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November 13, 2005
Questions about Chapter 10 Content
I found a dialect very much like my own on classweb.gmu.edu/accent. My accent is from english99. Typically this is a female from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Many of the ways she pronounced her O's and A's, I also pronounce mine.
My accent is infused with Pennsylvania Dutch, which is ultimately German. My parents and grandparents have all lived in the same area for all of their lives so there isnt varying dialects influencing my own. Most of our O's are very pronounced like an O would be. We say "D-ohn-cha kn-oh" exactly how it looks. I grew up in the middle of the Lancaster area, which is "Amish country." Amish dialects are driven by German roots as well. Sometimes I tend to say things as though I am a native german person trying to speak English. At the end of my words, the tone is higher. My tone is even more higher at the end of sentences. In a way, its a very "sing-songy" way of speaking. As well as a rythmic tone to my dialect, I also speak casually and never formal to family members.
Coincidentally, my friend from PA has come to Boston for the weekend and my friends from the New England area and the two PA girls discussed each other's accents and phrasing. For example, we say "outten the lights" for "turn off the lights." Also, we say "wanna go with" to mean "would you like to come with me?" With ends a sentence very often in our area. Very commonly, we say "They're calling for snow" to mean "It is supposed to snow today." Even little things are different. For example, we call subs "hoagies" and creeks "cricks."
Posted by lcisyeich at November 13, 2005 08:51 PM