The city covers 48.4 square miles with a population of 675,647 in 2020, also making it the most populous city in New England and it is the seat of Suffolk County. During the Puritan settlements, several key events of the American Revolution happened, for example the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill and the siege of Boston.

According to Budenas (2024), it is believed that the infamous Boston accent originated from the south of England. Back in the day, Massachusetts was considered to be part of the British colony. As the colonists migrated from southern England, they also brought the dialect with them and it will later spread all over Massachusetts as well as other parts of England. As a result the Boston dialect was born with the influence of southern England English. 

Unfortunately, it is believed that nowadays this infamous dialect is gradually fading as the new generation started to develop their own way of speech, leaving the dialect as a thing in the past.

Midwestern is also used by people who live in Detroit. Detroit is a diverse and dynamic city with a fascinating history. It is long known as the automobile capital of the world, where Detroit is famous for its distinctive Motown music sound from the 1960s. It also serves as a home for a mix of people from various ethnic backgrounds. It includes citizens of Italian, English, German, Polish, Irish, Mexican, Middle Eastern, African and Greek descent. Detroit is composed primarily of African Americans, Hispanics and Arab Americans. The racial diversities are reflected in areas such as Greektown, Mexicantown and Asian Village. Detroit played a key role in the industrialisation of America throughout the 20th century. 

According to Bryanna (2024), back in the days, The United States had experienced multiple waves of immigrants that peaked, especially in the 16th to 20th centuries. According to the record, in the 18th and 19th centuries, immigrants, especially Scandinavian and German, started to enter the country. This happened at the same time as the westward expansion. Owing to the expansion, these immigrants would then travel to the newer States and start building their own communities. 

Owing to these sequences of events, the English developed by these communities would still possess hints of Scandinavian and German creating the unique dialect we know today.    

eəvrɪdeɪ ɪs ə njʊ tʃæns tʊ grəʊ tʊ lɜːrn ænt rɑɪs əbʌv jestərdeɪ

nəʊ mædər wər jʊ ɑːr ɪn jʊr dʒɜːrni kiːp gəʊɪŋ

lets step fɔːwəd wɪθ ə pɜːrpəs fɔːr ɑʊər driːm

ə riːəl stɑːr kiːps muːvɪŋ fɔːwəd

Age : 26 years old

Gender : Female

Job : Student and a part time desk receptionist

Demographic : Boston, Massachusetts

Age : 27 years old

Job : Housewife

Demographic : Currently lives in Texas BUT was raised in Detroit.

The process of making this Padlet was such a roller coaster. Five of the people we contacted to be our interviewees either didn't respond back or initially agreed, only to ghost us the next day. Hence, why we are so grateful to our interviewees, Penelope and Vika. Although we did face some challenges, the excitement of creating this Padlet was endless!

Do enjoy our humble work as you swipe and scroll through the sections. Buckle up - we're on the verge of an unforgettable ride! (^o^)

The tendency to drop the ‘R’ during speech is also one of the iconic characteristics of Boston dialect. As stated by Cristantiello (2023), this phenomenon is known as ‘R-lessness’. The sound ‘R’ is omitted from the sentence and usually swapped with vowels. This alteration would lead to changes in usage of phonemes compared to standard English.

For example, people with Boston dialect would pronounce the word ‘car’ as ‘cah’. This change would also lead to changes in term of phonemes such as from /ɑ/ to /ɑː/. As a result, their vowel pronunciation appears to be longer compared to standard English speakers. 

This unnatural way of pronunciation is the main reason why a lot of comedians love to imitate or make puns out of the dialect.

Vocalisation

Boston dialect has a distinct way of pronouncing the ‘R’ and ‘L’ sound. The ‘R’ and ‘L’ sounds or also known as liquid sounds are often switched with vowel sounds. This process is known as vocalisation by linguists. The ‘hard’ sound of the consonant weakens before disappearing completely. 

Everyday is a new chance to grow, to learn, and raise above yesterday.

No matter where you are in your journey, keep going.

Lets step forward with purpose for our dream.

A real star keep moving forward.

Everyday is a new chance to grow, to learn, and raise above yesterday.

