regional american accents美式英语的地区性差异.docx

1、regional american accents美式英语的地区性差异Regional vocabularies of American EnglishContents 1 Regionalisms 2 The Northeast 2.1 New England 2.1.1 Northern New England 2.2 Mid-Atlantic 2.2.1 New York City Area 2.2.2 New Jersey 2.2.3 Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area & Delaware Valley (Philadelphia, Balt

2、imore, Washington, DC, Northeastern Maryland and environs, including southern New Jersey and northern Delaware) 3 The North 3.1 Chicagoland and Northern Illinois 3.2 Iowa 3.3 North Dakota 3.4 Michigan 3.5 Wisconsin 3.6 Minnesota 4 The Midland 4.1 Northern and Eastern Missouri (Saint Louis, Columbia,

3、 Missouri, and Surrounding Areas) 5 The South 5.1 South Louisiana 6 The West 6.1 Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) 6.1.1 Alaska 6.2 Montana 6.3 Wyoming 7 See also 7.1 Regional American English 7.2 English around the world 7.3 Language studies RegionalismsHistorically, a number of ev

4、eryday words and expression used to be characteristic of different dialect areas of the United States, especially the North, the Midland, and the South; many of these terms spread from their area of origin and came to be used throughout the nation. Many today use these different words for the same o

5、bject interchangeably, or to distinguish between variations of an object. Such traditional lexical variables include:faucet (North) and spigot (South); frying pan and spider, both of New England origin (the former brought over by the English), and skillet (Midland); clapboard (North) and weatherboar

6、d (Midland and South); gutter (South), now the mainstream term, as opposed to eaves trough (North) and spouting (parts of Mid-Atlantic); pit (North, from Dutch) and seed (Midland); teeter-totter (originally Northern, now also Western), seesaw (Midland), and dandle (Rhode Island); firefly (North) and

7、 lightning bug (Midland and South); swill (North; garbage for hogs) and slops (Midland and South); pail (North) and bucket (Midland and South). Many differences however still hold and mark boundaries between different dialect areas, as shown below. Newer lexical variables that have been studied in r

8、ecent years are, for example, the different terms in use to denotea sofa, couch, or (now old-fashioned) davenport; carbonated beverages or soft drinks (soda, pop, coke, etc.); a long sandwich with meat, lettuce, etc. (submarine sandwich, hero, hoagie, grinder, po boy etc.); a rubber-soled sports sho

9、e (mainly sneaker, tennis shoe, or gym shoe). Below are lists outlining regional vocabularies in the main dialect areas of the United States. A term featured on a list may or may not be found throughout the region concerned, and may or may be not recognized by speakers outside of said region. Some t

10、erms appear on more than one list.The Northeastbrook: creek. Mainly New England, northern New Jersey, and parts of New York, term creek is thought of as a smaller brook. (shopping) carriage: (esp. Southern New England & Northern New Jersey) shopping cart. cellar: alternate term for basement. 1 sneak

11、er: although found throughout the U.S., appears to be concentrated in the Northeast. Elsewhere (except for parts of Florida) tennis shoes is more common. 2 soda: usual term for soft drink. stoop: from Dutch, traditionally associated with New York City, now found throughout the Northeast. whiffletree

12、: piece of wagon gear elsewhere known as whippletree, swingletree, etc. New EnglandSee Boston accent for the Boston lexiconbasement: (local) a lavatory (as in a school). bubbler (Boston): a water fountain. bulkhead: cellar hatchway. clicker: television remote control. grinder: submarine sandwich (ex

13、cept usu. ME, extremely common in CT) hosey: (esp. parts of MA & ME) to stake a claim or choose sides, to claim ownership of something (sometimes, the front seat of a car) intervale: (also spelled interval) bottomland; mostly historical johnnycake: (also journey cake, esp. RI jonnycake, also called

14、Shawnee cake) a type of cornmeal bread leaf peeper: a tourist who has come to see the areas vibrant autumn foliage (also colloquially leafer) Masshole: derogatory term applied to someone from the state of Massachusetts; sometimes used with pride by Bay Staters Taxachusetts: derogatory term for Massa

15、chusetts based on the high state taxes. necessary: outhouse, privy. packie: (chiefly MA and CT) Short for package store, a regional variation of liquor store, derived from the use of brown bags or shallow boxes to package and conceal the purchased bottles. quahog (Rhode Island): Pronounced koe-hog,

16、it properly refers to a specific species of clam, but due to its abundance in RI, most Rhode Islanders refer to any clam as a quahog; it is also used to refer to stuffed clams. rotary: traffic circle. spa: (mainly Eastern NE) soda fountain. tilt, tilting board, totter, dandle, teedle board: seesaw,

