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However, the terms “New York English” and “New York dialect” are strictly speaking misnomers. The classic New York dialect is centered on middle and working class European American s, and this racial group now accounts for less than half of the city’s population (however, there are plenty of members in the suburbs).
African American New Yorkers often speak African American English (AAE), though with some New York Dialect features, as do most children of Black Caribbean immigrants. Many Latino s speak another distinct ethnolect, New York Latino English , characterized by a varying mix of traditional New York dialect and AAE features along with features of Portuguese and Spanish origin. Many East Asian American and Middle Eastern New Yorkers may also speak a recognizable variety.Moreover, not even all European American New Yorkers use this variety. Upper-middle class European American New Yorkers from educated backgrounds often speak with less conspicuous accents; in particular, they use rhotic pronunciations instead of the less prestigious non-rhotic pronunciations, although they often maintain at least some of less stigmatized features. However, there is still a certain number of European American New Yorkers with educated backgrounds who use non-rhotic pronunciations, except other features of New York dialect.
Similarly, the children of professional white migrants from other parts of the US frequently do not have many New York dialect features, and as these two populations come to dominate the southern half of Manhattan and neighboring parts of Brooklyn, the dialect is retreating from their neighborhoods. Many teens attending expensive private prep schools are barely linguistically recognizable as New Yorkers. Many others though, particularly those of Southern and Eastern European descent from the middle- and working-class, do tend to have varying degrees of what has been coined New Yorkese or Brooklynese, within their daily regular speech.
African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos with high educational backgrounds also speak without New York dialect features. Thus, within the context of the city, the classic New York dialect marks a particular European American identity, one associated with individuals of working to middle class origins. Within the context of European American English, “New York English” is a geographic dialect.
Many Jewish-Americans , both Ashkenazic and Sephardic , throughout the United States have some features of a New York accent. This is the case even among some Jewish-Americans who have never lived in New York or New Jersey. This phenomenon is somewhat parallel to the spread of African American Vernacular English to the rest of the United States from its original location in the US South. Because so many Jewish-Americans have a New York-sounding accent, many people mistakenly believe that a New York accent is a "Jewish accent," when actually, Gentile white New Yorkers have the same accent. Consequently, Gentile New Yorkers are sometimes thought to be Jewish when they visit other parts of the United States.
New York-New Jersey English is predominantly characterized by the following sounds and speech patterns:
There are numerous words used mainly in New York, mostly associated with immigrant languages. A few examples include:
A curious split in usage, reflective of the city's racial divide, involves the word punk . In the African American and Latino communities, the word tends to be used as a synomym for weak , someone unwilling or unable to defend her or usually himself or perhaps loser . That usage appears to descend from the AAVE meaning of male receptive participant in anal sex, a meaning which, in turn, may be largely lost among youth. Although this loser sense is expanding to younger European American and perhaps Asian American speakers with considerable contact with AAVE culture, an older usage, in which the term means youthful delinquent is probably still more common. Thus a newspaper article that refers to, say, some arrested muggers, as punks can have two different meanings to two different readers. Of course, the term also unambiguously means the follower of a particular musical and fashion peer cultural style.
Many people are curious about the origins of the dialect. Of course, they are diverse, and the source of many features is probably not recoverable. Labov has pointed out that the short a split is found in southern England as mentioned above. He also claims that the vocalization and subsequent loss of (r) was copied from the prestigious London pronunciation, and so it started among the upper classes in New York and only later moved down the socioeconomic scale. This aristocratic r-lessness can be heard, for instance, in recordings of Franklin Roosevelt. After WWII, the r-ful pronunciation became the prestige norm, and what was once the upper class pronunciation became a vernacular one.
Other vernacular pronunciations, such as the dental (d)'s and (t)'s may come from contact with languages such as Italian and Yiddish. Grammatical structures, such as the lack of inversion in indirect questions, have the flavor of contact with an immigrant language. Of course, many words common in New York are clearly of immigrant roots, as stated above.
It is often claimed that the dialect varies by neighborhood or borough, or that Lawn Guylanders speak in a particular manner. In particular, many 20th-century New Yorkers have claimed to perceive a difference between Brooklyn and Bronx accents. This may be true, although no published study has found any feature that varies in this way beyond local names. Impressions that the dialect changes may also be a byproduct of class and/or ethnic variation.
