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Eastern New England English, historically known as the Yankee dialect since at least the 19th century, is the traditional regional dialect of
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
,
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, and the eastern half of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
. Features of this variety once spanned an even larger dialect area of New England, for example, including the eastern halves of
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
for those born as late as the early twentieth century. Studies vary as to whether the unique dialect of
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
technically falls within the Eastern New England dialect region. Eastern New England English, here including Rhode Island English, is classically associated with sound patterns such as:
non-rhoticity Rhoticity in English is the pronunciation of the historical rhotic consonant by English speakers. The presence or absence of rhoticity is one of the most prominent distinctions by which varieties of English can be classified. In rhotic varieti ...
, or dropping ''r'' when not before a vowel; both variants of
Canadian raising Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
, including a fairly
back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column run ...
starting position of the vowel (as in ); and some variation of the vowel distinctions, the marry–merry distinction, or both. Eastern New England (excluding Rhode Island) is also nationally recognized for its highly
front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...
vowel. As of the 21st century, certain traditional characteristics are declining due to many younger Eastern New Englanders avoiding them, particularly non-rhoticity and the aforementioned vowel distinctions, which they tend to perceive as old-fashioned, overly rural-sounding, or even overly urban-sounding with regard to Boston. New Hampshire speakers on the whole are particularly well documented as retreating from these older Eastern New England features since the mid-20th century onwards.Platt, Melanie, "Do you "park your car" or "pahk your cah''?: The Changing Dialect of Southern New Hampshire" (2015). Inquiry Journal 2015. 5. http://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2015/5Nagy, Naomi (2001). " 'Live Free or Die' as a Linguistic Principle". ''American Speech'', Volume 76, Number 1, Spring 2001, pp. 30-41.


Overview of phonology

The sound system of traditional Eastern New England English includes: *Non-rhoticity: The ''r'' sound may be "dropped" or "silent" if not before a vowel; therefore, in words like ''car'', ''letter'', ''horse'', ''poor'', etc. The feature is retreating and is not found in many younger speakers, for example, in virtually no speakers born since the mid-20th century in southeastern New Hampshire. ** Linking and intrusive ''r'': The non-rhotic ''r'' may be pronounced after all if it is followed by a vowel, even a vowel that begins the next word in the sentence. Also, any word that ends in /ə/ (as in ''Cuba''), /ɑ/ (as in ''spa''), or /ɔ/ (as in ''law'') can be followed by an unwritten ''r'' sound when followed by a vowel sound in the next word: thus, ''law and public safety'' sounds like ''Lauren public safety''. *Backing of : The vowel of ''goose'', ''rude'', ''coup'', etc. remains pronounced relatively far back in the mouth. *Possible lack of the
horse–hoarse merger In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions and so fewer vowe ...
: The vowel of words like ''war'' versus ''wore'', or ''morning'' versus ''mourning'', are mostly produced either very close or the same in Eastern New England; however, as of the early 2000s, such vowels may still be pronounced differently by some Eastern New England speakers, especially in Maine. Conversely, the merger of the vowels is largely complete elsewhere in the United States. *Full
Canadian raising Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
: The tongue is raised in the first element of the
gliding vowel A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
as well as whenever either appears before a
voiceless consonant In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
. Therefore, a word like ''house'' is often . *Backing of : The vowel of ''gouge'', ''loud'', ''town'', ''power'', etc. has a relatively back-of-mouth starting position: thus, something like . *Possible lack of the
Mary–marry–merry merger In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions and so fewer vowe ...
s: Before intervocalic , the vowels ( in rhotic varieties), and (as in ''Mary'', ''marry'', and ''merry'') are distinguished from one another, particularly in Southeastern New England (namely Rhode Island), which is also true in the New York City area and Britain. However, recent studies have shown that there is an emerging tendency in Northeastern New England (Boston, for example) to merge them, as in most other American accents. * "Short ''a''" nasal system: The "short ''a''" sound may be tensed in various environments, though most severely before a
nasal consonant In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majorit ...
; therefore, in words like ''man'', ''clam'', ''Annie'', etc. *Fronting of /: The vowel of words like ''palm'', ''spa'', ''car'', ''park'', etc. is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than in most other dialects, so that ''car'', for example, is something like . This, plus non-rhoticity, is often associated with the
shibboleth A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwor ...
"Park the car in Harvard yard." This fronting is seldom reported in Rhode Island, in which ''car'' is more often backed .


