View source for New England English

{{Short description|Variety of American English}}
{{IPA notice}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = New England English
| region           = New England
| era              =
| speakers         =
| speakers2        =
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
|fam3=[[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
|fam4=[[North Sea Germanic|Ingvaeonic]]
|fam5=[[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo–Frisian]]
|fam6=[[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
|fam7=[[English language|English]]
|ancestor=[[Old English]]
|ancestor2=[[Middle English]]
|ancestor3=[[Early Modern English]]
| dialects = [[Eastern New England English]], [[Western New England English]]
| script = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]])
}}

'''New England English''' is, collectively, the various distinct dialects and varieties of [[American English]] originating in the [[New England]] area.{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=148}}{{sfnp|Boberg|2001|pp=24-5}} Most of eastern and central New England once spoke the "[[Eastern New England English|Yankee dialect]]", some of whose accent features still remain in Eastern New England today, such as [[Rhoticity in English|"R-dropping"]] (though this and other features are now receding among younger speakers).{{sfnmp|1a1=Labov|1a2=Ash|1a3=Boberg|1y=2006|1p=226|2a1=Stanford|2y=2019|2pp=120, 160–161}} Accordingly, one linguistic division of New England is into [[Eastern New England English|Eastern]] versus [[Western New England English]], as defined in the 1939 ''[[Linguistic Atlas of New England]]''{{sfnp|Boberg|2001|p=3}} and the 2006 ''[[Atlas of North American English]]'' (ANAE). The ANAE further argues for a division between Northern versus Southern New England English, especially on the basis of the [[cot–caught merger]] and {{IPA|/ɑr/}} [[fronting (phonetics)|fronting]] (applying twice, for example, in the phrase ''Park the car''). The ANAE also categorizes the strongest differentiated New England accents into four combinations of the above dichotomies, simply defined as follows:
* Northeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, the cot–caught merger, and strong {{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting. It centers on [[Boston]], Massachusetts, extending into [[New Hampshire]] and coastal [[Maine]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=225}}
* Southeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, no cot–caught merger, and no strong {{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting. It centers on [[Providence, Rhode Island]] and the [[Narragansett Bay]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=225}}
* Northwestern New England English shows rhoticity, the cot–caught merger, and strong {{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting. It centers on [[Vermont]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=225}}
* Southwestern New England English shows rhoticity, no (or a transitional state of the){{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=1}} cot–caught merger, and no strong {{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting. It centers around the [[Hartford–Springfield]] area of [[Connecticut]] and [[western Massachusetts]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=225}}

== Overview ==
[[File:New England English map.jpg|thumb|right|Northeastern (NENE), Northwestern (NWNE), Southwestern (SWNE), and Southeastern (SENE) New England English represented here, as mapped by the ''Atlas of North American English'' on the basis of data from major cities
{{hidden|headerstyle=text-align:left|Dialect definitions|
'''NENE''' is defined by:
<ul>
<li>Widespread [[rhoticity in English|non-rhoticity]]</li>
<li>Full [[cot-caught merger|''cot–caught'' merger]] → {{IPA|[ɒ~ɑ]}}</li>
<li>Full or transitional [[Horse-hoarse merger|''horse–hoarse'' merger]]</li>
<li>No [[father-bother merger|''father–bother'' merger]]: {{IPA|[ä~a]}} vs. {{IPA|[ɒ~ɑ]}}</li>
<li>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} → {{IPA|[ä(ɹ)~a(ɹ)]}}</li>
</ul>
'''NWNE''' is defined by:
<ul>
<li>Widespread rhoticity</li>
<li>Full ''cot–caught'' merger → {{IPA|[ɑ]}}</li>
<li>Full ''horse–hoarse'' merger</li>
<li>Full ''father–bother'' merger → {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}}</li>
<li>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} → {{IPA|[äɹ~aɹ]}}</li>
</ul>
'''SWNE''' is defined by:
<ul>
<li>Widespread rhoticity</li>
<li>No or transitional ''cot–caught'' merger: {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}} vs. {{IPA|[ɒ]}}</li>
<li>Full ''horse–hoarse'' merger</li>
<li>Full ''father–bother'' merger → {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}}</li>
<li>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} → {{IPA|[ɑɹ]}}</li>
</ul>
'''SENE''' is defined by:
<ul>
<li>Widespread non-rhoticity</li>
<li>No ''cot–caught'' merger: {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}} vs. {{IPA|[ɔə]}}</li>
<li>Full ''horse–hoarse'' merger</li>
<li>Full ''father–bother'' merger → {{IPA|[ɑ~ä]}}</li>
<li>{{IPA|/ɑr/}} → {{IPA|[ɑ(ɹ)]}}{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=227, 229, 231}}</li>
</ul>
}}
]]

