How do you say "barn"?

[Grant Barrett]

A discussion of Boston accents from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/252/metro/How_do_you_say_Barn_+.shtml

'You've got to realize there is no `Boston accent'; there are several Boston
accents,'' Connolly says. ''Charlestown and Somerville talk very differently
from people in Dorchester. Boston English as spoken in the North End is very
different from that spoken in South Boston.''

Connolly tested his theory last weekend while roaming Fenway Park, which he
called possibly the best dialect laboratory in the city. In the stands
before a game, Connolly found examples of what he described as four major
strains of Boston speech.

To Connolly, there's the ''southern Boston'' accent, born in neighborhoods
such as South Boston, Dorchester, and Roxbury; a ''northwest'' sound, rooted
in Cambridge and Somerville; a ''northeast'' accent, formed in East Boston
and the North End; and the hoary Brahmin dialect from the Back Bay and
Beacon Hill.

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Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
http://www.worldnewyork.org/
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