Overview of vocabulary and grammatical features

Some words or phrases most famously or strongly associated with Eastern New England are: *''bang'': to make a sudden or decisive turn while driving; only used in certain phrases: "bang a left", "bang a right", or "bang a U-ie". *''
bubbler A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...
'' or ''water bubbler'': drinking fountain. This term is also used in
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and Australia. *'' bulkie'': a thick white-bread roll, similar to a
hamburger bun A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, o ...
or
kaiser roll The Kaiser roll (''Emperor roll'', german: Kaisersemmel), also called a Vienna roll (; as made by hand also: , sl, kajzerica), or a hard roll, is a typically crusty round bread roll, originally from Austria. It is made from white flour, yeast ...
*''frappe'' : a thick beverage made of milk and ice cream, i.e. a
milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mixture ...
in most other places (whereas "milkshake" in Boston traditionally means
flavored milk Flavored milk is a sweetened dairy drink made with milk, sugar, flavorings, and sometimes food colorings. It may be sold as a pasteurized, refrigerated product, or as an ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treated product not requiring refrigeration. It ...
). A synonym common only in Rhode Island is ''
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
''. *''hoodsie'': a small disposable cup of ice cream, the kind that comes with a flat wooden spoon (from
HP Hood HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, by Harvey Perley Hood. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New Eng ...
, the dairy that sells them and elsewhere sometimes known as a "dixie cup".) A secondary meaning (very offensive slang) is "promiscuous teenaged girl".Boston To English Dictionary
at CelebrateBoston.com
*''jimmies'':
sprinkles Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as an often colourful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally used ...
; to some, particularly chocolate sprinkles. The term is also common in the
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
area. *''pissa(h)'': "great" or "amazing", either realistically or sarcastically. This is from the word "pisser" with a Boston accent, but used as an adjective. Occasionally combined with "wicked" to yield "wicked pissah". *''
scrod Scrod or schrod () is a small cod or haddock, and sometimes other whitefish, used as food. It is usually served as a fillet, though formerly it was often split instead. In the wholesale fish business, scrod is the smallest weight category of the ...
'': any small whitefish, such as cod or haddock, used in cooking *''"So don't I"'': "so do I" or "I do too". *''spa'': a neighborhood
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
that has a
soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concent ...
and often sells sandwiches. *''tonic'' : any sweet, carbonated
soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
(chiefly confined to Boston), otherwise known as "soda" in the region or "pop" elsewhere; not the same as
tonic water Tonic water (or Indian tonic water) is a carbonated soft drink in which quinine is dissolved. Originally used as a prophylactic against malaria, tonic water usually has a significantly lower quinine content and is consumed for its distinctive b ...
. *''whiffle'': a crew cut or male haircut done with electric clippers. *''wicked'': "very" or "super", used as an adverb or
intensifier In linguistics, an intensifier (abbreviated ) is a lexical category (but ''not'' a traditional part of speech) for a modifier that makes no contribution to the propositional meaning of a clause but serves to enhance and give additional emotional co ...
(such as "That hockey game was wicked good!" or "Ugh, that guy is wicked slow"). Many words common to Boston are also common throughout New England dialects: ''grinder'' for "
submarine sandwich A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, hoagie (Philadelphia metropolitan area and Western Pennsylvania English), hero (New York City English), Italian ( Maine English), grinder (New England English), wedge (Westchester, NY), or a spuckie ...
" (also, '' spuckie'' or ''spuky'' in
East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and do ...
), ''packie'' (or ''package store'') for "
liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...
", ''rotary'' for "
traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The N ...
" (these full-speed circular intersections being common in
Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
), and ''yous'' as the working-class plural form of "you" (a word found throughout the urban Northeast with many spelling variants).Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003
The Harvard Dialect Survey
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
''Cellar'', whose definition may have slight nuances nationwide, can also be a simple synonym for ''
basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
'' in Eastern New England and Massachusetts generally. In this same area, related expressions like ''down the cellar'' or even ''down-cellar'' are distinctive, meaning "down to the basement" or "down in the basement" (as in "She's getting some boxes down-cellar").


Northeastern New England English

Northeastern New England English, popularly recognized as a Boston or Maine accent, in addition to all the above phonological features, further includes the merger of the vowel in ''cot'' and ''caught'' to , often with a slightly rounded quality, but a resistance to the merger of the vowels in ''father'' versus ''bother'', a merger that is otherwise common throughout North America. Also, for speakers born before 1950, the words ''half'' and ''pass'' (and, before World War II, also ''ask'' and ''can't'') are pronounced with a " broad ''a''," like in ''spa'': and .


Boston

Boston, Massachusetts is the birthplace and most famous site of Eastern New England English. Historically, a Northeastern type of New England English spread from metropolitan Boston into metropolitan Worcester, the bulk of
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, and central and coastal
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. Boston speech also originated many slang and uniquely local terms that have since spread throughout Massachusetts and Eastern New England. Although mostly non-rhotic, the modern Boston accent typically pronounces the ''r'' sound in the vowel, , as in ''bird'', ''learn'', ''turkey'', ''world'', etc.


