Qualities of New York (Bronx) Dialect:
Linguistic History:
Neighborhood is celebrated for its wide range of ethnic diversity.
Geography:
The Bronx is the only part of New York City that is almost entirely situated on the North American mainland
Dialect qualities:
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Relaxed, openness
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Dental "t': a lot of t's and TH (as in "with") become d's, and placement for these as well as "th" just behind the front teeth. Dental consonants should feel almost lisp-y.
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Slightly lower in pitch than Standard American and slightly further back in the throat: take care to avoid putting it too far back
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Attack the starting consonant/vowel of each work: this is a confident, aggressive dialect
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Abrupt/concise words
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Utilizes glottals for vowels (in moderation). We want an authentic sound but we don't want to damage your voice!
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Intrusive R's (ex: idea is becomes idear is and law and order becomes lawr an' orduh): added where "r" usually is not, typically before a vowel. Use sparingly.
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Dropped r's: especially at the end of sentences!
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Drawn out "AU" sounds (ex: caught, fought)
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"ar" words like "cart" and "hard" are often pronounced with a rounded vowel, almost like court and horde
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"o" words like "pot" and "not" become more ah (ex: paht and naht)
Practice sentences:
Do you have any little bottles of water?
New York (Noo Yohk/Yo-uhk)
Caught, bought, coffee, talk (oh-awh-uh): it's almost as if you sucked on a lemon/ you turned around and someone surprised you (ohw), a baby just did something really cute (awh), you don't know what to say (uh). What sells "caught" and "bought" is the dental t on the end in addition to the diphthongs of the vowels.
Father (Fah-dah)
On (Ahn instead of ohn)
Forget about it! (fuhgedd uhbowd id)
Recordings: