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A Boston accent is a local accent of
Eastern New England English Eastern New England English, historically known as the Yankee dialect since at least the 19th century, is the traditional regional dialect of Maine, New Hampshire, and the eastern half of Massachusetts. Features of this variety once spanned an eve ...
, native specifically to the city of
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including
New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
,
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, and all of eastern Massachusetts, while some uniquely local vocabulary appears only around Boston. A 2006 study co-authored by
William Labov William David Labov ( ; December4, 1927December17, 2024) was an American linguist widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has ...
claims that the accent remains relatively stable,Labov, William (2010).
The Politics of Language Change: Dialect Divergence in America
'. The University of Virginia Press. Pre-publication draft. p. 53.
though a 2018 study suggests the accent's traditional features may be retreating, particularly among the city's younger residents, and becoming increasingly confined to the historically
Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...
neighborhood of
South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...
.


Phonological characteristics

Boston accents typically have the cot-caught merger but not the
father-bother merger The phonology of the open vowel, open back vowel, back vowels of the English language has undergone changes both overall and with regional variations, through Old English, Old and Middle English to the present. The sounds heard in modern English w ...
. This means that instead of merging the historical "short ''o''" sound (as in ) with the "broad ''a''" (as in ) like most other American accents, the Boston accent merges it with the "aw" vowel (as in ). Thus, ''lot'', ''paw'', ''caught'', ''cot'', ''law'', ''wand'', ''rock'', ''talk'', ''doll'', ''wall'', etc. all are pronounced with the same open back (often) rounded vowel , while keeping the broad ''a'' sound distinct: , as in ''father'', ''spa'', and ''dark''. So, even though the word ''dark'' has no in many Boston accents, it remains pronounced differently from ''dock'' because it belongs to Boston's – class of words versus the – one: ''dark'' versus ''dock'' . Thus, while
New York accent The phonology, sound system of New York City English is popularly known as a New York accent. The accent (sociolinguistics), accent of the New York metropolitan area is one of the most recognizable in the United States, largely due to its p ...
s have for ''paw'' and for ''lot'', and Standard British accents have a similar distinction ( versus ), Boston accents only have one merged
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
for both: . In general, Eastern New England accents have a "short ''a''" vowel , as in , that is extremely tensed towards when it precedes a
nasal consonant In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majo ...
; thus, ''man'' is and ''planet'' is . Boston shares this system with some of the American Midwest and most of the West, though the raising in Boston tends to be more extreme. This type of modern
General American General American English, known in linguistics simply as General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm), is the umbrella accent of American English used by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent. ...
-raising system is simpler than the systems of British or New York City accents. However, elements of a more complex pattern exist for some Boston speakers; in addition to raising before nasals, Bostonians (unlike nearby New Hampshirites, for example) may also "raise" or "break" the "short ''a''" sound before other types of consonants too: primarily the most strongly before
voiceless fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
s, followed by
voiced stop In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...
s, laterals, voiceless stops, and voiced fricatives, so that words like ''half'', ''bath'', and ''glass'' become , and , respectively. This trend began around the early-mid to mid-twentieth century, replacing the older Boston accent's London-like "broad ''a''" system, in which those same words are transferred over to the class .Wood, 2010, p. 139. The raised may overlap with the non-rhotic realization of as . Boston accents make a greater variety of distinctions between short and long vowels before medial than many other modern American accents do: ''hurry'' and ''furry'' ; and ''mirror'' and ''nearer'' , though some of these distinctions are somewhat endangered as people under 40 in neighboring New Hampshire and Maine have lost them. In this case, Boston shares these distinctions with both New York and British accents, whereas other American accents, like in the Midwest, have lost them entirely. The nuclei of the diphthongs and ( and . respectively) may be raised to something like before
voiceless consonant In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
s: thus ''write'' has a higher vowel than ''ride'' and ''lout'' has a higher vowel than ''loud''. This phenomenon, more famously associated with Canadian accents, is known by linguists as Canadian raising. The nuclei of and (in and ) are significantly less fronted than in many other American accents. The latter may be diphthongized to or . The
weak vowel merger The close and mid-height front vowels of English (vowels of ''i'' and ''e'' type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect. Developments involving long vowels Until Great Vowel Shift Middle English had a lon ...
is traditionally absent. This makes ''Lenin'' distinct from ''Lennon'' . Speakers of the more deeply urban varieties of the Boston accent may realize the English
dental fricative The dental fricative or interdental fricative is a fricative consonant pronounced with the tip of the tongue pressing under the teeth. There are several types (those used in English being written as ''th''): *Voiced dental fricative - as in the ...
s as the
dental stop In phonetics and phonology, a dental stop is a type of consonantal sound, made with the tongue in contact with the upper teeth (hence dental), held tightly enough to block the passage of air (hence a stop consonant). Dental and alveolar stops are ...
s , giving rise to a phonemic distinction between dental and alveolar stops; thus, ''those'' may sound closer to ''doze''.