===Phonology===

====Distinctions====
New England English is not a single American dialect, but a collective term for a number of dialects and varieties that are close geographic neighbors within New England, but which differ on a spectrum that broadly divides New England English into a unique north versus south (specifically, a northern merger of the {{sc2|LOT}} and {{sc2|THOUGHT}} vowels, versus a southern merger of the {{sc2|LOT}} and {{Sc2|PALM}} vowels), as well as a unique east versus west (specifically, an eastern [[rhoticity in English|pronunciation of the "r" sound]] only before vowels, versus a western pronunciation of all "r" sounds). Regarding the former feature, all of northern New England (most famously including Boston, but going as far southeast as [[Cape Cod]] and as far north as central Maine) historically merges the [[Open back rounded vowel|open]] and [[open-mid back rounded vowel]]s (so that, for instance, ''pond'' and ''pawned'' are pronounced the same, which is commonly called the [[cot–caught merger]]), while southern coastal New England (including [[Rhode Island]]) historically maintains a noticeable distinction between these two vowels. Regarding the second feature, all of Eastern New England is historically non-rhotic (famously pronouncing "car" like "kah"), while all of Western New England is historically rhotic (or "''r''-ful"). Therefore, four combinations of these two features are possible, and coincidentally all four exist among New England English speakers, largely correlated with the exact geographic quadrant in New England in which a speaker was raised.

====Commonalities====
All of New England [[Canadian raising|raises]] the tongue in the first element of the [[diphthong]] {{IPA|/aɪ/}} before [[voiceless consonants]], so ''writer'' has a [[raised vowel]], with this often being its only distinguishing feature versus ''rider''. Eastern New England, specifically, also raises the first element of {{IPA|/aʊ/}} before voiceless consonants (commonly known as [[Canadian raising]]).{{sfnp|Boberg|2010|p=156}}

The local dialects of New England are also known for commonly pronouncing the [[unstressed]] sequences {{IPA|/tɪŋ/}} and {{IPA|/tən/}} (for example, found in "sitting" {{IPA|/ˈsɪtɪŋ/}} or "Britain" {{IPA|/ˈbrɪtən/}}) with a [[glottal stop|glottal]] {{IPA|[ʔn̩]}}. While this form of [[t-glottalization|''t''-glottalization]] (especially the {{IPA|/tən/}} form) is found throughout the country ({{Audio|en-us-mountain.ogg|typical U.S. pronunciation of "mountain" as [ˈmaʊnʔn̩]|help=no}}), a realization with a full [[schwa]] vowel {{IPA|[ʔən]}} is also a variant sometimes observed particularly among New Englanders, with reportings for instance in New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.{{sfnp|Stanford|2019|p=54}} It may, however, be a younger pronunciation variant nationwide (also reported in places as diverse as Utah, California, and New Jersey).{{sfnmp|1a1=Jones|1y=2021|1p=1|2a1=Reeves|2y=2009|2p=1}}

The extent that speakers raise the tongue in the "short ''a''" vowel, or {{Sc2|TRAP}} vowel, varies in New England; however, across the board, New Englanders demonstrate a definite "nasal" short-''a'' system, in which the vowel is always raised the absolute strongest whenever occurring before the nasal consonants {{IPA|/m/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} (so that, ''pan'', for example, nearly approaches the sound of the word {{Audio|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-paean.wav|''paean''|help=no}}).{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=84}} In all of New England except Rhode Island, the short ''a'' may also be somewhat raised in many other environments, similar to the [[Inland North|Great Lakes region]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=82}}

