Re: dialect survey

[Richard Sobocinski <"Richard_G_Sobocinski%~WHC207"@CCMAIL.PNL.GOV>]

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I'm
from. When I say "Columbus, Ohio", they express disbelief. When I ask where
they thought I was from, they sometimes say "New York", but mostly I hear
"Pennsylvania"!! I hear no difference between the way I speak and the way
most
of the people around me speak, and I had NO idea that there was a
Pennsylvania
accent, but apparently I have one (my parents grew up in PA). Can anybody
tell
me what a PA accent is?

Nora
merhar -at- alena -dot- switch -dot- rockwell -dot- com
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         People around Pittsburgh have a very definite accent, which I
         didn't realize until I moved away and everybody commented on
         mine.  Certain consonant sounds get slurred together.  East
         Liberty (a section of the city) is pronounced "Eesliberty".
         The "ow" sound in _downtown_ is pronounced something like
         "duhntuhn".  Same with the "ou" in _house_ -- more like
         "hahss".  Try to say those words without your lips forming a
         circle (like "ooo") and that's it.

         Then there are words that peg you as a Pittsburgher right
         away:
         Gumband = rubber band
         Jumbo = bologna
         You'ns = Y'all
         Ahrn = Iron City beer (as in, "Gimme an Ahrn and a jumbo
                                sammich.")
         Mupear = I'm up here (when you're in Erie, you tell the
                  locals, "Mupear from Pittsburgh, how you'ns dune?")

         I don't think the accent is quite the same in Philadelphia or
         other parts of the state.

         Rich
         (temporarily displaced Pittsburgher)