Non-rhoticity

The traditional Boston accent is widely known for being
non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...
(or "''r''-dropping"), particularly before the mid-20th century. Recent studies have shown that younger speakers use more of a rhotic (or ''r''-ful) accent than older speakers. This goes for black Bostonians as well. Non-rhoticity means that the
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
does not appear in coda position , as in most dialects of English in England and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
; ''card'' therefore becomes "cahd" and ''color'' "culluh". Words such as ''weird'' and ''square'' feature centering diphthongs, which correspond to the sequences of close and mid vowels + in rhotic AmE. The phonemicity of the centering diphthongs depends on a speaker's rhoticity. Also, the stressed sequence inside a closed syllable, as in , is most likely to take on a rhotic pronunciation among Bostonians. A famous example of non-rhoticity (plus a fronted vowel) is "Park your car in
Harvard Yard Harvard Yard is the oldest and among the most prominent parts of the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The yard has a historic center and modern crossroads and contains List of Harvard College freshman dormitories, most ...
", pronounced , or as if spelled "pahk yah cah(r) in Hahvud Yahd". The ''r'' in ''car'' would usually be pronounced in this case, because the Boston accent possesses both linking R and intrusive R: an will not be lost at the end of a word if the next word begins with a vowel, and an will be inserted after a word ending with a central or low vowel if the next word begins with a vowel: ''the tuner is'' and ''the tuna is'' are both . This example has been used since at least 1946, to the point where some locals find requests to say the phrase annoying. Actual parking in Harvard Yard is prohibited, except by permission in rare cases for loading and unloading, contractors, or people needing accessible transport directly to Harvard Memorial Church.


Declining features

Many characteristics of the Boston accent may be retreating, particularly among younger residents. In the most old-fashioned of Boston accents, there may be a lingering resistance to the horse–hoarse merger, so that ''horse'' has the pure vowel , while ''hoarse'' has the centering diphthong ; this can potentially cause the –– merger, so that ''tort'', ''tot'' and ''taught'' are phonemically all . The result is that, for an older Boston accent, the –– vowel is distinct from the vowel. Another two example words that would traditionally be distinguished, thus, are ''for'' versus ''four'' . This distinction was rapidly fading out of currency in the second half of the 20th century with the words belonging to the class being transferred over to the class, undoing the merger of with –, as it is in almost all regions of North America that still make it. For non-rhotic speakers, the modern-day situation in Boston is that both ''horse'' and ''hoarse'', as well as both ''for'' and ''four'', take the centering diphthong . A feature that Boston speakers once shared with Britain's
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
, though now uncommon in Boston, is the "broad ''a''" of the
lexical set A lexical set is a group of words that share a particular vowel or consonant sound. A phoneme is a basic unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. Most commonly, following the work of phonetician John C. Wells, a lex ...
of words, making a distinction from the set (). In particular words that in other American accents have the "short ''a''" pronounced as , that vowel was replaced in the nineteenth century (if not earlier and often sporadically by speakers as far back as the late eighteenth century) with : thus, ''half'' as and ''bath'' as . Fewer words have the broad ''a'' in Boston English than in the London accents, and fewer and fewer Boston speakers maintain the broad ''a'' system as time goes on, with its transition into a decline first occurring in speakers born from about 1930 to 1950 (and first documented as a decline in 1977). Boston speakers born before about 1930 used this broad ''a'' in ''after'', ''ask'', ''aunt'', ''bath'', ''calf'', ''can't'', ''glass'', ''half'', ''laugh'', ''pasture'', ''path'', and other words, while those born from about 1930 to 1950 normally use it only in ''aunt'', ''calf'', ''half'', ''laugh'', and ''pass''. Speakers born since 1950 typically have no broad ''a'' whatsoever and, instead, slight
/æ/ raising In the sociolinguistics of the English language, raising or short-''a'' raising is a phenomenon by which the "short ''a''" vowel , the vowel (found in such words as ''lack'' and ''laugh''), is pronounced with a raising of the tongue. In most ...
(i.e. in ''craft'', ''bad'', ''math'', etc.) with this same set of words and, variably, other instances of short ''a'' too. Only ''aunt'' maintains the broad ''a'' sound in even the youngest speakers, though this one word is a common exception throughout all of the Northeastern U.S. Broad ''a'' in ''aunt'' is also heard by occasional speakers throughout Anglophone North America; it is quite commonly heard in African American speech as well.