Maine

A traditional Maine accent, the closest remnant today to a more widespread 19th-century Yankee regional accent, includes the phonology mentioned above, plus the loss of the phonemic status of (as in ''there''), (as in ''here''), and (as in ''more'') all of which are broken into two syllables (, respectively): ''they-uh'', ''hee-yuh'', and ''moh-uh''; some distinct vocabulary is also used in this accent. Maine is one of the last American regions to resist the
horse–hoarse merger In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions and so fewer vowe ...
. This continued resistance was verified by some speakers in a 2006 study of Bangor and Portland, Maine, yet contradicted by a 2013 study that reported the merger as embraced by Portland speakers "of all ages". The horse–hoarse separation means that words like ''war'' and ''wore'' may sound different: ''war'' rhyming with ''law'' , and ''wore'' rhyming with ''boa'' . Unlike the Boston accent, this traditional Maine accent may be non-rhotic entirely: even in the pronunciation of as .


Cultivated New England

A cultivated New England accent, sometimes known as a "
Boston Brahmin The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonis ...
accent" within Boston, was once associated with members of wealthy New England families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; it is now essentially extinct. Notable example speakers included many members of the
Kennedy family The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
born in this time period, including President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
, whose accent is not an ordinary Boston accent so much as a "
tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
accent". This accent retained an older cot–caught distinction, a less fronted vowel in some speakers, non-rhotic , and a split ( versus ). This accent corresponds in its time-frame and in much of its sound with a cultivated transatlantic accent promoted in prestigious northeastern boarding schools and theatrical elocution courses in the same era.Knight, Dudley. "Standard Speech". In: Hampton, Marian E. & Barbara Acker (eds.) (1997). ''The Vocal Vision: Views on Voice.''
Hal Leonard Corporation Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...
. pp. 160.


Notable speakers of Northeastern New England English

*
Ken Beatrice Kenneth Edward Beatrice (July 28, 1943 – December 6, 2015) was an American radio personality. He hosted a Washington, D.C.-area radio call-in sports show for 23 years, first on WMAL between 1973 and 1995, later on WTEM from 1995 to 2000. Early l ...
– "... the New England native with the pronounced Boston accent" *
Bill Burr William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, most notably ''Why Do I Do This?'' (2008), ''Let It Go'' (2010), '' You People Are ...
— "the comic's wicked Boston accent" *
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
– "r-less New Englander"Metcalf, A. (2004). ''Presidential Voices. Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush''. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 150. *
Lenny Clarke Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * ''L ...
– "a Cambridge-raised verbal machine gun with a raspy Boston accent" *
Nick Di Paolo Nicholas Rocco Di Paolo (born ) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, radio personality and podcast host. He is the host of '' The Nick Di Paolo Show'' podcast, and is best known for his appearances as a regular on ''Tough Crowd wi ...
– "thick Boston accent" *
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
– "his
tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
accent" * Edward "Ted" Kennedy – "No one else from Boston, or anywhere in New England, has imprinted the regional accent on the national consciousness as Senator Kennedy did." *
Mel King Melvin Herbert King (born 20 October 1928) is an American politician, community organizer, and educator, who holds the position of Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in their Department of Urban Studies and Plan ...
– "he has the soft Rs of a deep Boston accent" *
Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...
– "a cultivated New England accent" *
Christy Mihos Christy Peter Mihos (June 13, 1949 – March 25, 2017) was an American politician and businessman from Massachusetts. He was an Independent candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2006. He ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010, ...
– "speaks unpretentiously in a variation of a Boston accent, and drops the 'g' in words like talking or running." *
Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...
and
Jim Moran James Patrick Moran Jr. (born May 16, 1945) is an American politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia from 1985 to 1990, and as the U.S. representative for (including the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, all of Arlington ...
– "The Moran brothers share an unmistakable Massachusetts accent" * Tom Silva – "New England accent" *
Jermaine Wiggins Jermaine Wiggins (born January 18, 1975) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Georgia, and signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 1999. Wiggins was also a member of the New England Patrio ...
– "skin as thick as his East Boston accent"


