Baltimore accent

A Baltimore accent, also known as Baltimorese (sometimes pseudo-phonetically written Bawlmerese,[1] Ballimorese,[2] etc.), commonly refers to an accent that originates among blue-collar residents of South and Southeast Baltimore, Maryland. It is a sub-variety of Mid-Atlantic American English, as is nearby Philadelphia English.[3][4][5]

At the same time, there is considerable linguistic diversity within Baltimore, which complicates the notion of a singular "Baltimore accent".[1] According to linguists, the accent and dialect of African American Baltimoreans are different from the "hon" variety that is popularized in the media as being spoken by white blue-collar Baltimoreans.[5] White working-class families who migrated out of Baltimore city along the Maryland Route 140 and Maryland Route 26 corridors brought local pronunciations with them, creating colloquialisms that make up the Baltimore accent.

Pronunciation

The Baltimore accent that originated among white blue-collar residents closely resembles blue-collar Philadelphia-area English pronunciation in many ways. These two cities are the only major ports on the Eastern Seaboard never to have developed nonrhotic speech among European American speakers; they were greatly influenced in their early development by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. Due to the significant similarity between the speeches of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Delaware and southern New Jersey, sociolinguists refer to them collectively as the Mid-Atlantic regional dialect.[6] In Baltimore accents, sounds around /r/ are often "smoothed" or elided. For example, a word like bureau is commonly pronounced /ˈbɪəroʊ/ (e.g., Federal Beer-o of Investigation) and mirror is commonly pronounced "mere"; the related mare–mayor merger also exists.

Vowels
  • /oʊ/ shifts to [ɘʊ] or even [eʊ]. When word-final and spelled as -ow, it is pronounced like /ə/, resulting in spellings like pilla for pillow and winda for window.
  • /aʊ/ fronts to [ɛɔ] or [æɔ].
  • u-fronting occurs, where the vowel /uː/ can be fronted to [ʉu].[7]
  • No cot–caught merger: The words cot /ɑ/ and caught /ɔ/ do not rhyme, with the latter vowel maintaining a raised position. Likewise, the word on rhymes with dawn and not don.
  • As in Philadelphia, the word water is often pronounced as wooder [ˈwʊɾɚ] or, more uniquely, [ˈwɔɻɾɚ].
  • As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, short a is pronounced with a phonemic split: for example, the word sad /æ/ does not rhyme with the word mad /eə/. Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city.[8] /æ/ Tensing is also common in the Mid-Atlantic Region, with speakers in Baltimore adapting the Philadelphia pattern on intervocalic vowels.[9] For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see /æ/ raising.
/æ/ raising in North American English[10]
Following
consonant		 Example
words[11]		 New York
City,[11] New
Orleans[12]		 Baltimore,
Philadel-
phia[11][13]		 General
American,
New England,
Western US		 Midland US,
Pittsburgh		 Southern
US		 Canada,
Northern
Mountain
US		 Minnesota,
Wisconsin		 Great
Lakes
US
Non-prevocalic
/m, n/		 fan, lamb, stand [ɛə][14][upper-alpha 1][upper-alpha 2] [ɛə][14] [ɛə] [ɛə~ɛjə][16] [ɛə][17] [ɛə][18][14]
Prevocalic
/m, n/		 animal, planet,
Spanish		 [æ]
/ŋ/[19] frank, language [ɛː~eɪ][20] [æ][19] [æ~æɛə][16] [ɛː~ɛj][17] [eː~ej][21]
Non-prevocalic
/ɡ/		 bag, drag [ɛə][upper-alpha 1] [æ][upper-alpha 3] [æ][14]
Prevocalic /ɡ/ dragon, magazine [æ]
Non-prevocalic
/b, d, ʃ/		 grab, flash, sad [ɛə][upper-alpha 1] [æ][22] [ɛə][22]
Non-prevocalic
/f, θ, s/		 ask, bath, half,
glass		 [ɛə][upper-alpha 1]
Otherwise as, back, happy,
locality		 [æ][upper-alpha 4]
  1. In New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, most function words (am, can, had, etc.) and some learned or less common words (alas, carafe, lad, etc.) have [æ].
  2. In Philadelphia, the irregular verbs began, ran, swam, and wan (a local variant of won) have [æ].[15]
  3. In Philadelphia, bad, mad, and glad alone have [ɛə].
  4. In New York City, certain lexical exceptions exist (like avenue being tense) and variability is common before /dʒ/ and /z/ as in imagine, magic, and jazz.[23]
    In New Orleans, [ɛə] additionally occurs before /v/ and /z/.[24]
  • The /ɑr/ vowel in words like start is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to /ɔ/. Likewise, /ɔr/ as in bore can shift as high as /ʊər/ as in boor. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.[25]
  • Canadian raising occurs for /aɪ/ before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word like [lʌik] begins with a higher nucleus than live [laɪv].[25]
  • On the other hand, /aɪ/ may undergo smoothing before liquids, becoming [ɑ] before /r/ and /l/; e.g., fire is pronounced as [fɑɻ], in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the three Wise men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."
  • [ə] is often eliminated entirely from a word when before a consonant; e.g. Annapolis = Naplis, cigarette = cigrette, company = compny.