Similarly, some speakers claim that there are differences among speakers of European American New York English that break down along ethnic lines, particularly between the descendents of the Irish, Eastern European Jews, and Italians, the three main late 19th and early 20th Century immigrants. Evidence for this differenciation may be found in sociolinguistic research , in particular Labov's (1982), finding of differences in the rate and degree of the tensing and raising of (oh) and (aeh) of Italian American versus Jewish American New Yorkers. However, the differences were relatively minor, of degree and not kind. Both groups share the relevant features. It is possible, of course, that there are substantial differences, but like geographic differences, these have not been found.
Sam Chwat, a prominent speech therapist, shares the widely held belief of native New Yorkers that it is possible to make clear distintions among the accents of different ethnic groups:One area that is likely to reveal consistent patterns, however, is usage among Orthodox Jews, sometimes referred to as Yeshivaish , for the parochial high schools members of this community attend. Such features include fully released final stops and certain Yiddish contact features, such as topicalizations of direct objects, (e.g., constructions such as Tova, she saw ! or A whole salami, you bought ! There is also substantial use of Yiddish and particularly Hebrew words. However, it could be argued that such features are not characteristic of New York dialect because they exist among Orthodox Jews in other dialect regions. Still, in combination with other New York dialect features they are characteristic of a specific local ethno-religious community. There is no research, however, establishing these facts in the New York Dialect literature.
Many famous people have New York accents, including Joe Paterno , Billy Joel , Regis Philbin , Woody Allen , Howard Stern , Ray Romano , Fran Drescher , Jerry Seinfeld , Mel Brooks , Rodney Dangerfield , Bea Arthur , George Carlin , Gilbert Gottfried , Ed Koch , Rosie O'Donnell , Peter Gallagher , Penny Marshall , Mistress Juliya , Bruce Arena , Andy Milonakis , Wendy Kaufman ("The Snapple Lady"), Gabe Kaplan , Colin Quinn , Krusty the Clown , Al Goldstein , Cyndi Lauper , Robert Pastorelli , and Ron Palillo . Sportscaster Al Michaels also speaks with a New York accent sometimes. Famous bands with New York accents include The Beastie Boys , The Ramones , Anthrax , and M.O.D .
Generally, the so-called Jersey accent or North Jersey accent spoken in northern New Jersey is somewhat closer to General American than the speech of New Yorkers, but still shares enough features with it that two can be considered together as a single dialect group for sociolinguistic purposes. Most colloquial greetings and expressions used in New York are also said by New Jerseyans and with the same frequency. However, aside from the areas immediately closest to New York, north Jersey speech is free of certain New York City features which are heavily stigmatized: the Jersey accent is usually rhotic and æ-tensing is less pronounced than in New York.
This accent is found in the northeast quarter of New Jersey, and is basically the part of the state which is in New York City's metropolitan area but not the dialect region. It includes cities such as Rutherford and Rahway .
Residents in southern New Jersey generally speak with their own unique accent; however, it is closely related to the accent used in Philadelphia. After all, many parts of southwestern New Jersey on or near the Pennsylvania border are often considered suburbs of Philadelphia, and even house many native Philadelphians who migrated there. The South Jersey accent is less heavy and more subtle than either its Philadelphia or New York neighbors.
Contrary to popular belief, few people in any part of New Jersey refer to their state as Joisey . This word is generally a mistaken attempt by non-New Jersey residents to speak with a Jersey accent.
It may also be noted that northern New Jerseyans have a prepensity to rapid speech and to "smush" their sentences into one or a few words. I'm going to the store is often, at least in casual speech, I'mgointoth'store . This is most common with younger speakers. There is a similar phenomenon in Parisian French and Guatamalan Spanish . Ex. Je ne sais pas to ''Je'n sais pas"
The present accent of the Jersey Shore is heavily influenced by that of North Jersey, from which it was principally settled. However, prior to the influence of the tourism industry on the area, the situation was different.
It was first a Dutch town, which is still reflected in the Dutch names of some local businesses and streets. The only road to Cape May was from Philadelphia , so Philadelphia English mixed in with the Dutch. The Cape May accent is fading away now; people are moving away from Cape May and businesses are closing. New people are moving in with ordinary northern New Jersey accents. Within years the accent will disappear.