Version 0.33
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Zack Smith.
All rights reserved.
News
Check out my extensive guide to living frugally in
the Philadelphia region, which is
here.
Famous quotes about Philly
"It's a death trap. It's a suicide rap. We gotta get out while we're young."
- Bruce
Introduction
There is a distinctive accent that many people in the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region
speak with, and although it may have legitimate
historical origins, deriving from Welsh immigrants
and so on,
it is not uncommon to hear outsiders
complaining that the Philly accent is, or has become,
rather ugly.
An additional complaint is often subsequently lodged
that
the Philly accent is an incorrect and unstable
manner of speech
that besides
grating on the ears also involves
word alterations and apparently
requires awkward ad hoc fixes
as a result.
Some might argue that the Philadelphia accent
could one day be corrected,
taking the attitude that it is no different than a few
crooked teeth and that
it can and should be repaired.
Yet even if this were possible,
in order to change a thing, one must first know a thing.
Thus the purpose of this web page is to serve as
an information repository about the accent.
Yet one should ask, does Philadelphese
need to be corrected in the first place?
Because if the Philadelphese is becoming a dialect,
the obvious answer is no.
Dialects by definition are legitimate
and correct in and of themselves.
If Philadelphese it is a dialect, it should like other dialects
not be confined to the spelling practices
of the mother language.
It is to that end as well, of codifying the forms
of Philadelphese using a new spelling paradigm,
that this webpage is also dedicated.
Pronunciation Guide
The good news is that the Philly accent is basically
spoken with a comprehensible set of systematic differences
from standard American English,
including of course the ad hoc irregularities that it necessitates.
However it does include a number of altered
word forms, some of which I list below.
I'm not a linguist, so fortuitously for the reader I will not
encumber you with unfamiliar technical terminology, but rather on
this page I shall provide a practical lay analysis,
which is a work-in-progress.
Proposed New Spellings
Since typically new dialects of a language
receive their own system of spelling,
to avoid confusion with other dialects,
I am hereby proposing
my own spellings of common new word-forms.
Legend:
- ea = "eah" as in standard American English "yeah"
- oa = overemphasized "oh" sound; peculiar to Philly/Maryland speech
- uh = weak "u" as in "butt"
- y = both consonant "y" and "ee" vowel
- rr = overemphasized and 'heavy' r consonant
- nn =overemphasized and 'heavy' n consonant
- aa = long "ah" vowel; like the "o" in Holland
The Word List
Note!
A key vowel in the Philadelphia accent is "eah", as in "yeah".
It is used as a replacement in many
instances for stronger vowels.
In my new Philadelphese
spellings, I have denoted this sound as simply
"ea".
First, a word list.
| Word
| Philadelphia pronunciation
| New Philadelphese Spelling
|
| about
| uhbeaht
| aabeat
|
| across
| uhcraws(t)
| aakraws(t)
|
| actually
| akshlee
| akshly
|
| after
| eahfter
| eaftr
|
| all
| awwl
| awl
|
| all right
| aayt; uhyt
| aayt; uhyt
|
| always
| uhwweez or uhwwayz
| uhwyz
|
| and
| ennd; enn; eahn
| ennd; enn; ean
|
| area
| ehrry-uh
| errya
|
| ask
| eahsk
| eask
|
| bad
| beahd
| bead (note: English "bead" becomes beed)
|
| bagel
| beggle
| begl
|
| birthday
| buhrth-deyy
| buhrthdey
|
| buried
| buhr-reed
| buhreed
|
| calculator
| kak-uh-layder & keahk-a-leyder
| keakaleyder
|
| call
| kawl
| cawl
|
| can
| ceahn
| cean
|
| Can I?
| Kai?
| CaI
|
| class
| kleahs
| cleas
|
| contrast
| kawn-treahst
| cawntreast
|
| copay
| kowe-pehy
| coapey
|
| course
| caawrs
| cawrs
|
| current
| kehr-int
| kerrint
|
| daily
| Delhi
| delly
|
| daughter
| dawder; daw(t)er
| dawdr
|
| day
| deyy
| dey
|
| Diana
| Dah-YEAH-nuh
| Dayeanuh
|
| down
| deahn
| dean (personal name Dean becomes deen)
|
| during
| door-ing
| doring
|
| Eagles
| Iggles (rhymes with wriggles)
| Iglz
|
| et cetera
| ek-set-tra
| eksetra
|
| Erik
| Uhrr-ik
| Uhrik
|
| Fall; fall
| fawl
| Fawl; fawl
|
| fancy
| feahncy
| feansy
|
| far
| fawr
| fawr
|
| fight
| fuhyt
| fuyt
|
| forward
| foe-ward
| foawrd
|
| found
| feahnd
| feand
|
| gallon
| geahlin
| gealin
|
| glad
| gleahd
| glead
|
| go
| gowe
| goaw
|
| go ahead
| go head; guhhead
| goahed
|
| going 1
| gawn
| gawn
|
| going 2
| gowe-in
| goayn
|
| had
| heahd
| head (spelling of std. English "head" becomes hed)
|
| half
| heahf
| heaf
|
| high
| huyy
| huy
|
| hold
| hode
| hoad
|
| hold on
| hoe-dawn
| hoadawn
|
| how
| heahw
| heaw
|
| How are you doing?
| Heah-ya-dooen?
| Hea yuh dooan?