The lack of the [[weak vowel merger]] is a feature of more traditional New England English, making ''Lenin'' {{IPA|/ˈlɛnɪn/}} distinct from ''Lennon'' {{IPA|/ˈlɛnən/}}, and ''rabbit'' {{nowrap|{{IPA|/ˈræbɪt/}}}} fail to rhyme with ''abbott'' {{IPA|/ˈæbət/}}. Contrarily, in [[General American English]], the first two words are homophonous as {{IPA|[ˈlɛnɨn]}}, whereas the latter two words are perfect rhymes: {{IPA|[ˈɹæbɨt, ˈæbɨt]}}.{{sfnmp|1a1=Flemming|1a2=Johnson|1y=2007|1pp=83-96|2a1=Wells |2y=1982|2pp=167, 520}}

Certain words have a tendency to use distinct [[phoneme]]s when compared against the rest of the country: for example, ''aunt'' as {{IPAc-en|ɑː|n|t}}, the noun ''route'' as {{IPAc-en|r|uː|t}}, and ''syrup'' as {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|r|ə|p}}.

===Vocabulary===
The following terms originate from and are used commonly and nearly exclusively throughout New England:
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|grinder}}'' for ''[[submarine sandwich|sub]]'', a long, large sandwich (with ''Italian sandwich'' specific to [[Maine accent|Maine English]]){{sfnp|The Harvard Dialect Survey, 'What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?'}}
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|hamburg}}'' as a largely older term for ''[[hamburger]]'' or ''[[hamburger meat]]''{{sfnp|Hirshberg|1981|pp=33–52}}
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|package store}}'' or ''{{Wikt-lang|en|packie}}'' for ''[[liquor store]]'' (predominant in Boston and Southern New England English){{sfnp|The Harvard Dialect Survey, 'What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?'}}
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|tag sale}}'' for ''[[garage sale]]'' or ''yard sale'' (predominant in Southwestern New England English){{sfnp|The Harvard Dialect Survey, 'What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?'}}
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|rotary}}'' for ''traffic circle'' or ''[[roundabout]]''{{sfnp|The Harvard Dialect Survey, 'What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?'}}
* ''{{Wikt-lang|en|wicked}}'' is used as an [[intensifier]] word, common before adjectives or adverbs (predominant in Northern, Central, and Eastern New England English, famously Boston).{{sfnp|Szelog|2012|p=1}}
As in the rest of the Northeast, ''sneakers'' is the primary term for ''[[athletic shoes]]'', ''tractor trailer'' for ''[[semi-trailer truck]]'', ''cellar'' is a common alternative for ''[[basement]]'', ''brook'' is common for ''stream'', and ''soda'' is any sweet and bubbly non-alcoholic drink, though there are still some remnants of the older "tonic". Many Boston-originating local terms have dispersed throughout Eastern New England and, prominently, all the rest of Massachusetts.

