Questions tagged [dialects]
This tag is for questions related to mutually intelligible variations within a language.
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Origin of the phrase "crazy as a coon"—is it racist?
Encountered most recently in the Procol Harum song "Lime Street." Does the phrase refer to a raccoon, or is the word here used in the sense of the slur?
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1
answer
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I was trying to describe a recipe to my friend that I'd had a go of
Is this dialectal use:
And I thought I've got a nice kitchen now maybe I should learn to cook. And I'm learning, it's going quite well. I don't always know the right words for things. I couldn't ...
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2
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Do "radiant" and "brilliant" rhyme for the purposes of poetry? Wiktionary says their transcriptions are /ˈɹeɪ.di.ənt/ and /ˈbɹɪljənt/
Is this a dialectal/idiolectal thing, where some merge /i/ and /j/, and others don't? I'm ESL and always thought they're merged until now.
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1
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Is "did" used conditionally, regionally or otherwise? e.g. "Did you want..." instead of "Would you want..."
My partner frequently asks me questions that, when read literally, are questions about the past, but in intent and intended response are actually conditional questions:
Did you have any thoughts ...
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Is there dialectal variation in the weak form of "on"?
This question is related, but not quite identical, to a previous one and to another similar one.
In a recent video, phonetician Geoff Lindsey claimed that the words "off" and "on" ...
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Apparent trill in the "br" of "bridge"
I occasionally hear "br" in words such as bridge, bring or British, pronounced with almost a bilabial trill.
One example is the word "bring" in The Assumption Song by OneyNG, ...
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2
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1
answer
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Unusual conjugation of "to be" [closed]
I encountered several times a certain type of sentences (in colloquial contexts) which were clearly grammatically incorrect but seems to be widely spread and, as a non-native English speaker, I would ...
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Meaning and usage of "head(s) AND tails above"?
I've come across the expression "head(s) and tails above" (the rest, the competition etc; different from something like "can't make head or tail of something" i.e. can't figure it ...
3
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1
answer
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Is there a documented merger or split responsible for whether or not people treat lair and layer as homophones, and if so, what is it called?
Discovered a weird bit of pronunciation distinction in friends today, between three words:
lair (as in home to monster)
layer (as in levels of a cake)
layer (as in "one who lays things down"...
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2
answers
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"Swear" as a noun as opposed to "swear word"
I'm a teenager from Chicago. During my childhood (and, presumably, that of almost all English-speaking children), I was taught that some words were "bad" words; these words were ...
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1
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Flapped r after th in English?
I have heard a few English speakers — native — say the word “three” with what sounds like a flapped r. This might include other words that begin with “thr”, but I can’t remember. It’s just been ...
TheAquilineNose
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*an unitary operator* or *a unitary operator* [duplicate]
The rule that I usually use in such cases is that *an* precedes a vowel sound, while *a* is used before a consonant sound. I understand sound as different from letter - conventionally u would be ...
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2
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How are decimal numbers read or pronounced in different locales (different decimal separator)?
In the USA we use a period (dot) as the decimal separator. The word "point" is normally used for the decimal separator when reading such a number. For example, a number such as 3.14 would ...
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vote
1
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Y'all pronounced as "yah"
I grew up in Texas, and I've heard and often said "yah" instead of y'all. I've never seen it listed as an alternative word to y'all.
Has anyone else heard this pronunciation? I cannot seem ...
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1
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Does anyone know what the word "Some" means here? [closed]
Just to context:
I've playing a gang context game and after a funeral the rival gang drives by shooting and then the characters that were at the funeral have the car blown up and then they have to run ...
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3
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Meaning of “a dizzard”
I’m working on translation of an American novel, dating back to the late 19th - early 20th centuries, and the main character came from a local little Vermont town.
The author describes him as “old ...
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In which Englishes are "distant" relative clauses acceptable?
Are sentences like these
The man got beaten up who James saw take the train yesterday.
The potato was eaten that Hayley said she wanted.
with these meanings
The man who James saw take the train ...
