick, Jr., jazz composer & singer

New Orleans (Lakewood)

Louisiana

YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) (He speaks first at 1:52) Clearly Classical Southern, with “pin”=“pen”, but /ô/ = [oə], like NYC. However, he does not drop all of his r’s that do not precede vowels. 24-Jan.-2011

  278             

Roger Villere, Republican Party State Chairman

New Orleans (Metairie)

Louisiana

YouTube video Essentially the same as Harry Connick. (Sent in by Ben Trawick-Smith. Thanks!) 31-May-2011

  279             

Older gentleman, upper class

New Orleans (Garden District)

Louisiana

YouTube video (His clip starts at 1:40 and again at 2:35.) Clearly the most classic of Classical Southern, “pin”=“pen”, with no NYC features at all, /ô/ = [ɒʊ], like most southerners. My favorite quote: “I just don’t think people from the Garden District have any accent” 24-Jan.-2011

  280             

Jimmie Davis, country singer & governor

Quitman

Louisiana

YouTube video 23-July-2011

  281             

Kix Brooks, country singer

Shreveport

Louisiana

YouTube video 31-May-2011

  282             

Tim Sample, humorist

Boothbay Harbor

Maine

YouTube video (Sent in by Ken Homer. Thanks!) 4-Mar.-2011

  283             

U.S. senator Susan Collins

Caribou

Maine

YouTube video 8-June-2009

  284             

Ellis Paul, folk singer

Fort Kent

Maine

YouTube video 8-June-2009

  285             

Jeremy Van Dyne, lobsterman

Matinicus Island

Maine

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  286             

Ed Muskie, politician

Rumford

Maine

YouTube video 2-June-2009

  287             

Michael Merchant, “Out of the Wild” volunteer

Tenants Harbor

Maine

YouTube video (Sent in by Kathy Villarreal. Thanks!) He only drops about half of his droppable r’s (the ones not preceding a vowel), but otherwise has a typical Eastern New England accent. (more info) The previous site says he is from Hampden (right next to Bangor /bănggôr/ [ˈbæŋɡɔə]), but he actually grew up in Tenants Harbor before high school. 25-July-2011

  288             

Ty Babb, lobster fisherman

Tenants Harbor

Maine

YouTube video (Sent in by Jill Miller. Thanks!) He is very similar to the previous. Apparently r’s are creeping into the dialect here! New! 6-Jan.-2012

  289             

U.S. senator Barbara Mikulski

Baltimore

Maryland

YouTube video 19-Feb.-2011

  290             

Various politicians[23]

Baltimore

Maryland

YouTube video

  291             

State senate president Mike Miller

Clinton

Maryland

YouTube video (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!) 11-Jan.-2011

  292             

Chris Rice, Christian singer

Clinton

Maryland

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  293             

Frank Nethken, politician

Cumberland

Maryland

YouTube video Interesting character! This is also the northernmost example of Southern! 4-Nov.-2010

  294             

Alex Coblentz, contributor

Frederick

Maryland

YouTube video (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) Pretty solid East Midland, though I was at first in some doubt about whether “pin”=“pen”, but I believe he does distinguish! New! 16-Dec.-2011

  295             

Chris Shank, state House Minority Whip

Hagerstown

Maryland

YouTube video

  296             

Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, state Delegate

Neavitt

Maryland

YouTube video

  297             

Frank Perdue, chicken producer

Salisbury

Maryland

dead link: YouTube video This was one of his early ads, before his handlers eradicated much of his Southern accent. Tidewater raising is also clearly heard. (His clip is at 2:30-3:00.) (This link has been removed, which is unfortunate, since it was the only one of its kind that I have found.) 12-Aug.-2010

  298             

Various residents

Smith Island

Maryland

YouTube video, YouTube video 9-Sep.-2010

  299             

Mary Ada Marshall, cakemaker

Smith Island

Maryland

YouTube video 9-Sep.-2010

  300             

Unnamed city counselor

Boston (Medford)

Massachusetts

YouTube video (Sent in by Bryant Garrigus. Thanks!) This is a much better sample of a Boston accent than JFK or Powers below. 2-Apr.-2011

  301             

Alyssa McBride, contributor

Boston (Chelsea)

Massachusetts

Audio (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) Alyssa is consistent as a systematic r-dropper more than 95% of the time. New! 28-Nov.-2011

  302             

U.S. president John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Boston (Brookline)

Massachusetts

YouTube video, YouTube video, YouTube video (Replaced dead link for second video.) He only lived in Boston until the age of ten, and then spent most of the remainder of his youth outside the state (see Wikipedia), and as a result, though he does have a very definite systematic r-dropper dialect, he is not really a good example of a Boston accent, as contributor Bryant Garrigus has pointed out, especially in his pronunciation of the /ä/ vowel in words like “father” and “park”, which he pronounces more like New York City, though some of his other vowels are closer to Boston. 2-Apr.-2011

  303             

Dave Powers, JFK special assistant

Boston (Charlestown)

Massachusetts

YouTube video (more info) Powers, on the other hand, lived his entire youth in Charlestown, but even so, his pronunciation of the /ä/ vowel in words like “father” and “park” is more like JFK than it is Boston, as contributor Bryant Garrigus has pointed out. 2-Apr.-2011

  304             

Rick Starbard /stärbərd/ [ˈstabəd], school committee candidate

Boston (Lynn)

Massachusetts

info and video (His first clip starts at 12:10, with more throughout the video.) (Sent in by Shirley Tessler. Thanks!) 25-Mar.-2011

  305             

Walter Brennan, actor

Boston (Lynn)

Massachusetts

YouTube video (His clip starts at 5:45.)

Originally I had posted this YouTube video as a sample for Walter Brennan. However, contributor Shirley Tessler wrote: “I looked at the YouTube video of Walter Brennan that you provide as an example of a Lynn Massachusetts dialect. Lynn is my home town. Although Mr. Brennan was born in Lynn, he is speaking as an actor in that YouTube video in a dialect of an unschooled farmer from Texas (or similar location very far from Lynn Mass). I suggest that you no longer point to the Walter Brennan video, since it is not a true example of a Lynn dialect.”

My initial reaction on her comments was, “No way! He sounds very Eastern New England to me!” That’s because the vowels he uses in words like “farm” and “on” are so ENE as to be unmistakable. No place else in the world are those vowels pronounced precisely that way! Anyone from outside of ENE who knows accents would immediately know he is ENE.

In fact, after I started this map, I thought, “Now who was that old actor whose accent I remember so vividly from when I was a kid? He was clearly ENE. Let’s see... He played in ‘The Tycoon’, I remember.” And that’s how I found him. However, I didn’t initially find a clip from ‘The Tycoon’, but posted the second clip instead.

However, in listening again to that clip, I realized that Shirley was partly right: in that clip he is trying to do some kind of western farmer accent, but he is doing a very bad job of it: his ENE features keep bleeding through. Even so, certain words, like “about”, do not have ENE vowels at all.

I eventually found the first clip, which is from ‘The Tycoon’, and shows a more accurate accent. But check out the clip of Rick Starbard above, for an even better sample for Lynn. 25-Mar.-2011

  306             

Peter Marciano, youngest brother of pro boxer Rocky Marciano

Brockton

Massachusetts

YouTube video He seems to keep a few more “droppable r’s” than Rocky, but otherwise his accent is pure Eastern New England. I had found a nice clip of Rocky himself, but it has been removed, and I can’t find any others! 7-Apr.-2011

  307             

State senator Gary LeBeau

Easthampton

Massachusetts

YouTube video 30-Nov.-2009

  308             

Emeril Lagasse, celebrity cook

Fall River

Massachusetts

YouTube video 24-Oct.-2009

  309             

Gary Kitmacher, spacecraft designer

Pittsfield

Massachusetts

YouTube video (He talks for the first six minutes of the clip.) (more info) Linguist and Pittsfield native R. Locke wrote in to say that Gary Kitmacher really is representative of Pittsfield, and that James Ruberto is not. He also sent in the Turk Wendell clip below. I am glad, since Ruberto’s accent had really messed up my map! Pittsfield is now firmly back in the Northwestern New England area. 20-Apr.-2011

  310             

Turk Wendell, pro baseball player

Pittsfield

Massachusetts

YouTube video (Sent in my R. Locke. Thanks!) 20-Apr.-2011

  311             

June Foray, voice actress for animated films

Springfield

Massachusetts

YouTube video

  312             

Dr. Timothy Leary, LSD advocate

Springfield

Massachusetts

YouTube video (Replaced dead link.) 7-Apr.-2011

  313             

Abbie Hoffmann, radical activist

Worcester

Massachusetts

YouTube video

  314             

Verne Troyer, actor

Centreville

Michigan

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  315             

Dan Severn, “pro” wrestler

Coldwater

Michigan

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  316             

Nancy Skinner, politician

Detroit

Michigan

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

  317             

Josiah Middaugh, extreme athlete

East Jordan

Michigan

YouTube video ( more info) 7-Dec.-2009

  318             

State senator Tom Casperson

Escanaba

Michigan

YouTube video 29-Dec.-2010

  319             

U.S. president Gerald Ford

Grand Rapids

Michigan

YouTube video 23-June-2010

  320             

Coach Tom Izzo

Iron Mountain

Michigan

YouTube video

  321             

Jason Babin, pro football player

Kalamazoo

Michigan

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  322             

Larry Page, Google co-founder

(East) Lansing

Michigan

YouTube video 25-Sep.-2010

  323             

Cathy Guisewite, cartoonist of Cathy

Midland

Michigan

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

  324             

Jake Cinninger, musician

Niles

Michigan

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  325             

Joe Marutiak, OPEIU union member

Owosso

Michigan

YouTube video (Sent in by Dave Marutiak. Thanks!) 11-Jan.-2011

  326             

Terry O’Quinn, actor

Sault Ste. Marie

Michigan

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  327             

Rob Capriccioso, American Indian journalist

Sault Ste. Marie

Michigan

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  328             

Paul Colson, George Risser, Celeste Colson, Adam Rasmussen, Amy Dietzler

Angle Inlet

Minnesota

audio & transcript These folks talk like Minnesota, not Canada! 29-Dec.-2010

  329             

Joseph Jagunich, miner’s son

Buhl

Minnesota

audio & info (Sent in by Adam Jarvi. Thanks!) 25-Mar.-2011

  330             

Mayor Don Ness

Duluth

Minnesota

YouTube video 1-May-2010

  331             

Mildred Opacich, miner’s wife

Duluth

Minnesota

audio & info (Sent in by Adam Jarvi. Thanks!) Though apparently born and raised in Duluth, she seems to have a strong Iron Ranges dialect, or else this is simply the accent she learned from her immigant parents. 25-Mar.-2011

  332             

Anthony Vidmar, miner’s son

Ely /ēlē/ [ˈili]

Minnesota

audio & info (Sent in by Adam Jarvi. Thanks!) 25-Mar.-2011

  333             

Josephine Scander, miner’s daughter

Hibbing

Minnesota

audio & info, audio & info (Sent in by Adam Jarvi. Thanks!) 25-Mar.-2011

  334             

Tammy Faye (Bakker /bākər/ [ˈbeɪkɚ]) Messner, controversial Christian television personality

International Falls

Minnesota

YouTube video 29-Dec.-2010

  335             

Chris Sukalski /səkôlskē/ [səˈkʰɒlski], dairy producer

Le Roy /roi/ [ˈliˌɹɔɪ]

Minnesota

YouTube video 13-Jan.-2011

  336             

Jesse Ventura, politician & “pro” wrestler

Minneapolis

Minnesota

YouTube video (Suggested by Y.I. Thanks!) Also YouTube video (replaced bad link), being interviewed by Dennis Miller: talk about two extremely distinct accents! And points of view! 24-Jan.-2011

  337             

Brian Burke, Toronto Maple Leafs manager

Minneapolis (Edina)

Minnesota

YouTube video “cot”≠“caught”, but the difference is minimal. This is not unusual for the Western North. 16-Mar.-2010

  338             

U.S. senator Amy Klobuchar /klōshär/ [ˈkʰloʊbəˌʃɑɹ]

Minneapolis (Plymouth)

Minnesota

YouTube video (Sent in by Annie Wang. Thanks!) 27-Sep.-2010

  339             

Will Steger, arctic explorer

Minneapolis (Richfield)

Minnesota

YouTube video 23-Feb.-2011

  340             

Governor Tim Pawlenty /pəlĕntē/ [pʰəˈlɛɾ̃i]

St. Paul

Minnesota

YouTube video (Sent in by Annie Wang. Thanks!) 4-Sep.-2010

  341             

“The Lovelace Family”, southern gospel singers

Burnsville

Mississippi

YouTube video 12-June-2010

  342             

Don Wildmon, founder, American Family Association

Dumas

Mississippi

audio (If anyone has a better audio or video link for Mr. Wildmon, please let me know.) 30-Jan.-2010

  343             

Shelby Foote, historian

Greenville

Mississippi

YouTube video Amazing historian, and his accent is so perfectly Classical Southern! However, I had accidentally marked him as being from Greenville, Alabama instead of Greenville, Mississippi. The latter is a bit more surprising, since it is outside of the general Classical Southern area. Adj. 28-Oct.-2011

  344             

U.S. senator Trent Lott

Grenada /grənādə/ [ɡɹəˈneɪdə]

Mississippi

YouTube video (According to the following, Trent Lott moved to Pascagoula in his early teens, but I am assuming that his accent was already set by then: more info) 19-Feb.-2011

  345             

The Unity Four, southern gospel singers

Iuka /īyōōkə/ [ˌaɪˈjukə]

Mississippi

YouTube video (more info) 21-Sep.-2011

  346             

Jimmie Rodgers, country singer

Meridian

Mississippi

YouTube video (Replaced dead link.) 7-Apr.-2011

  347             

Estus Pirkle, preacher, filmmaker

New Albany

Mississippi

YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

  348             

JoJo Billingsley, singer

Senatobia

Mississippi

YouTube video (more info) 30-Jan.-2010

  349             

Tornado victims

Smithville

Mississippi

YouTube video The first two are clearly Inland, the last one seems to be trying not to sound Southern. 10-May-2011

  350             

Dr. Brett Hildenbrand, dentist

Tupelo /tōōpəlō/ [ˈtʰupəˌloʊ]

Mississippi

YouTube video (more info) (Sent in by Y.I. Thanks!) 1-July-2010

  351             

Dr. Harry Rayburn, dentist

Tupelo

Mississippi

YouTube video (more info) (Sent in by Y.I. Thanks!) 1-July-2010

  352             

Heather, patient, and husband Ron

Cape Girardeau

Missouri

YouTube video (Sent in by Brett Harkey. Thanks!) New! 3-Nov.-2011

  353             

State senator Matt Bartle

Columbia

Missouri

YouTube video

  354             

U.S. senator Bill Bradley

Crystal City

Missouri

YouTube video

  355             

U.S. senator Conrad Burns

Gallatin

Missouri

YouTube video

  356             

Children of Mike Reed

Houston

Missouri

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  357             

Governor Matt Blunt

Jefferson City

Missouri

YouTube video

  358             

Trent Tomlinson, country singer

Kennett

Missouri

YouTube video

  359             

Rhonda Vincent, bluegrass singer

Kirksville

Missouri

YouTube video As usual, her Central Midland dialect is demonstrated by the interview, not the songs, which are often Inland Southern, appropriate to bluegrass. 3-Mar.-2011

  360             

Various residents, mainly old timers

Linn Creek

Missouri

YouTube video (Sent in by Ben Foster. Thanks!) New! 16-Jan.-2012

  361             

Ferlin Husky, country singer

Park Hills

Missouri

YouTube video Clearly Inland Southern! New! 31-Dec.-2011

  362             

Pastor Paul White

Poplar Bluff

Missouri

Google video (Sermon starts around 13:00. His long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] vowels are fairly mixed, suggesting that he has tried to adjust his speech to some degree, but many are clearly Southern, and a few words are clearly Inland. In any case, this town is on the border, so some mixing may not be surprising. His other vowels are thoroughly Southern, so I am fairly confident that he grew up speaking Inland Southern. Another indication is that the more excited he gets, the more Southern he sounds.) 24-Jan.-2011

  363             

Robin Carnahan, politician

Rolla

Missouri

YouTube video

  364             

George Morris, enjoys life

Sikeston

Missouri

YouTube video (Sent in by a contributor. Thanks!) 7-Nov.-2009

  365             

U.S. representative Roy Blunt

Springfield

Missouri

YouTube video

  366             

Dick M., age 44, furniture maker

Springfield

Missouri

ANAE info and audio This is the sample provided in the ANAE to show that Springfield, Missouri is Lowland Southern, which seems quite unlikely for its location. This sample is clearly not Inland Southern, since multiple cases of the long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel occur before voiceless consonants, and only one word, “times” shows the Lowland Southern pronunciation, and this has the long /ī/ [a] vowel before a nasal consonant, which is the one place it is often heard in otherwise Midland accents according to the ANAE Ch. 18, p. 243. Therefore I do not think that this sample demonstrates Southern at all. Adj. 16-Jan.-2012

  367             

Kay Barnes, mayor of Kansas City

St. Joseph

Missouri

YouTube video

  368             

Joe Buck, sports commentator

St. Louis

Missouri

YouTube video

  369             

John Goodman, actor

St. Louis

Missouri

YouTube video

  370             

Bob Kuban, drummer

St. Louis

Missouri

YouTube video

  371             

Dr. Jan Garavaglia, “Dr. G: Medical Examiner”

St. Louis

Missouri

YouTube video (more info) 11-Jan.-2011

  372             

Bob and Ron Coble, farmers

Strafford

Missouri

YouTube video These folks sound quite Southern, with many of its secondary features, until you listen closely to their long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] vowels, which are not southern. (Sent in by Ben Foster. Thanks!) New! 16-Jan.-2012

  373             

Jan Howard, country singer[24]

West Plains

Missouri

YouTube video

  374             

U.S. senator Jon Tester

Big Sandy

Montana

YouTube video

  375             

John Bohlinger, lieutenant governor

Billings

Montana

YouTube video

  376             

Wylie Gustafson, western singer/songwriter/yodeler

Conrad

Montana

YouTube video, YouTube video (more info) 19-Oct.-2010

  377             

Dave Dickenson, football player

Great Falls

Montana

YouTube video

  378             

U.S. senator Max Baucus

Helena

Montana

YouTube video

  379             

Casey Anderson, Expedition Wild host

(East) Helena

Montana

YouTube video (more info) 11-July-2011

  380             

Eugene Peterson, author of The Message

Kalispell

Montana

YouTube video 5-Oct.-2010

  381             

Maurice Hilleman, microbiologist[25], [26]

Miles City

Montana

YouTube video (more info)

  382             

George Winston, pianist [26]

Miles City

Montana

YouTube video

  383             

Dixie Nelson, Chamber of commerce

Alliance

Nebraska

YouTube video 8-Aug.-2009

  384             

Dennis Rose, saddlemaker

Arthur

Nebraska

audio (source) Cannot tell from clip whether “pin”=“pen”. 24-Aug.-2010

  385             

Jim Girardin, Arrow Seed Co.

Broken Bow

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info) 7-Aug.-2009

  386             

Lon Milo DuQuette, occultist

Columbus

Nebraska

YouTube video (really, really weird ideas) 12-Aug.-2009

  387             

Barry Kriha, TV reporter

Gibbon

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info) 7-Aug.-2009

  388             

Howard Parker, cowboy poet

Gordon

Nebraska

audio (source) 24-Aug.-2010

  389             

Walter Schmitt, farmer

Gresham

Nebraska

video & info (source) (Sent in by Kirk Sniff. Thanks!) New! 7-Nov.-2011

  390             

Herbert Heine, farmer

Gresham (really Thayer, but there isn’t room)

Nebraska

video & info (source) New! 7-Nov.-2011

  391             

Jay Keasling, chemical engineer

Harvard

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info)

  392             

Herman Goertzen, farmer

Henderson

Nebraska

video & info (source) (Sent in by Kirk Sniff. Thanks!) Amazing! The Grand Island wedge extends even farther south and east! Adj. 7-Nov.-2011

  393             

Barrett Ruud, football player

Lincoln

Nebraska

YouTube video

  394             

Joba Chamberlain, baseball player

Lincoln

Nebraska

YouTube video

  395             

Ben Nelson, senator and governor

McCook

Nebraska

YouTube video

  396             

John DeCamp, Politician

Neligh /lē/ [ˈnili]

Nebraska

YouTube video 12-Aug.-2009

  397             

Johnny Carson, entertainer

Norfolk /nôrfôrk/ [ˈnɔɹˌfɔɹk][27]

Nebraska

YouTube video 23-Aug.-2010

  398             

Marg Helgenberger, actress

North Bend

Nebraska

YouTube video

  399             

Dr. Don Rose, disk jockey

North Platte

Nebraska

YouTube video

  400             

Ryan Schultz, mixed martial arts fighter

North Platte

Nebraska

YouTube video 21-Sep.-2011

  401             

Ben Holscher, mixed martial arts fighter

Ogallala

Nebraska

YouTube video 21-Sep.-2011

  402             

Henry Fonda, famous actor

Omaha /ōməhô/ [ˈoʊməˌhɒ]

Nebraska

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  403             

Warren Buffett, billionaire

Omaha

Nebraska

YouTube video

  404             

Mayor Susan Wiedeman

Scottsbluff (Gering)

Nebraska

YouTube video New! 31-Dec.-2011

  405             

Tom Osborne, football coach, etc.

