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Boston English 101

Boston English 101. Main Characteristics. Non-rhotic [r] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant park [pɑ: k], car [kɑ:] Linking R [r] retained if the next word begins with a vowel Car [kɑ:] park but car [kɑr] insurance. Intrusive R

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Boston English 101

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  1. Boston English 101

  2. Main Characteristics • Non-rhotic • [r] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant • park [pɑ: k], car [kɑ:] • Linking R • [r] retained if the next word begins with a vowel • Car [kɑ:] park but car [kɑr] insurance

  3. Intrusive R • [r] added after a word ending with a non-high vowel if the next word begins with a vowel • "the tuner is" and "the tuna is" pronounced identically

  4. No father-bother merger • Father [fɑːðə] • Bother [bɒːðə] • No horse-hoarse merger • Horse [hɒːs] • Hoarse ['howəs] • Cot-caught merger • Cot, caught [kɒːt]

  5. Nasal short-a system • short a [æ] becomes diphthongized when followed by nasal consonant • man [meən] planet [pleənət] • Broad A • similar to RP • aunt [ɑ: nt] • Clear distinction between short and long vowels before medial [r] • marry [mæri], merry [mɛri], Mary [meəri]

  6. Types of Boston accent • Linguist Robert L. Parslow identifies three different Boston dialects • A: Average middle class speech. Heard throughout Eastern New England • B: Brahmin. Most similar to RP, "ee" sound in words like new, suit, due • C: Central city working class. Like A, more intrusive R, more o vowel in words like washed, potatoes becomes p'daydis

  7. Lexicon • Wicked; a general intensifier • wicked good • Pissah; cool, often paired with wicked • That car is wicked pissah • Frappe; milkshake • Tonic; carbonated beverage • Grinder, spuckie; submarine sandwich

  8. Puck; hamburger • Bubbler; drinking fountain • Packie; liquor store • Spa; convenience store • Rotary; traffic circle • Parlor; living room • Hopper; toilet or toilet seat

  9. History • Settlers from East Anglia brought along their distinctive flat-sounding nasal lengthening of vowels in early 17th century • Non-rhoticity adopted in New England when traditionally rhotic British English dialects were starting to "soften".

  10. In Media • Movies • The Departed • Mystic River • Good Will Hunting • The Friends of Eddie Coyle

  11. Famous Speakers • Matt Damon, Mark Walhberg, Denis Leary, Ben Affleck, Leonard Nimoy, Chick Corea, John F. Kennedy, Michael Bloomberg, John Kerry

  12. Samples • Whatayou, retahdid? • The Perfect Boston Accent on Youtube • The Speech Accent Archive • The Boston Accent on Boston.com

  13. Sources • Boston accent. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last updated 17 November 2008 • Fitzpatrick, Jim.Beantown Babble. American Voices: How Dialects Differ from Coast to Coast. Eds. Wolfram, Walt, Ward, Ben. Blackwell Publishing, 2006 • Irwin, Patricia, Nagy, Naomi. "Bostonians /r/ speaking: A Quantitative look at (R) in Boston".Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 13.2 Selected papers from NWAV 35

  14. Metcalf, Allan A. How We Talk: American Regional English Today. Houghton Mifflin Reference Books, 2000 • Wolfram, Walt, Schilling-Estes, Natalie. American English: Dialects and Variation. Blackwell Publishing, 2006

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