CSI in the News - CSI Today

Independent.ieFuhgeddaboutit: New York accent may be dying outTHE traditional New York accent – where residents pronounce coffee "cawfee" among other things –could be on the wane, it has been claimed.Kara Becker, an assistant professor of linguistics at Reed University, in a recent article for the NewYork Post, wrote that "Current linguistic research finds that many of the defining features of localspeech are losing ground"."Research shows that not all accents are created equal in the US," she writes. "When Americans areasked to rank locations in descending order from most to least 'correct' speech, the New York Cityaccent is rated second to last (only the South rates lower). Speakers of the New York City accent, itturns out, are associated with a number of negative attributes, like being unfriendly and unkind."She adds that New Yorkers themselves suffer from "linguistic insecurity".As a result, recent research has shown that there are "big differences" across age groups in New York,where older speaker have the classic New York accent – "fuhgeddaboutit" – but younger speakers didnot replicate it.The present day New York accent comes from a varied history. The area has seen settlers from theNetherlands, England, Germany, and still maintains a prominent Italian, Irish and Jewish population.The influence of Yiddish is apparent.George Jochnowitz, emeritus professor of linguistics at the College of Staten Island, Long Island, toldThe Times: "Both Yiddish and Italian did not make a distinction between the pronunciation of 'ng' insinger and finger."Long Island for example, was "Lawn Gyland". But, he claims such sounds have now faded from NewYork City.-Page 35 of 161