St. Paul

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info) Tom Osborne grew up entirely in Hastings, Nebraska except for four years in St. Paul, from the ages of 5 to 8. However, he talks like St. Paul, not like Hastings, as I have confirmed by interviewing a native of Hastings, who has “pin”=“pen” and “cot”=“caught”. Like the sample from Ashley, ND, this shows that a phonemic system can be set before the age of 10, and never change after that. Adj. 4-Nov.-2011

  406             

Wayne Connell, artisan

Tryon /trīən/ [ˈtʰɹaɪən]

Nebraska

video (source) (Video file seems to be damaged, though previously it was playable. Hopefully it will be fixed in the future.) I need to re-check the video to see whether “pin”=“pen”: I had thought no, but I have recently interviewed a Tryon native, and evidently “pin”=“pen”. 24-Aug.-2010

  407             

Doug Bereuter /rītər/ [ˈbiˌɹaɪɾɚ], president of the Asia Foundation

Utica

Nebraska

YouTube video (His clip is 10:10-15:08.) New! 7-Nov.-2011

  408             

Sam Crawford, pro baseball player

Wahoo /hōō/ [ˈwɒˌhu]

Nebraska

YouTube video (clip starts at 1:00) 26-Aug.-2010

  409             

Darryl Zanuck, movie producer

Wahoo

Nebraska

YouTube video (He pronounces it /hōō/ [ˌwɒˈhu], but he is probably just being funny. My wife, a native Nebraskan, assures me that Sam Crawford’s pronunciation is the correct one.) 26-Aug.-2010

  410             

Elroy Hoffman, farmer

York

Nebraska

video & info (source) (Sent in by Kirk Sniff. Thanks!) Amazing! The Grand Island wedge extends even farther south and east! New! 7-Nov.-2011

  411             

Harvey Pickrel, farmer

York

Nebraska

video & info (source) (Sent in by Kirk Sniff. Thanks!) This guy is from south of York, whereas the previous guy may be from north of York, and this guy’s /ō/ [oʊ] vowels are noticeably more fronted, indicating that that the blue line runs between them! However, he has “pin”≠“pen”, showing that that line runs a tiny bit more south! New! 7-Nov.-2011

  412             

U.S. representative Dean Heller

Carson City

Nevada

YouTube video 25-Oct.-2010

  413             

Andre Agassi, pro tennis player

Las Vegas

Nevada

YouTube video (Suggested by native Las Vegan contributor Jim Hoffman. Thanks!.) 5-Mar.-2011

  414             

Governor Jim Gibbons

Reno

Nevada

YouTube video 25-Oct.-2010

  415             

U.S. senator Harry Reid

Searchlight

Nevada

YouTube video (Suggested by native Las Vegan contributor Jim Hoffman. Thanks!.) 5-Mar.-2011

  416             

Wallace McCain, businessman

Florenceville

New Brunswick

downloadable video (Extremely large file!) (Sent in by Lucy May. Thanks!) New! 10-Jan.-2012

  417             

Marilyn Curtin, city councilor, and unknown newswoman

Fredericton

New Brunswick

YouTube video (Sent in by Lucy May. Thanks!) New! 10-Jan.-2012

  418             

Matt Stairs, pro hockey player

Saint John

New Brunswick

YouTube video 13-July-2009

  419             

Donald Sutherland, actor

Saint John

New Brunswick

YouTube video Contributor Lucy May says that he is not a good example of the local dialect, and has contributed various others. Thanks! Adj. 10-Jan.-2012

  420             

Don Sweeney, pro hockey manager

St. Stephen

New Brunswick

video (His clip 0:20-0:50) (Sent in by Lucy May. Thanks!) New! 10-Jan.-2012

  421             

Michael Durant, U.S. Army pilot

Berlin

New Hampshire

video (Found video again!) Clip starts at 0:45. 24-Aug.-2010

  422             

Doris “Granny D” Haddock, activist, walked across America

Laconia

New Hampshire

YouTube video 1-June-2009

  423             

Joe McQuaid, newspaper publisher

Manchester

New Hampshire

YouTube video 2-June-2009

  424             

Captain David Ferland, policeman

Portsmouth

New Hampshire

YouTube video (His clips 0:55-1:06, 1:34-1:45) (Sent in by Ben Katz. Thanks! Ben said, “As I’m sure many people do for their hometowns, I thought I’d submit this clip, as I think it gives a better representation of the Seacoast, NH accent, as opposed to the samples you currently have which includes Boston to the South, and Manchester and Laconia inland. The clip features a number of local citizens, but personally, I thought the best example was [the policeman].”) 3-June-2011

  425             

Margaret Pickering, resident

Portsmouth

New Hampshire

YouTube video (Her clip 0:07-0:41) (Sent in by Ben Katz. Thanks!) 3-June-2011

  426             

Danny DeVito, actor

Asbury Park

New Jersey

YouTube video

  427             

Tommy DeVito, pop singer - classic working class, slightly modified! **

Belleville

New Jersey

YouTube video (more info) The curl-coil merger is not dead! This guy clearly says /woyk/ [ˈwɜɪk] instead of /wûrk/ [ˈwɝk] for “work”, and uses [ɜɪ] instead of [ɝ] in several other words also, and most of his th’s become d or t. This is quite different from his fellow band member Frankie Valli, who is modern middle class. 3-Mar.-2011

  428             

State senator Michael Doherty

Glen Ridge

New Jersey

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  429             

Sammi Giancano, on cast of Jersey Shore reality show

Hazlet

New Jersey

YouTube video Nice distinctive “bad” /băəd/ [ˈbeəd], plenty of cases of both /ăə/ [eə] and /ă/ [æ], pronounced quite distinctly! So these two distinct vowels are alive and well, even among young people. The following clip is clearer: YouTube video 28-Mar.-2011

  430             

Governor Chris Christie

Livingston

New Jersey

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  431             

Frankie Valli, pop singer - modern middle class **

Newark

New Jersey

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  432             

Lou Costello, actor & comedian - classic working class

Paterson /pătərsən/ [ˈpʰæɾɚsən]

New Jersey

YouTube video Contributor Jane McMullen set me straight on this one: “Your sample [for] Lou Costello, is terribly wrong. It is not a New York accent. Lou was born and raised in Paterson, NJ. He sounds just like my father (born 7 years later), also born & raised there, and all my relatives. The class is correct, classic working class, children of recent Italian immigrants. And it’s classic Paterson.”

Sigh! I find that I sometimes focus on certain prominent features, and those features make me ignore other features, which are more important. I had listed Lou Costello as being from New York City, even though I knew he was born in Paterson. I failed to realize that he was also raised there. But what really led me astray was that he has nearly all of the secondary features of the classic working class of New York City: /th/ [ð] becomes /d/ [d], and “first” is /foyst/ [ˈfɜɪst] instead of /fûrst/ [ˈfɝst]. I had not realized that the latter was historically found in a few places outside of the Greater New York City dialect area, so I assumed that he had grown up in NYC. However, he actually lacks the primary defining features of NYC: he drops very few r’s, and he does not have the bad-had split, as seen in many of the words in the clip above, and in the pronunciation of “bad” at the end of this clip: YouTube video. Instead, he actually has the Eastern North pattern for these words. Thanks for keeping me straight, Jane! Pronunciation Adj. 27-Oct.-2011

  433             

Alan Hale, astronomer

Alamogordo

New Mexico

audio (source)

  434             

U.S. senator Pete Domenici

Albuquerque

New Mexico

YouTube video

  435             

Various, presumbably locals

Artesia

New Mexico

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 3-Dec.-2009

  436             

Sam Etcheverry, football coach

Carlsbad

New Mexico

YouTube video (more info)

  437             

U.S. representative Harry Teague

Hobbs

New Mexico

YouTube video

  438             

Baxter Black, cowboy poet

Las Cruces

New Mexico

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  439             

Ed Foreman, politician, speaker

Portales

New Mexico

YouTube video

  440             

Cody Willard, Fox Business anchor

Ruidoso

New Mexico

YouTube video 26-Aug.-2009

  441             

Conrad Hilton, hotel tycoon

San Antonio

New Mexico

YouTube video This video clarifies that “pin”≠“pen” for him, whereas the following did not: YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  442             

James Junes, Navajo comedian

Shiprock

New Mexico

YouTube video (more info) 26-Sep.-2009

  443             

Harrison Schmitt, astronaut

Silver City

New Mexico

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

  444             

Abel Cullum, mixed martial arts

Tucumcari

New Mexico

YouTube video 13-July-2009

  445             

Mayor Jerry Jennings

Albany

New York

YouTube video (Sent in by Derek Hachey. Thanks!) Longer sample: YouTube video 11-Feb.-2011

  446             

Judge Frank Easterbrook

Buffalo

New York

YouTube video 7-Aug.-2009

  447             

William P. Rogers, Sec. of State under Nixon

Canton

New York

YouTube video

  448             

Stewart Vorpahl /vôrpəl/ [ˈvoəpəl], “Bonacker” fisherman

East Hampton (Amagansett)

New York

YouTube video (clip starts at 25:00) (Sent in by Alex Van Boer. Thanks!) This is the true native (working class) dialect of “The Hamptons”, not really those that follow, as the explanation that follows shows. It is quite similar to GNYC, and has the same 16 vowels as New York City, including pronouncing the “aw” or /ô/ vowel as [oə], but unlike New York City there is no working-class tendency to change th’s to d or t, and several of the vowels have a slight hint of New England. 3-Mar.-2011

  449             

Mary Gardiner, gourmet produce seller

East Hampton

New York

The east end of Long Island, often called “The Hamptons”, is unusual in that it has been a rich people’s playground for generations. That’s why I was glad to find the previous clip, which shows the dialect of ordinary people, rather than the rich and famous.

All three of the following samples of rich and famous people from East Hampton have quite distinct accents, although they also have certain things in common, in particular their pronunciation of the “aw” or /ô/ vowel, which is [oə] like New York City.

YouTube video (more info) This lady’s ancestors have lived in the East Hampton area since the mid 1600’s, and she grew up there, unlike so many rich kids from the area who were sent off to boarding school. Her accent is fairly close to the “benchmark” Bonacker pronunciation above.

One particular difference among the three speakers is that Mary Gardiner pronounces almost all her r’s, David Carmichael drops a few, and Jackie Kennedy is a consistent Systematic R-dropper. They all do it a little, confirming that the original Hamptons pattern is r-dropping.

I had thought for a while that “on” rhymed with “dawn” in this dialect, based on Mary Gardiner, but it doesn’t actually. She (and Stewart Vorpahl) almost seems to rhyme it with “barn”, if the r is dropped, something a few NYC speakers may also do. 3-Mar.-2011

  450             

David Carmichael, pastry chef

East Hampton

New York

YouTube video, YouTube video (clip starts at 1:45) 30-Nov.-2009

  451             

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

East Hampton

New York

YouTube video, YouTube video She definitely has a New York accent, quite distinct from her husband’s Boston accent. She shares some features with the other East Hampton speakers (See my comments above), but at the same time has a “higher class” accent, especially noticeable in her short /ă/ vowel, though she certainly does not have a Mid-Atlantic accent. 3-Mar.-2011

  452             

Reverend Rob Schenck

Grand Island

New York

YouTube video 7-Aug.-2009

  453             

Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive - modern working class? **

Holbrook

New York

YouTube video (clip 6:05-10:35) (Sent in by Alex Van Boer. Thanks!) 3-Mar.-2011

  454             

Various residents

Mayville

New York

YouTube video The mayor and most of the others on this clip are clearly Inland North and north of (or inside) the bite-bout line. The only speaker who is clearly not is Mort Flexer, near the end, who is clearly Eastern New England. 27-Dec.-2010

  455             

Dr. Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania President

Monroe

New York

YouTube video 23-May-2011

  456             

Dick Clark, world’s oldest teenager (actually, talk show host, etc.)

Mount Vernon

New York

YouTube video In spite of all his years in show biz, he still retains his native accent to an amazing degree. Not that it’s all that different from General American to start with, but his “aw” or /ô/ vowel is frequently a clear [oə]. 23-Apr.-2011

  457             

Caucasian female, 39, administrative assistant (not clear if born and raised here)

Mount Vernon

New York

IDEA audio (source)

  458             

Don McClean, rock singer

New Rochelle

New York

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2010

  459             

Jimmy Durante, actor & comedian - classic working class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  460             

Bugs Bunny, cartoon character - classic working class ** (not bad, Mel!)[28]

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  461             

9-11 firefighters - modern working class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video, YouTube video, YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  462             

Bennett Cerf, publisher and personality - classic middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  463             

Humphrey Bogart, actor - classic middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video (Even though Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall both appear in this clip, and are both from NYC, and were even married to each other, he is a whole generation earlier than her, and retains the curl-coil merger, whereas she does not.) 3-Mar.-2011

  464             

Rocky Graziano, boxer - classic middle class? **

New York City

New York

YouTube video Based on his background, I would have expected him to be working class, but he doesn’t seem to pronounce any of his th’s as t’s or d’s. 3-Mar.-2011

  465             

Woody Allen, actor & comedian - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video Certifiably weird! 3-Mar.-2011

  466             

Lauren Bacall, actress - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  467             

Howard Cosell, sports journalist - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  468             

Regis Philbin, TV personality - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  469             

Don Rickles, actor & comedian - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  470             

Walter Matthau, actor - modern middle class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  471             

U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt - classic upper class **

New York City

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  472             

U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt - classic upper class **

New York City

New York

audio 3-Mar.-2011

  473             

Skip Tollefson, restaurateur - classic middle class! **

New York City??

New York

YouTube video (clip 10:40-17:44) (Sent in by Alex Van Boer. Thanks!) The curl-coil merger is not dead! This guy clearly says /woyth/ [ˈwɜɪθ] instead of /wûrth/ [ˈwɝθ] for “worth”, and /foyst/ [ˈfɜɪst] instead of /fûrst/ [ˈfɝst] for “first”, and uses [ɜɪ] instead of [ɝ] in several other words also. Obviously he is from Greater New York City rather than the Hamptons, but I couldn’t find out where! Does anyone happen to know? 3-Mar.-2011

  474             

Rick Pitino, basketball coach - modern working class **

Oyster Bay

New York

YouTube video 3-Mar.-2011

  475             

David Smithgall, dairy producer

Perry

New York

YouTube video 18-Dec.-2010

  476             

Jack Foley, poet

Port Chester

New York

YouTube video 16-Nov.-2009

  477             

David Lee, Physicist

Port Chester (Rye)

New York

YouTube video 21-July-2009

  478             

Ed Kritzler, historian

Roslyn Heights

New York

YouTube video (more info) 11-Feb.-2010

  479             

yoghurtlover16

Rochester

New York

YouTube video Hilarious: Teaches you how to talk Rochester! (Sent in by Laura Feller. Thanks!) 11-Feb.-2011

  480             

unnamed, news anchor

Rochester

New York

YouTube video This guy’s accent isn’t quite as pronounced as the preceding (in spite of the crude comment on the YouTube page), but it’s pretty strong for a newscaster! (Sent in by Laura Feller. Thanks!) 11-Feb.-2011

  481             

Ralph Pagano, TV chef

Staten Island

New York

YouTube video (more info) 30-Nov.-2009

  482             

Gabby Hayes, actor

Wellsville

New York

YouTube video In spite of being an actor, and in spite of trying to sound like a tough old cowboy, his Inland North accent is still almost unchanged: Backed /ōō/, /ō/ and /ou/ ([u], [oʊ], and [ɑʊ]), “cot”≠“caught”, etc. 24-Aug.-2010

  483             

Mike Breen, sports commentator

Yonkers

New York

YouTube video 21-July-2009

  484             

Paul Teutul Sr., American Chopper

Yonkers

New York

YouTube video 21-July-2009

  485             

Residents Lizzy Careen, Mary Power, and others

Branch

Newfoundland

(& Labrador)

YouTube video (Sent in by Michael Collins. Thanks! He also helped me set the boundaries of Irish Newfoundland.) 19-Apr.-2011

  486             

Holly Nelson, concerned citizen

Elliston

Newfoundland

(& Labrador)

YouTube video (Sent in by Michael Collins. Thanks!) 14-Jan.-2011

  487             

Anthony, aspiring singer

Placentia

Newfoundland

(& Labrador)

YouTube video (Sent in by Michael Collins. Thanks!) 14-Jan.-2011

  488             

John Crosbie, M.P.

St. John’s

Newfoundland

(& Labrador)

video (Replaced bad link.) 14-Jan.-2011

  489             

Steve Kent, politician

Stephenville

Newfoundland

(& Labrador)

YouTube video 1-Aug.-2009

  490             

Roy Williams, basketball coach

Asheville

North Carolina

video

  491             

Harold A., age 46, territorial engineer

Asheville

North Carolina

ANAE info and audio This sample, like the previous one, is clearly Lowland, based on the next-to-last word “like”. However, the ANAE classifies it as Inland Southern, perhaps based on the word “revitalized”, pronounced twice as [ɹiˈvaɾl̩ˈazd]. However, this case is expected to be variable, because, though phonemically it is followed by /t/, which is a voiceless consonant, phonetically the /t/ is realized as [ɾ], which is voiced. New! 2-Jan.-2012

  492             

Various residents

Atlantic

North Carolina

YouTube video, YouTube video (throughout the videos) 9-Sep.-2010

  493             

Del McCroury, bluegrass singer

Bakersville

North Carolina

YouTube video New! 18-Nov.-2011

  494             

U.S. representative Charles Taylor

Brevard

North Carolina

YouTube video 12-June-2010

  495             

U.S. representative Heath Shuler

Bryson City

North Carolina

YouTube video 23-June-2010

  496             

White male, born 1958, attorney

Burnsville

North Carolina

IDEA audio (source)

  497             

John D. Loudermilk, composer

Durham

North Carolina

YouTube video

  498             

State senator Bob Carpenter

Franklin

North Carolina

YouTube video 6-Apr.-2010

  499             

Erskine Bowles, president UNC system

Greensboro

North Carolina

YouTube video He speaks as expected, except that every case of /th/ [θ] becomes /f/ [f], and every case of /th/ [ð] becomes /v/ [v]. I don’t know if this is an individual idiosyncracy, or whether it is a local pattern. There is actually a well-established English dialect that has this pattern, Cockney English (London, England). 6-Dec.-2010

  500             

Dale Earnhardt, Sr., NASCAR driver

Kannapolis

North Carolina

YouTube video (clip starts at 1:37) 4-Aug.-2010

  501             

Richard Petty, NASCAR driver

Level Cross

North Carolina

YouTube video, YouTube video 4-Aug.-2010

  502             

Randy Travis, country singer

Marshville

North Carolina

YouTube video The fascinating interplay of dialects continues to amaze me! Randy Travis is clearly Lowland Southern, as this interview shows, as could hardly be otherwise, given where he grew up. However, when he sings, he sometimes clearly adopts an Inland Southern accent, perhaps in an unconscious effort to sound more “country”, given his image as a Neotraditional country singer, as can be heard in this moving rendition of Three Wooden Crosses (replaced bad link). 31-May-2011

  503             

Jeff Whisnant /hwĭsnənt/ ʍɪsnənt] (not with a /z/ sound!), southern gospel singer

Morganton

North Carolina

YouTube video (www.whisnants.com/Jeff.html) Clearly Inland, though with some inconsistencies, which is not surprising, given that he grew up right on the border. 4-Sep.-2010

  504             

Brooke Aldridge, country and southern gospel singer

Newland

North Carolina

YouTube video 25-Oct.-2010

  505             

Various residents

Okracoke Island

North Carolina

YouTube video, YouTube video (throughout the videos), YouTube video (more info, more info) 9-Sep.-2010

  506             

White male, born 1926, retired journalist

Oak City

North Carolina

IDEA audio (source)

  507             

(No names or specific towns given, only regions.)[29]

Outer Banks (location uncertain)

North Carolina

ncsu.edu/linguistics/ncllp/dialectquiz.php 9-Sep.-2010

  508             

State senator Fred Smith

Raleigh

North Carolina

YouTube video 11-Feb.-2010

  509             

Richard Jenrette, investment banker

Raleigh

North Carolina

YouTube video 11-Feb.-2010

  510             

Jody Brown & Stephanie Brown, southern gospel singers, ethnic Cherokees

Robbinsville

North Carolina

YouTube video 10-Apr.-2010

  511             

Roy Cooper, North Carolina attorney general

Rocky Mount

North Carolina

YouTube video He only seems to drop an r in one word: “North”, part of the name of his state, which doesn’t quite count. 25-Mar.-2011

  512             

Junior Johnson, NASCAR driver

Ronda

North Carolina

YouTube video, video & info Very much a borderline accent: a mixture of Lowland and Inland, but probably slightly more Lowland. 4-Aug.-2010

  513             

White female, born 1930, housewife

Shelby

North Carolina

IDEA audio (source)

  514             

White male, 19 (not clear if born and raised here)

Winston-Salem

North Carolina

IDEA audio (source)

  515             

Greenville Mayor Pat Dunn

Wake County (rural)

North Carolina

YouTube video (clip starts at 5:48) I had made the assumption that she was from Greenville, but this web site says she is from rural Wake County. She clearly drop r’s, and it is unclear whether she has Tidewater Raising: the only test word is “out”, which she only says once, and it goes by rather fast, but it does sound raised. This only messes up my map! It would have been simpler if she were from Greenville! Instead, I will treat her as an older speaker retaining older features. 25-Mar.-2011

  516             

Stephanie Glance, basketball coach

Waynesville

North Carolina

YouTube video 16-Mar.-2010

  517             

Charlie Daniels, country singer (sort of)

Wilmington

North Carolina

YouTube video (Replaced clip.) His first hilarious hit, back when he was a long-hair. He has changed a lot, as this clip shows: YouTube video 7-Apr.-2011

  518             

Herb Key, Appalachian singer

Wilkesboro?