Rhode Island English

The traditional English-language accent of Southeastern New England, popularly known as a Rhode Island accent, is spoken in
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
and the western half of
Bristol County, Massachusetts Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...
. In addition to all the features mentioned under the phonology section above, the Rhode Island accent also includes a sharp distinction in the vowels of ''Mary'', ''marry'', and ''merry'' and in the vowels in ''cot'' versus ''caught'' , plus the pronunciation of , as in ''car'', far back in the mouth as —these three features making this New England accent noticeably similar to a
New York accent The sound system of New York City English is popularly known as a New York accent. The New York metropolitan accent is one of the most recognizable accents of the United States, largely due to its popular stereotypes and portrayal in radio, ...
. These features are often unlike the modern Northeastern New England (NENE) dialect of Boston, as is Rhode Island's feature of a completed
father–bother merger The phonology of the open back vowels of the English language has undergone changes both overall and with regional variations, through Old and Middle English to the present. The sounds heard in modern English were significantly influenced by the ...
, shared with the rest of the country outside of NENE.Johnson, Daniel Ezra (2010).
Stability and Change Along a Dialect Boundary: The Low Vowels of Southeastern New England
. American Dialect Society 95. p. 100.
A few terms are unique only to this area, such as the word ''cabinet'' to mean "
milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mixture ...
" (particularly,
coffee cabinet A coffee cabinet is an ice cream-based milkshake found almost exclusively in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, consisting of coffee ice cream, coffee syrup, and milk. The ingredients are mixed in a drink blender or milkshake blender. Am ...
s),Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003.
What do you call the drink made with milk and ice cream?
" The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
''pizza strips'' (
Italian tomato pie Italian tomato pie is an Italian-American and Italian-Canadian baked good consisting of a thick, porous, focaccia-like dough covered with tomato sauce. It may be sprinkled with romano cheese or oregano. It is not usually served straight from t ...
strips served cold without cheese), and ''
coffee milk Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink of the US state of Rhode Island. Coffee syrup Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concent ...
''.


Notable lifelong native speakers

*
John Chafee John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22, 1922 – October 24, 1999) was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party (United States), he served as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island, as ...
– a non-rhotic "New England accent" *
Emeril Lagasse Emeril John Lagassé III ( ; born October 15, 1959) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author, and National Best Recipe award winner for his "Turkey and Hot Sausage Chili" recipe in 2003. He is a regio ...
* "Pauly D" DelVecchio – "the thickest Rhode Island accent" *
Henry Giroux Henry Armand Giroux (born 1943) is an American-Canadian scholar and cultural critic. One of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States, he is best known for his pioneering work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth st ...
*
Spalding Gray Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – January 11, 2004) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and ...
– "his demeanor is as flat as his Rhode Island accent" *
Chris Herren Christopher Albert Herren (born September 27, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player and motivational speaker. He played in the NBA and several leagues overseas. Youth and high school Herren attended B.M.C. Durfee High Sch ...
– "with a Fall River accent he bellows" *
John Pastore John Orlando Pastore (March 17, 1907July 15, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Rhode Island from 1950 to 1976 and as the 61st governor of Rhode Island from 194 ...
*
Daniel McKee Daniel James McKee (born June 16, 1951) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 76th governor of Rhode Island since March 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Rhode Island's 69th lieutenant governor from 2015 to ...
– governor of Rhode Island


French-American Manchester English

An ethnic local accent has been documented among self-identifying
French Americans French Americans or Franco-Americans (french: Franco-Américains), are citizens or nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French or French-Canadian heritage, ethnicity and/or ancestral ties. Th ...
in
Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
. The accent's most prominent pronunciation features are ''th''-stopping (pronouncing ''thin'' like ''tin'' and ''there'' like ''dare'') and, variably, word-initial ''h''-dropping (so that ''hair'' may sound like ''air'').


See also

*
Accent (sociolinguistics) In sociolinguistics, an accent is a way of Pronunciation, pronouncing a language that is distinctive to a country, Region, area, social class, or individual. An accent may be identified with the locality in which its speakers reside (a regiona ...
*
Boston accent A Boston accent is a local accent of Eastern New England English, native specifically to the city of Boston and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including New Hampshire, Maine, and all of eastern Massa ...
*
Maine accent The Maine accent is the local traditional accent of Eastern New England English spoken in parts of Maine, especially along the "Down East" and "Mid Coast" seaside regions. It is characterized by a variety of features, particularly among older s ...
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Western New England English Western New England English refers to the varieties of New England English native to Vermont, Connecticut, and the western half of Massachusetts; New York State's Hudson Valley (from Albany to Poughkeepsie) also aligns to this classification. S ...


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References

* * * Stanford, James N.; Leddy-Cecere, Thomas A.; Baclawski Jr., Kenneth P. "Farewell To The Founders: Major Dialect Changes Along The East-West New England Border." ''American Speech'' 87.2 (2012): pp. 126–169. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2015. *Stanford, James N.; Severance, Nathan A.; Baclawski Jr., Kenneth P. "Multiple vectors of unidirectional dialect change in eastern New England." ''Language Variation and Change'' (2014) Vol.26 (1), pp. 103–140. * Stanford, James. 2019. New England English: Large-scale acoustic sociophonetics and dialectology. Oxford University Press. 367 pages. {{English dialects by continent Dialects of English American English Maine culture New Hampshire culture Massachusetts culture