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Upstate New York accent
- Dat’s right: what we call a Chicago accent is, in fact, an Upstate New York accent, transplanted here in the 19th Century by the city’s earliest residents. We talk more like Rochester and Buffalo than Bloomington and Peoria. Why? Linguists say it’s because of the Erie Canal.
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What makes a Chicago accent different?
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Do Chicagoans speak a blaccent?
While the Chicago accent may not be as pronounced as accents from other regions, there are subtle linguistic traits that set it apart. 1. Vowel Shifts: One of the hallmarks of the Chicago accent is the “cot-caught” merger, where words like “cot” and “caught” are pronounced nearly identically.
May 27, 2021 · There’s long been anecdotal evidence that the Classic Chicago Accent, the traditional dialect of the city’s white ethnics, is in decline. Now, we have academic and scientific evidence...
Jun 25, 2013 · Why the Chicago Accent Sounds Pretty Much Like Cleveland's. The roots of the Chicago accent travel east across the Great Lakes and along the Erie Canal, separating us from the South by way of ...
Apr 28, 2021 · The ‘Blaccent’ That Defines Chicago. Part Southern, part Inland North, the Black Chicago dialect captures the history of the city since the Great Migration. By Edward McClelland.
- Nasalization Is Your Friend
- Embrace The R
- Tighten Up Loose Diphthongs
- Remember: "Flat Is Flat"
- Let Your Lips Kiss The "O"
- Bonus. "But Wait, How Do I Pronounce 'Chicago'?"
If there is one thing to master when doing a Chicago accent, it's the accent's unique way of peppering nasalization throughout speech, particularly in words that end in "n" or "m" such as man, can, and, ham, etc. The real key to nailing a Chicago accent is finding the perfect balance of nasalization for the speaker.
Particularly at the ends of words such as far, bar, car, care, dare, and share! In Chicago a little R never hurt anyone's tongue, so don't be afraid to really engage the back of the tongue. This is similar to the General American sound, but don't be afraid to be even more R-generous than when speaking in GenAm accent. Think "Hard R!"
Such as the sound found in "find" and "time". Instead of allowing your tongue to glide through the vowel sound, I feel the back of my mouth constricting a bit over the sound in order to get the desired Chicago "I".
Stepping off of the plane and into O'Hare airport, I was surrounded by Chicagoans looking for their "bags". Or "begs", rather. While they weren't completely saying "begs", there is certainly a flattening of the /ae/ sound in words such as have, had, flag, marry, etc. So flatten out that sound found in the word "flat".
As in the words go, no, & Chicago. This is definitely a more "pure" "o" sound than say, in a General American accent, but don't go too hard on this sound, lest you want to end up farther north in Minnesota, Michigan, or Wisconsin. For this sound, I let my lips pure slightly to form the sound.
Ah, my friend, this is harder than you think it would be. In contemporary, younger, educated speakers I typically hear "Chicago" pronounced with a middle vowel of "ah", as in FATHER, which is pretty much General American. Still, there are native speakers who may pronounce the city with some lip rounding over that "ah" turning it into a sort of "aw"...
Apr 9, 2019 · 2.2K. 135K views 5 years ago. Learn to speak with a Chicago accent. This is a straight forward, step-by-step process that will have you speaking with a Chicago accent in no time Don't wait until...
- 5 min
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- Jeff Virkus
May 6, 2013 · A few months ago, Curious City tackled the enigma known as the “Chicago accent” — its origins, who speaks with it, and how the accent is evolving today. One important qualification? Not all...