North Carolina

YouTube video 3-Apr.-2010

  519             

David Brinkley, newscaster

Wilmington

North Carolina

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  520             

Governor John Hoeven[30]

Ashley

North Dakota

YouTube video (more info)

  521             

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer

Bismarck

North Dakota

audio & info

  522             

CariDee English, fashion model

Fargo

North Dakota

YouTube video

  523             

Josh Duhamel, actor

Minot /nŏt/ [ˈmaɪˌnat]

North Dakota

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

  524             

U.S. senator Byron Dorgan

Regent

North Dakota

YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009

  525             

Paige Palmer, TV fitness expert

Akron

Ohio

YouTube video 4-Nov.-2009

  526             

Connie Schultz, columnist

Ashtabula

Ohio

YouTube video 27-Dec.-2010

  527             

Urban Meyer, college football coach

Ashtabula

Ohio

YouTube video 27-Dec.-2010

  528             

Maya Lin, designer

Athens

Ohio

YouTube video

  529             

Sam Hornish, Jr., NASCAR driver

Bryan

Ohio

YouTube video 16-Feb.-2010

  530             

John Glenn, astronaut, U.S. senator

Cambridge

Ohio

YouTube video

  531             

U.S. representative Steve Chabot

Cincinnati

Ohio

YouTube video

  532             

House Republican Leader John Boehner

Cincinnati

Ohio

YouTube video

  533             

U.S. representative Dennis Kucinich, former mayor

Cleveland

Ohio

YouTube video

  534             

Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish

Cleveland

Ohio

YouTube video 6-Dec.-2010

  535             

Ray Stevens, “pro” wrestler

Columbus

Ohio

YouTube video 6-Dec.-2010

  536             

Dwight Yoakam, country singer

Columbus

Ohio

YouTube video 27-Dec.-2010

  537             

Martin Sheen, actor

Dayton

Ohio

YouTube video 1-Mar.-2010

  538             

Robert Pollard, indie rock singer

Dayton

Ohio

YouTube video 21-Dec.-2010

  539             

U.S. representative Zack Space

Dover

Ohio

YouTube video 22-Aug.-2009

  540             

Johnny Paycheck, country singer

Greenfield

Ohio

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  541             

Bobby Bare, country singer

Ironton

Ohio

YouTube video (more info) 11-July-2011

  542             

Phyllis Diller, comedian

Lima /mə/ [ˈlaɪmə]

Ohio

YouTube video 24-Jan.-2011

  543             

Susan Smeersol (spelling?), bookstore owner

Greenville

Ohio

YouTube video She is a native, as she says, and clearly “pin”≠“pen”, so in spite of my early idea that Cincinnati and Dayton formed an island surrounded by “pin”=“pen” areas, in fact there is a corridor uniting them to the “pin”≠“pen” area! 11-July-2011

  544             

State representative Jay Goyal

Mansfield (Lexington)

Ohio

YouTube video 6-Dec.-2010

  545             

Ricky Stanzi, college football player

Mentor

Ohio

YouTube video 27-Dec.-2010

  546             

Don Shula, pro football coach

Painesville

Ohio

YouTube video 27-Dec.-2010

  547             

Roy Rogers, singer & actor

Portsmouth

Ohio

YouTube video, YouTube video 27-Mar.-2010

  548             

Dean Martin, actor

Steubenville

Ohio

YouTube video 26-Oct.-2009

  549             

Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director

Toledo

Ohio

YouTube video 24-Oct.-2009

  550             

U.S. representative Jim Jordan

Urbana

Ohio

YouTube video 12-Nov.-2010

  551             

State representative Bob Peterson

Washington Court House

Ohio

YouTube video (more info) 6-Dec.-2010

  552             

Mike DeWine, politician

Yellow Springs

Ohio

YouTube video 1-Mar.-2010

  553             

Bob Stooks, University of Oklahoma football coach

Youngstown

Ohio

YouTube video New! 12-Dec.-2011

  554             

Bo Pelini, University of Nebraska football coach

Youngstown

Ohio

YouTube video New! 12-Dec.-2011

  555             

Johnny Bench, baseball player

Binger /bǐnggər/ [ˈbɪŋɡɚ]

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  556             

Stephen Vaughan, loan officer and rancher

Boise City

Oklahoma

YouTube video (His clip starts at 1:33.) He is the speaker wearing the red plaid shirt. Of all the speakers on this video, he is the only one with a clear Inland Southern accent, that is, all of his long /ī/ vowels are pronounced [a]. According to a picture on this website, his name is Stephen Vaughan, though the caption is a bit confusing as to who is who. However, a picture on this website seems to confirm his identity. This website says that he is a rancher as well as a farm loan officer , suggesting that he is a local.

Local farmer and Farm Bureau president Larry Crews evidently also speaks Inland Southern based on his long /ī/ vowels, but no examples of long /ī/ vowels before voiceless consonants occur to make it absolutely certain.

The other speakers show many of the secondary features of Inland Southern, but their long /ī/ vowels are dipthongs [aɪ]. New! 6-Oct.-2011

  557             

Robert Conley, author

Cushing

Oklahoma

YouTube video 18-Oct.-2010

  558             

Owen K. Garriott, astronaut

Enid

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  559             

Captain Charles Scheffel, World War II veteran

Enid

Oklahoma

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2011

  560             

Roger Miller, country singer

Erick

Oklahoma

YouTube video 12-Aug.-2010

  561             

Darrell Royal, football coach

Hollis

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  562             

General Kenneth M. Taylor

Hominy

Oklahoma

msn video

  563             

Kurt Stevenson, school board candidate

Idabel

Oklahoma

YouTube video 29-Mar.-2010

  564             

Bernice (and Leroy) Krittenbrink and fire chief Randy Poindexter[31]

Kingfisher

Oklahoma

MSNBC video (more info)

  565             

Reba McEntire, country singer

McAlester

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  566             

Keith Anderson, country singer

Miami /ămə/ [ˌmaɪˈæmə]

Oklahoma

YouTube video 18-Oct.-2010

  567             

LeRoy Jones, cowboy poet

Mountain View

Oklahoma

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (more info) (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) As might be expected by someone who is right on the border, he has many of the secondary features of Inland Southern, but his long /ī/s are almost all [aɪ]. Johnny Bench above is similar. 22-Apr.-2011

  568             

James Garner, actor

Norman

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  569             

Vince Gill, country singer

Norman

Oklahoma

YouTube video 22-Aug.-2009

  570             

Woody Guthrie, folk singer

Okemah /ōmə/ [ˌoʊˈkʰimə]

or /ǔkēmə/ [ˈʌkimə][32]

Oklahoma

YouTube video 30-Mar.-2010

  571             

Bobby Murcer, baseball player

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  572             

Garth Brooks, country singer

Oklahoma City (Yukon)

Oklahoma

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  573             

Mel McDaniel, country singer

Okmulgee

Oklahoma

YouTube video He talks consistent Inland Southern, and usually sings Inland: YouTube video, but sometimes he sings Lowland: as when he is singing as someone from Louisiana: YouTube video as heard in “light” and “night”, which of course is quite appropriate; even so, he slips up once, on “rifle”, showing that he really is Inland! 12-July-2011

  574             

Ricky Manning, homeowner

Pauls Valley

Oklahoma

YouTube video

  575             

Mark Whitehead, singer

Purcell

Oklahoma

YouTube video According to this song, which he wrote, he spent all of his youth in Purcell, and he sings the song with a clear Inland Southern accent. However, his web site says he was born in Norman, and Purcell is not mentioned. I have not found an interview. So, if anyone can clarify the situation one way or the other, please do so. 23-May-2011

  576             

Matt Holliday, pro baseball player

Stillwater

Oklahoma

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  577             

U.S. representative John Sullivan

Tulsa

Oklahoma

sullivan.house.gov (click VIDEOS, then Select) 1-Mar.-2010

  578             

Caucasian Male, 34, Fire Chief (clearly Inland South, but not clear if born and raised here)

Wyandotte

Oklahoma

IDEA audio (source)

  579             

Peter Short, United Church moderator

Arnprior

Ontario

YouTube video 31-July-2009

  580             

Dan Quinn, pro hockey player

Brockville

Ontario

YouTube video (more info) 31-July-2009

  581             

Duncan Keith, pro hockey player

Fort Frances

Ontario

YouTube video Even with 7 teeth missing, this clip is quite clear. This one is longer, but doesn’t really have more of him speaking: YouTube video. 29-Dec.-2010

  582             

Rochelle Mazar, contributor

Guelph /gwĕlf/ [ˈɡwɛlf]

Ontario

YouTube video (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) 4-Apr.-2011

  583             

Jason Law, contributor

Inwood

Ontario

YouTube video (Self-recording for this site. Thanks!) 30-Mar.-2011

  584             

Lubomyr Luciuk, college professor

Kingston

Ontario

YouTube video 31-July-2009

  585             

Mike Fletcher, diver

Port Dover

Ontario

YouTube video 21-Dec.-2010

  586             

Tanya Kim, TV personality

Sault Ste. Marie

Ontario

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  587             

Joe Bowen, sportscaster

Sudbury

Ontario

YouTube video

  588             

Michael Barry, pro cyclist

Toronto

Ontario

YouTube video 20-Feb.-2010

  589             

Nora Young, CBC Radio host

Toronto (Don Mills)

Ontario

YouTube video Nora made this video after she interviewed me on CBC radio in March of 2011. Thanks! I hope many others will do the same. (See Record Your Own Voice for more info or to hear the interview.) 26-Mar.-2011

  590             

Ken Boshcoff, politician

Thunder Bay

Ontario

YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

  591             

Mike Eaves, Hockey Coach

Windsor

Ontario

YouTube video 4-Nov.-2009

  592             

Killer Kowalski, “pro” wrestler

Windsor

Ontario

YouTube video Warning: graphic description of gore! Don’t listen too long! 4-Nov.-2009

  593             

Ross Coleman, pro bull rider

Molalla /məlǒlə/ [məˈlɑlə]

Oregon

YouTube video I am in some doubt about this sample: He occasionally seems to be trying to imitate a Texas accent, which seems to be in vogue on the rodeo circuit. Still, his dialect seems to be fairly consistent. My main concern is about whether he has fronted his long /ō/ [oʊ] more than is normal for his area.

Contributor Andrea Niemiec wrote to confirm this: ‹‹I listened to the Mollala, OR audio sample with a great deal of interest, as I grew up about 15 miles away in Silverton, OR, where I lived until the age of 18. I believe that he is attempting to sound “country” a great deal more than most people do; certainly there is slight accent from certain older generations who have grown up in rural Oregon, but he sounded like an “out-of-towner” to me, and I would agree with you in ascribing it to his profession.›› Adj. 30-Nov.-2011

  594             

Phil Knight, Nike co-founder

Portland

Oregon

YouTube video Oops! I had him listed as being from Eugene, not Portland. Don’t know how I did that: Wikipedia is very clear about it. Contributor Gilbert Kennen pointed out my error. Thanks! And as I listen to his long /ō/ [oʊ] vowels, I realize that they are Portland, not Eugene. 5-Mar.-2011

  595             

U.S. representative Earl Blumenauer

Portland

Oregon

YouTube video 25-Nov.-2010

  596             

Roy Afflerbach, former state senator and mayor

Allentown

Pennsylvania

YouTube video New! 28-Oct.-2011

  597             

Charles Bronson, actor

Ehrenfeld

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 5-May-2009

  598             

Fred Biletnikoff, pro football player

Erie

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 4-Nov.-2009

  599             

State representative Glen Grell

Harrisburg

Pennsylvania

YouTube video There’s nothing quite so boring as parliamentary procedure! 4-June-2009

  600             

Rick Gray, mayor of Lancaster, PA

Harrisburg

Pennsylvania

YouTube video New! 28-Nov.-2011

  601             

Jimmy Stewart, actor

Indiana

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 26-Nov.-2009

  602             

Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Latrobe

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 5-May-2009

  603             

Arnold Palmer, pro golfer

Latrobe

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 5-May-2009

  604             

Judge John E. Jones

Orwigsburg

Pennsylvania

Google video

  605             

City Councilman Frank Rizzo, Jr.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Compare “bad” in this YouTube video with “dad” and “had” in this

YouTube video to hear the two distinct vowels. 4-June-2009

  606             

U.S. representative Michael Doyle

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

YouTube video 7-May-2009

  607             

Dennis Miller, comedian & commentator

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

YouTube video (Replaced bad link again!) Interviewing Jesse Ventura: talk about two extremely distinct accents! And points of view! (Original link suggested by Y.I. Thanks!) 24-Jan.-2011

  608             

Johnny Angel & the Halos, singing group

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

Santa Claus is comin’ Dahntahn This is great! It’s a dialect enthusiast’s dream! They take the familiar song, and change the words just enough to really maximize the occurrence of their unique pronunciation of the /ou/ [a] vowel! Not to mention various unique terms. And they even have good harmony! (See the next entry for some help on the words.) (more info) 24-Jan.-2011

  609             

DoubleShot!, singing group

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

Santa Claus is goin’ Dahntahn Very similar to the preceding, but shows the words, which is a big help in a few places! On the other hand, their Pittsburg accent sounds to me to be just the tiniest bit less pristine than the preceding. (more info) (Sent in by Ted Ying. Thanks!) 24-Jan.-2011

  610             

The Yinzers, singing group

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

YouTube video Just as fun as the preceding two! 24-Jan.-2011

  611             

Richard “Punchy” Kozlowski[33]

Reading /rĕdĭng/ [ˈɹɛdɪŋ]

Pennsylvania

YouTube video Pronunciation Adj. 15-Nov.-2011

  612             

Mike Mussina, pro baseball pitcher

Williamsport

Pennsylvania

YouTube video

  613             

Jonathan Mann, Journalist

Montreal

Quebec

video 24-June-2010

  614             

Dan Laxer, Journalist

Montreal

Quebec

YouTube video 24-June-2010

  615             

U.S. senator John Chafee

Providence

Rhode Island

YouTube video

  616             

Police officer

Providence

Rhode Island

YouTube video 31-Mar.-2010

  617             

David “onemon22”

Regina /rənə/ [ɹəˈdʒaɪnə]

Saskatchewan

YouTube video Yes, I know the clip is about Wilmington, Delaware, but the speaker is from Regina! 26-Mar.-2011

  618             

U.S. senator Lindsey Graham

Central

South Carolina

YouTube video Lowland Southern speaker from an apparently Inland Southern area. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

  619             

Fritz Hollings, U.S. senator, governor

Charleston

South Carolina

YouTube video

  620             

Katon Dawson, politician

Columbia

South Carolina

YouTube video

  621             

David Beasley, former governor

Darlington

South Carolina

YouTube video

  622             

U.S. senator Strom Thurmond

Edgefield

South Carolina

YouTube video (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern and r-dropping, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!) New! 12-Dec.-2011

  623             

U.S. senator Jim DeMint

Greenville

South Carolina

YouTube video Lowland Southern speaker from an apparently Inland Southern area. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

  624             

Sofia B., age 33, bank teller

Greenville

South Carolina

ANAE info and audio Clearly Inland, based on the work “invite”. New! 2-Jan.-2012

  625             

Kristen B., age 41, bank teller

Greenville

South Carolina

ANAE info and audio Clearly Inland, based on the work “like”. New! 2-Jan.-2012

  626             

Susan Smith, murderer

Union

South Carolina

YouTube video (Her clip is 1:48-2:30.) 12-July-2011

  627             

U.S. senator Tom Daschle

Aberdeen

South Dakota

YouTube video

  628             

67-year-old White man with some schooling

Ludlow

South Dakota

audio and info

  629             

Bob Barker, game show host

Mission

South Dakota

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “dawn”! 27-Mar.-2010

  630             

U.S. senator George McGovern

Mitchell

South Dakota

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “don”. 19-Mar.-2010

  631             

Nancy Tystad Koupal, historian

Mitchell

South Dakota

audio (more info, more info) “On” rhymes with “dawn”! Does not match the other people from Mitchell. Was she really raised in Mitchell? 24-Mar.-2010

  632             

Mike Miller, pro basketball player

Mitchell

South Dakota

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “don”. 27-Mar.-2010

  633             

Governor Mike Rounds

Pierre /pîr/ [ˈpʰɪɹ]

South Dakota

YouTube video “cot”≠“caught”, but the difference is minimal, so much so that I at first missed it, and had him in the wrong region! This is not unusual for the Western North.