In popular culture

Although not all Boston-area speakers are non-rhotic, non-rhoticity remains the feature most widely associated with the region. As a result, it is frequently the subject of humor about Boston, as in comedian
Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...
joking in his book ''
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
'' that, although
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
drafted the 1780
Massachusetts Constitution The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 individual states that make up the United States of America. It consists of a preamble, declaration ...
, "delegates from his state refused to ratify the letter 'R'". Being conspicuous and easily identifiable as regional, Boston accents are routinely featured by actors in films set in Boston, particularly for working-class white characters, such as in ''
Good Will Hunting ''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunt ...
'', '' Mystic River'', ''
The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 crime film, crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-lif ...
'', '' Manchester by the Sea'', '' The Town'', '' Ted'', ''
The Fighter ''The Fighter'' is a 2010 American Biographical film, biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and stars Mark Wahlberg (who also produced), Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. The film centers on the lives of profes ...
'', and '' Black Mass''.Gottlieb, Jeremy (February 3, 2017).
Hollywood has a Boston problem
. ''The Washington Post''.
Television series based within a Boston setting such as ''
Boston Public ''Boston Public'' is an American drama (film and television), drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. Set in Boston, the series centers on Winslow High School, a fictional public high sc ...
'' and ''
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
'' have featured the accent. '' Simpsons'' character Mayor Quimby talks with an exaggerated Boston accent as a reference to the former US Senator
Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...
. Television comedy sketches have featured the accent, including " The Boston Teens" and "Dunkin Donuts" on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'', as well as "Boston Accent Trailer" on ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...
''. In '' The Heat'', the family members of Shannon Mullins all speak with the Boston accent, and confusion arises from the pronunciation of the word ''narc'' as ''nahk'' . In the video game ''
Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video g ...
'', the character Scout, who is a Boston native himself, talks with a distinct Boston accent, although it sometimes lapses into a Brooklyn accent.


Notable lifelong native speakers

*
Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major B ...
– "that Boston accent is so present; he never tried to hide it" * William J. Bratton – "thick Boston accent" * Bill Burr – "the comic's wicked Boston accent" * Mike Capuano – "It didn't matter that Capuano had the stronger Boston accent" *
Lenny Clarke Lenny Clarke (born September 16, 1953) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for his thick Boston accent and as the role of Uncle Teddy on the series '' Rescue Me''. Early life Clarke was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September ...
– "a
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
-raised verbal machine gun with a raspy Boston accent" *
Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...
– "his speech still carries more than a trace of a Boston accent" * Sue Costello – "Between her thick Boston accent and fearless, stand-up style, Sue Costello is a true embodiment of the city's comedy scene." * Joseph Curtatone – "speaks in a rapid-fire ' Summahville' accent" * Nick Di Paolo – "thick Boston accent" * Annissa Essaibi George – "speaks with the accent of working-class Boston" *
Jack Haley John Joseph Haley Jr. (August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer, drummer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 193 ...
– "from Boston (as anyone who heard the Tin Man's accent would know)" * Don Kent – "With his inimitable Boston accent" * Mel King – "he has the soft R's of a deep Boston accent" *
Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...
– "a cultivated New England accent" * Tom and Ray Magliozzi – "like drunk raccoons with Boston accents" *
Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and re ...
– "He spoke with distinct traces of a Boston accent" * Gina McCarthy – "Obama's nominee to head the EPA has that spectacular
South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...
accent" *
Joey McIntyre Joseph Mulrey McIntyre (born December 31, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the youngest member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. He has sold over one million records worldwide as a solo artist and work ...
– "his authentic Boston accent" *
Thomas Menino Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three mont ...
– "strong traces of the Boston dialect" * Christy Mihos – "speaks unpretentiously in a variation of a Boston accent, and drops the 'g' in words like talking or running." *
Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...
and
Jim Moran James Patrick Moran Jr. (born May 16, 1945) is an American politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, from 1985 until 1990, and as the U.S. representative for , including the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, all of Arl ...
– "The Moran brothers share... an unmistakable Massachusetts accent" * Joe Morgan (baseball manager) – "the pride of Walpole, Mass., with a tremendous Boston accent" * Alex Rocco – "grew up in blue-collar Cambridge" * Tom Silva – "New England accent" *
Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and trade union official who served as the 58th mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and as the 29th United States Secretary of Labor from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democr ...
– "he demonstrates what many believe to be the strongest Boston dialect in the city's mayoral history." *
Jermaine Wiggins Jermaine Wiggins (born January 18, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, and signed with the New York Jets as an u ...
– "skin as thick as his
East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...
accent"


See also

* Boston slang *
Eastern New England English Eastern New England English, historically known as the Yankee dialect since at least the 19th century, is the traditional regional dialect of Maine, New Hampshire, and the eastern half of Massachusetts. Features of this variety once spanned an eve ...
*
New England English New England English is, collectively, the various distinct dialects and varieties of American English originating in the New England area. Most of eastern and central New England once spoke the " Yankee dialect", some of whose accent features st ...
*
North American English regional phonology North American English regional phonology is the study of variations in the pronunciation of spoken North American English (English of the United States and Canada)—what are commonly known simply as "regional accents". Though studies of regiona ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


Further reading

* *


External links


Guide to Boston English

Glossary of Boston English
!-- necessary because hard to find on link above -->





;Recordings of the Boston accent
37-year-old female

18-year-old female

73-year-old male

Medford City Councilor


and compare with other accents from the US and around the World. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Accent American English Accent Languages of Massachusetts City colloquials