==Eastern New England English==
{{Main|Eastern New England English}}

Eastern New England English encompasses [[Boston accent|Boston]] and [[Maine accent]]s, and, according to some definitions, the distinct Rhode Island accent. All Eastern New England English is famous for non-rhoticity, meaning it drops the ''r'' sound everywhere except before a vowel: thus, in words like ''car'', ''card'', ''fear'', and ''chowder'' ({{Audio|En-boston-us-Chowder.ogg|{{Small|listen}}|help=no}}). The phrase ''Park the car in Harvard Yard''—dialectally transcribed {{IPA|[pʰak ðə ˈkʰaɹ‿ɪn ˈhavəd ˈjad]}}—is commonly used as a [[shibboleth]], or speech indicator, for the non-rhotic Eastern New England dialect running from Boston north to Maine, and as far west as [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]], which contrasts with the rhotic dialects in Western New England and the vast remainder of North America.{{sfnp|Wolfram|Schilling-Estes|1998|pp=126–150}} In all of Eastern New England except Rhode Island, words like ''caught'' and ''cot'' are pronounced identically (both are often rounded, thus: {{Audio-IPA|En-us-inlandnorth-caught.ogg|[kʰɒt]|help=no}}), because those two vowel sounds have fully merged.{{sfnp|Fitzpatrick|2006|pp=63-70}} A phenomenon called [[Canadian raising]] occurs throughout Eastern New England, causing ''writer'' to have a different stressed vowel sound than ''rider'', and, particularly unique, for the verb ''house'' to have a different vowel sound than the noun ''house''. The vowels {{IPA|/aʊ/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} have relatively back starting positions. The [[horse–hoarse merger|''horse''–''hoarse'' distinction]] is still present to some extent in some areas, as well as the [[Mary–marry–merry merger|''Mary''–''marry''–''merry'' distinction]].{{sfnp|Kim|Reddy|Stanford|Wyschogrod|2019|pp=151–194}}

==Western New England English==
{{Main|Western New England English}}
Western New England English encompasses the accents of Vermont, western Massachusetts, and Connecticut. They are largely perceived as [[General American]] accents in the following five ways. They are fully rhotic, meaning all ''r'' sounds are pronounced, {{IPA|/aʊ/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} have slightly fronted starting positions, and the Mary–marry–merry merger and horse–hoarse merger are fully complete. Western New England English exhibits the entire continuum of possibilities regarding the [[cot–caught merger]]: a full merger is heard in its northern reaches (namely, Vermont), a full distinction at its southern reaches (namely, coastal Connecticut), and a transitional area in the middle.{{sfnp|Boberg|2001|pp=19-27}} Western New England English is closely related to and possibly influential on, but more conservative (i.e. preserving more historical features) than, the [[Inland Northern American English|Inland North dialect]] which prevails farther west along the Great Lakes,{{sfnp|Nagy|Roberts|2004|pp=270–281}} and which has altered away from Western New England English due to an entirely [[Northern cities vowel shift|new chain shift of the vowels]] since the 20th century. Some Western New England English speakers do have some of this shift's features, though it is not yet fully understood if and how New England directly influenced the Inland North dialect region.{{sfnmp|1a1=McCarthy|1y=2010|1p=12|2a1=McCarthy|2y=2004|2p=7}}