  634             

Becky Hammond, basketball player

Rapid City

South Dakota

YouTube video

  635             

Tillie Black Bear, Lakota women’s advocate

St. Francis

South Dakota

YouTube video “On” rhymes with “don”. 27-Mar.-2010

  636             

Joe Foss, World War II flying ace

Sioux Falls

South Dakota

YouTube video

  637             

U.S. senator Tim Johnson

Vermillion

South Dakota

YouTube video 19-Mar.-2010

  638             

Lee Raymond, Exxon

Watertown

South Dakota

YouTube video

  639             

Archie Campbell, comedian

Bulls Gap

Tennessee

YouTube video 1-Jan.-2010

  640             

Troy Odle

Camden

Tennessee

YouTube video

  641             

Peg McKamey Bean, southern gospel singer

Clinton

Tennessee

YouTube video

  642             

Sterling Marlin, NASCAR driver

Columbia

Tennessee

YouTube video, YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010

  643             

Mack Brown, football coach

Cookeville

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

  644             

Amanda Garrett, vlogger

Cookeville

Tennessee

YouTube video (Sent in by her mother Tracy. Thanks!) Almost fully consistent Lowland Southern as far as her long /ī/ [a(ɪ)] vowels and in other ways. The dialect is not dying out, even among young people! 5-Mar.-2011

  645             

Rodney Atkins, country singer

Cumberland Gap

Tennessee

YouTube video, YouTube video 5-July-2010

  646             

State senator Doug Jackson

Dickson

Tennessee

YouTube video The stuff politicians find to quibble about! 10-Mar.-2010

  647             

Dave’s mom

Dover

Tennessee

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  648             

Dave’s dad

Dover

Tennessee

YouTube video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  649             

Committee members

Dunlap

Tennessee

YouTube video The lady who does most of the talking is clearly Inland, as is the man who speaks briefly towards the end. (The man who talks the most sounds like a transplanted northerner.) New! 1-Nov.-2011

  650             

Politically active resident

Dunlap

Tennessee

YouTube video Not to detract in any way from the concerns of the main speaker, mainly teenage drinking, and who seems to have researched his subject, I find it delightful that his kids (presumably) are playing “punch bug” in the background. Clearly Inland. New! 1-Nov.-2011

  651             

The Boyd Brothers, local country singers

Dunlap

Tennessee

YouTube video Clearly Inland. New! 1-Nov.-2011

  652             

Diana Walker, southern gospel singer

Knoxville

Tennessee

audio & info (Scroll down to her testimony to listen.) Very consistent and clear Inland, but very occasionally does a long /ī/ [a] vowel with a diphthong [aɪ], for no obvious reason! (more info) 11-July-2011

  653             

Storekeepers: Cathy Bell, Robbie Treadwell

Linden

Tennessee

YouTube video These 2 are clearly Inland. 12-June-2010

  654             

Dwight Hines, businessman

Lobelville

Tennessee

YouTube video All but the first one are clearly Southern, but only this speaker happens to use any diagnostic words for Inland: his name being one of them! (The first speaker sounds like a transplant from up North.) 12-June-2010

  655             

Mayor Randy Brundige

Martin

Tennessee

Google video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 16-Feb.-2010

  656             

John Wilder, speaker, TN senate

Mason

Tennessee

Older r-dropper: YouTube video (Speaks Classical Southern, dropping his r’s, something only heard occasionally from much older speakers in this area.) 10-Mar.-2010

  657             

Roy Acuff, “king of country music”

Maynardville

Tennessee

YouTube video Beautiful combination of Anglo-Celtic melody (more info) with traditional mountain dialect. YouTube video, YouTube video Anybody like railroad songs? These are two of the best! 3-Mar.-2011

  658             

Carl Smith, country singer

Maynardville

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-May-2011

  659             

Buddy Coppock, southern gospel singer

Maynardville

Tennessee

audio & info (Scroll down to his testimony to listen.) Very consistent and clear Inland, but very occasionally does a long /ī/ [a] vowel with a diphthong [aɪ], for no obvious reason! (more info) 11-July-2011

  660             

Various, presumably residents

McMinnville

Tennessee

YouTube video (All speakers are Lowland.) 10-Mar.-2010

  661             

Dottie West, country singer

McMinnville

Tennessee

YouTube video (Clearly Lowland as well!) 23-Feb.-2011

  662             

Paula Flowers, politician

Monterey

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

  663             

U.S. Congressman Bart Gordon

Murfreesboro

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

  664             

Caucasian male, born 1990

Nashville

Tennessee

IDEA audio (source)

  665             

Ronnie McDowell, pop singer

Portland

Tennessee

YouTube video (more info) 2-Dec.-2009

  666             

Darryl Worley /wûrlē/ [ˈwɝli], country singer

Pyburn

Tennessee

YouTube video 4-Sep.-2010

  667             

Caucasian male, born 1943

Ridgetop

Tennessee

IDEA audio (source)

  668             

Skylar McBee, college basketball player

Rutledge

Tennessee

YouTube video (Sent in by Jay Brantner. Thanks!) New! 18-Nov.-2011

  669             

Josh Franks, Southern gospel singer

Savannah

Tennessee

YouTube video (more info) 23-June-2010

  670             

Randy Parton, Dolly’s brother

Sevierville

Tennessee

YouTube video Dolly has modified her speech, but Randy still speaks pure Inland Southern! 30-Jan.-2010

  671             

U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper

Shelbyville

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

  672             

Billy Blakely, fishing guide

Tiptonville

Tennessee

YouTube video 26-Nov.-2009

  673             

Herbert and Marie Adams, “Herbie Town”

Trenton /trǐntən/ [ˈtʰɹɪɾ̃ən]

Tennessee

Google video (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 4-Sep.-2010

  674             

Ron Pace, financier

Waverley

Tennessee

MSNBC video 20-Feb.-2010

  675             

Phillip Fulmer, football coach

Winchester

Tennessee

YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010

  676             

Lee Roy Parnell, country singer

Abilene

Texas

YouTube video 11-Jan.-2010

  677             

Caucasian male, born 1940, hair stylist

Amarillo

Texas

IDEA audio (source)

  678             

U.S. representative Lloyd Doggett

Austin

Texas

YouTube video 9-May-2009

  679             

Colby Yates, bull rider & country singer

Azle

Texas

YouTube video (more info) Clearly has an Inland Southern accent, more representative of the Dallas-Forth Worth area than that of Kenny Marchant of Carrollton below. 6-Sep.-2011

  680             

Mark Chesnutt, country singer

Beaumont

Texas

YouTube video Has a clear Lowland South accent, but a few words sound Inland. I don’t have a good explanation for this, since Beaumont is far from the Inland Southern area. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  681             

Debra Medina, politician

Beeville

Texas

YouTube video 28-Apr.-2010

  682             

U.S. representative Mac Thornberry

Clarendon

Texas

YouTube video New! 30-Dec.-2011

  683             

Jim “Reverend Horton” Heath, “country-fed punkabilly” singer

Corpus Christi

Texas

YouTube video 11-July-2009

  684             

U.S. representative Kenny Marchant

Carrollton

Texas

YouTube video (clip at 5:35) The Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of the few areas where there seems to be a mixture of Inland Southern and Lowland Southern based perhaps on class distinctions, though the bedrock dialect seems to be Inland. Kenny Marchart in this clip speaks mostly Lowland, with occasional lapses into Inland. However, the two speakers before him, apparently also locals, speak only Inland. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  685             

Valerie M., age 47, food service worker

Dallas

Texas

ANAE info and audio (Replaced bad link.) Clearly Inland South! Adj. 31-Dec.-2011

  686             

Heather Cranford-Nied, sports commentator, etc.

Dallas (Duncanville)

Texas

YouTube video (Her clip starts at 1:30) more info) Clearly speaks Inland Southern! Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  687             

Ross Perot, Jr., businessman

Dallas

Texas

YouTube video Perot clearly comes from a wealthy family and attended a private school, which may explain why he shows no sign of Inland Southern, but only Lowland Southern.See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  688             

Kent Hance, Texas Tech Chancellor

Dimmitt

Texas

YouTube video 20-Jan.-2010

  689             

State senator Eliot Shapleigh

El Paso

Texas

YouTube video [34] 24-Feb.-2011

  690             

Ronn Lucas, ventriloquist

El Paso

Texas

YouTube video 24-Feb.-2011

  691             

Governor John Connally

Floresville

Texas

YouTube video 6-Sep.-2011

  692             

Clayton Williams, oil man

Fort Stockton

Texas

YouTube video 12-Jan.-2010

  693             

Dr. Adam Boyd, M.D.

Franklin

Texas

audio & info 9-May-2009

  694             

Ron White, comedian

Fritch

Texas

YouTube video Not as objectionable as some of his stuff, unless you love dogs or parents. (Sent in by Y.I. Thanks!) 1-July-2010

  695             

Harry Kreisler, host of “Conversations with History”

Galveston

Texas

YouTube video (Hardly Southern at all. See Galveston Movement.) 1-July-2009

  696             

Joe Don Baker, actor

Groesbeck

Texas

YouTube video 9-May-2009

  697             

Bob Moorhouse, photographer and rancher

Guthrie

Texas

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) (more info) 23-Apr.-2011

  698             

Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur

Houston /hyōōstən/ [ˈhjustən]

Texas

YouTube video Yes, I know, she’s an older speaker, now deceased, but there still must be some real southerners in Houston, right? Yes, there are: see the following! 23-May-2011

  699             

Joel Osteen /ōstēn/ [ˈoʊˌstin], “prosperity gospel” preacher

Houston

Texas

YouTube video (Replaced dead link.) Finally, a living Houstonian who actually speaks Southern! (See also John MacArthur) Adj. 16-Jan.-2012

  700             

White female, born 1981, college student

Huntsville

Texas

IDEA audio (source)

  701             

Terry Allen, “outlaw” country singer

Lubbock

Texas

YouTube video Occasionally his long /ī/ vowels are [aɪ], but the vast majority are clearly Inland Southern [a], before both voiced and voiceless sounds. 3-Mar.-2011

  702             

Don Bowman, “outlaw” country singer

Lubbock

Texas

YouTube video This is the infamous “Wildwood Weed” song, in its original incarnation. (more info) 3-Mar.-2011

  703             

Caucasian male, born 1938

Mart

Texas

IDEA audio (source)

  704             

General Tommy Franks

Midland

Texas

YouTube video

  705             

Larry Gatlin, country singer

Odessa[35]

Texas

YouTube video

  706             

Leslie Satcher, country singer

Paris

Texas

YouTube video 27-Mar.-2010

  707             

George Strait, country singer

Pearsall

Texas

YouTube video

  708             

Ray Price, country singer

Perryville

Texas

YouTube video 24-Mar.-2010

  709             

U.S. representative Louie Gohmert

Pittsburg

Texas

YouTube video Oops, no “h” in “Pittsburg”, as pointed out by David Lawrence. Thanks! 14-Feb.-2011

  710             

Fess Parker, actor

San Angelo

Texas

YouTube video 31-Aug.-2009

  711             

George Jones, country singer

Saratoga

Texas

YouTube video 23-Feb.-2010

  712             

Johnny Horton, country singer

Rusk

Texas

YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) 15-Dec.-2010

  713             

Caucasian female, born 1924

San Marcos

Texas

IDEA audio (source)

  714             

Caucasian male, born 1950(?)

Sanderson

Texas

IDEA audio (source)

  715             

Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff

Sonora

Texas

YouTube video 27-Mar.-2010

  716             

Rex Linn, actor

Spearman

Texas

YouTube video

  717             

Ben Hogan, pro golfer

Stephenville

Texas

YouTube video Apparently not representative, speaking Lowland where Inland would be expected. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  718             

Ross Perot, Sr., Politician

Texarkana

Texas

YouTube video 13-May-2009

  719             

Sarah McClendon, correspondent

Tyler

Texas

YouTube video (Her clip is at 8:40.) 13-May-2009

  720             

Dale Evans, singer & actress

Uvalde

Texas

YouTube video 27-Mar.-2010

  721             

Tracy Byrd, country singer

Vidor

Texas

YouTube video Has a clear Lowland South accent, but a few words sound Inland. 15-Dec.-2010

  722             

U.S. representative Joe Barton

Waco

Texas

YouTube video 9-May-2009

  723             

Various residents

Waxahachie /wôkhăchē/ [ˌwɒʊksəˈhæʧɪ]

Texas

YouTube video All residents clearly Inland, unlike Byron Nelson below! 6-Sep.-2011

  724             

Byron Nelson, pro golfer

Waxahachie

Texas

CBS News video (more info) He clearly speaks Lowland, although the native dialect of Waxahatchie seem to be Inland, as can be seen from the previous sample. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  725             

Mary Martin, actress

Weatherford

Texas

YouTube video An actress, and apparently not representative, speaking Lowland where Inland would be expected. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

  726             

Caucasian female, born 1938

Weslaco /wĕs/ [ˈwɛsləˌkʰəʊ]

Texas

IDEA audio (source) 2-Mar.-2011

  727             

Alan Wachsman, native Wichitan, sixth-generation Texan

(How in world do you pronounce “Wichitan”?)

Wichita Falls /wĭchĭfôlz/ [ˈwɪtʃɪˌtʰɒʊ ˈfɒʊlz]

Texas

YouTube video (more info) Sometimes finding a good sound sample for a particular place is like pulling teeth: You search through dozens of web sites and still don’t find one. Not this time: the very first clip found by searching for Wichita Falls on YouTube is this one, and it is excellent, and is as Inland North as you can get, filling in a nice blank spot. If only it were always this easy! 19-Apr.-2011

  728             

Forrest Cuch, Indian leader

Fort Duchesne /dōōshān/ [ˌduˈʃeɪn]

Utah

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

  729             

Waldo Wilcox, rancher

Green River

Utah

YouTube video (more info) 26-Sep.-2009

  730             

Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s

Ogden (Clearfield)

Utah

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  731             

Governor Gary Herbert

Orem

Utah

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  732             

Mayor Lewis Billings

Provo

Utah

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  733             

Clayton Christensen, Harvard Professor

Salt Lake City

Utah

YouTube video 6-Feb.-2010

  734             

Hannah Teter, olympic snowboarder

Belmont

Vermont

YouTube video Not a true Vermont accent? 11-Feb.-2011

  735             

U.S. senator Patrick Leahy

Montpelier

Vermont

YouTube video After feedback from contributors, and listening again, I see that he does not really have a distinct Vermont accent, even though he grew up in Montpelier. However he clearly does have “cot”=“caught”. 11-Feb.-2011

  736             

Ross Powers, Olympic snowboarder

Peru

Vermont

YouTube video More than one contributor has said that Ross Powers does not have a real Vermont accent, and the following are probably better examples. However, my question is: does southern Vermont have a less pronounced accent than the north? 11-Feb.-2011

  737             

Bill, old timer

Stowe

Vermont

YouTube video Contributor Jon Protas says none of the preceding three samples from Vermont shows a real Vermont accent, so I added this one. There were several even better ones, but they used some words you can’t use on TV, so I couldn’t use it. There were some others, but they seemed to be of people imitating a Vermont accent, so they didn’t work either! 2-Feb.-2011

  738             

George Woodard, dairy farmer

Waterbury

Vermont

YouTube video This was sent in by Charlie Farrington as a more representative sample. Thanks! 11-Feb.-2011

  739             

John Bowman, bluegrass gospel singer

Ararat

Virginia

YouTube video (www.caccwarriors.com/john-bowman) 9-Sep.-2010

  740             

Katie Couric, CBS news anchor

Arlington

Virginia

YouTube video (more info) (“pin”≠“pen”) 5-Oct.-2010

  741             

Rich Lowry, National Review editor

Arlington

Virginia

YouTube video (more info) (“pin”≠“pen”) 5-Oct.-2010

  742             

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

Arlington

Virginia

YouTube video (“pin”≠“pen”, except “any”, “many”) 5-Oct.-2010

  743             

Chris Kraft, NASA engineer

Hampton

Virginia

YouTube video 21-July-2009

  744             

Jackson Family, bluegrass gospel singers (Joe Jackson, banjo)

Hurley

Virginia

YouTube video 9-Sep.-2010

  745             

white male, born 1979

Leesburg

Virginia

IDEA audio (source)

  746             

Jerry Falwell, preacher

Lynchburg

Virginia

YouTube video

  747             

June Carter Cash, country singer

Maces Spring

Virginia

audio, YouTube video 10-May-2011

  748             

Ralph Stanley, bluegrass singer

McClure

Virginia

YouTube video, YouTube video 6-Sep.-2010

  749             

Carter Stanley, bluegrass singer

McClure

Virginia

YouTube video 6-Sep.-2010

  750             

Margaret Gibson, poet

Richmond

Virginia

YouTube video 16-Oct.-2009

  751             

“Mother” Maybelle Addington Carter, country singer

Nickelsville

Virginia

YouTube video 12-July-2011

  752             

U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Taubman

Roanoke

Virginia

YouTube video

  753             

U.S. representative Virgil Goode

Rocky Mount

Virginia

YouTube video

  754             

E.C. Ball, gospel & folk singer

Rugby

Virginia

YouTube video 3-Apr.-2010

  755             

Wayne Henderson, guitar maker

Rugby

Virginia

YouTube video, YouTube video 3-Apr.-2010

  756             

Various residents

Tangier Island

Virginia

YouTube video 9-Sep.-2010

  757             

Douglas Osheroff, physicist

Aberdeen

Washington

YouTube video (more info) 16-Nov.-2009

  758             

Bob Hickman, saddle maker

Colfax

Washington

YouTube video (more info) 6-Dec.-2010

  759             

Kirk Triplett, pro golfer

Pullman

Washington

YouTube video 25-Nov.-2010

  760             

Judy Collins, folk singer

Seattle

Washington

YouTube video 6-Sep.-2011

  761             

Aya Sumika, actress

Seattle

Washington

YouTube video 20-Feb.-2010

  762             

Bill Gates, Microsoft cofounder

Seattle

Washington

YouTube video 10-Feb.-2011

  763             

Richard Karn, actor & game show host

Seattle

Washington

YouTube video New! 28-Oct.-2011

  764             

U.S. representative George Nethercutt

Spokane

Washington

YouTube video 25-Nov.-2010

  765             

Tom Maccarone, restaurateur

Walla Walla

Washington

YouTube video (Sent in by S. Radtke. Thanks!) 19-Feb.-2011

  766             

Jay Randolph, sports commentator

Clarksburg

West Virginia

YouTube video

  767             

Homer Hickam, NASA engineer

Coalwood

West Virginia

YouTube video

  768             

Richard Thompson, politician

Fort Gay

West Virginia

YouTube video (more info) (Cannot get a long enough clip to be sure “cot”=“caught”, but the surrounding samples are clear.) 28-Apr.-2010

  769             

Jim Grobe, college football coach

Huntington

West Virginia

YouTube video 2-Dec.-2009

  770             

Don Blankenship, coal CEO

Matewan /mātwǒn/ [ˈmeɪtˌwɒn]

West Virginia

YouTube video 28-Apr.-2010

  771             

CountryBoyYes

Matewan

West Virginia

YouTube video 28-Apr.-2010

  772             

Tom Chafin, descendant of the feudin’ Hatfields

Matewan

West Virginia

YouTube video (clip starts at 4:50) 30-Apr.-2010

  773             

Lawrence Kasdan, movie producer, director, and screenwriter

Morgantown

West Virginia

YouTube video (His clip starts at 2:20.) (more info) This is the second northernmost example of Southern (after nearby Cumberland, Maryland), and is a rare case of someone in the movie industry who retains a strong regional accent! He seems to have “cot”=“caught”, unlike Cumberland, but this is not surprising. 23-July-2011

  774             

Mark Funkhouser, Kansas City mayor

Paden

West Virginia

YouTube video

  775             

John McKay, football coach

Shinnston

West Virginia

YouTube video

  776             

General Chuck Yeager, test pilot

Myra

West Virginia

YouTube video I have listened to various samples of his, and clearly “cot”≠“caught”, though they are fairly close! Now need to verify Charleston. 28-Apr.-2010

  777             

Sara Stapleton, high school principal

Wayne

West Virginia

YouTube video (her clip starts at 3:57) 28-Apr.-2010

  778             

Steven Akers, high school student

Wayne

West Virginia

YouTube video (his clip starts at 0:41) 28-Apr.-2010

  779             

Arden Cogar, Sr., lumberjack

Webster Springs

West Virginia

YouTube video 1-July-2010

  780             

John Corbett, actor

Wheeling

West Virginia

YouTube video Oops! I had put Wheeling in the “pin”=“pen” region, but I must have been in a hurry: Both speakers clearly distinguish. 12-June-2010

  781             

Bob Ney, talk radio host

Wheeling

West Virginia

YouTube video 22-Aug.-2009

  782             

J. P. Hayes, pro golfer

Appleton

Wisconsin

YouTube video 3-June-2011

  783             

Matt Kenseth, NASCAR driver

Cambridge

Wisconsin

YouTube video Not as strong as some Inland North, but still representative. New! 31-Dec.-2011

  784             

Thomas Christianson, boilmaster

Door County

Wisconsin

YouTube video (Sent in by Y.I. Thanks!) 28-Oct.-2010

  785             

State senator Dave Hansen

Green Bay

Wisconsin

YouTube video 29-Dec.-2010

  786             

Laura, cancer patient

Green Bay (Hobart)

Wisconsin

YouTube video (Sent in by Anneke Majors. Thanks!) 24-Jan.-2011

  787             

Defense secretary Les Aspin

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

YouTube video 16-Mar.-2010

  788             

Craig Counsell, pro baseball player

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

YouTube video (Clip starts at 4:00) 16-Feb.-2010

  789             

John Koepke /kĕpkē/ [ˈkʰɛpki], dairy producer

Oconomowoc /ōkǒnəmōǒk/ [ˌoˈkʰanəmoˌak]

Wisconsin

YouTube video 3-June-2011

  790             

State senator Joe Leibham /līphǒm/ [ˈlaɪpˌham]

Sheboygan /shəboigən/ [ʃəˈbɔɪɡən]

Wisconsin

YouTube video, YouTube video This guy speaks what I’ve always thought of as a typical Wisconsin accent, though I now realize that it’s limited to southern and eastern Wisconsin, and is simply a fairly pure (or extreme) example of Inland North, also heard elsewhere in the region. 2-Mar.-2011

  791             

Secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger

Stevens Point

Wisconsin

YouTube video 16-Mar.-2010

  792             

Chris Bangle, car designer

Wausau

Wisconsin

YouTube video 6-Sep.-2011

  793             

Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. vice president

Casper

Wyoming

YouTube video

  794             

U.S. representative Cynthia Lummis

Cheyenne

Wyoming

YouTube video

  795             

U.S. senator Alan K. Simpson

Cody

Wyoming

YouTube video

  796             

Steve Moulton, Western singer and rancher

Encampment

Wyoming

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum interview (Source suggested by archivist Laura Anne Heller. Thanks!) 23-Apr.-2011

  797             

Jesse Garcia, actor

Rawlins

Wyoming

YouTube video 8-Feb.-2010

  798             

Phil Gatensby, counselor

Carcross

Yukon Territory

YouTube video

  799             

Stanley, Sr., native American from Gwich’in tribe

Old Crow

Yukon Territory

YouTube video

 

 

Rejected data:

 

 

(These are people raised in a certain place, but not representing the local dialect. If any of you have local knowledge and think that these people do represent the local dialect, please let me know!) Adj. 3-Nov.-2011

 

 

 

 

 

Reject:

Jimmy Means, NASCAR driver [36]

Huntsville

Alabama

YouTube video

Reject:

Collin Raye, country singer

De Queen

Arkansas

YouTube video When I first heard him, singing this clip, I thought, “Okay, he’s from De Queen, Arkansas, and he speaks Inland Southern. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. First, he is totally inconsistent: he sometimes sings Inland, as in this clip, but usually sings Lowland, as in the first song on this interview clip: YouTube video, but he doesn’t actually talk Southern at all, as can be heard in the interview. Also, though he was born in De Queen, he was raised someplace in Texas. The first clip is a cool song, and I had at first assumed that it was a true story about Collin Raye’s grandparents, but I can find nothing to indicate this. Even so, he probably sang it in Inland Southern because he was thinking of his own grandparents, who may have been from De Queen. (I only included all this because I like the song.) 25-Feb.-2011

Reject:

Joe Spano, actor [37]

San Francisco

California

Google video

Reject:

Christopher Lloyd, actor

New Canaan

Connecticut

YouTube video 26-Sep.-2009

Reject:

U.S. president George H. W. Bush

Greenwich

Connecticut

YouTube video (Evidently spent too much time in Texas!) 16-Nov.-2009

Reject:

John Malkovich, filmmaker

Benton

Illinois

YouTube video (Has “pin”≠“pen”, but Benton is “pin”=“pen”) 8-Jan.-2011

Reject:

Bill Doba, football coach

New Carlisle

Indiana

YouTube video (Evidently has picked up some Southernisms from places he has coached!) 8-Jan.-2011

Reject:

Hank Harris, actor

Duluth

Minnesota

YouTube video 1-May-2010

Reject:

Rush Limbaugh, radio personality[38]

Cape Girardeau

Missouri

YouTube video 7-May-2009

Reject:

Terry Teachout, conservative writer24

Sikeston

Missouri

YouTube video 7-May-2009

Reject:

Melanie Wilkinson, reporter

Clearwater

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info) “cot”=“caught”; where did that come from?

