Philadelphia accent fading out?

[LiberalElite]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/opinion/sunday/the-sound-of-philadelphia-fades-out.html?_r=0


THE Philadelphia regional accent remains arguably the most distinctive, and least imitable, accent in North America. Let’s not argue about this. Ask anyone to do a Lawn Guyland accent or a charming Southern drawl and that person will approximate it. Same goes for a Texas twang or New Orleans yat, a Valley Girl totally omigod. Philly-South Jersey patois is a bit harder: No vowel escapes diphthongery, no hard consonant is safe from a mid-palate dent. Extra syllables pile up so as to avoid inconvenient tongue contact or mouth closure. If you forget to listen closely, the Philadelphia, or Filelfia, accent may sound like mumbled Mandarin without the tonal shifts

[jsr]

1. .

[Blue State Bandit]

2. Git our goat up yo, you'll git some tonal shifts.

Tug on imaginary/real goatie as you say it.

[onehandle]

3. I've been living here for about 3 years and I almost never hear the accent.

It's been fading for a long, long time.

[JackintheGreen]

4. Where youz bin?

I lived there from 2000 to 2012 (and my wife's enormous Polish family has been there since the 20s) and I heard it everywhere. Port Richmond, parts of Grays Ferry, Bridesburg...and we're not even into South Philly yet.

[Beaverhausen]

7. I left 20 years ago and I hear it loud and clear

Whenever I go back to visit. My family is in the northwestern suburbs so maybe it's thicker there.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. So is the Downeast Yankee accent. Throw a family reunion, and it's amazing to hear

the differences between generations.

[Matariki]

6. 30 years away from Philly and that all sounds normal to me

and I thought everyone called ice cream sprinkles "jimmies"

[Beaverhausen]

8. Kingaprusha

Yes I too was pissed when Jennifer Lawrence called it King of Prussia in silver linings play book.

Chris Mathews still has his accent.

[RebelOne]

9. I was born in Philadelphia in 1939,

moved to Miami right after WWII started, grew up there until 1989 and then moved to the Atlanta, GA, metro area. But I have never lost my Philadelphia accent.

[Laxman]

10. The Accent Disappearing...

is a bad sign where I live. The Philadelphia accent, or some semblance thereof, is also the accent of rural western NJ. My wife's family in Hunterdon County and even where I live now in western Morris were places where Philly radio and T.V. were the norm pre-cable. "Iggles" fans, the whole lot of them. The "old-timers" are all being replaced by the McMansion dwelling financial industry types. If you get sick or hurt and the first aid squad shows up or if your house catches fire and the volunteer fire company comes to your aid, the responders invariably have the Philly accent.

They're all mostly conservative republicans around here but the guys with the Philly accents are the ones who will pull over and help you get back on your way if your car is stuck or stop and help you dig out the end of your driveway after a big snow. The new folks will beep and curse at you for having the temerity to block their path to whatever important place they are headed. The fading of the prevalence of the accent means the loss of the real salt of the earth people around here.

Always perplexing to me how these people who would give you the shirts off their backs if you needed it are so tied to the politics of greed and selfishness.