It extends down toward Baltimore andnthe Rastern Shore of MD as well. I try to catch myself but I’m on the verge of giving up. I also agree that Philadelphians proper, not suburbanites, differ, according to class, education, and ethnicity. Native Philadelphians who hear it definitely think it is plenty weird.To my knowledge, it is definitely NOT a Philadelphia thing. In the very late nineteenth century until the 1950s, Philadelphia accents shifted to have more features in common with the then-emerging (and now-common) regional accents of the The vowels in Philadelphia speech have shown volatility across the last century, as Labov's research has identified changes affecting over half of the vowel phonemes. You states need to get your acts together when it comes to your cardinal directions :b”?I didn’t find any “genuine” renditions, but here’s a pretty accurate (believe it or not) parody of the South Philadelphian dialect from 1812’s Jen Childs as “Patsy”:Here’s another (exaggerated) version of what’s referred to as “Midatlantic Dialect” that comes, in parts, very close to “South Philadelphian”:Philly sports not only its own accents, but also some unique words (or at least unique uses):Finally, I would be remiss as a South Philadelphian if I did not point out that, although he is a South Philadelphia business owner, Vento makes his residence in Shamong, New Jersey, Wow. The following well-known Philadelphians represent a sampling of those who have exhibited a rhotic Philadelphia accent: For example, I’ve heard rumor of a “South Philly” variant which differs from other Philadelphia accents in that it is non-rhotic (i.e. We’re out of touch now, but the first speaker I heard use this was one of my friends who grew up in Philadelphia and then moved here to Western Mass — his friends and relatives would often visit (from Philly) and I’d hear all of them use this expression, and it struck me as odd.I spent a weekend in Altoona, PA a few weeks back, and noticed that it was a feature there. The word “yous” is only used by some Philadelphians from Northeast & South Philly. I’ve also, conversely, heard that the non-rhotic speech comes from Italians rolling Rs, getting made fun of for it, and thus, dropping Rs.Strangely, I’ve also noticed that some African-American Philadelphians drop some Rs from a few words (mostly street names, I think, like Girard (“Garahhd”) and Westminster (said like “Westministuh”). Although to be fair I don’t think South Jersey is necessarily considered more treasonous than any other suburb.Many Italians born and raised in South Philly have relocated to South Jersey in recent years due to the influx of other immigrant populations and gentrification in general.
I heard it there for the first time when a neighbor said, “The lawn needs mowed.” I eventually learned to like the construction — which is leaner: ‘needs to be mown’ or ‘needs mowed’?I am a Philly native and I never *ever* in my entire life heard anyone drop the infinitive (as in, “this needs verbed”) until I moved to Pittsburgh. My daughter has been asked if she had an English accent. It can also be heard in words like right and wife .In Philly, white men tend to adopt the change before women and in the Puerto Rican population, women are adopting the changes first. I think certain ethnic groups settled in certain areas and brought a particular flavor to that area which then became an accent.I don’t understand what’s so “controversial” about the Vento guy. Could this have German roots?There is a clear South Philly accent if you put certain words together, like “G’down Pashunk Ave to Antiny’s wooder ice, and get a churry wooder ice and a cheesesteak half wit half witout wit wiz. I don’t think people from Pittsburgh (Southwestern PA) do that, and Philadelphians don’t do it. Some funny things we all say.1) Gaw-head (this means “go ahead”), usually used when you are trying to let someone go in front of you with a shopping cart or a car. And, considering you just learned this supposed fact, maybe your information was wrong?But, regardless of what someone else might mean by it, I’m pretty sure we should take Thomas’s word for it on what they mean by it. The house need painted. But that’s what I would expect from a place called This is totally off topic, but, MM, I do wonder why you are insisting that “west central Illinois” refers, not to the western bulge, which would logically be described as “west central Illinois”, but to another region not logically described that way.
It is completely normal in south central PA, Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin counties, and more.