Reject:

Kyle Rosfeld, bootmaker

Valentine

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info)

Reject:

Harvey Perlman, Chancellor, UNL

York

Nebraska

YouTube video (more info) According to the previous website, he was raised in York, but this website and several others say he was born in Lincoln. So the question is, when did he move to York? Based on the other samples from York, which are Northern, I assume he does not represent York. Adj. 7-Nov.-2011

Reject:

Leah Dizon, model

Las Vegas

Nevada

YouTube video Native Las Vegan contributor Jim Hoffman said that this speaker has a slight Asian accent, and suggested Andre Agassi instead. Thanks! 5-Mar.-2011

Reject:

Matt Bonner, pro basketball player[39]

Concord

New Hampshire

YouTube video 2-June-2009

Reject:

Richard Lederer, columnist

Concord

New Hampshire

YouTube video 2-June-2009

Reject:

U.S. first lady Barbara Bush

Rye

New York

YouTube video (Evidently spent too much time in Texas!) 16-Nov.-2009

Reject:

Gavin Veris, pro football player

Chillicothe /chǐlǐthē/ [ˌʧʰɪlɪˈkʰɒθi]

Ohio

YouTube video Oops! He looks African American, but speaks General American, with no hint of AAVE, and with “pin”≠“pen”! I thought this was for historical reasons, e.g.: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chillicothe,_OH#History, and that he represented the local “white” dialect, but in fact the local white dialect has “pin”=“pen”, something I was able to determine by watching a documentary about the town, in which all the speakers were locals. Adj. 3-Nov.-2011

Reject:

Gerald Tremblay, mayor

Montreal

Quebec

YouTube video Does not have Canadian raising, but is a native French speaker! 1-July-2010

Reject:

Mayor James Ruberto /rəbâr/ [ɹəˈbeɹˌtʰoʊ]

Pittsfield

Massachusetts

YouTube video (Sent in by Nicole Garzino. Thanks!) (more info) Nicole Garzino had proposed this speaker as representative of Pittsfield, even though he clearly has an Inland North accent. What makes it all confusing is that he apparently was raised and born in Pittsfield, at least according to the above web site, and for a while I adjusted the map assuming that he was representative, even though it make some weird bends in the lines. However, I have finally had to reject him, for reasons given under Gary Kitmacher. 20-Apr.-2011

Reject:

Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec

Sherbrooke

Quebec

YouTube video Does not have Canadian raising, but is a native French speaker! 1-July-2010

Reject:

Kevin Burke, entrepreneur

Chattanooga

Tennessee

YouTube video (more info) He starts out with a non-southern “Hi!”, but immediately lapses into nearly pure Inland Southern! However, I recently realized that he may not have grown up in Chattanooga, but only in “southeast Tennessee”, as indicated on this website. Actually Chattanooga is Lowland Southern, as discussed in Inland and Lowland Southern and their relationship to the extent of slavery before the Civil War. Adj. 3-Nov.-2011

Reject:

Two residents

Trenton

Tennessee

Google video (It is not clear if this lady is from Trenton, but she speaks Lowland, and the people in the other clip from Trenton, who are far more likely to be natives, speak Inland. The sample of the other person in this clip is too short to be sure.) (Sent in by Eli K. Thanks!) 20-Feb.-2010

Reject:

Dan Blocker, “Hoss” on Bonanza

O’Donnell

Texas

YouTube video (Supposedly grew up in O’Donnell, in west Texas, but speaks Lowland. However, the information in Wikipedia is sketchy.)

Reject:

Female, born 1980, student (some inconsistency with long /ī/ [a(ɪ)], but also some signs of Inland Southern)

Texarkana

Texas

IDEA audio (source) My main sample for Texarkana, Ross Perot, clearly speaks Lowland! Adj. 3-Nov.-2011

Reject:

Jimbo Fisher, FSU assistant football coach.[40]

Clarksburg

West Virginia

YouTube video

Reject:

Larry Wilcox, actor

Rawlins

Wyoming

YouTube video (Because he is an actor, he has evidently learned to say “ten-four” instead of “tin-four”!) 8-Feb.-2010

Special Interest and Historical Articles

 

The Cot-Caught Merger

You will notice that in the most of the area on this map people pronounce “cot” and “caught” the same, the areas with either single or double hatching. However, much of this area is sparsely populated, so actually the majority of speakers in North America pronounce them differently, probably about 50% more[41]. Those of you in the first group may think, “How would they be different?” Or, if you can sometimes hear a difference in other people’s speech, you may say, “How could that be important?” On the other hand, those of you in the second group may be amazed to realize that some people pronounce them the same. That’s the way it is with language: people filter what other people say through their own language filter, and assume that other people pronounce things the way they do, when actually they don’t. 16-Nov.-2010

When I was living overseas in a community that was made up mostly of Americans and Canadians from various regions, I knew a family in which the father’s name was “Don”, and the daughter’s name was “Dawn”. Guess which group they belonged to! When I would be talking to someone about the family, and would mention that I had recently been chatting with Don, if they belonged to the “merger” group, they would often say, “Do you mean the father or the daughter?” Now, I consistently say those two names differently, but they couldn’t hear the difference! You might say, “Why would those people name their daughter Dawn, knowing the confusion it would cause?” The answer is: It never crossed their minds! To them, the two names were obviously pronounced differently, and it never even occurred to them that anyone would pronounce them the same! And there are plenty of word pairs for which this vowel distinction is the only difference, as the chart to the right shows. (The minimal pairs are especially interesting, since there are so many of them, and this list is probably still not exhaustive. If any of you can think of more minimal pairs, please let me know. Those in red are a short list to try if you don’t want to do the whole list.) So you see, it really does matter! Adj. 1-Nov.-2011

On the other hand, the amazing thing to me is that the “merger” group gets along so well saying all these pairs of words the same! One day my wife and I were talking about farming practices, something I know almost nothing about, and she mentioned that they sometimes use “stocks” of corn to make silage. At least, that’s what I heard her say. I was surprised. “You mean they can’t just feed the corn to the cattle straight?” However, she was actually referring to “stalks” of corn, which never occurred to me, since I heard her say “stocks”. In fact, she says them both the same (with a pronunciation closer to the way I say “stocks” than the way I say “stalks”), so to her, the context should have told me which she meant, not the pronunciation. Go figure! Other similar confusions continue to arise occasionally in our marriage based on this distinction, but each time it takes me a little less time to realize what she meant. Adj. 28-Oct.-2011

To see an even more complex system, see The Father-Bother distinction below.

Minimal Pairs*

short ŏ

[ɑ/ɒ/ɔ]

ô or “aw”

[ɒ/ɔ/oə/o:]

cot

caught

knotty

naughty

hottie

haughty

Don

Dawn

pond

pawned

Fonz

fawns

odd

awed

pod

pawed

body

bawdy

Dobbin

daubin’

stock

stalk †

hock

hawk

cock

caulk †

wok

walk †

ox

auks

box

balks †

popper

pauper

moppin’

Maupin (surname)

collar

caller

holler

hauler

doll

Dall (sheep)

Oz

awes

(Adj. 1-Nov.-2011)

Other Examples

short ŏ

[ɑ/ɒ/ɔ]

ô or “aw”

[ɒ/ɔ/oə/o:]

botch

debauch

fossil

faucet

profit

offer

Goth

cloth, moth

congress

stronger

cog,

boggle,

goggles

bog, dog,

flog, hog,

log,

boondoggle

(The chart above shows

the American pattern.

Those in blue in the

second column have

short /ŏ/ in British English,

and also possibly for

some Northeasterners.)

(Adj. 28-Oct.-2011)

 

* These words are distinguished in both American and

British English, in those regions with the distinction.

 † Some Americans actually pronounce the “l” in some

of these words, in which case pronouncing the pair

differently proves nothing about the vowels.

Did the cot-caught merger come from Scotland?

The three largest dialects that are characterized by the cot-caught merger, The West and the two main Canadian dialects, also have one other feature in common: the vowel of “too” is significantly more fronted than the vowel of “toe”. Now this situation is not seen in England, but it is in Scotland, where the difference in fronting of “too” and “toe” is even more extreme. And it turns out that many speakers of Scottish English also have the cot-caught merger! (In fact, they only have 12 vowels, having also merged the vowels in “good” and “food”.) Canadian English has other features like Scottish English, in particular the pronunciation of the long vowels in “boat” and “bait” as pure vowels rather than diphthongs, and the lower, more central pronunciation of the vowel in “bat”. Therefore, it seems likely that Canadian English, which had very heavy Scottish immigration, took all of these features from Scottish English. (Newfoundland also had very significant Irish influence, and this has given its English a distinctive Irish pronunciation, especially in Irish Newfoundland.) The dialect of the West in the U.S. may then have taken just the cot-caught merger and the fronting of the vowel of “too” from Canadian English, since no other U. S. dialect has the latter. 4-Apr.-2011

How the other dialects with the cot-caught merger got it is less clear, but it is evident from the map that they are all close to the Canadian border! In particular, based on the western settlement patterns, it seems fairly clear that the North Central dialect is simply a case of speakers from the North dialect who have adopted the cot-caught merger from the West and from Canada.

 

The Father-Bother distinction

In New York City (NYC), Eastern New England (ENE), England, Australia, various other former British colonies, and possibly a few speakers in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the words “father” and “bother” do not rhyme, having different vowels in the first syllable. Not only that, but in all of these areas except Eastern New England and possibly the Maritimes the words “father”, “bother”, and “broader” all have different vowels. However, the words with /ä/ (the vowel in “father”) are relatively few, so there are few minimal pairs. Adj. 21-Dec.-2011

I have only found one minimal triple, which was only possible by including the name Bach, which is not an English word in the strictest sense. The three words “Bach’s”, “box”, and “balks” would each be pronounced differently in most of these areas, including England. However, in New York City “Bach’s” and “box” are the same (confirmed by NYC contributor Kevin McNamara), even though New York City speakers make the three-way distinction in the other words listed, because of the fact that the phonetic pronunciations of /ä/ and /ŏ/ are reversed from the other regions, as shown in the chart. In Eastern New England “box” and “balks” would be the same, but “Bach’s” would be different. (In the chart, MEA means “Many Eastern Americans”. Obviously, all of those with the cot-caught merger would say them all with the same vowel, and I have not shown this.) 11-Jan.-2011

Part of the issue is the limited number of consonants which may follow the /ä/ vowel. That is, words with /ä/ are relatively few if you don’t count words in which an r has been dropped in the pronunciation, since most of these areas (though not the Maritimes) are systematic r-dropping regions. Thus, in most of these areas the words “father” and “farther” are identical, and most words spelled with “ar” are pronounced with /ä/.

The chart on the right shows examples of these three groups of words.

There is another group of words that have /ä/ in southern England (and occasionally in Eastern New England), but /ă/ in most of North America and the rest of Britain, like “staff”, “pass”, “half”, “bath”, “rather”, etc. I have not included any of these in the chart. 30-Mar.-2010

Scotland is a special case: “father” and “bother” do not rhyme, but there is no distinction between /ä/ and /ă/, so “palm”=“Pam”, “psalm”=“Sam”, and “father” rhymes with “rather”. See the previous section for more info about the Scottish vowel system. 11-Jan.-2011

Those who lack the father-bother distinction will pronounce the vowels in the first two columns the same, except that the word “horrid” is variable, being pronounced /hŏrid/ ([ˈhɑɹɪd] or even [ˈhaɹɪd]) in the northeastern U.S., but /hôrid/ ([ˈhɔɹɪd] or even [ˈhoɹɪd]) by most Americans. Many similar words have this same variation, as in “horrible”, “porridge”, “coral”.

ä or “ah”

short ŏ

ô or “aw”

England: [ɑ]

[ɔ]

[o:]

NYC: [ɑə]

[a]

[oə]

ENE: [a]

[ɒə]

[ɒə]

MEA: [ɑ]

[ɑ]

[ɒ]

Bach’s †

box

balks

sparring

horrid

warring

father

bother

(broader)

balm*

bomb

psalm*

Somme

palm*

qualm*

alms*

calming*

common

la

law

pa ‡

paw

ha

(16-May-2011)

* Most English speakers worldwide do not pronounce the “l” in these words, and in particular all of those with the Father-Bother distinction or who are systematic r-droppers apparently do not. However, many Americans do. See the following section, The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk”, for a discussion of these words. 24-Sep.-2011

† This is the same as “box” in New York City. 11-Jan.-2011`

‡ Many Eastern Americans (MEA) may pronounce this the same as “paw”, but I doubt that any with the father-bother distinction do.

 

The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk”

Do you pronounce the “l” in the red words in the chart below? How about in the blue words? I don’t pronounce the “l” in any of them! However, I do pronounce the “l” in all of the green words, though some people don’t pronounce it in all of these. I have recently become aware that many Americans pronounce the “l” in the red words, and I’m trying to find out if the distribution is regional, or is just all mixed up! (The words in parentheses are not very common, so don’t pay attention to them if you aren’t sure, or if they don’t work like the others.) 1-June-2011

Most Americans apparenly pronounce the “l” in the red words in the first column below, a smaller number pronounce the “l” in the red words in the second column, and an even smaller number pronounce the “l” in the red words in the third column, but like me some Americans definitely do not pronounce the “l” in any of them, nor do the vast majority of English speakers outside North America. 1-June-2011

I am fairly certain that no native English speakers pronounce the “l” in the blue words. However, I thought that was true of the third red column, and I was proved wrong, so please let me know. 8-June-2011

Please let me know which words you pronounce the “l” in, and which you don’t. Be sure to compare them with the words in black below to see if they rhyme. If they do, then you aren’t pronouncing the “l”! 1-June-2011

I have recently realized that some speakers pronounce “my folks” without the “l”, but “folk song” with an “l”. Similarly, some speakers pronounce “corn stalk” (a noun) without the “l”, but “I stalk the deer” (a verb) with an “l”. If any of you who have already answered the survey find that you do the same, please let me know. 24-Sep.-2011

 

calm

yolk

talk

half

would

palm

my folks

walk

calf

could

balm

folk song

chalk

behalf

should

psalm

(Polk)

corn stalk (noun)

 

 

qualm

 

I stalk the deer (verb)

 

 

alms

 

balk

 

 

(napalm)

 

calk/caulk

 

 

(malmsey)

 

(Falklands)

 

 

almond

polka (dance)

falcon

Ralph

mould

 

talc

 

 

If any of the red words above rhyme with any of the words in the same column below, then you are not pronouncing the “l”!

I believe that the blue words above rhyme with the words in the same column below for all speakers. Let me know if I am wrong!

bomb*

poke

hawk

chaff

wood

arm*

cloak

squawk

laugh

good

farm*

soak

gawk

 

 

 

 

auk

 

 

 

 

hock

 

 

 

 

dock

 

 

 

 

cock

 

 

 

 

wok

 

 

* Very few English speakers rhyme “bomb” with “arm” or “farm”. (Apparently only the Providence Rhode Island dialect does!) However, some Americans rhyme the red words in the first column above with “bomb”, not pronouncing the “l”. Distinctly, most systematic r-droppers, e.g. Eastern New England, NYC, and Standard British rhyme them with “arm”, again not pronouncing the “l”. 11-July-2011

$Mapping4

 

Background Info

 

In English the number of words which end in “alm” or “alms” is limited. The only ones of these which are really common, well-known words are listed in the first column of the first chart above, although obviously there are other words derived from these that are also common, like “embalm” or “becalm” or “psalms”. (This web site lists a few more, but they are so rare they don’t even show up in standard dictionaries. The word “realm” doesn’t count, since its pronunciation is completely different.) So, the list is short, though it is clearly a pronunciation pattern. Now, around the world most English speakers, including myself, do not pronounce the “l” in these words, and these words contribute to the short list of words containing the /ä/ vowel for those speakers who do not rhyme the words “father” and “bother”, as discussed in the previous section. For this reason this list of words, though short, is somewhat important when discussing how many vowels a particular speaker has. 19-May-2011

Until recently I had assumed that historically the “l” in all of the red words above was completely lost in all English dialects, and that the few speakers who did pronounce the “l” did so because it had been reintroduced based on a “bookish” pronunciation. However, I seem to have been quite wrong. A number of contributors to this page have written in and told me so, after seeing the “alm” words listed in the previous section, and marked as having a “silent l”. Thus, contributor Jon from Sacramento, California disagrees: “I would also note that all of the words that you list with a silent ‘l’ in your father-bother distinction (balm, psalm, palm, alms, calming) I would say with a swallowed but still present to varying degrees “l” sound, and I think the majority of people I grew up with in Sacramento would too.” Thus he pronounces “balm” as /bŏlm/ ([ˈbɒɫm] (he does not distinguish “cot” and “caught”), with a “dark l”, which would sound almost “swallowed”, as he describes it, though clearly there. 19-May-2011

I should have realized that it wasn’t a bookish pronunciation, since it only applies to certain groups of words, as shown in the first chart above, not to all words with silent “l”, of which there are many. I have listed the main groups in the first chart above. 3-June-2011

After I was challenged by these two contributors, I went looking on the Internet, and found that there is indeed one American dictionary that lists a pronunciation of some of these words with the “l” pronounced, the Online Merriam-Webster dictionary, in all of these words: calm, palm, balm, psalm, qualm, alms, and napalm, and even provides audio samples of the “l” pronunciation. This was surprising to me, since most dictionaries, both American and British, give only a pronunciation with no “l”. (Merriam-Webster also gives another pronunciation /kăm/ for “calm”, which would evidently be the Scottish pronunciation, like “palm” mentioned above.) 16-May-2011

Contributor Y.I. has pointed out to me that the ANAE Ch. 2, p. 14 had also observed this phenonemonen: “Words with vocalized /l/ formed a part of this class: calm, palm, balm, almond, though a large number of North Americans have retained or restored the /l/.” Like me, they are apparently unsure whether the “l” was retained or restored, and unfortunately they have not provided any help about the regional distribution. (In this book, also found by Y.I., the assumption is simply made that these “l”s are retained because of spelling pronunciations, without providing any evidence.) I had not previously thought of the word “almond” as belonging to this class, since I myself pronounce the “l” in this word, as /ôlmənd/ ([ˈɒlmənd], quite different from my “calm” /kŏm/ ([ˈkʰɑm]. (I distinguish “cot” and “caught” but not “father” and “bother”.) However, after consulting my many dictionaries, none of them recognize such a pronunciation, but say that the proper pronunciation is either /ämənd/ or /ămənd/! I checked with my wife, who is from Nebraska and does not pronounce the “l” in “calm”, though she does in “balm”, and she does pronounce it in “almond”, just as I do. The Online Merriam-Webster dictionary comes the closest to our pronunciation, at least recognizing that some people do pronounce the “l”, but they give the options as /ämənd/, /ămənd/, /älmənd/, or /ălmənd/. I find the third of these four options extremely unlikely, and speculate that perhaps a speaker for whom /ä/ = /ŏ/ = /ô/ may have worked on this entry.) Most American dictionaries give both /ämənd/ and /ămənd/, and according to contributor Marna Ducharme, her grandmother who always lived in New York City said /ămənd/ [ˈæmənd]. Not only that, but several contributors (Emmor Nile, James Divine, John Kelly), have told me that it has the /ămənd/ [ˈæmənd] pronunciation throughout California’s Central Valley, where they grow lots of them! In any case, it seems clear that “almond” often does not go along with the other “alm” words. Adj. 2-Oct.-2011

Later I realized that a lot of people also pronounce the “l” in “folk” and “yolk”, as shown in the Initial Survey Results chart below. Almost all of these also pronounce the “l” in “calm”, suggesting that the two word groups are part of the same pattern of “l” retention. 8-June-2011

So this seems to be a conservative feature harking back to a time when the “l” in the red words was pronounced by all speakers, and as such, is probably a regional feature like the others on the map. 8-June-2011

 

If this is a conservative feature, then it must have been brought over to the U.S. from some region of Great Britain or Ireland. However, there is almost no trace of this “l” anywhere in this area, not even in Scotland or Ireland, from which many of the conservative features in American English came. However, my trusty contributor Y.I. has been able to track down one possible source: what is called the West Country of England (really the extreme southwest) apparently continues to pronounce this “l”, according to John Wells in The Accents of English, page 346, in a section describing the vowels in the West Country. According to this article, <<The West Country accent is probably most identified in American English as “pirate speech” - cartoon-like “Ooh arr, me ’earties! Sploice the mainbrace!” talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring and fisherman tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw.>> Clearly this accent could have had influence in the Americas (as suggested in this linguistics book tracked down by contributor Y.I.), though why the influence has been so pervasive is unclear. 6-Sep.-2011

In any case, the retention of this “l” thus does not seem to depend on whether or not “cot”=“caught”, since it occurs across the continent. However, I am fairly certain that all speakers who are systematic r-droppers always lack the “l” in the “calm” group, and that all speakers with the father-bother distinction do too. This makes sense, since the resulting vowel is /ä/, which mainly occurs as the result of r-dropping. It is less clear why the “yolk” group would drop the “l” for this group, since the resulting vowel /ō/ [oʊ] does not normally occur as a result of r-dropping. Adj. 2-Oct.-2011

 

Initial Survey Results

 

Unlike the other data on the main map, this data is not from audio or video sound samples, but from self-analysis and direct interviews, since finding individual words in sound samples is almost impossible. It appears that the vast majority of Americans pronounce the “l” in “calm”, except for those in systematic r-dropping areas (as mentioned in the previous section), and nearby areas like Poughkeepsie and Port Chester, New York, in the Eastern North dialect. (New Orleans seems to have followed NYC in this as in many other features, at least as far as the common words go.) So it would seem that I am in a small minority! Evidently my dialect was influenced by my parents more than I realized: my Dad was from Port Chester, New York, an area that does not pronounce the “l”, and my mother was originally from Australia, which is a systematic r-dropping area, and so again does not pronounce the “l”. Even so, I can’t believe I didn’t even notice such a widespread pattern for so long! As for Canada, it seems likely that many or most there also retain the “l”, though so far I only have data for one location. 6-Sep.-2011

We now seem to have enough data that the geographical pattern is becoming clear for the “calm” group and for the “yolk” group, though the “talk” group remains unclear. However, we clearly still need more data to map these patterns fully, in particular we need more locations where the “l” in these words is definitely not pronounced. Help me out, people. This is a very simple thing for you to write in and tell me: “I grew up in X, and I pronounce the “l” in all these words,” or “I grew up in Y, and I don’t pronounce the “l” in any of these words except ‘almond’,” or whatever the case may be. 9-June-2011

 

Person

Raised in

“cot”=

“caught”?

