Despite popular stereotypes in the media that there is a singular New Jersey accent, there are in fact several distinct accents native to the U.S. state of New Jersey,[1] none being confined only to New Jersey. Therefore, the term New Jersey English is diverse in meaning and often misleading, and it may refer to any of the following dialects of American English (most frequently New York City English and Philadelphia English) or even to intermediate varieties that blend the features of these multiple dialects.
Working- and middle-class African Americans throughout New Jersey commonly speak African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), regardless of the area of the state in which they were raised. New Jersey AAVE commonly includes a distinction between the vowels of cot and caught as well as notable fronting of the MOUTH vowel.[2]
New York City English or the dialect of greater New York City is spoken in northeastern New Jersey, plus Monmouth County and other New Jersey counties in North Jersey or within the New York City metropolitan area. Therefore, the short-a system of these areas of New Jersey is most similar to the New York City split-a system, albeit with some variation. East of the Hackensack River and in Newark, William Labov finds the split-a system to occur with no more variation than in New York City proper. However, west of the Hackensack River, he finds that the normal function word constraint of New York City English is lost, and the open syllable constraint becomes variable.[3] Furthermore, most of the New York metropolitan dialect heard in New Jersey is rhotic, or "r-pronouncing", although the speech of Newark as well as Jersey City (just across the Hudson River from New York City) may, by contrast, be non-rhotic, or "r-dropping".[4]
Outside of the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, regional English of North Jersey was classified as part of the broad Northern U.S. phonological region by The Atlas of North American English (ANAE) in 2006 and part of the Hudson Valley lexical region by Hans Kurath in 1949.[5] According to the ANAE, the /uː/ vowel remains very far back in the mouth.[6] Like Inland Northern English but unlike New York City English, the accent backs /ɛ/ and fronts /ɒ/ so that both vowels are centralized, distinguished from each other only by height.[7] However, unlike the Inland Northern accent, this accent uses the nasal short-a system.[8]
The regional dialect of the Mid-Atlantic States, in this case Philadelphia English specifically, is spoken in South Jersey and some parts of Central Jersey,[9] including most of Ocean County. Generally, the closer a speaker is raised to the city of Philadelphia, the more features their idiolect will share with the sub-dialect of Philadelphia, such as the use of the term hoagie to refer to a submarine sandwich (or sub). In Vineland in South Jersey and in some areas of Central Jersey, a nasal short-a system has been reported (in which /æ/ is tensed only before a nasal consonant) rather than the defining Philadelphian split-a system otherwise typical of South Jersey.[10]
Referencesedit
^Donohue, Brian (October 30, 2014). "Mischief night, goosey night? Subs, Hoagie? Nine maps showing how New Jersey talks". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. from the original on December 18, 2018.
^Jones, Taylor (2020). "Variation in African American English: The Great Migration and Regional Differentiation". University of Pennsylvania. Dissertations available from ProQuest: AAI27955096, p. 239.
jersey, english, despite, popular, stereotypes, media, that, there, singular, jersey, accent, there, fact, several, distinct, accents, native, state, jersey, none, being, confined, only, jersey, therefore, term, diverse, meaning, often, misleading, refer, foll. Despite popular stereotypes in the media that there is a singular New Jersey accent there are in fact several distinct accents native to the U S state of New Jersey 1 none being confined only to New Jersey Therefore the term New Jersey English is diverse in meaning and often misleading and it may refer to any of the following dialects of American English most frequently New York City English and Philadelphia English or even to intermediate varieties that blend the features of these multiple dialects Contents 1 African American dialect 2 New York metropolitan dialect 3 Northern dialect 4 Philadelphia metropolitan dialect 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 External linksAfrican American dialect editMain article African American Vernacular English Working and middle class African Americans throughout New Jersey commonly speak African American Vernacular English AAVE regardless of the area of the state in which they were raised New Jersey AAVE commonly includes a distinction between the vowels of cot and caught as well as notable fronting of the MOUTH vowel 2 New York metropolitan dialect editMain articles New York City English and New York accent New York City English or the dialect of greater New York City is spoken in northeastern New Jersey plus Monmouth County and other New Jersey counties in North Jersey or within the New York City metropolitan area Therefore the short a system of these areas of New Jersey is most similar to the New York City split a system albeit with some variation East of the Hackensack River and in Newark William Labov finds the split a system to occur with no more variation than in New York City proper However west of the Hackensack River he finds that the normal function word constraint of New York City English is lost and the open syllable constraint becomes variable 3 Furthermore most of the New York metropolitan dialect heard in New Jersey is rhotic or r pronouncing although the speech of Newark as well as Jersey City just across the Hudson River from New York City may by contrast be non rhotic or r dropping 4 Northern dialect editMain article Northern American English Outside of the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas regional English of North Jersey was classified as part of the broad Northern U S phonological region by The Atlas of North American English ANAE in 2006 and part of the Hudson Valley lexical region by Hans Kurath in 1949 5 According to the ANAE the uː vowel remains very far back in the mouth 6 Like Inland Northern English but unlike New York City English the accent backs ɛ and fronts ɒ so that both vowels are centralized distinguished from each other only by height 7 However unlike the Inland Northern accent this accent uses the nasal short a system 8 Philadelphia metropolitan dialect editMain article Philadelphia English The regional dialect of the Mid Atlantic States in this case Philadelphia English specifically is spoken in South Jersey and some parts of Central Jersey 9 including most of Ocean County Generally the closer a speaker is raised to the city of Philadelphia the more features their idiolect will share with the sub dialect of Philadelphia such as the use of the term hoagie to refer to a submarine sandwich or sub In Vineland in South Jersey and in some areas of Central Jersey a nasal short a system has been reported in which ae is tensed only before a nasal consonant rather than the defining Philadelphian split a system otherwise typical of South Jersey 10 References edit Donohue Brian October 30 2014 Mischief night goosey night Subs Hoagie Nine maps showing how New Jersey talks NJ Advance Media for NJ com Archived from the original on December 18 2018 Jones Taylor 2020 Variation in African American English The Great Migration and Regional Differentiation University of Pennsylvania Dissertations available from ProQuest AAI27955096 p 239 Part D Transmission and Diffusion bare URL PDF Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 47 Kurath Hans 1949 A Word Geography of the Eastern United States University of Michigan Press ISBN 9780472085323 Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 47 Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 122 Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 181 Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 160 Labov Ash amp Boberg 2006 233 Bibliography editLabov William Ash Sharon Boberg Charles 2006 The Atlas of North American English Berlin Mouton de Gruyter ISBN 3 11 016746 8 Further reading edit Where do N J s different accents actually come from A linguist weighs in by Kelly Roncace NJ com May 20 2017External links editCategory New Jersey English Wiktionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title New Jersey English amp oldid 1203379034, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
