St. Louis Dialect

[Matthew Gordon]

According to Internet Movie Database, Kevin Kline, Scott Bakula, and
Robert Guillaume are natives of StL.

The stereotypical accent feature of the dialect is the merger of /ar/
and /or/ which results in 'four' sounding like 'far'. From my casual
observations, this is heard mostly from older (50+) speakers; certainly
none of my students have this.
Younger speakers might have elements of the Northern Cities Shift
especially the raising and fronting of /ae/ ('bat' sounds like 'bet'),
the fronting of /a/ ('cot' sounds like 'cat') and the lowering or
backing of /E/ ('bet' sounds like 'bat' or 'but'). Still, these features
are not nearly as well established in StL as in real northern cities
like Chicago and Detroit.
A well known feature of African-American speech in St. Louis is the
backing of /Er/ and/or /Ir/ so that 'here' and possibly 'hair' rhyme
with 'fur'. This feature is discussed (and exemplified?) by hip-hop star
Nelly on his Country Grammar CD, I think.

Janievh at AOL.COM wrote:

> Hi!!
>
> My name is Jane van Hool and I am a Dialect Coach in the UK (London).
> I am
> working on a play called 'Stairs to the Roof' for the Chichester
> Festival
> Theatre and need to know what a modern day St. Louis accent is like.
> Do you
> have any phonetics/films I could watch/ TV shows or famous actors I
> could use
> as examples of this dialect?
>
> Please help!!!
>
> Best
>
> Jane
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