==See also==
* [[Boston accent]]
* [[Maine accent]]
* [[New England French]]
* [[North American English regional phonology#New England|North American English regional phonology § New England]]
* [[Regional accents of English speakers]]
* [[Regional vocabularies of American English]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Boberg |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uW2rM_6I3gMC&pg=PA156 |title=The English Language in Canada: Status, History and Comparative Analysis |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2010 |isbn=9781139491440 |page=156 |author-link=Charles Boberg}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Boberg |first=Charles |date=Spring 2001 |title=The Phonological Status of Western New England |journal=American Speech |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=3–29 |doi=10.1215/00031283-76-1-3 |s2cid=143486914}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Jim |url=https://archive.org/details/americanvoicesho0000unse |title=American Voices: How Dialects Differ from Coast to Coast |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-2109-5 |editor=W. Wolfram |chapter=Beantown Babble (Boston, MA) |editor2=B. Ward |url-access=registration |pages=63-70}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Labov |first1=William |last2=Ash |first2=Sharon |last3=Boberg |first3=Charles |date=2006 |title=The Atlas of North American English |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qa4-dFqi6iMC |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton-de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-016746-7}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Nagy |first1=Naomi |last2=Roberts |first2=Julie |chapter=New England phonology |title=A handbook of varieties of English. Volume 1: Phonology |editor1-last=Burridge | editor1-first=Kate | editor2-last=Kortmann | editor2-first=Bernd | editor3-last=Mesthrie | editor3-first=Rajend | editor4-last=Schneider | editor4-first=Edgar W. |editor5-last=Upton |editor5-first=Clive|date=2004 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|location=Berlin, FRG |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDCzzQEACAAJ|pages=270–281}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stanford |first=James |date=2019 |title=New England English: Large-Scale Acoustic Sociophonetics and Dialectology |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190625658 |oclc=1100425163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ox2yDwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Wells | first=John Christopher |title=Accents of English |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-521-22919-7 |oclc=7578097|url=https://archive.org/details/accentsofenglish0000well/mode/2up |access-date=November 26, 2023}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Wolfram |first1=Walt |last2=Schilling-Estes |first2=S. |url=https://archive.org/details/americanenglishd0000wolf_m9g9 |title=American English: Dialects and Variation |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-631-20487-9 |url-access=registration |pages=126–150}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Flemming |first1=E. |last2=Johnson |first2=S. |date=2007 |title=''Rosa's roses'': reduced vowels in American English |journal= The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America|volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=83–96 |doi=10.1121/1.4783597}}
* {{cite journal | last1=Kim | first1=Chaeyoon | last2=Reddy | first2=Sravana | last3=Stanford | first3=James N. | last4=Wyschogrod | first4=Ezra | last5=Grieve | first5=Jack | title=Bring on the Crowd! Using Online Audio Crowd-Sourcing for Large-Scale New England Dialectology and Acoustic Sociophonetics | journal=American Speech | publisher=Duke University Press | volume=94 | issue=2 | date=May 1, 2019 | issn=0003-1283 | doi=10.1215/00031283-7251252 | pages=151–194}}
* {{cite journal |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/454477 |doi=10.2307/454477 |jstor=454477 |title=Regional Morphology in American English: Evidence from Dare |last1=Hirshberg |first1=Jeffrey |journal=American Speech |date=1981 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=33–52 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite thesis|last=Reeves|first=Larkin|date=August 6, 2009|title=Patterns of Vowel Production in Speakers of American English from the State of Utah |type=MS thesis |publisher=Brigham Young University |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1886 |hdl=1877/etd3133}}
* {{cite web | last=Jones | first=Jennifer G. | title=Do Utahns Talk Funny? | website=Y Magazine|publisher=Brigham Young University | date=October 11, 2021 | url=https://magazine.byu.edu/article/do-utahns-talk-funny/ | access-date=November 26, 2012}}
* {{cite web |last1=McCarthy |first1=Corrine| title=The Northern Cities Shift in Real Time: Evidence from Chicago Selected papers from NWAV 37 | website=rUniversity of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics | date=March 21, 2010 | url=http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol15/iss2/ | volume=15|issue=2 | page=12 }}
* {{cite web |last1=McCarthy |first1=Natalie |url=http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/8930/1/njmTHESIS807.pdf |title=The Northern Cities Shift and Local Identity in a Suburban Cleveland Group |date=2004 |page=7}}
* {{cite web |last=Szelog |first=Mike |title=Ayuh, the Northern New England Accent in a Nutshell |website=The Heart of New England|date=2012 |url=http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/lifeinnewengland/Essays/accents.html |access-date=November 26, 2023}}
* {{cite web | title=What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on? | website=The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Linguistics Department | url=http://dialect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q_64.html | ref={{sfnref|The Harvard Dialect Survey, 'What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?'}} | access-date=November 26, 2023}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Appendix:List of shibboleths}}
* {{Cite web |last=Szelog |first=Mike |title=Ayuh, the Northern New England Accent in a Nutshell |url=http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/lifeinnewengland/Essays/accents.html |publisher=The Heart of New England}}
* {{Cite web |title=Rhode Island 1 |url=http://www.dialectsarchive.com/rhode-island-1 |publisher=International Dialects of English Archive |date=9 November 2012 |quote=Age: 34, Providence, Rhode Island male Caucasian}}

{{Languages of Massachusetts}}
{{English dialects by continent}}

[[Category:American English]]
[[Category:Connecticut culture]]
[[Category:Culture of New England|English]]
[[Category:Maine culture]]
[[Category:Languages of Massachusetts]]
[[Category:New Hampshire culture]]
[[Category:Rhode Island culture]]
[[Category:Vermont culture]]