No matter where you are in your journey, keep going.

Lets step forward with purpose for our dream.

A real star keeps moving forward

When it comes to phonemic variations, the midwest dialect is known for their iconic cot-caught merger. This term is used to refer to the unique way of speech of the midwesterners. As mentioned by Smith (2011), midwesterners have the tendency to merge the pronunciation of words such as caught and cot. For instance, instead of pronouncing the words ‘cot’ and ‘caught’ as ‘caht’ and ‘cawht’, they would pronounce them as ‘caht’ and ‘caht’.

This might cause confusion among standard speakers as the usage of the same phoneme might lead to misinterpretation.

This tendency can be heard from one of our interviewee, Penelope, who was raised with Midwestern accent. In the audio, she pronounce the word 'our' as /ɑʊr/ instead of /aʊər/.

‘TH’ Deletion

In some parts of Detroit there are also variations where the speaker would turn the ‘th’ sound into a ‘d’ sound.

This alteration happens especially when the ‘th’ sound is at the beginning of the word. For instance, words such as ‘there’ will be pronounced as ‘dere’. This alteration can easily be overlooked especially by non-standard speakers.

Wicked Pissah

The phrase ‘wicked pissah’ is used to describe something that they considered as amazing or incredible.

Bang a uey

‘Bang a uey’ describes the action of making a ‘U-Turn’, especially when someone is making an illegal ‘U-Turn’.

Packie

The word ‘packie’ is a slang used to refer to a liquor store.

Smaht

Rather than saying the word ‘smart’ Boston folks might use the word ‘smaht’ to describe someone intelligent.

Cruzzah

‘Cruzzah’ is used to refer to a police car.

Here are some of expressions used in Detroit :

• Whaddup doe

Used in greeting people, like ‘Hey!’.

• I'm sick

Used for when the person is disappointed.

• Dog Shit

Used for when something is good. It could also be used to refer to ‘money’.

Boston English, especially among the elders and the working class speakers, are traditionally non-rhotic. Though, the younger and more educated speakers have shown an increase in rhoticity. This change is what we call context-sensitive where /r/ is more likely in careful speech or before vowels (linking R).

Word stress

Rhoticity is more retained in lexical (stressed) words than in function words (unstressed) words. This emphasizes a great interaction between prosodic stress pronunciation.

Sentence Rhythm

Based on stress and syntactic role, the variability of /r/ presence contributes to a distinct rhythmic pattern. Unstressed function words with dropped /r/ will lead to a faster and fluid delivery, while stressed words maintain clarity.

When it comes to pronouncing the vowels Midwestern placed their tongue differently compared to standard English users, as a result the vowels would appear to shift around the articulatory space. This occurrence is known as the ‘Northern Cities Shift’ (NCS) which would lead to shift of stress on the vowels (Gordon, n.d.).

The unusual way they pronounce their vowels is also the reason for their lengthy vowel pronunciation. For instance, words like sleeping and driving are pronounced as ‘sleepeen’ and ‘driveen’. This alteration would lead to different stress patterns and tone compared to standard English speakers. As a result, Midwesterners have a tendency to move the stress pattern at the end of their words.  

In order to find information regarding our assigned topic, we had scoured through the internet for credible sources. Research papers and online articles are used as references throughout the E-portfolio.

Audio:

We met our interviewees (Vika and Penelope) through the social media platform, TikTok. They agreed to help us by reading the text and contributing their voices. Without them, we will never be able to complete this assignment. We are truly grateful for them.

Analysis:

Based on the gathered data, we were able to determine the language variations for bot dialect as well as come up with our own conclusion.

evrɪdeɪ ɪs ə njuː tʃæns tʊ grəʊ tʊ lɜːrn æn tʊ rɑɪz əbʌv jestərdeɪ 

nɒ mædər wer juː ɑːr ɪn jər dʒɜːrnɪ kiːp gəʊɪŋ

lets step fɔːwɜːd wɪθ ə pɜːrpəs fɔː ɑʊr driːm

ə riːəl stɑːr kiːps muːvɪŋ fɔːrwərd

"Oh, you're hungry?"

'No, but YOU are ✨burger✨!'