Other info

Pronounce

“l” in

“calm”,

etc.

Pronounce

“l” in

“almond”

Pronounce

“l” in

“yolk”,

etc.

Pronounce

“l” in

“talk”,

etc.

Yuri

Toronto, Ontario

yes

contributor 6-Sep.-2011

yes

yes

no

(only

“Polk” yes)

most no

“baulk” yes

“caulk” yes

Amanda Hocking

Sacramento (Citrus Heights), California

yes

contributor 23-July-2011

yes

yes

yes

“talk” no

“walk” no

“stalk” no

“chalk” yes

“balk” yes

“caulk” yes

Jon

Sacramento, California

yes

contributor

yes

no: /ămənd/

[ˈæmənd]?

?

?

Je.Ha.

Oakland, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

James Divine

Fresno, California

yes

contributor 20-May-2011

yes

no: /ămənd/

[ˈæmənd]

no

?

Ju.Ar.

Ventura, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 8-June-2011

yes

?

no

(only

“Polk” yes)

?

Fe.Mo.

Oxnard, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

M.M.

Los Angeles, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

yes

no

most no

“caulk” yes,

“Falklands” yes

Yu.k.Jo.

Pomona, California

no (!)

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

Ma.Pa.

Upland, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

Ma.Cu.

Escondido, California

yes

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 8-June-2011

yes

?

no

(only

“Polk” yes)

?

Jonathan

California

yes

on this website

yes

?

?

no

Sabrina Badger

Carson City, Nevada

Yes

contributor New! 30-Nov.-2011

yes

yes

no

(only maybe

“Polk” yes)

most no

“balk” yes,

 “caulk” yes,

“Falklands” yes

Ma.Ca.

Houston, Texas

yes (!)

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

Za.Ri.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

no

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

Ali King

Portland, Oregon

yes

contributor New! 18-Nov.-2011

yes

yes

yes

(“yolk” no)

most no

“balk” yes,

 “caulk” yes

(friend of Jennifer Nagel)

Oregon

yes

 

yes

?

?

?

Randy Howell

Kelso, Washington

yes

contributor 19-May-2011

yes

?

“yolk” no

sometimes

“folk” yes

“talk” no

“walk” no

“stalk” no

“balk” yes

“caulk” yes

Christina Aschmann

Bremerton, Washington

yes

my daughter-in-law 8-June-2011

yes

yes

yes

yes

“OhKaty”

Utah

yes

on this website

yes

?

?

?

“Jaques S”

Anchorage, Alaska

yes

on this website

yes

?

?

?

Kirk Sniff

Lamar, Colorado

yes

contributor New! 30-Nov.-2011

yes

yes

yes

yes

Tom Brokaw

South Dakota

no?

according to this website; he moved around the state too much for me to use him as a local sample

yes

?

?

?

Larry Unruh

Wallace, Nebraska

yes

my brother-in-law New! 21-Oct.-2011

“calm” no,

others yes

yes

“yolk” no

my folks” no

“folk song” yes

“Polk” yes

“talk” no

“walk” no

“chalk” no

“caulk” no

corn stalk” no

“stalk” (verb) yes

“balk” yes

“Falklands yes

Sharla Unruh

Casper, Wyoming

yes

my brother-in-law’s wife Adj. 16-Dec.-2011

“calm” no,

others yes

yes

“yolk” no

my folks” no

“folk song” yes

“Polk” yes

“talk” no

“walk” no

“chalk” no

corn stalk” no

“stalk” (verb) yes

“balk” yes

“caulk” yes

“Falklands yes

Arlene Unruh

Axtell, Nebraska

yes

my mother-in-law New! 21-Oct.-2011

yes

yes

yes

yes

Rebecca Ratzlaff

Omaha, Nebraska

no

contributor New! 28-Oct.-2011

yes

yes

yes

most no

“Falklands” yes

Jennifer Nagel

Minneapolis, Minnesota

no

contributor

yes

?

?

?

Lewis Thorwaldson

Rothschild, Wisconsin

no?

contributor

yes

yes

no

(only

“Polk” yes)

most no

“balk” yes,

“Falklands” yes

Robert Edwards

Central Wisconsin

no

contributor

yes

sometimes

“calm” no

yes

no

no

“balk” yes

only in sports,

“caulk” yes

only as a verb

Daniel Mathews

Columbia, Missouri

no

contributor

yes

?

?

?

Tim

St. Louis, Missouri

no

on this website 17-May-2011

yes

?

yes

?

Y.I.

Quincy, Illinois

no

contributor

yes

?

yes

no

“windy city”

Chicago, Illinois

no

on this website

yes

?

?

?

ma.ba.

New Orleans

no

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 9-June-2011

“calm” no,

“palm” no,

“balm” no,

others yes

yes

no

“talk” no,

“walk” no,

“chalk” no,

others yes

Nicholas Miller

Camden, South Carolina

no

contributor 18-May-2011

yes

?

?

?

Melissa Gordon

Byron, Georgia

no

contributor 2-June-2011

yes

yes

yes

yes

Alex Coblentz

Frederick, Maryland

no

contributor Adj. 16-Dec.-2011

yes

yes

“yolk” no

you folks” no

“folk music” yes

“Polk” yes

no

Marna Ducharme

Burlington, Vermont

no*

contributor

yes

yes

yes

yes

Ann Roubal

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

no

contributor 8-Sep.-2011

no

no

no

no

To.Ba.

Cleveland, Ohio

no

Info from contributor M.M. Thanks! 18-May-2011

no

?

yes (!)

?

Herman Aschmann

Port Chester, New York

no

my father

no

?

no

no

Marna Ducharme’s grandmother

New York City

no

father-bother distinction, systematic r-dropper

no

no: /ămənd/

[ˈæmənd]

no?

no

Larry S.

Poughkeepsie, New York

no

friend 1-Sep.-2011

no

?

no?

“Polk” yes?

no

“balk” yes

(16-May-2011)

* Although she grew up in Burlington, she was strongly influenced by her NYC relatives, and retains the distinction. 23-May-2011

 

Inland and Lowland Southern and their relationship to the extent of slavery before the Civil War

Before discussing the distribution of Inland Southern and Lowland Southern, I need to define them more clearly, since I find that there is a lot of confusion as to what I mean by Inland South versus Lowland South.

Inland South has full monophthongization of long /ī/ [aɪ] to [a]. This means that all long /ī/ vowels are not diphthongs [aɪ], but essentially pure vowels, usually [a] (which is clearly distinguished from /ŏ/ [ɑ]). Thus, the “i”s in “ride”, “buy”, and “right” are all the same, and all sound quite Southern! 2-Mar.-2011

However, Lowland South only has partial monophthongization of long /ī/ [aɪ] to [a]. The vowels of “ride” and “buy” have the Southern vowel [a], but the vowel of “right” is a diphthong [aɪ], with a pronunciation a bit more like other parts of the United States. The specific rule is this: before voiceless sounds the vowel is a diphthong, but elsewhere it is not. Voiceless sounds are p, t, ch, k, f, s, sh, or th (as is “python”, where it is voiceless, not as in “lithe”, where it is voiced). Why does it work that way? Ah, that kind of question doesn’t have a good answer in human language! However, to put it another way, how is it that they follow such a technical rule without knowing it? That does have an answer: patterns such as this are common in human language, even though the speakers are totally unaware of them at a conscious level. 13-Jan.-2011

Thus, to determine if a particular speaker speaks Inland or Lowland Southern, first make sure he speaks Southern at all by listening to words like “ride” and “buy”. If he does, then listen to words with voiceless sounds like “ripe”, “bite”, “righteous” (which has a ch sound in spite of the spelling), “like”, “life”, “ice” (s sound), “python”, etc.

The ANAE chapter 18 uses more complex criteria to distinguish their varieties of Southern, but I find theirs to be unwieldy, so I have gone for the simpler criterion, which seems to be sufficient, as seen in the next paragraph.

 

A surprising pattern seen on the map is the peculiar way in which the two Southern dialect areas are intertwined. It turns out that the current pattern of Lowland Southern matches to an amazing degree the areas with a high percentage of slaves before the Civil War, as shown by this famous antique map. Granted, there are a few minor surprises, but what is astonishing is not the occasional surprises, but how few the surprises are! 10-Mar.-2010

What seems likely is that the Inland Southern dialect spread west and south first, and then the Lowland Southern dialect was spread later by the slaveholding “aristocracy”, but never penetrated into areas unsuitable for large plantations, such as mountainous areas or dryer areas in the west. An exceptional area is Virginia, where Lowland Southern spread westward into non-slaveholding areas, and adjacent areas of West Virginia and North Carolina. Another exceptional area seems to be south Georgia and north Florida, which no Inland Southern speakers apparently ever reached. 29-Apr.-2010

The “r-dropping” areas (the green lines) and “Tidewater raising” (the pink line) also seem to be restricted to these slaveholding areas.

One result of this later spread of Lowland Southern is that Inland Southern was nearly broken into two sections, divided by what might be called the “Nashville-Huntsville Corridor”. (If you look at a satellite map of this area, you can actually see this corridor in a lighter color outlined by darker forests, a fascinating geographic demonstration of my theory. This is not to say that as a general rule Inland areas are forested and Lowland areas are not, but it holds true in this case. This corridor follows parts of river valleys in the north and the south, while the middle section follows the smoother central part of the Cumberland plateau.) A narrow neck around Iuka, Mississippi remains to connect the two sections of Inland Southern. Adj. 2-Nov.-2011

However, as more data comes in an expected result of this should be that there will be occasional islands of one dialect surrounded by the other, and this indeed seems to be the case with Chattanooga, Tennessee. This is an important city in southeastern Tennessee. I most recently spent some time there in October, 2011, was able to listen to many native speakers, and was able to determine that it is a solidly Lowland Southern city, being situated in a fairly large flat plain, and having a strategic location on the river. However, it is surrounded on all sides by mountainous country which speaks Inland Southern, making it a linguistic island! Adj. 3-Nov.-2011

One interesting corroboration of my theory is political: After the Civil War, the former slave states tended to elect exclusively Democratic Party candidates, rejecting the Republican party as the party of Lincoln. This phenomenon is referred to as the Solid South, which remained so at least up into the 1960’s. However, certain areas of the south, primarily in mountain areas like the Appalachians and the Ozarks, where little or no slavery had existed, resisted this tendency, and aligned themselves with the Union and with the Republican Party, consistently electing Republican candidates throughout this period. The fascinating map on this web page shows what areas of the south these were, at least in the 1940 election. (Notice particularly the circled areas, and the discussion about these.) Notice the correlation between these areas, my map, and the slavery map mentioned above: If we exclude the areas in Texas (which apparently represent later German immigration, at least according to the discussion on the web page), none of these areas is Lowland South (except for Sampson County, North Carolina, for which I have no explanation). Instead, ignoring the exceptions mentioned, they are all Inland South, except for part of Missouri, which is Midland! Winston County, Alabama, is in fact famous for the degree to which it opposed secession during the Civil War, being known as the “Free State of Winston”! This is not to say that Inland South areas in general vote Republican: they don’t, and in Texas and Oklahoma they are as Solid South as anywhere else. I am only saying that such areas are consistently in the Inland South region. 12-June-2010

Charleston is clearly a special case of Lowland Southern, as is clear by listening to it. The Down East & Outer Banks dialect doesn’t sound very Southern at all, but does at least have the “Tidewater raising”. Florida doesn’t count, since it had a huge influx of Yankees in the 20th century. In fact, Florida is effectively upside down: the farther south you go in Florida, the more Northern people sound! Adj. 19-Nov.-2011

 

Possible Southern Class Distinction?

It has been often been suggested (or assumed) that in some areas there is also a social-status distinction between what I have called “Inland Southern” (sometimes referred to as “hillbilly” or “country”, as in “He sure talks country!”) and “Lowland Southern”, with people from higher-class family backgrounds favoring the “Lowland Southern” pattern, and this would make sense if my hypothesis as to its spread is true. Even so, evidence of such a social distinction does not appear in very many places, and only near the border between these two regions. Three such areas are an area surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth in Texas and an area around Greenville, which evidently Inland Southern areas, but in which a number of people born and raised there (like Ross Perot, Jr. or Kenny Marchant) have Lowland Southern accents, mostly people in the middle and upper socioeconomic class, and Little Rock, Arkansas, which is clearly a Lowland Southern area, but in which several samples of people born and raised there show traces of Inland Southern, notably people in what are often viewed as working class professions. Such areas will be marked on the map surrounded by a dotted red line, and samples showing this variation will be marked with “See Possible Southern Class Distinction?.” Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

However, “Inland Southern” is NOT equivalent to “hillbilly”, nor do people who talk “really really southern” or even “really really country” necessarily speak Inland rather than Lowland. Some people who sound “really really Southern” actually speak Lowland Southern based on the definition I am using, which seems to match high slave density areas, whereas some people whose speech doesn’t sound quite as “strong”, or who are obviously well educated and sophisticated, actually speak Inland Southern. Even so, it is true that areas generally recognized as more “hillbilly”, such as the Appalachians or the Ozarks, do indeed fall within Inland Southern, so one could say that “hillbilly” is definitely a subset of Inland Southern and not of Lowland Southern. As for “redneck”, this term has absolutely no linguistic meaning, so don’t try using this map to find out where the “rednecks” live! Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

 

According to contributor A.T.W., in Texas the status of Inland Southern is different from its status in the east:

I hadn’t realized, until I heard the Fess Parker clip, that the Inland Southern accent is the same as the west/central Texas accent I often hear in Houston. It’s odd, but I think you’re absolutely correct: they’re almost identical.

The interesting point is that this is actually a high status accent here, although regarded as a “hill-billy” accent in the East. When I moved to Texas 30 years ago and decided to adopt a slightly more local “voice” in my law practice, this was the accent I adopted -- it was the dialect of the senior lawyers and judges, oil men, and others with whom I wanted to communicate. Many of them came from wealthier ranching families in central Texas and settled in Houston as the first post-war generation of professionals and white-collar business people. I suspect this is a somewhat dated status distinction today, but that dialect still tends to receive something similar to the automatic credence which an educated English accent used to get in the northeast. 10-Mar.-2011

Who woulda thunk it?

 

Original Area of Inland Southern

But all this leaves the question: Where did Inland Southern start out? What was its original area? If we look at this map showing settlement as of 1800, we see that the earliest settled areas of what is now the Inland South region are located on either side of the Cumberland Gap, through which nearly all of the western settlement from the South took place at that time. This settlement process would have involved much mixing of populations and dialects, and it seems likely that Inland Southern was the result of this mixing, thus distinguishing it from the more settled Lowland Southern. I have now marked the Cumberland Gap on my map, and it can be seen that it lies almost exactly in the center of the northernmost node of Inland Southern, which would have been its original area. The Appalachian Mountains themselves, including the Cumberland Gap area, were not settled until later, since it was not desirable land, but the settlers were evidently speakers moving south from this original area, as the map suggests. 29-Apr.-2010

This does not explain why Inland Southern is almost non-existent in West Virginia (except for the Hatfield-McCoy area), which speaks almost entirely Lowland Southern in the southern part, in spite of being almost entirely mountains, and Midland in the north. It turns out that its settlement pattern was different from the rest of the Appalachians (check out this interesting 1861 voting map, which lines up almost exactly with my map). In any case Inland Southerners apparently tended to move east and south into new lands, not north. 30-Apr.-2010

Classical Southern and African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

The r-dropping areas in the Lowland South (marked with a dark green line) could be described as “Classical Southern”. This is the accent that Scarlett O’Hara is attempting to imitate in this clip from Gone with the Wind. This area represents the heart of the old plantation system, as can be seen on the map mentioned above. However, this feature seems to only occur in older settled areas, and does not occur in western areas on the Mississippi River or farther west that were settled after about 1825. 7-Dec.-2009

Within this area older speakers seem to be consistent in maintaining this pattern. However, many younger ones in this area seem to be pronouncing all of their r’s, and I will include some of these with a comment. Outside of this area (but always within the Lowland Southern area) there will occasionally be much older speakers who do speak Classical Southern. I will comment individually on each of these, and will mark their city surrounded by a dotted green line. 23-July-2011

African American Vernacular English (AAVE), the dialect of most African Americans in the United States, is derived from Classical Southern, and shares its main features and many other features. However, it also has a number of distinctive features. I have not generally included AAVE in this study, since its geographical distribution tends to be independent of “white” dialects, primarily because after the Civil War large numbers of former slaves moved to all parts of the U.S., and tended to form their own communities, retaining their unique dialect. However, in many areas of the Lowland South no such migration occurred, and in these areas AAVE and “white” dialects share features and clearly have developed together, so in these areas I have sometimes included AAVE samples. AAVE tends to retain r-dropping more than “white” dialects do, even among younger speakers, and throughout the United States in African American communities. Adj. 2-Jan.-2012

 

The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives

As can be seen on the map, the pin-pen merger is primarily a Southern feature, but has spread well beyond the South. I suspect that this has happened for two principal historical processes, both of them involving Southerners moving west and North. 12-June-2010

 

1. The first was the settlement of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, driven in part by the political issues concerning slavery surrounding the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Evidently the bulk of the Southern settlement stopped at the Platte River in what is now eastern Nebraska, as can be seen by the comment about people “sympathetic towards the Confederate cause” in the Wikipedia article about Lincoln, Nebraska. This is where the pin-pen line runs in Eastern Nebraska: south of the Platte River. (The rest of Nebraska was not really settled until after the Civil War, and the line crosses to the north side of the Platte River west of Grand Island, though it does return to it briefly between Gothenburg and North Platte. At North Platte the river splits into the North and South Platte, and as the pin-pen line moves west it stays north of the North Platte.) Adj. 7-Nov.-2011

 

2. Farther west the line runs much further north, and, I suspect, was spread north up the cattle drive trails from Texas in the late 1800’s, presumably by Texas cowboys who hired on for a drive and decided to settle down somewhere along the trail home. This can be seen by comparing the pin-pen line with this map of the cattle drive trails. 29-Apr.-2011

Another view of this map that is slightly easier to read is: www.foatwurth.com/index_files/image3671.gif (from www.foatwurth.com/index_files/GreatTrails.htm). This map is quite accurate, even though the red trails were added to show details from a fictional book, and the “Hat Creek Cattle Company” is fictional. Other maps corroborating the northern extent of the cattle trails are: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cattle-trails.jpg and www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/thro/images/thro8.jpg (from www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/thro/throb.htm). See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_drives_in_the_United_States, where Miles City, MT and Medora, ND are specifically mentioned.