Consonants
  • Th–stopping occurs, where the dental fricatives /θ, ð/ may be realized as stops (/t, d/ respectively); for instance, this may sound more like dis.
  • L–vocalization is common. The sound /l/ is often replaced by the semivowel or glide [w] and/or [o] or [ʊ]. Pronunciation of words like middle and college become [ˈmɪdo] and [ˈkɑwɪdʒ] respectively.
  • Epenthetic /r/ often occurs; notably, wash is pronounced as [wɑɻʃ], popularly written as warsh, and Washington is pronounced as Warshington.
  • As is common in many US dialects, /t/ is frequently elided after /n/, thus hunter is pronounced [ˈhʌnɚ].

Lexicon

The following is a list of words and phrases used in the Baltimore area that are used much less or differently in other American English dialects.

  • bixicated – (of a person) silly or simple.
  • down the ocean – (eye-dialect spellings include dayown the ocean or downy ocean) "down to/on/at the ocean", most likely referring to Ocean City, Maryland.
  • hon – a popular term of endearment, short for honey, often used at the end of a sentence. This word has been a popular marker of Baltimore culture, as represented in the annual Honfest summer festival and in landmarks such as the Hontown store and the Café Hon restaurant.[26]
  • natty boh – local slang for the beer originally brewed in Baltimore, National Bohemian.
  • pavement (commonly pronounced "payment") – means "sidewalk" (which is used rarely).
  • went up (shortened from "went up to heaven") - commonly used when an appliance dies; e.g., our refrigerator went up
  • yo – as a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun[1][27]

African-American Baltimore English includes the words lor for "little",[28] rey for ready (associated with Baltimore users of Black Twitter),[29] and woe for a close friend.

Ethnic variation

According to linguists, the "hon" dialect that is popularized in the media and that derives historically from the speech of by White blue-collar residents of South, and Southeast Baltimore is not the only accent spoken in the region. There is also a particular Baltimore accent found among Black Baltimoreans. For example, among Black speakers, Baltimore is pronounced more like "Baldamore," as compared to "Bawlmer." Other notable phonological characteristics include vowel centralization before /r/ (such that words such as "carry" and "parents" are often pronounced as "curry" or "purrents") and the mid-centralization of /ɑ/, particularly in the word "dog," often pronounced like "dug," and "frog," as "frug."[1][30] The accent and dialect of African-American Baltimoreans also share features of African American English.[30]

Notable examples of native speakers

Lifelong speakers

Films

The films of John Waters, many of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, often attempt to capture the Baltimore accent, particularly the early films. For example, John Waters uses his own Baltimore accent in the commentary during his film Pink Flamingos.[31] John Travolta's character in the 2007 version of John Waters's Hairspray spoke with an exaggerated Baltimore accent. Likewise, several of the films of Barry Levinson are set in and around Baltimore during the 1940s-1960s, and employ the Baltimore accent. Michael Tucker who was born and raised in Baltimore, speaks with a West Baltimore accent.

Television

Television drama series Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Wire are both set in Baltimore and include actors who are native White and Black Baltimoreans.[32] In the early Homicide: Life on the Streets episode "Three Men and Adena", a suspect, Risley Tucker, describes how he can tell whereabouts in or around the city a person comes from simply by whether they pronounce the city's name as "Balti-maw", "Balti-moh", or "Bawl-mer".[33]

In Season 4, Episode 7 of The Tracey Ullman Show, Baltimore actor Michael Tucker portrays the father of Ullman's character JoJo. The skit is set in a Baltimore row house. Tucker advises Ullman to "take a Liverpool accent and Americanize it." The episode called "The Stoops" begins with Tracey washing her marble stoops, which are the most common small porches attached to most Baltimore town homes (called row houses in Baltimore).[34]

In the 30 Rock episode, "I Do Do", Elizabeth Banks parodies the accent by portraying Avery Jessup, the spokesperson for the fictional Overshoppe.com in a flashback scene.[35]

Kathy Bates' character on the "Freak Show" season of American Horror Story was inspired by a Baltimore accent.[36][37][38][39]

Whether it was on his ESPN Radio show or SportsCenter at Night, Scott Van Pelt always ended his segments with Tim Kurkjian by mentioning names in a Baltimore accent featuring at least one fronted 'o'.[40]

Music

Singer-songwriter Mary Prankster uses several examples of Baltimore slang in her song, "Blue Skies Over Dundalk," from the album of the same name, including, "There'll be O's fans going downy ocean, hon."

