Talk Elections

Mine is:

 Pitmatic

Pitmatic is a dialect of English used in the counties of  Northumberland and Durham. It developed as a separate dialect from  Northumbrian and Geordie due to the specialised terms mineworkers used. An example of this is the word "Cuddy". In Northumberland and  Tyne and Wear this term is an abbreviation of the name  Cuthbert, but in Durham Pitmatic, as in Lowland  Scots, it denotes a horse, specifically a pit pony.

Traditionally, Pitmatic, together with some rural Northumbrian communities incuding  Rothbury, used a distinctive soft rolled R produced at the very back of the throat. Since the closure of the areas deep mines, and the subsequent dilution of the areas identity, this usage is now less frequently heard, with many young people speaking in a more generic " Geordie-like" way. However, it can still sometimes be detected, especially amongst elderly populations in more rural areas.

While in theory Pitmatic applies to the whole Great Northern Coalfield, from  Ashington in Northumberland to  Trimdon in County Durham, early references apply specifically to Durham

Dave

Where do I find a list of English dialects please?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language

It offers descriptions of some dialects but not others

Dave

For American English, check out:

http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1906/dialects.html

Dave

According to Wikipedia:

Western New England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_New_England_dialect)

I seem to be on the eastern edge of this:  I use frappe and milkshake interchangebly, but I pronounce r's at the end of words and can make distinctions between caught and cot.

Southern American English, but it's not as bad as that article says ;)

But seriously, yall don't say hot water heater?

No, they say water cooler. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#Regional_differences

Why would you not call a hot water heater a hot water heater? :?

I speak a combination of Inland North, North Midland, and and North Central American English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh-area_English

I don't really speak this, but it can get pretty damn annoying.

Ottawa Valley Twang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Valley_Twang)

I'm a mix of Southern American English and Delaware Valley English, with a touch of Baltimorese from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#Inland_North

Middle Class Scottish :)

In other words, the middle class Scottish accent called the 'Kelvinside twang' in Glasgow and 'Morningside' in Edinburgh.

Speakers of note: The late John Smith
                             George Galloway etc

There was a habit of pronouncing 'a' as 'e' so that both 'merry and 'marry' sound the same. If it is spoken with the use of Scots words it can sound a bit odd like this;

'Ehm eff tae merry Berry this mernin'

I'm going to marry Barry this morning.

'Och away an run ye glaiket lih-kinn wee baern or ehl have yer mammy telt.'

Get away from me you 'glaiket' (sullen) looking little kid or i'll tell your mother.

Nowadays we pronouce these words with harder vowels as the Scottish custom.

Pure Delaware Valley English

General American with twinges of Northern Cities (Chicago-Detroit) and North-Central (U.P.-Wisconsin-Minnesota-North Dakota).

My parents both grew up in the military, living on bases for most of their childhood.  My dad was born in Austria, then moved to the UK, France, Italy, and Germany until finally moving to the D.C. suburbs when he was 16.  My mom lived in Connecticut and Pennslyvania before moving to the D.C. suburbs at age 17.

My parents met at the University of Maryland, and I was raised in the D.C. suburbs, exposed to accents of people from around the country, until we moved to Wisconsin when I was nearly 13.

As a result I have an "everywhere" accent, and I tend to assimilate the accents of whomever I'm speaking to.  I can put on a convincing southern American, Canadian, Californian, Yooper, and Scouse (but then only because I've seen every episode of Red Dwarf).

That Wikipedia article had every state but Alaska. >:(

Alaska
Developed out of the Northern, Midland, and Western dialects. Also influenced by the native languages of the Alutes, Innuit, and Chinook Jargon. Some words that originated here are: bush (remote area), cabin fever, mush (to travel by dog sled), parka, stateside.

Bush (remote area) - I'm pretty sure the Australians had that one before you guys.

Really? Wow.

Mine - Eastern Midland
My area - New York, but Hudson Valley or Philadelphia-ish in 1970

And in Western Monmouth County because everyone here is from Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Long Island.

That list is... less than complete.  Almost annoyingly so.