 

In addition to these two major influences, there are several additional areas for the pin-pen merger. One, which is no surprise, is that there is a small area of pin-pen merger that spreads west from the tail end of the Southern area. This seems to reach as far west as Arizona, but does not reach California. This area was settled by a mixed population even before the Civil War, but these included a large proportion of southerners, and during the Civil war the southern half of what became Arizona and New Mexico seceded from the Union, as discussed in the Wikipedia article on Traditional Arizona. 29-Apr.-2011

Another very interesting area is the San Joaquin Valley in California, which apparently adopted the pin-pen merger during the Great Depression, as a result of over a million “Okies” who moved there in the 1930’s. The ANAE had marked just Bakersfield as “pin”=“pen”, but the merger appears to cover the entire valley. However, obviously older speakers do not have it: contributor James Divine, who grew up mostly around Fresno, and was born in the mid 1940’s, has “pin”≠“pen”. (I had previously thought that this merger also extended north to include parts of the Sacramento Valley as well, which is the northern part of California’s Central Valley, but contributor Jon, a native of Sacramento, assures me that in Sacramento “pin”≠“pen”). 20-May-2011

Another area, which to me was a bit unexpected, is the Salt Lake City area. 11-Jan.-2011

 

The following is from contributor Branden Collingsworth (thanks!):

My wife and I are from Nebraska. She was born in Omaha and I was born in Lincoln. More than once I’ve asked her to “hand me that pen” and she replies “The pen or the pin?” I’ve tried to convince her that there is no difference in the pronunciation: of course, I don’t hear it. I was pretty amused to learn that we speak different sub-dialects. 14-Feb.-2011

 

New York City and Its Offspring

The Greater New York City dialect is the second most unusual dialect in all of North America (after New Orleans). It has many unusual features, and, more than any other city, New York seems to have historically shown great variation by social class, which is why I give so many audio examples. The following descriptions explain the classes marked in the chart with **: 10-May-2011

The classic working class dialect has “curl”=“coil”, and “dese” and “dose”; the latter is still heard in the modern working class dialect. Bennett Cerf and Humphrey Bogart are classic middle class, and have “curl”=“coil”, but not “dese” and “dose”. The curl-coil merger has nearly died out, according to William Labov, though there are plenty of well-known examples in recent history. Actually, it hasn’t completely died out! I have recently found two clips of people from Greater New York City who do still retain the curl-coil merger, Tommy DeVito and Skip Tollefson. And even Regis Philbin still seems to use the old pronunciation of the “curl”/”coil” vowel in a few words, like “circus” in his video clip. 3-Mar.-2011

Franklin Roosevelt and Teddy Roosevelt both speak what is sometimes called Mid-Atlantic English, (quite distinct from what the ANAE chapter 17 calls Mid-Atlantic, which I am calling Atlantic Midland). According to the Wikipedia article, Teddy speaks more “naturally” than Franklin, but structurally I see little difference between their dialects. They do not seem to have the had - bad distinction of New York City, reflecting instead the British 15-vowel system. Eleanor Roosevelt, Teddy’s niece and Franklin’s wife, went to an even greater extreme, and spoke almost pure Standard British English. (She was raised mostly in the U.S., but was educated with private tutors, and went to finishing school in England.) Another sample, that of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, shows the Eastern New England variety of Mid-Atlantic English, with only the 14 vowels of Eastern New England. 14-Apr.-2011

The ANAE chapter 17 says that “One of the most startling facts about New York City is the narrow extent of its influence in the surrounding area,” and that its boundary “has remained fixed for more than two centuries... This geographic restriction appears to be associated with the negative prestige of the New York City vernacular...” In other words, everybody thinks the New York City dialect is really weird, even though we are all fascinated with it!

The differences are of class, not section of town, according to William Labov: The ANAE chapter 17 says “Within this metropolitan linguistic area, there is no reliable evidence for geographic differentiation. The stereotype Brooklynese is used to refer to working-class New York City speech, whether the speaker is a resident of Brooklyn, Queens, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, or Jersey City. Many members of the public are convinced that they can recognize a Queens or Bronx or Jersey accent, but it appears that these geographic labels are in fact labels for perceived social class differences.”

Though its influence on the surrounding area has been limited, it has had a lot of effect on the speech of Cincinnati and of New Orleans (see the Dialect Description Chart), and shares the short-a split with the Atlantic Midland region.

New Orleans

The various dialects of New Orleans make it the most unusual dialect situation in all of North America. Some neighborhoods speak Classical Southern, and other neighborhoods speak a dialect which doesn’t sound Southern at all, but instead sounds exactly like New York City until you listen for a while. I have taken several dialect samples from this clip from the “YEAH, YOU RITE” documentary. This clip is a dialect student’s dream, and explains in some detail the dialect situation in New Orleans. I used four samples from this clip because it was clear what neighborhood of New Orleans they were each from. I would have used more, but it was impossible to determine what part of town the other speakers were from.

The entire documentary does not seem to be available on the Internet, except for purchase. I did, however, find a transcript, which helped a bit in identifying speakers. 14-Jan.-2011

New Orleans seems to be the only city in North America in which the entire city does not have the same dialect. In this respect it is like London of the early 1900’s, as is implied by the speaker on the park bench who refers to “’Enry ’Iggins or Higgins”, the dialect expert in the movie My Fair Lady. This fact, explained in some detail by several of the speakers in the “YEAH, YOU RITE” documentary, seems to have been missed by the ANAE (Ch. 18) (see pages 259 and following), since they treat the city as a whole in their descriptions.

Help! I need a lot more info about New Orleans neighborhoods and their dialects. In particular, I would love to know who the guy on the park bench is, and where exactly he grew up. (I at least now have that information about the narrator, Billy Delle!) 14-Apr.-2011

Wards: It is not uncommon for New Orleanians to identify where they are from by their ward number, and several of the speakers do so. These are not neighborhoods, but voting wards, and seem to radiate away from the Mississippi River in long strips. For a map of the wards. see: www.louisianarebuilds.info/files/wards.pdf. 23-Feb.-2010

 

Where do they speak without an accent? Or where do they speak “General American”?

This question implies that there is an accepted standard of spoken American English which is perceived as not having any strictly regional features. In other words, any features which are distinctly northern, southern, eastern or western would be excluded. And indeed there is such a standard, used by most radio and television news staff throughout the U.S. Applying such a definition rigorously leaves us with the orange striped areas on the map, in parts of the Central Midland and South Florida, and the southern fringe of the North. Applying a slightly less rigorous definition would also include some neighboring areas on the map, although these all have some noticeable regional features. For instance, San Francisco and East Midland both sound just a little bit too eastern, areas below the pin-pen line sound just a bit southern, etc. The Wikipedia article on General American covers the question fairly well, and in some detail, and I recommend reading it. The area mapped in that article covers the same general area in the Midwest as mine, but I would not include all of the cities included there.

The Canadian standard dialect is obviously distinct from the American one, and corresponds to what is spoken in most of Canada, excluding the Atlantic Provinces. Adj. 21-Dec.-2011

 

Do some geographic features coincide with dialect boundaries or areas? 17-Dec.-2010

Yes, some do, though obviously many do not. I have included a number of the former on the map, and even a few of the latter. These are all marked on the map in Dark Blue, or in a few cases in Rust.

 

The following geographic features (arranged more or less from west to east) seem to have a direct correlation with some dialect area, boundary, or feature: Adj. 1-Nov.-2011

 

Suisun /səsōōn/ [səˈsun] Bay: This bay, along with the Carquinez /kärnəs/ [ˌkʰɑɹˈkʰinəs] Strait, San Francisco Bay, and the Golden Gate (which are not marked) define the northern border of the San Francisco Bay dialect. 28-Apr.-2011

The San Joaquín /săn wŏkēn/ [ˌsæn ˌwɑˈkʰin] River: See The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives. 28-Apr.-2011

The Sierra Nevada (California): The dip in long /ō/ [oʊ] fronting in the Great Basin (possibly represented by Mormon settlement) stopped at the Sierra Nevada.

Death Valley: Obviously a geographic barrier to travel! Continues the Great Basin line. 5-Mar.-2011

Grand Canyon: Obviously a geographic barrier to travel! Continues the Great Basin line. 5-Mar.-2011

The western edge of the great plains: (Thanks to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_physiographic_region for a map of the U.S. portion of this line.) This line seems to affect dialect features only in the north and in the far south. This is probably because the west was largely settled along a few major trails that passed through the central section of the country, but not in the north or south, where the mountains proved to be a serious barrier.

1. In the north, when the bite-bout line hits the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming as it moves west, it turns north and follows the edge of the plains all the way into northern British Columbia, suggesting that the Rocky Mountains tended to block the continued westward movement of speakers from north of this line, and that points west were settled primarily by speakers from south of the bite-bout line. If we look at a map of the Oregon Trail, by which the vast majority of early settlement (mainly 1846-1869) of the northwest took place, we can see that this was true, whereas there were no major trails north of the Oregon Trail, either in the U.S. or in Canada. After 1869 the First Transcontinental Railroad replaced the Oregon Trail as the primary means of travelling west, but followed approximaetely the same route across the great plains and for the first part of its path into the mountains. The funneling effect that these two processes had on western settlement can be seen on this map and this map showing where western settlement had reached in 1890. Adj. 9-Oct.-2011
                It would appear that even most of British Columbia was primarily settled from the south or by the Pacific Ocean, not from the east: Coastal B.C. was apparently already well settled when it joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871, before any of the Prairie Provinces did, and there had been a huge influx of Americans in 1858 because of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Even the first railroad connecting B.C. to the rest of Canada was only completed in 1885. Even so, over the decades these transplants seem to have fully accepted their Canadian identity and even adopted the “Badge of Identity”!

2. In the far south, the mountains seem to block further westward expansion of the Inland South dialect, certainly in southern New Mexico, and probably also in west Texas, though south of El Paso this area is so sparsely populated and has such a high Mexican population that I have yet to find a sound sample of a native English speaker from this area. Anyone got one? Please send it in! The El Paso dialect probably owes the fact that it is east of the cot-caught line and south of the pin-pen line to influence from the South, but it clearly is not Southern by the definition of that dialect, and must have had significant admixture from the West and perhaps from the Midland.

The Black Hills (South Dakota): Both the purple pin-pen line and the yellow long /ō/ [oʊ] fronting line of dots bend around these. Thus they avoided the pin-pen merger, not being on the route of any of the cattle drives from Texas, for obvious geographic reasons. They also were apparently not settled primarily by settlers moving straight west, as the yellow dots show. Actually, they were settled very rapidly during the 1875-1878 gold rush, by people from all over the place! In 1880, the area was the most densely populated part of Dakota Territory.

The Nebraska Sand Hills: See The Unique Position of Nebraska.

The North Platte River: See The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives. Also, the Oregon Trail followed this until the point where it bends southwards in Wyoming, and this may be part of the reason that the bite-bout line stayed north of it, as discussed under The western edge of the great plains above. Adj. 9-Oct.-2011

The Platte River: (Not labelled for reasons of space, though its tributaries the North and South Platte are labelled.) See The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives. Adj. 7-Nov.-2011

The Lake of the Woods: This lake forms part of the border between the U.S. and Canada, but a piece of Minnesota, the Northwest Angle, lies north of the lake. This happened because of geographical confusion affecting the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Do the people there talk like Americans or Canadians? Americans! 29-Dec.-2010

The Appalachian Mountains, Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, and St. Francois /frănsĭs/ ænsɪs] Mountains: These are all mountain ranges associated with the Inland South.

The Ohio River: Marks the border between the South and the Midland for much of Kentucky, although even here it moves north of the river a time or two. How much of this was due to geography (it was easier for settlers to stay on their own side of the river as they went west), and how much was due to politics (slavery was only allowed on the south side of the river) is unclear. 12-July-2011

The Cumberland Gap: According to my theory, this was the area where Inland South originated and spread.

The Hudson River and the Erie Canal: The North dialect, and its central subdialect the Inland North were largely spread westward by way of these two waterways, as discussed in ANAE Ch. 14, pp. 212-213. This partially explains the strange hourglass shape of the Inland North subdialect, since all of the settlement came by boat to Buffalo and then continued up Lake Erie. (Originally the hourglass did not have quite so tight a waist, since originally Erie, Pennsylvania and probably also Ashtabula and Painesville, Ohio were part of the Inland North, as explained in Shared Features Across the U.S. - Canada Border.) 11-Feb.-2011

 

I have also included a few geographical features which do not seem to have any correlation with dialect features:

 

The Sacramento River: Unlike the San Joaquín River above, this does not seem to have any special features. 28-Apr.-2011

The South Platte River: See The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives.

The Mississippi River: In spite of being the greatest river in the U.S., and forming state boundaries for almost its entire course, it has had absolutely no effect on dialect patterns! Of course, it stood perpendicular to the entire western settlement flow, so people had no alternative but to find a way across!

The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers: (Not labelled for reasons of space.) These rivers run mostly through rugged mountains or broken plateau country, and for the most part do not have a wide flood plain suitable for plantation agriculture, required, according to my theory, for the spread of Lowland Southern. The only areas that do are the middle section of the Cumberland River, centered on Nashville, one section of the Tennessee River in Alabama, and the small area around Chattanooga. Adj. 2-Nov.-2011

Do state or provincial borders coincide with dialect boundaries?

No, they don’t! From the map it is clear that the dialect boundaries totally ignore state and provincial borders, except for a very few exceptions. One of the few places where a dialect boundary does seem to follow a state boundary is the northern border of Kentucky, which is also the northern border of the South. However, it turns out that this is actually a geographical feature, the Ohio River, and even here the line doesn’t follow the river all the way. 6-Sep.-2011

In spite of this, one often hears people refer to a “Texas accent” (there are really three, just considering the blue and red lines!), or a “Massachusetts accent” (there are really four!). In fact, there isn’t a single dialect area on this map that could be described as a “state dialect”: they are all either significantly larger or smaller than a state! 17-Aug.-2010

 

Which states are the most linguistically complex?

As for which state has the most distinct dialect areas (defined by the blue and red lines), the winner appears to be Pennsylvania, with five dialect areas, though Louisiana may also have five, depending on how New Orleans is treated. 17-Aug.-2010

The runners up, with four, are: Illinois, Kansas, Massachussetts, Nebraska, and Ohio, and possibly also Maryland and New York (data is lacking for the latter two). It could also be argued that West Virginia has four, since in all other cases I have treated the loss of a vowel phoneme as grounds for defining a new dialect, but I am hesitant to introduce a new dialect on these grounds alone, “Allegheny Lowland Southern”, since this phoneme loss here may be viewed as a minor spillover from up north. 23-Mar.-2011

 

The Unique Position of Nebraska

The state of Nebraska is unique (besides the fact that my wife is from there) in that it is the linguistic center of North America, where east, west, north, and south meet. Thus, besides the fact that it has four dialect areas based on the blue and red lines, 2 major linguistic divisions also run through it: the light blue cot-caught line (running north to south, separating the blue hatched area from the non-hatched area), which divides the U.S. into western and eastern regions, and the purple pin-pen line (running east to west), which divides the U.S. into northern and southern regions. The 7 towns shown in the chart on the right serve to determine the exact linguistic center of North America, which is found at some point between Gibbon and Grand Island. 5-Nov.-2010

Do people who live in Kearney say, “Oh, yes, the people in Grand Island really talk different from us!”? No! They don’t even notice the differences until these are pointed out, even though these differences are easily demonstrated through word comparison, and make a difference phonemically. Even people from Grand Island don’t notice them, and they would have more of a reason to do so, since it involves the loss of distinctions that they retain. (I have personally interviewed many people from this whole area, and these lines are very real and well-defined!) Most people’s internal filters prevent them from being aware of such differences: they adjust what they hear to their own sound system. 4-Sep.-2010

The blue line separating The North (the pale green area) from The Midland (the white area) makes some very sharp bends in Nebraska. These suggest that Grand Island, Henderson (number 8), and York were settled by people from The North, but that places farther east and west were not. And this proves to be the case for the data available: Grand Island was settled in 1857 by people from Davenport, Iowa (just across from Rock Island, Illinois), after which the town was moved in 1862 (or 1866 according to the preceding link) to its current site. Columbus (7), just to the east of Grand Island, was settled by people from Columbus, Ohio in 1856. As the map shows, the dialects of Columbus, Ohio and Columbus, Nebraska are similar, except that the former has “pin”=“pen” and the latter has “pin”≠“pen”. (York, Nebraska was founded in 1869, though it does not appear that its early residents came from any particular area. I can find no information about the founding of Henderson, Gresham, Thayer, or Utica.) The origin of the settlers east of York and south of the pin-pen line has already been discussed under The Pin-Pen Merger, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives. Adj. 8-Nov.-2011

West of Grand Island the differences are even more abrupt, with both the pin-pen line and the yellow dots indicating the backing of the /ō/ [o] vowel bending sharply north, and the cot-caught line splitting Nebraska into two parts at the same place. Part of the explanation for this is that the Nebraska Sand Hills remained essentially empty until much later than other areas of Nebraska, with little settlement until the 1904 Kinkaid Act, and were apparently settled primarily from the south and west, by people interested in cattle ranching. This explains why the bulge of the West Midland goes so far north, reaching to the northern edge of the Sand Hills along its entire length, but it does not really explain why the lines turn sharply north just west of Grand Island, since Broken Bow and Ravenna are south of the Sand Hills. However, dates of settlement still seem to provide the explanation, since Broken Bow (1882) and Ravenna (1886) were settled much later than Grand Island (1857-1862) or St. Paul (1871). Even Kearney, a much larger town which was originally settled as early as 1871, grew so rapidly that its original population was evidently swamped by the newcomers. North Platte was settled even earlier, in 1866, as the winter stopping point for the transcontinental railroad, which built a major depot there in 1869. Thus both Kearney and North Platte were founded and grew rapidly as a result of the First Transcontinental Railroad, whereas Grand Island was founded much earlier, and grew more slowly after the arrival of the railroad, apparently allowing it to retain its original dialect. Adj. 9-Nov.-2011

I have no idea why the towns between North Platte and Gothenburg (9) lie north of the pin-pen line while a group of towns around Kearney lie to the south, but I have interviewed many people from both North Platte and Kearney, so there is no uncertainty! I also cannot explain the double twist the pin-pen line makes as it moves farther west, but I have interviewed two different natives of Stapleton (2), and it definitely has “pin”=“pen”. Adj. 9-Nov.-2011

(I had earlier stated that the importance of North Platte and Kearney was due to their location on the Oregon Trail, but in fact they did not exist that early, only Grand Island did. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, it essentially did away with the Oregon Trail, something I had not considered. I also stated that Grand Island was off the trail because it was north of the river, but this was also incorrect.) Adj. 9-Nov.-2011

Towns that Determine the

Linguistic Center of North America

 

 

West:

“cot”=“caught”

East:

“cot”≠“caught”

North:

“pin”≠“pen”

Broken Bow

St. Paul (4)

Grand Island

South:

“pin”=“pen”

Ravenna

Gibbon

Hastings

Harvard

z 5-Nov.-2010

The U.S. - Canada Border and the “Badge of Identity”

How about the national border between Canada and United States? This is a different story, and in fact this border is also the southern boundary of the Canadian dialect for almost its entire length. This dialect’s notable characteristic is the “Canadian raising” of the vowels in words like “out” and “house” (where the vowel is followed by a voiceless consonant), but not in “loud” and “now”. This feature appears to be viewed by Canadians as a sort of badge of identity, and defines the border rather clearly! Granted, it also occurs in the Tidewater South, but since this is far from the Canadian border, and since their dialect bears no other resemblance to Canadian English, it doesn’t matter!

