New York City accent in the press

[Dan Goodman]

Grant Barrett wrote:

> am New York (a freebie paper produced by Newsday) writes about the New
> York City accent, quoting Labov, Wolfram and others.
>
> Main story:
>
> http://amny.com/news/local/am-accent0220-story,0,4795875,full.story
>
> Breaking down the New York accent:
>
> http://amny.com/news/local/am-accentside0225,0,6082176.story

The New York accent's geographical footprint, unlike other regional
dialects such as that midwestern Chicago-style twang, has never been
very widespread.

"The New York City accent has always been very tightly confined to the
city and its New Jersey connection," said accent expert Bill Labov.

He's an expert and I'm an amateur; but it seems to me that it extends
into suburbs in New York State as well as into New Jersey.

I've been told it's taking over in Kingston, a bit under a hundred miles
north.

(Of course, he might not have been quoted entirely accurately.)
>
> Interactive graphic:
>
> http://www.amnyinteractive.com/project/2008/NYC-Accent/
>
> Meta-coverage in the New York Times's City Room blog (the comments
> display a good number of textbook reactions to the NYC accent, from
> pride to revulsion):
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2uxtjn

Two questions which don't seem to be addressed in these articles:  1)
What immigrant languages have recently contributed new words to this
dialect?  2) What immigrant languages are likely to contribute new words
in the near future?

--
Dan Goodman
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Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
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