The dialect in my area is mostly Pittsburghese, but is also influenced somewhat more by Appalachian than is pure Pittsburghese.  For instance "coulda", "woulda" and "shoulda" are common as are many of the Appalachian constructs, like "He ain't done nothin'".  However, many for the words favored in Appalichian dialect like polecat, poke and blinked are not used.

We do use many of the Pittsburghese words and pronunciations, but again, cetain setups and words are not favored against their Standard English counter parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh-area_English

There doesn't appear to be any dialect specific to my region, so I'll go with Canadian English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_English).

Everyone I meet from different parts of the country say I have an accent, but I don't notice it.  I don't have a thick accent, but I guess it's a Long Island/NYC 'dialect'.

^^^^^^^^^^

Mine is a combination.  I have a "North Pittsurgh" Accent, which is somewhat similar to the late John Hienz.  I still will say "mere" to refer to a reflective surface made of glass.  I still have it.  It's a slight variation on Pittsburgh English. Since living in Phila, I've developed a thin Phila accent.  For example, "order" becomes "ordah."

Further, my vocabulary generally includes a lot of AAVE.

North Central American English

Oui.  'Minnewegian' (as they call it) is given a passing reference, and it deserves much more.

Oddly enough, one of my Michigander aunts (actually, all my aunts are Michiganders, but whatever) told my mom that sometimes I hard to understand because I sounded so Minnesotan, which freaked me out to no end.  At least I do not commit the cardinal sin of ending sentences with 'with' (excepting, of course, sentences in which I explain ending sentences with 'with' ;)).

In my area:

New York-New Jersey.


Me, personally:

Due to the ridiculous amount I moved around as a child, my own dialect is very...muttish.

Moved to England at the age of 2, went to British schools...so I picked up and English accent very quickly.  No idea how to actually characterize it (I know I have a few recordings of myself *someplace,* although I might need a PAL VCR to play them), but it's likely to be rather close to BBC English due to the backgrounds of the Brits at the schools I went to.  Although probably less haughty-sounding.

Then I moved to Singapore and went to an American school--so you've got people from all over the country there.  I lost my English accent quickly--and due to the polyglot nature of the accents there, probably adopted something reasonably close to SAE.

California probably didn't have much of a lasting impact.

Then I moved back to New York--which has affected my accent somewhat (the caught-cot distinction, for one)--but it's a very mild one in my estimation.

So, yeah, my accent is weird.  A mild New York variation on SAE, with the occasional British influence.

Does anyone else use "bring/brang/brung"?

Australian, right on the boundary of general and cultivated.


(I'll bring it; he brought it; I brung it for me, even though i know the last is incorrect)

The Pacific Northwest probably has the least significant dialect of any region.  It is, along with parts of Ohio, I believe, considered the most typical American accent.

Wait, so I have an American accent? :O

pac. northwest is the most advanced and interrnationally understandable accent in the US, yes. Although California, due tp movies and TV, has long been pushing that.

My dialect used to be a cross between Received Pronounciation and Estuary English. My 2 years at Oxford have pushed it firmly towards RP.

Well, the triangle is generally pretty similar, though; isn't it?

My accent is probably very close to that, but I still make the old cot/caught distinction, and most folks in the northwest do not.

I could go into broadcasting and probably not have to modify my pronunciations at all.

I'm still confused that there are places were cot and caught have the same vowel sound :P

All of New England and Canada.

A narrow band starting central Penn. and gradually widening as it goes west into Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.

Basically everything west of the Great Plains.

The bastions of ah/aw preservation are the Mid Atlantic (where I'm from), the northern Midwest (where I'm also from), and the South (where I'm sort of from).

Hmm, I don't quite pronounce caught as 'cawt', it's between 'caht' and 'cawt'.  That's what I got for my parents being from Detroit, me being from Fort Wayne (NE Indiana), and being since age 4 in Minnesota.

Yes, a lot of people here do, including myself. :)

As for the question, I guess coastal southern though every southern state has their own individual accent.

In Detroit they pronounce "cot" almost like "cat," and "caught" as "cot."

Go across the bridge to Windsor, ON, and they pronounce "stack" the way Detroit people say "stock."