I suspect that historically the retention of this badge of identity has been to some degree conscious and intentional: It is important for Canadians to counter the idea that many Americans have that “Canadians are really just like us”, and to have some kind of distinct identity. I really like Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote: “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt”. 15-Apr.-2011

However, this doesn’t fully explain the situation. At least two Canadian contributors have written in and begged to differ with this analysis, saying that the vast majority of Canadians are totally unaware of how they pronounce things, and are certainly not consciously putting on the Canadian raising as a kind of affectation. And of course they are absolutely right! The vast majority of speakers of any language are totally unaware of the fine detail of their pronunciation system, and most Americans and Canadians can not tell what side of the border someone is from simply by their pronunciation. So why hasn’t this feature seeped across the border to the U.S. side at any point? Other features have crossed the border freely, as the next section shows, but this one has not. Well, part of the explanation may be that a small percentage of people are able to discern features like Canadian raising, and perhaps some of these people, perhaps on both sides of the border, have lit on this particular feature as being a badge of identity for Canadians, and have helped keep it from crossing the border. So maybe it’s as much the Americans as the Canadians who have kept it a Canadian feature! 6-Sep.-2011

On the other hand, at least one section of Canada, southern British Columbia, was evidently settled mostly by Americans or Europeans, with little direct immigration from previously settled areas of Canada, since the center of the country was still largely unpopulated, as discussed in the Do some geographic features coincide with dialect boundaries or areas?” section under the discussion of the bite-bout line. And yet all of these settlers adopted the Canadian raising, and the line follows the U.S.-Canadian border all the way to the Pacific. Why did this happen unless at least some people felt that this was a badge of identity for Canadians? 15-Apr.-2011

 

However, there is one exception to this rule about Canadian raising and the national border: Newfoundland and Labrador do not have Canadian raising. Again, since they are nowhere near the national border, in a way this doesn’t matter, but it is unexpected, given how solid the feature is throughout the rest of Canada and even in the Maritimes! However, contributor Bob Goudreau has pointed out that there is really a simple explanation that actually bolsters my badge of identity theory: “The province of Newfoundland and Labrador did not even join Canada until 1949. ‘Newfies’ would have had no reason to sound self-consciously Canadian, because they were NOT Canadian until then (just a British colony a la Bermuda, etc.).” Cool. 15-Jan.-2011

For a while I had thought that there was a second exception, because I thought I had found an area in Southeastern Quebec where Canadian raising did not apply, Specifically the cities of Montreal and Sherbrooke. However, the samples I had selected were ethnic French speakers, and even though their English showed no trace of a French accent, Chris Harvey says that ethnic French speakers are not the best samples of the native English Montreal accent. Check out the two samples I have now included for Montreal. It seems my entire idea was wrong that, because the Stanstead area was settled by Americans, they would still speak like Americans rather than Canadians. Chris Harvey assures me that they do not. Apparently the “Badge of Identity” applies here, too! However, I am still looking for good sound samples for Sherbrooke and Stanstead. Please send me some if you have them! 17-July-2010

This is not to say that this is the only feature that distinguishes Canadian from American English: The Canadian shift, discussed in detail in ANAE Ch. 14, affects many Canadian vowels. However, the Canadian raising is what most people tend to notice, which is why I think that it has become the badge of identity. 29-Dec.-2010

Read the next section for more insight on this question. 15-Apr.-2011

 

Shared Features Across the U.S. - Canada Border

Another thing that suggests that Canadian raising is a badge of identity is that plenty of other dialect features cross the border freely. If we look at the map we see that in the west several dialect feature lines cross the border, in particular the bite-bout line, making parts of British Columbia sound more like the neighboring Americans than the neighboring Canadians, except of course that they do have the Canadian raising. In the Great Lakes area the bite-bout line again crosses the border three times, making Windsor similar to its neighbor Detroit in only this one feature, and farther north making the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie share this feature as well, but on the other side of the line.

But of course the big thing shared by Canadians with many Americans, in both the east and west, is the cot-caught merger. In fact, this feature is shared along the western two-thirds of the border, and it seems almost certain, simply by a quick look at the map, that the North Central dialect borrowed this feature from Canada, since this is the only feature that distinguishes North Central from the North. How much the West derived this feature from Canada is uncertain, but it must have been significant, since they not only share this feature, but also the fronting of the long /ōō/ [u] vowel.

In the east there are two areas along the border where this feature is shared across the border. Obviously the border shared by the Maritimes and Quebec with New England is one of them, and it is extremely probable that this feature was shared across this border very early in the history of the two nations, or even before they split into two nations in 1776! The other area is Lake Erie, where there are a line of cities on the American side that have the cot-caught merger. Was this due to Canadian influence? It would seem unlikely, except that another dialect feature crosses into Canada at this same point: one of the degrees of the long /ō/ [oʊ] Fronting line, and another dialect line is split at this point, the bite-bout line. So who knows? On the other hand, the ANAE Ch. 14, pp. 203-206 suggests that there was no such influence, since the city of Erie, Pennsylvania was originally part of the Inland North (and presumably Ashtabula and Painesville were also, though these are not mentioned in the ANAE), and only later became Allegheny Midland. Because of this I have not shown the cot-caught line crossing Lake Erie. 14-Jan.-2011

However, even with various features crossing the border, this does not mean that towns on opposite sides of the border will sound particularly similar. As mentioned above, Windsor and Detroit sound extremely different, sharing only one important feature. But even towns sharing more features don’t really sound that close: Tammy Faye Bakker Messner from International Falls, Minnesota, and Duncan Keith from across the river in Fort Frances, Ontario pronounce their /ō/ [o] vowels the same, and also their /ou/ [ɑʊ] vowels in words like “down”, but many of their other vowels are very different. The fact that they are neighboring towns in a remote area don’t seem to matter: one is American and the other Canadian, and that matters more! 6-Sep.-2011

 

About Me

I am a professional linguist and a Christian missionary, working in indigenous Amerindian languages. My work has nothing to do with English, so that is why this project is just a hobby.

A few readers have asked where I am from, and what dialect I speak. Actually, I am the total opposite of the kind of people I am looking for for the sound samples on my map: They have each been born and raised in one specific place in the U.S. or Canada. I was born in Mexico City, the son of Christian missionaries, and moved back and forth between Mexico and various places in the U.S. throughout my childhood, spending most of my time in the U.S. in the Oklahoma City area. My parents met in Mexico.

My father was born and raised in Port Chester, New York. He spoke a number of different languages. He did not have a Port Chester accent (Eastern North; check out the two sound samples I have listed), but instead spoke essentially General American, the one relic of his Eastern North upbringing being that he distinguished words like “merry” /měrē/ [ˈmɛɹi] and “marry” /mărē/ [ˈmæɹi].

My mother had an even more interesting background. She was born in Sydney, Australia, of parents who immigrated there from Scotland. When she was 10, the family moved to Berkeley, California. When she arrived, she had a strong Australian accent, but due to the ridicule of her peers, she quickly adopted a Bay Area accent, and sounded thoroughly American for the rest of her life. However, the Australian system had apparently established itself in her subconscious, because after I got interested in English dialects, I asked her if the words “father” and “bother” rhymed for her (see The Father-Bother Distinction above). She said, “Oh, no, they are quite different!” “Really?” I said. “Say them for me.” And when she said them, they both had the very same vowel, rhyming perfectly, following the Bay Area pattern. But they still felt different to her, because in her childhood she had pronounced them with very different vowels, and that phonemic system was apparently still there, though covered up by a Bay Area surface system. She also clearly distinguished “merry” and “marry”, which is not a Bay Area feature, but evidently a remnant of her Australian childhood. She also rhymed “on” with “Don”, which matches both Berkeley and Australia. (For other cases in which a phonemic system can be fixed by the age of 10, see the footnote for John Hoeven). 1-Nov.-2010

So, what accent do I have? I turns out that I speak fairly pure General American, probably because all of my schooling was in English in an American style school, even when I lived in Mexico. For the most part I don’t follow my parents’ speech patterns. For instance, they both distinguish “merry” and “marry”, and I do not. Specifically, in my dialect “cot”≠“caught” (with a clear Central Midland pattern, not the raised /ô/ [oə] of the northeastern U.S.), “pin”≠“pen”, and “on” rhymes with “Don”. Even though I spent seven years in the Oklahoma City/Norman area between the ages of 7 and 18, I didn’t pick up any influence there, since in this area “pin”=“pen” and “on” rhymes with “Dawn”. 8-June-2011

The one area in which I seem to have followed my parents, and differ from most Americans, is that I don’t pronounce the “l” in “calm” or “yolk” or “talk” (see The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk”). 8-June-2011

So what area matches my dialect? No area matches my dialect exactly, though the closest seems to be South Florida, especially the southern part below the “on” line, though I think my native pronunciation of the long /ō/ [oʊ] vowel is a bit more backed, and I don’t know yet how South Florida handles the words in The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk”). (I had previously thought that Canton, Ohio was also a close match, but it has a strongly raised “bat” vowel, whereas I do not.) I suspect that many others who moved constantly in their youth, such as “army brats” or missionary kids like myself, will have a similar pattern, which could be called something like “Transient General American”. (South Florida was populated by transients, especially the southern half, so the fact that it has this dialect should not be surprising.) On the other hand, most people who grow up in those Central Midland areas which have a General American accent as their native dialect normally rhyme “on” with “Dawn”, not “Don”. Adj. 18-Nov.-2011

To hear a sample of my speech, listen to the CBC interview Nora Young did with me. 26-Mar.-2011



[1] Why would this feature be incorrectly mapped by the ANAE, whereas all the other features were mapped correctly? Actually, I think there is a simple explanation: this is pretty much the only mapped feature that involves only a partial phoneme merger, not a complete merger. Everyone clearly distinguishes “bit” and “bet”, but not everyone distinguishes “pin” and “pen”. I know a lady from Axtell, Nebraska, who, when I asked her if she said “pin” and “pen” the same or different, said, “Different, of course! I’m a schoolteacher.” However, after that I had ample opportunity to listen to her speak, and in fact she says them both the same, and definitely has the pin-pen merger in all such words! Thus, her perception is very different from her production. I think that this is due to this being only a partial phoneme merger: she knows that the two vowels are different, so feels like she must pronounce them differently in all situations, when in fact she does not! I expect that this is why the ANAE showed the merger in a far smaller area than it in fact covers. New! 6-Aug.-2011

[2] The ANAE included the St. Louis Corridor in the Midland, even though it really has more in common with the North!

[3] This dialect area was a separate area in the ANAE, but had no name as such. This is part of what the ANAE (Ch. 9, p. 67) calls the “Hoosier apex” (see also Ch. 12, p. 153, Ch. 14, p. 212, and Ch. 21, p. 289), though I have demonstrated that it goes much farther north than the ANAE shows, into the North. (Others define the “Hoosier apex” as an area of southern Indiana in which Inland Southern is spoken, but neither the ANAE (Ch. 11, p. 147) nor I have been able to find any samples of this.) 11-Jan.-2010

[4] The ANAE has the bite-bout line going above this dialect area, but in some of the samples the vowel of “bout” sounds too far back for this to be true. 11-Jan.-2011

[5] Various attempts have been made to divide the Midland into a “South Midland” segment and a “North Midland” segment, since there does tend to be gradation from south to north. However, as can be seen by the pin-pen line and the pale blue Long /ō/ [oʊ] fronting line, which do not line up with any consistency, there is no clear way to do this. Granted, the pin-pen line represents a structural difference, so it is perhaps the more important of the two, and I have actually made the split on this basis, by defining General American as being north of the pin-pen line. Adj. 18-Nov.-2011

[6] The purple pin-pen line bends south to go around Cincinnati, but only Cincinnati has the other New York City features that make it unique. Cincinnati turns out to be a linguistic island, which matches the conclusions of the ANAE. Adj. 12-July-2011

[7] Called “Western Pennsylvania” by ANAE. However, it extends well outside of Pennsylvania. It corresponds fairly closely in east-west extent to the Allegheny mountains and plateau. It could also be called “Coal Fields Midland”, since it seems to correspond very closely to the extent of the coal fields in the northeastern U.S., and there is probably a historical reason for this, associated with the spread of coal-mining. Perhaps the same process of population mixing caused the cot-caught merger here as in the West. (I had called this dialect East Midland for a while, but am now using East Midland for the dialect to the east of it.)

[8] From the map one might surmise that Central Midland spread all the way to Oklahoma City, and then West Midland worked its way south, separating Oklahoma City from Central Midland. However, in view of the history of white settlement of Oklahoma, I suspect that this is not what happened. Instead, what happened was that central Oklahoma was settled first by white settlers, in the 1889 land run and the 1891 land runs, several years before the rest of Oklahoma was settled in later land runs in 1892 and later. This can be clearly seen in this map showing the extent of white settlement in 1890. This original settlement of central Oklahoma in the 1889 run was large (some 50,000) people, and in the 1891 runs some 20,000. These settlers were evidently from all over, making this a melting pot, with the result ending up like Central Midland. Subsequent settlement presumably came from closer by, with West Midland and Inland Southern gradually encroaching to fill the remaining area.

[9] Called “Mid-Atlantic” by ANAE, but this also refers to something quite different: see the article on New York City.

[10] This dialect exists alongside Cajun French in Louisiana. Suggested by Philip Batton and Martin Ball. Thanks! I still don’t have many samples, so send me some, please! 9-Sep.-2010

[11] Information about the precise boundaries of this dialect are based on detailed information provided by Beaufort native and contributor Richard Jefferson. Thanks! New! 11-July-2011

[12] I had originally decided to show only the phonemic pronunciation, following the TDPS. However, I finally realized that I needed to include the IPA, mainly because many non-native speakers of English, like contributor Maria Mikkonen, only use that system. I always enclose these IPA pronunciations in square brackets [ ].

[13] The following is a quick comparison of just the Ordinary Stressed Vowels in the two systems:

Dictionary:

ē

ĭ

ā

ě

ă

ăə

ä

ŏ

ô

ō

ŭ

ŏŏ

ōō

yōō

ī

oi

ou

ANAE:

iy

i

ey

e

æ

æh

ah

o

oh

ow

ʌ

u

uw

yuw / iw

ay

oy

aw / æw

12-June-2010

[14] Everyone has /är/, even those who lack /ä/ otherwise. This may seem a somewhat arbitrary choice, since it may seem more natural for those who do not have /ä/ otherwise to write this combination as /ǒr/ or even /ôr/. However, the reason is that /är/ is far more common than plain /ä/ for those who have it, and it makes more sense systematically to spell it as /är/. Also, /ǒr/ and /ôr/ refer to other sounds, at least in many dialects, as can be seen in the chart.

[15] The Unicode combinations are /o͝o/ and /o͞o/, but for most users these will not display correctly. New! 25-Feb.-2011

[16] It could be argued that in some parts of the South this is not true, at least in words like “new” or “dew”, but is instead something like /ēw/ ([iʊ]), and in fact the ANAE does claim this (Chapter 18, first map). However, phonemically I am skeptical that it makes any difference. 27-Aug.-2010

[17] They tend to be reliable because they generally don’t try to adjust their dialect towards General American. However, occasionally, when they sing (though not when they talk) they sometimes try to sound more country or southern, as in the case of Randy Travis and Collin Raye. Even so, such examples are very rare. 10-Apr.-2010

[18] Before I found the media information about her, I had previously noticed that Sarah Palin didn’t talk like other Alaskans, and had surmised that she was strongly influenced by her parents, who are from Sandpoint, Idaho (in the far north of Idaho). However, I somehow missed the media hubbub about her accent. 13-Jan.-2011

[19] Both these speakers seem to clearly be Lowland Southern based on their pronunciation of words like “right”, but certain other words like “excited” or “like” have the Inland Southern pronunciation, indicating that Little Rock is very close to the border between the two dialects. See Possible Southern Class Distinction?. Adj. 12-Dec.-2011

[20] This speaker is clearly Lowland Southern, showing no “lapses” into Inland Southern (in spite of having lived in that region), indicating that Little Rock (where she was raised) must be placed in the Lowland Southern region.

[21] Many Spanish place names in the western United States begin with the words “Los” or “Las”, being the masculine and feminine plural definite articles. Speakers for whom “cot”≠“caught” typically pronounce “Los” as /lôs/ and “Las” as /lŏs/ (or even, for those with the father-bother distinction, as /läs/). However, those for whom “cot”=“caught” will typically pronounce both forms the same. I have tried in each case to give the local pronunciation, which in most cases represents “cot”=“caught”. 9-May-2011

[22] His speech shows many features of Southern, more so than the other speaker from Melbourne, but his long /ī/ [aɪ] vowels are all diphthongs, so he is not southern by the definition used here.

[23] In this clip are heard state senators E.J. Pipkin and Jim Rosapepe, along with Delegates Michael Smigiel, Jill Carter, and Patrick L. McDonough. All of these people are evidently from Baltimore, and represent the dialect, although Jill Carter shows some features of AAVE (African American Vernacular English).

[24] Somewhat inconsistent, showing influences from the wider world, but pronounces many words in a way which can only be Inland Southern.

[25] The contention in this video is a conspiracy theory, and is not true. The evidence indicates AIDS was brought from Africa by way of Haiti, not through vaccine research.

[26] The conclusion that Miles City is an Island of the North carried far to the west is surprising. However, both of these speakers seem to have almost identical pronunciation, and the conclusion seems clear. “On” also rhymes with “dawn”, at least for Maurice Hilleman, and closely resembles the speech of Governor John Hoeven of Ashley, North Dakota, except that “pin” = “pen”.

[27] This is not a “mispronunciation”: The name was originally “North Fork”, thus the local pronunciation. The U.S. Post Office erroneously changed the official spelling at some point. 27-Aug.-2010

[28] Considering that Mel Blanc spoke “lowest common denominator” English, having grown up in Portland, Oregon, he did an amazing job on an amazing number of accents.

[29] To get to the Outer Banks example, you will have to take the quiz and get it right! The other five regions given do not correspond exactly to regions on my map, although they are all Lowland Southern. The Southern Highlands example given is Lowland Southern, not Inland Southern. 9-Sep.-2010

[30] He lived in Ashley during his formative years, though he was born in Bismarck, and moved to Minot when he was 12. Still, his phonemic system was evidently formed in Ashley, since he clearly distinguishes “cot” and “caught”, whereas Bismarck and Minot do not. I have seen other cases in which a phonemic system was firmly fixed by the age of 10, even though the person never lived in an area with that phonemic system after that. (See also the comment on Tom Osborne, and the comments about my own mother.) Adj. 4-Nov.-2011

[31] All three are said to be “from” Kingfisher, and presumably at least one of them is likely to really represent the local dialect. Leroy speaks pure Inland Southern, whereas the other 2 always have a diphthong in “ride” and “right”. Given this data, I have tentatively put Kingfisher in the Oklahoma City dialect, assuming that Leroy is from elsewhere.

[32] Various web sites show the pronunciation as /ōmə/ [ˌoʊˈkimə], but one web site claims the local pronunciation is actually /ǔkēmə/ [ˈʌkimə]. 27-Aug.-2010

[33] He is described as Director Ray Dennis Steckler’s “buddy since childhood”. Both of them were born and raised in Reading, but Kozlowski has preserved the local dialect much better.

[34] I had previously had Rich Beem for El Paso, but this person seems to represent El Paso better.

[35] The ANAE claims that in Odessa “cot”=“caught”, thus combining features of Inland Southern and the West. However, after extensive research I can find no evidence of this in Odessa or anywhere in the surrounding area. Instead, all I find is classic Inland Southern.

[36] Born in Huntsville, but not clear if raised there, and clearly speaks Inland Southern, whereas as can be seen by the sample from Bud Cramer, who clearly was born and raised here, this is a Lowland Southern area, and the slavery map confirms this. Still, Huntsville is clearly on the border between Inland and Lowland, so there may be a mixture of accents among natives.

[37] This is certainly not a San Francisco accent, as can be seen by comparing it with the three listed above. It’s not clear what kind of accent he has chosen to adopt, perhaps a hint of New York City!

[38] I have been unable to find good audio samples on the Internet of people from extreme southeastern Missouri. At first it seemed that these two (Rush Limbaugh and Terry Teachout) could provide such samples, since they were clearly born and raised in these towns. However, they clearly distinguish pin and pen, and have other features from much further north. I have now interviewed a native of Port Girardeau, and she clearly merges pin and pen, and has other features of the southern portion of Midland, settling the question.

[39] Matt seems to have the Eastern New England system, except that he pronounces all of his r’s. The vowel of “father” can be heard in “garage”, quite distinct from the vowel he uses in “cot” or “caught” (which of course are the same).

[40] This case is very confusing, because coach Fisher lived his entire youth in Clarksburg, and then did three years of college in Salem, which is nearby. This would usually be an excellent indicator of a pure dialect. However, instead of speaking the Allegheny Midland dialect, with no cot-caught distinction, as Labov indicates for Clarksburg, and as the other example above shows, he seems to clearly speak Lowland Southern, which has two major changes from Allegheny Midland: 1) a clear cot-caught distinction and 2) monophthongization of the long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel to [a], which strongly suggests that he has adapted his speech to Lowland Southern. This is unexpected, since most people who are capable of adapting to another dialect choose General American rather than Lowland Southern. However, he did live nearly 20 years in Alabama and Louisiana as an adult, giving him ample opportunity to make this adaptation. 30-Dec.-2010

[41] In fact, I have made the calculation, taking the population of all of the states and provinces, and estimating for the mixed states, and there are approximately 220,000,000 speakers for whom cot ≠ caught, and 130,000,000 for whom cot = caught.