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I pronounce all those words with what can only be described (in my Massachusetts accent) as an "aw" sound:
Florida - ["flQr\@4@]
orange - ["Qr\@ndZ]
forest - ["fQr\Ist]
horrible - ["hQr\@b5=]
moral - ["mQr\@5]
coral - ["k_hQr\@5]
This is because I preserve the "father-bother" distinction. In my accent, the words "sorry", "sari", and "story" all use different vowels.
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Florida, orange, forest, horrible, moral, coral [o(r)]
caught / cot [A]
not at all [nAt aet Al]
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>> Florida, orange, forest, horrible, moral, coral [o(r)]
caught / cot [A]
not at all [nAt aet Al]<<
@P.E.I. How do you say sorry?
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I am trying to find out where my glottal stop comes from. I too seem to drop vowels between Ts and Ns. Kittn. Buttn. Importnt.
I don't know where I cultivated this habit because I've moved around quite a bit. I can say I was born in Southern California and moved to Northern California when I was 3, stayed till I was 7/8 years old, at which point I moved to Florida for two years. Then off to Pennsylvania (about 45 minutes east of Philly) for 8 years. Then on to Rhode Island for four years, and now I'm in the Central Valley in California, where a friend of mine here pointed out my glottal stop. He thinks it's funny, but I'm just interested in where it originated.
Anyone have a clue?
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I also add an A to the end of words for no rhyme or reason. No-a! Hey-a! And I twist the O in Mom so that I believe it sounds like I'm saying Maawm. Anyone know where I picked this up?
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>> I am trying to find out where my glottal stop comes from. I too seem to drop vowels between Ts and Ns. Kittn. Buttn. Importnt.
I don't know where I cultivated this habit because I've moved around quite a bit. I can say I was born in Southern California and moved to Northern California when I was 3, stayed till I was 7/8 years old, at which point I moved to Florida for two years. Then off to Pennsylvania (about 45 minutes east of Philly) for 8 years. Then on to Rhode Island for four years, and now I'm in the Central Valley in California, where a friend of mine here pointed out my glottal stop. He thinks it's funny, but I'm just interested in where it originated.
Anyone have a clue? <<
Um. That's exactly how I say those words too. How else would they be said? North American English doesn't permit a "t" in that environment, so the only alternative would be a flap. Budden, kidden? No, way, that doesn't sound right.
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>> And I twist the O in Mom so that I believe it sounds like I'm saying Maawm. Anyone know where I picked this up? <<
I don't know about the adding the a's at the end of words, but the "mom" thing sounds like a California or Canadian vowel shift...But then again if you had the shift you would also be cot-caught (e.g. mom/mawm) merged, so "mawm" wouldn't sound unusual at all.
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There is no regional dialect that has it's center in New Jersey other than that of the Pinelands in the Southeastern part of the state. Because poulation of this area is so sparse, very few people actually speak this dialect. It's kind of hard to describe what this accent sounds like, but for the most part, it's similar to any rural dialect in the Mid-Atlantic states (NJ/Eastern PA/DE/MD). The accent also varies between different regions in the Pinelands.
There are, however, 4 regional dialects centered in neighboring states that spread into NJ and geatly shape the New Jersey accent. These regional dialects are (1) The Delaware Valley- centered in Philadelphia, PA (2) The Lehigh Valley- centered in Allentown/Bethlehem, PA (3) The Hudson Valley- Centered in Newburgh/Poughkeepsie, NY and (4) New York City- centered in Brooklyn/Lower Manahattan, NY. These 4 diaclects sort of fuse together in or around New Brunswick, Middlesex County, NJ. Parts of Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth and Northern Ocean Counties make up the Central NJ heartland and this is where the purest NJ accents can be found (imo).
This accent (Central NJ) for the most part sounds like Philadelphia, only without the fronted "O" or like NYC without the dropped "r", however, natives to the Trenton area will front the long "o" like Philly. In addition, because of the heavy migration of Staten Islanders to the Jersey Shore, you're likely to hear a lot of dropped "r's" in Monmouth and Ocean counties, but not as much by the natives. The Jersey Shore is a great place to hear the various accents common to New Jersey.
It's also interesting to note that one can detect a bit of southern/rural type of twang in extreme parts of South Jersey, in the farming areas beyond the Philly suburbs near the Delaware Bay shore. It's a deep Mid-Atlantic type accent almost like Baltimore or the Delmarva Penninsula, but in many cases, not as strong. I have to say it sounds very different to the "Joisey" accent of Bayonne/Jersey City in the Northeastern part of the state.
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I think you're right about that, Panjmike. I grew up in Somerset County, NJ, basically northern central Jersey. There you definitely don't have the distinct "O" sound you hear in greater Philadelphia, in the Cherry Hill area of South Jersey (native New Jerseyans can spot someone from South Jersey or Philly simply by hearing the way they pronounce words like "home" or "phone." Bam Margera of "Jackass" would be a good example of that accent, having grown up in West Chester, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia).
There were a lot of NYC transplants where I grew up as well, so it wouldn't be unusual to hear a Brooklyn-like accent among some residents. This tends to be the case throughout central to northern NJ.
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hi, I'm Libyan and I study English . I want to about where the English language start .please I want answer from all of you
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What a stimulating forum this is! Before heading off to tonight's series of festivities, I wanted to ask you all about the origins of that wonderful expression "yo". Renewed curiosity about "yo" started over a week ago, when the SF Chronicle ran an article about the new Rocky movie under the title "O, Adrian" [sic!]. Being a transplant originally from central NJ (having grown up in both Somerset & Middlesex counties), I was a tad miffed that they didn't quite catch that it's really "Yo..."
(As I recall, it's "O, Archie!" and "Yo, Adrian!")
Which led to a discussion about how "yo" might have emerged into today's American slang. A common theory is that it's an ebonic mutation of "you". However, one intriguing statement is that it came from the Italian community of Philadelphia (NYC as well?), as a distortion of the word "io" (I, me) - so that "yo" originated as a reflexive interjection ("I'm here"). Any informed explanations would be greatly appreciated!
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Merriam Webster says that it comes from the Middle English interjection "io" or "yo". Etymonline.com says that "yo" was first used as a greeting in 1859, but that the word has been used among sailors and hunters since 1420.
Etymonline.com goes on to say that the word's modern popularity comes from the time of World War 2, when supposedly it was a common response at roll calls, most common in Philadelphia. I don't know whether the the Italian word "io" or corruptions of "you" had any influence on the word.
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People say "yo" all the time here, no doubt. But isn't it fairly common in other parts of the country?
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I was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida (gains-ville, Floored-dah). Real Floridians would never say "Flahhhh-rid-ah" like the northerners do. It's Floored-dah. But you are forgiven.
>^;^<
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