Southwestern, I guess.

A mix of Pitmatic (especially that soft "r" sound), South Welsh English (Gwent rather than Glamorgan), North Welsh English (Merioneth. This one doesn't show up all that much... except on a few words), Black Country, Marches (this dialect wasn't listed...), Northants (doesn't show up much. Oh and that's old Northants; before all them outsiders turned up and ruined everything) and Yorkshire (West Riding).
Probably somethings I've missed out too

People can't quite place me :)

I thought you spoke some dialect called "Mackem"???

I agree. Plus, those who speak it are generally a little on the slow side. One thing that really annoys me are people who say "ain't" is proper English because it's in a dictionary. ::) :( >:(

I speak a watered down New York accent.  A thick New York accent comes out occasionally usually when I am in an argument or yelling at the short comings of the local sports teams.   My Dad speaks just llike Archie Bunker- a dwindling working class white dialect. 

General American with any differences the Northwest may have. Other than city names (a few of which outsiders can't pronounce like Puyallup) and a FEW words (Tolo, for example) that have stuck around, I honestly don't know of anything unique up here. We supposedly talk slow like some Southerners do, I've heard that from Californians. Other than that...Hmm, we all say grocery store. The Market refers to Pike Place Market. But yeah, the Northwest is a top spot for foreign exchange students because we're the easiest to understand and probably speak the most proper English of all Americans. I also think we emphasize the R quite a bit. ERRRR!

That fairly aptly describes me.

Western New England/Hudson Valley combination

Aren't you originally from NY?

Yes, but not from the city.  I'm from Westchester, and native Westchesterites speak more like lower Hudson Valley people than people from New York City.

Where I lived, the speech patterns were always a mix of those who had moved from the city, who had either heavy or watered-down New York accents, and those who originated in Westchester, who did not speak with a New York accent.

The Hudson Valley sweeps over to Western New England north of New York city, so those from that area generally speak with a combination of the two dialects.

I lived most of my formative years overseas in East Asia, so I never developed a regional accent (despite the fact I was born here).  My father was raised in SE Pennsylvania, and my mother was born in southern Japan -so probably that international mixture contributes to the fact why I don't have a regional accent, given the parental influence.

I speak the standard American English -presumably general Northern/American, since it probably comes closest.   

This is rather odd from an Australia perspective. Australia was generally colonized all at the same time, and by the dsame people, so we have very very few regional distictions-western australians and south australians do have a bit of an accent, but you can generally only pick it up on a few words-the South Australians tend to pronounce consonants more sharply. The main variatons come from class. Australia is a generally classless society, much moreso then the UK or America, but we do have some class distinctions, and thats where regional accents generally form. The bush is generally working-calls, as is Queensland, and so in those areas you are more likely to find the "Broad" Asutralian accent; the extreme of which is the Okker accent, as spoken by Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee. Then, there is Cultivated Australian, very similar to the Australian ear to Triangle English/RP/Estuary/basically middle-upper to upper-class British, but not to the British :D. It is now spoken by less then 10% of the population, most of them in Sydney's North shore or in some parts of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Malcolm and Tammy Fraser are perfect examples of this accent. In the middle is Generic/general Australian, spoken by about half the population at Federation and about three quarters now. It's common throughout Melbourne and Sydney, other major cities, rural Victoria and South Australia, and Tasmania.

That's just commentary on anglo-celtic people. Australia has a LOT of immigrants, so there are also obviously many accents from those cultures and from their offspring. The western suburbs of Sydney, especially, have a lot of people who speak Generic Australian to skips, but with their mates they'll tak in an accent that is a mix of many, many ethnic accents, as well as the Aussie one, that is often indecipherble to older Anglo-Celtic Australians or people who haven't grown up wuith it their wole lives. I can understand it, but my Aunty who speaks with a mild Cultivated accent and lives in a leafy Eastern Suburb that voted for the Coalition 2-1 has never been exposed to it really, and can't understand it at all. I think that's the purpose of it :D

Mackem and Pitmatic are *basically* the same :)

My area is Pennsylvania Dutchified English.  I don't think I really speak it.