17、teeter-totter tonic (Boston): soft drink. One of the few variations from the general split in the United States between soda and pop. wicked:(adv.) very, extremely (this has gained popularity throughout the U.S. in popular culturecitation needed, especially among younger people) also, cool frappe (B

18、oston, Eastern MA): a Milkshake barrel (Boston): Trash Can Northern New Englandayuh, or ayup: yes or affirmative. bulkie: a kaiser roll. Common throughout Maine and as far south as Boston. The County: Aroostook County, Maine, so called due to its large size. camp: usually waterfront vacation cabin o

19、r cottage. dinner: sometimes used to describe the practice of going out for dessert after the evening meal. dooryard: area around the door of a house, typically including the driveway. flatlander, flattie: describes a person from away (q.v.). In NH occasionally used for a person from the extreme sou

20、thern part of New Hampshire (which lacks mountains). from away: phrase describing a person from another state or country (or as is sometimes the case in Northern Maine, a person from Southern Maine). Italian sandwich: (ME) submarine sandwich. Kaybecker: a lumberjack who is a native of French-speakin

21、g Quebec (alteration of Quebecer). logan, pokelogan: a shallow, swampy lake or pond (from Algonquian). shmunk: forshortened term for a Chipmunk. outfit: a group of people (e.g. What are you doing hanging around with that outfit? meaning Why are you associating with those people?) rooked: to be swind

22、led, i got rooked on that deal Mid-AtlanticNew York City AreaBICs (Bronx Irish Catholics): a derogatory term used by Bronx teen boys (of all ethnicities) in the 1950s to refer to Irish-American teen girls who were coquettish but not available. BOCES: a derogatory term for special education children.

23、 Derives from the acronym for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services. bodega: a convenience store, most often in a Spanish-language (usually Puerto-Rican or Dominican) neighborhood. catty corner: to place something on an angle to a corner; catercorner. Chinese handball: one-wall handball in w

24、hich the ball must bounce first before hitting the wall. Typically played against the wall of an apartment building that is flush to the sidewalk. As there is not much room for a ball to bounce after hitting the wall, the stipulation that the ball must bounce before hitting the wall slows down its s

25、peed. The City: Manhattan, or, New York City as a whole (primarily depending on whether the speaker is in the outer-boroughs or in another city altogether.) close the light: turn off the light elsewhere dungarees: jeans egg cream: a mixture of cold milk, U-Bet chocolate syrup, and seltzer. gutter: t

26、he entire width of street and not just the depressed rain catchment along the sidewalk, as in lets play stickball in the gutter. have a catch: To throw a ball back and forth. Play catch elsewhere. hero: submarine sandwich. icebox archaic: refrigerator ices: Italian ice The Island: Long Island (not i

27、ncluding Brooklyn and Queens). In NYC, it can also refer to Rikers Island, particularly when used in a context such as saying that one got sent to the island. Also refers to Puerto Rico, especially by Puerto Ricans or New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent. johnny pump (archaic): fire hydrant. a kill:

28、(from Dutch) a small river or strait, in the name of specific watercourses. E.g.: Beaver Kill, Fresh Kills, Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill. light and sweet: a method of serving coffee, with lots of milk and sugar. Also common in New England. to wait/stand on line: to wait/stand in line (e.g. I stood on

29、line for 5 hours to get these tickets.) on accident: Not used by all New Yorkers, but is not uncommon, contrasting on purpose. For example, I didnt mean to; I did it on accident. While all Americans use the term on purpose, most non-New Yorkers use by accident. outer boroughs: The four boroughs of N

30、ew York City that are not Manhattan: Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. pie: an entire pizza; a cheese pie or a plain pie has no toppings other than cheese and sauce. potsy: hopscotch. punchball: a baseball-like game suitable for smaller areas, in which a fist substitutes for the bat and

31、 a spaldeen is the ball. regular coffee: 10 oz. coffee with whole milk and two sugars; by contrast, plain coffee is black, no sugar. sewer: manhole cover in the middle of the street, as in the stickball term: he can hit three sewers. slice: one piece of a pizza spaldeen: a small, soft rubber ball, r

32、eputedly the inside of a tennis ball, made by Spalding, and used for punchball and stickball. stickball: a baseball-like game played in the street (gutter) with a broom handle used for a bat and a spaldeen for a ball. stoop: the front steps of a house (usually cement, sometimes wood), similar to porch; a kid