|
| hurry
| herry
| herry
|
| insurance
| in-shore-ins
| inshorins
|
| intermittently
| inner-mi-int-lee
| innermiehntly
|
| Italy
| IT-lee
| itlee
|
| Italian
| ih-TA-yin
| itayin
|
| it is like
| sluhyk
| sluyk
|
| last
| leahst
| least (std. English "least" becomes leest)
|
| library
| lie-berry
| laiberry
|
| later
| layder
| leyder
|
| legal
| liggle (rhymes with wriggle)
| ligl
|
| like
| luhyyk
| luhyk
|
| little
| liddle
| lidl
|
| lost
| lawst
| lawst
|
| March
| mawrch
| mawrch
|
| may; May
| muhy (sound uh is same as u in put)
| muhy
|
| millions
| miyyunz
| miyuhnz
|
| mine
| Mayan
| mayuhn
|
| nice
| nuyys
| nuhys
|
| no
| neah; ney-yuh
| nea
|
| noise
| nowe-eez
| noayz
|
| north
| new-urrth
| nuerth
|
| now
| neahw
| neaw
|
| office
| awfiss
| awfis
|
| OK
| Uh-kay or ukkei
| UK (ukkei)
|
| OK
| nnnkuhy
| Nkuhy
|
| ounce
| eahns
| eans
|
| out
| eaht
| eaht
|
| off
| awwf (overemphasis on w)
| awf
|
| pass
| peahs
| peas (std. English "peas" => pees)
|
| Pennsylvania
| pencil-VAIN-ya
| Penslvaynya
|
| Phillies
| Phuh-leez (sounds like pullies)
| Fleez
|
| Philadelphia
| Phul-DELF-ya
| Fldelfya
|
| phone
| phowen (emphasis on w sound)
| fowen
|
| powerball
| peahr-bawl
| pearbawl
|
| quarter
| corder
| corder
|
| radio
| reddy-ohw
| reddioa
|
| rasberry
| reahz-burry
| reazbuhry
|
| really
| rilly; ruhlly
| rilly
|
| realtor
| rilla-ter or rillter
| rillatr; rilltr
|
| ridiculous
| ree-dik-a-liss
| reedihkalis
|
| separate
| sep-a-rit
| separit
|
| sports
| spew-erts
| spewrts
|
| stand
| steahnd
| steand
|
| store
| stew-er
| stewr
|
| say
| seyy
| sey
|
| serve
| suhrrv
| surrv
|
| Steelers
| Stillerz
| Stillerz
|
| to him
| too-eem (when appended to another word)
| to eem
|
| totally
| toad-a-lee
| toadalee
|
| tour
| TOO-wer
| toowr
|
| town
| teahn
| tean
|
| trail
| tray-ul
| treyal
|
| trailpass (product name)
| trell-peahs
| trelpeas
|
| ultrasound
| ohweltra-seahnd
| oltraseand
|
| voice
| voe-ees
| voays
|
| volume
| vah-yume
| vaayoom
|
| was
| wuhz
| wuhz
|
| water
| wooder
| weuder
|
| world
| wuhr-rald
| wuhrrald
|
| yeah
| yeh; yeah; yee-uh
| yeh; yea (archaic English "yea" becomes yey)
|
| you
| yuh
| yuh
|
| you (plural)
| yooz
| yuz
|
| you would
| yud
| yuhd
|
| yours [noun]
| yor-unz
| yorunz
|
Systematic "Mistakes"
- Often at the beginning of a word,
the first vowel with be converted to a weak
and barely pronounced "uh" sound (as in butter),
excepting the case where the vowel is normally
pronounced "uh" (as in butter) in which case
it is spoken with more emphasis normal.
- The short "a" in all and similar words is extended into a long "aww" dipthong.
- Certain beginning vowels which in normal American English are strong e.g. ee and ay sounds are converted to the soft i sound as in "swim". Meanwhile words that ought to begin with the weak i are overemphasized.
- Many single-syllable words are bizarrely chopped in two and thus pronounced as if they had two syllables. For instance mine becomes like Mayan and voice becomes voy-ees.
- Words containing "br" can end up reversed into "ber" or similar. Hence library becoming lie-berry.
- Harder-to-pronounce words can become muddled: as with calculator becoming kak-uh-lader.
-
Some words that should contain a soft
"uy" sound, such as "rights", are spoken in the
Philadelphia accent with a very deep and overly long
"uy" sound.
-
Word combining is common in the Philadelphia
region. This is not in and of itself an unpleasant
phenomenon and it occurs also in Dutch and German.
For instance, the expression "Can I?" become "kai".
- The suffix "ia" as in Pennsylvania is not properly pronounced as ee-uh but as ya.
-
In many words that contain a strong "oh" sound,
like phone, Philadelphia-area people
pronounce it with a "w" at the end of the oh,
thus overemphasizing and lenghthening it.
For example, phone becomes phowen.
- The a in pat/that/sat is often converted into an "eah" as in yeah.
Instability
The Philadelphia accent seems to me to be unstable,
for the simple reason that it seems to require
more on-the-fly or ad hoc solutions by speakers
to make it sound less awkward than other accents
of English. For example, the same person might
say "trailpass" as "trell-peahs" but in the next
breath say "trail" as "tray-uhl" because "trell"
by itself sounds awkward. Almost all other
accents or dialects of English don't require
this particular ad hoc repair, but the Philly
accent does seem to require such fixes in larger
numbers.
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