Baltimorese

Baltimorese, sometimes phonetically written Bawlmerese, is a dialect of American English which originated in blue-collar southern Baltimore, but is also heard throughout the city and in some areas of central Maryland, in the Mid-Atlantic United States. While considered a Northern Midland patois, it shares many characteristics of Southern speech, as might befit a port city of a border state.

Table of contents

1 Pronunciation 2 Dialectic terms 3 References 4 External links

Pronunciation

Baltimorese resembles Philadelphia-area English pronunciation in several ways. These two cities are the only ports on the Eastern Seaboard to retain rhotic speech. Also, the "l" sound is "dark," indistinctive or vocalized. Vowels in Baltimorese are flattened and shifted, however, which is more characteristic of Southern_American_English.

• "f" is often substituted for hard "th"
• long "a" becomes long "e"; bared can rhyme with leered
• long "i," as well as the diphthongs "oi" and "ow" become "aw"; choir and hire rhyme with war, aisle and boil with ball
• long "o" shifts to long "a"; one dials a phane (phone). However, one cheers for the Ews (O's, for the Baltimore Orioles).
• the epenthic "r" is evident
• elision is common

A rousing Welcoma Bawlmer, hon might greet a visitor from across the Lanic (Atlantic) in Yerp (Europe), or just south in Warshnin (Washington, DC).

Dialectic terms

• Annie Runnel (Canny) - Anne Arundel County
• downey ayshin (down to the ocean) - at the beach (spent sum'r weekends downey ayshin)
• hon - a universal name used for greeting
• right smart - a not insubstantial amount (a right smart snayfall (snowfall))
• youse - plural of you, similar to the Southern y'all

References

• "The Mid-Atlantic Dialects," Evolution Publishing

External links

• Lexicon of Bawlamarese

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