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0
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Terms for grandparents and other relatives [closed]
I’m a teenager from the Midwest. Different people obviously refer to their relatives in many different ways, and I’ve noticed a wide variance in what people call their grandparents.
Many people who ...
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Where does the subcontinental usage of 'one' to mean 'named' come from?
Sometimes, when reading texts published in India, written by authors of Indian origin, I notice a usage of the word one in the sense of 'named,' or 'is called.' For instance, it's present in this ...
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2
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Is there a word for 'everything' in the Northern English dialect?
I'm wondering if there's a word for everything in the Northern-English dialect that's spoken in and around Yorkshire.
I know that there's summat (something), owt (anything), and nowt (nothing), but is ...
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1
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Is it common to pronounce "machinations" with /sh/?
In the show The Sandman, Ep7, a character speaks "machinations" with a soft /sh/, as "mash-in-ay-tions":
You seek to snare him in your machinations again?
I expected the "ch&...
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votes
2
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Figurative meaning of the (verbal) phrase "(play at/run) kittly-benders"?
A kittly-bender is « an area of yielding or broken ice on a body of water; also fig; hence v phrr run kittly-benders, play at ~ to run or skate over such ice as a sport » (DARE):
1871 Hale How to Do ...
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Why does the 'Intrusive 'R' appear in the state of Mississippi?
I've seen people discuss the intrusive 'R'. I have also been very curious about this subject, because I am from Mississippi and both my Mother and my Grandmother use the intrusive 'R'. ('Warsh', ...
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What would a British person call the biscuits that Americans put gravy on?
What are the biscuits that Americans put gravy on called in British English? They're very different from British biscuits. I like both kinds of biscuits, but the British ones would not be good with ...
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1
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Is using "what" in place of "that" associated with a particular dialect of English? [duplicate]
While watching Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, I heard the character Pete say the phrase "reindeer what fly" instead of "reindeer that fly". As a native English speaker, I have ...
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Are "orange" and "ginger" synonymous (cat color)?
I recently watched a movie A street cat named Bob, where the cat was described as ginger cat.
I thought the color of the cat is described as orange, too. (confirmed with google image search)
The ...
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2
votes
2
answers
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Call out or call in
When I am ill and cannot go into office to work I say "I called out sick". I now live in Texas and people like to correct me its "call in sick". Doesn't make sense to me. Is it a ...
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2
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Talking "saloon"
I recollect vaguely a line found in some piece of poetry by Dylan Thomas, and it suggests a question in many ways puzzling that I could hardly answer. I have not been able to find the poem and I ...
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0
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Non-standard grammar feature in British dialect?
I moved from Worcestershire in the UK to a non-native English speaking country when I was a child, which has made me very aware of my accent. Unlike my parents, I used to have a regional accent. I ...
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3
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Why does "we have been over this" mean something different from "we are over this"?
The whole sentence is:
We’ve been over this a thousand times. The data is irrefutable!
What does it mean to "have been over this" here in this context? How does this meaning differ here ...
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2
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Examples of the "Proper" use of "ain't" etc. in Georgia/American English Southern dialect?
In Hendrickson, Robert. The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms. New York: Facts on File, 2000. p6 the introduction to "Whistlin' Dixie" we find (emphasis added):
Another ...
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2
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Is there a term for use of "would" conditional to indicate lack of precision?
In the Northern Irish dialect, a speaker can say
You see, I would have been very shy, and his encouragement really
helped me.
Here, the "would have been" is used to indicate that the ...
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1
answer
165
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Why is ‘Gentiles’ considered a two-syllable word?
When I say the word Gentiles I make three specific vowel sounds. I posted a poem in a writing group recently and everyone gave the feedback that a particular line was missing a syllable, when in my ...
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1
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Why is 'e' pronounced like 'a' in some words?
I'm not a native English speaker and I have noticed that 'e' in some words are pronounced like 'a' by native speakers sometimes. For example, "Texas" sounds like "Taxes", or "...
