NJ Phonetics test

Paul Johnston paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
Sat Sep 27 03:41:27 UTC 2014


Dear Tom,
> You got me right--I am a North Jerseyite, but some of the answers didn't match anything in my speech.  I certainly don't say "wooder" but neither do I say"wah-ter" -- it's "wawter" by the test's spelling system, same as "cawfee" and 'tawk".  And what Jerseyite actually born in the state (I wasn't either, but I came from rhotic Orange County, NY) says "cah" etc, under the age of 80, and not an AAVE speaker.  Maybe the oldest speakers from Hudson County, which is the only place I've heard a person from New Jersey say "Joisey" or possibly parts of Bergen (South) or Essex (East).  And isn't the "cawfee" type of pronunciation found among some Philadelphians, and therefore, among some people from South Jersey?  There are other features which might define a central region, some of which is also found in Warren, Sussex and even Morris county.  My home town, Morristown, and the Oranges to the east has the vowel of north, not the vowel of part to me, and though I'm not really a native, that's what I heard natives say, rather than the NYC and NE Jersey [A].  I also have a rather high [æ] vowel as the start of out, town, and a diphthong with a central beginning in coat, if not the front beginning of South Jersey.  But my vowel in on is [A], not [O].  I sound more like New Brunswick (and Hackettstown and even Flemington) than I do like Secaucus.  By the way, where do those people down in Salem County fit--they sound less like Philly than the Eastern Shore of MD; it's beyond South Jersey, as we usually think of it.

Paul
On Sep 26, 2014, at 10:43 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      NJ Phonetics test
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Are you from North=2C Central or South NJ
> http://www.playbuzz.com/aleshawilliamsboyd10/test-your-jersey-accent
> 
> Tom Zurinskas=2C Conn 20 yrs=2C Tenn 3=2C NJ 33=2C now FL 12.See how Englis=
> h spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
> 
> 
> =20
> =20
> 
> 
> 		 	   		  =
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list