Podcasts

Jason La Canfora, host of the B-More Opinionated[41] podcast with Jerry Coleman and resident of Dundalk, regularly discussed events of the National Football League for The Tony Kornheiser Show and will end the segment plugging his own podcast in a heavy Baltimore accent. The accent is so distinct that his dog, Copper, will react to it, barking constantly because he knows it is time for a walk.

Comedians Stavros Halkias and Nick Mullen of the Cum Town podcast both hail from the Baltimore/DMV area and use the accent to discuss topics and stories related to Baltimore and the Mid-Atlantic region. Halkias's recurring Dundalk Ralph character is frequently used to mock the white working class culture of the Dundalk suburb.

See also

References
  1. "Hold up, 'Hon': Baltimore's black vernacular youthful, dynamic if less recognized than 'Bawlmerese'".
  2. Leggett, Debbie A. (2016) "Drinking Natty Boh and speaking Ballimorese ‘Hon." Tipsy Linguist. Tipsy Linguist.
  3. Labov, William (2007) "Transmission and Diffusion", Language June 2007 p. 64
  4. Malady, Matthew J.X. (2014-04-29). "Where Yinz At; Why Pennsylvania is the most linguistically rich state in the country". The Slate Group. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  5. "The Relevatory Power of Language". Maryland Humanities Council. April 14, 2017.
  6. "Phonological Atlas of North America". www.ling.upenn.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  7. "Dew as you dew: Baltimore Accent and The Wire". Word. The Online Journal on African American English. 2012-08-15. Archived from the original on 2013-07-08.
  8. New York City and the Mid-Atlantic States
  9. Ash, Sharon. 2002. “The Distribution of a Phonemic Split in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Yet More on Short a.” In “Selected Papers from NWAV 30,” edited by Sudha Arunachalam, Elsi Kaiser, Daniel Ezra Johnson, Tara Sanchez, and Alexander Williams. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 8.3: 1–15. http:// repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol8/iss3/2.
  10. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 182.
  11. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 173–4.
  12. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 260–1.
  13. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 238–9.
  14. Duncan (2016), pp. 1–2.
  15. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 238.
  16. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 178, 180.
  17. Boberg (2008), p. 145.
  18. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 175–7.
  19. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 183.
  20. Baker, Mielke & Archangeli (2008).
  21. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 181–2.
  22. Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 82, 123, 177, 179.
  23. Labov (2007), p. 359.
  24. Labov (2007), p. 373.
  25. Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2005). The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change. Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-020683-8.
  26. Rizzo, M. (2010). Hon-ouring the past: play-publics and gender at Baltimore's HonFest. International Journal Of Heritage Studies, 16(4-5), 337-351.
  27. Stotko, E. M., & Troyer, M. (2007). A new gender-neutral pronoun in Baltimore, Maryland: A preliminary study. American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, 82(3), 262.
  28. "How Baltimore talks". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  29. Jones, T. (2015) Toward a description of African American Vernacular English dialect regions using “Black Twitter.” American Speech, 90(4): 403-440. doi:10.1215/00031283-3442117
  30. DeShields, Inte'a. "Baldamor, Curry, and Dug': Language Variation, Culture, and Identity among African American Baltimoreans". Podcast. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  31. "Pink Flamingos/Fun Facts - The Grindhouse Cinema Database". www.grindhousedatabase.com. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  32. Kaltenbach, Chris. "21 actors who appeared on both 'Homicide' and 'The Wire'". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  33. Manas Burna (2016-02-27), Homicide S01E05 Three Men and Adena, retrieved 2017-12-02
  34. "The Stoops". The Tracey Ullman Show.
  35. "I Do Do". 30 Rock.
  36. Bartel, Jordan (October 15, 2014). "'American Horror Story': The curious case of Kathy Bates' Baltimore-ish accent". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  37. Schremph, Kelly (October 8, 2014). "Kathy Bates' Accent on 'AHS: Freak Show' Is an Enigma That Needs to Be Unraveled". Bustle. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  38. Bates, Kathy [@MsKathyBates] (9 October 2014). "@gliattoT People online. Just to clear up the mystery, my accent is Baltimore not "broad Canadian." :-)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. "Kathy Bates's accent is the strangest on TV. So we asked a linguist to place it". Vox. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  40. "Scott Van Pelt uses his Baltimore accent to turn Tim Kurkjian into a giggling child". For The Win. 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  41. "B-More Opinionated! – B-More Opinionated Podcast". web.archive.org. 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2020-08-11.

Bibliography
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