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1
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Pronunciation of “tour”
Is the following pronunciation of the word “tour” attested in any common dialect of British English?
[tɔ˞]
This is approximately how I, a native British English speaker, pronounce it. However, it’s ...
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1
answer
247
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What does "pack a buck for miles" mean?
I am reading "Where the Crawdads sing" and I stumbled upon this sentence "pack a buck for miles".
Does this mean some money (e.g., US dollar)?
"The Land . . . being marshy ...
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0
answers
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Does any dialect really use 'thee' instead of 'thou'?
There's a John Wayne movie - prolly Angel and the Badman (1947) in which our injured 19th-century hero's Quaker nurse speaks what sounds like a doubly idiomatic form of English…
'Doubly idiomatic' ...
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1
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Does Mia Khalifa speak English with an accent?
She immigrated to America at age 7 (other sources say ten) she seems quite fluent to me.
From Wikipedia
Khalifa attended a French-language private school in Beirut, where she also learned to speak ...
3
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0
answers
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Term for different pronunciations of the same word
Does anyone know what it's called when a word's pronunciation changes based on context? I am not talking about different people pronouncing the same word differently (i.e. caramel).
E.g. I say "I ...
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3
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Getting "poured out" in legal terminology
A common expression in Texas legal circles is,
We got poured out down at the courthouse.
The clear meaning is that their team lost a lawsuit. I’ve been unable to find a source, first use, nor an ...
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1
answer
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Welcome travelers and locals to your premises
"Welcome travelers and locals to your premises."
I believe that sentence would be understood by Australian/NZ people. I'm just checking, is that something an American would understand and ...
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(Mis-)pronunciation of ‘accoutrement’ that ends in -L not in -NT?
I’m interested in the apparent mispronunciation of the word accoutrement [əˈkutrəmənt].
Although it’s not a word I encounter daily, when occasioned upon, I often hear the speaker pronounce it as [...
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0
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Usage of the term "good egg" [closed]
I came across the informal idiom good egg which means a likeable or pleasant person. The idiom seems somewhat old-fashioned.
My question is: How common is this idiom inside and outside the USA ? And ...
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1
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In what varieties of English is "working" used (as a gerund) instead of "work" (as a noun)?
A recent question on the English Language Learners Stack Exchange concerned the use of the phrase "have been knowing" (as opposed to "have known"). While the latter is standard in ...
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1
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In which dialects is "knowed" the past tense of know?
In some folk songs, such as Woody Guthrie's "Hard Traveling" and Townes Van Zandt's "Poncho and Lefty," the word "knowed" is used as the past tense of "know."
...
3
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0
answers
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Reverse Tensing of the /æ/ Phoneme in American English?
I am a native speaker of a General American sociolect that realizes the /æ/ phoneme as [ɛə] before nasal consonants (e.g. 'fan,' 'stand,' 'ram'), and I've recently noticed that I've begun un-raising (...
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3
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Is there an English dialect that distinguishes between stressed /oʊ/ from its final unstressed form?
Is there any English dialect that distinguishes the stressed /oʊ/ as in goat, throat, slope, broke, stroke, etc. from the final, unstressed /oʊ/ as in sparrow, arrow, tomorrow, yellow, window, etc?
...
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1
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American English region where "here" is pronounced "cheer"
On the Andy Griffith Show the characters from Mayberry (modeled on Mount Airy NC) pronounce "here" as "cheer".
This can be heard at second 29 of Andy Griffith Football Story from ...
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3
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Which American dialect pronounces "heard" as "hu-yd"?
There is an American English dialect/accent that pronounces words like "heard" and "bird" as "hu-yd" and "bu-yd". One example of this would be CCR's song "...
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2
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Are Canadianisms like "aboat" equally common on the American side of the border, adjacent to it?
Most Canadians live close the the border. If you cross to the American side of border, in a rural area, do Canadianisms (1) like "aboat" (2) suddenly become much less common?
Since this ...
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