Baltimore accent

Pronunciation

The Baltimore accent that originated among white blue-collar residents closely resembles blue-collar Philadelphia-area English pronunciation in many ways. These two cities are the only major ports on the Eastern Seaboard never to have developed non-rhotic speech among European American speakers; they were greatly influenced in their early development by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. Due to the significant similarity between the speeches of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Delaware and southern New Jersey, sociolinguists refer to them collectively as the Mid-Atlantic regional dialect. In Baltimore accents, sounds around are often "smoothed" or elided. For example, a word like bureau is commonly pronounced (e.g., Federal Beer-o of Investigation) and mirror is commonly pronounced ("mere"); the related mare–mayor merger also exists.

Vowels

• Several vowels undergo fronting. fronts to or . fronts to . Similarly, shifts to or even . When word-final and spelled as -ow, it is pronounced like , resulting in colloquial or humorous spellings like pilla for pillow and winda for window.

• No cot–caught merger: The words cot and caught do not rhyme, with the latter vowel maintaining a raised position. Likewise, the word on rhymes with dawn and not don.

• As in Philadelphia, the word water is often pronounced as wooder or, more uniquely, warter .

• As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, short a is pronounced with a phonemic split: for example, the word sad does not rhyme with the word mad . Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city. Baltimore follows the Philadelphia pattern. For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see :/æ/ raising.

• The vowel in words like start is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to . Likewise, as in bore can shift as high as as in boor. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.

• Canadian raising occurs for before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word like [ɫʌɪk] begins with a higher nucleus than live [ɫaɪv].

• On the other hand, may undergo smoothing before liquids, becoming before and ; e.g., fire is pronounced as , in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the Three Wise Men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."

• is often eliminated entirely from a word when before a consonant; e.g. Annapolis = Naplis, cigarette = cigrette, company = compny, Italy = Itly.

Consonants

• Th–stopping occurs, where the dental fricatives may be realized as stops ( respectively); for instance, this may sound more like diss.
• L–vocalization is common at the end of a word. The sound is often replaced by the semivowel or glide and/or or . Pronunciation of words like middle and college become and respectively.
• Epenthetic often occurs; notably, wash is pronounced as , popularly written as warsh, and Washington is pronounced as Warshington.
• As is common in many US dialects, is frequently elided after , thus hunter is pronounced .

Lexicon

The following is a list of words and phrases used in the Baltimore area that are used much less or differently in other American English dialects.

• down the ocean – (eye-dialect spellings include dayown the ocean or downy ocean) "down to/on/at the ocean", often Ocean City, Maryland.
• hon – a popular term of endearment, short for honey, often used at the end of a sentence. This word has been a popular marker of Baltimore culture, as represented in the annual Honfest summer festival and in landmarks such as the Hontown store and the Café Hon restaurant.
• natty boh – local slang for the beer originally brewed in Baltimore, National Bohemian.
• pavement (commonly pronounced "payment") – means "sidewalk."
• went up (shortened from "went up to heaven") – commonly used when an appliance dies; e.g., our refrigerator went up
• yo – as a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun

African-American Baltimore English includes the words ard for "alright", lor for "little", rey for ready (associated with Baltimore users of Black Twitter), and woe for a close friend.

African-American variations

According to linguists, the "hon" dialect that is popularized in the media and that derives historically from the speech of white blue-collar residents of South and Southeast Baltimore is not the only accent spoken in the region. There is also a particular Baltimore accent found among Black Baltimoreans: a sub-type of African-American Vernacular English.

For example, among Black speakers, Baltimore is pronounced more like "Baldamore" , as compared to "Bawlmer" . Other notable phonological characteristics include vowel centralization before (such that words such as "carry" and "parents" are often pronounced as "curry" or "purrents", and "Aaron earned an iron urn" might sound like "Urrun urned an arn urn," an example popularized in a viral video) and the mid-centralization of , particularly in the word "dog," often pronounced like "dug," and "frog" as "frug." The African-American Baltimore accent, or a variation thereof, is also shared by many African Americans throughout Maryland and the Washington metropolitan area.

Notable native speakers

Lifelong speakers

• Judy Agnew – U.S. Second Lady
• Spiro Agnew – U.S. Vice President
• Ben Cardin – Maryland U.S. Senator (2007–2025)
• Mary Pat Clarke – Baltimore City Councilwoman (1975–2020)
• Divine – actor
• Charley Eckman – NBA coach and referee, sportscaster
• Stavros Halkias – stand-up comedian
• Mel Kiper Jr. – football analyst for ESPN
• Barbara Mikulski – Maryland U.S. Senator (1987–2017)
• Felicia Pearson – actress on The Wire
• Nancy Pelosi – former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Babe Ruth – Baseball Hall of Famer
• Chip Silverman – author and lacrosse coach
• John Waters – filmmaker

In popular culture

Films

The films of John Waters, many of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, often attempt to capture the Baltimore accent, particularly the early films. For example, John Waters uses his own Baltimore accent in the commentary during his film Pink Flamingos. John Travolta's character in the 2007 version of John Waters's Hairspray spoke with an exaggerated Baltimore accent. Likewise, several of the films of Barry Levinson are set in and around Baltimore during the 1940s-1960s, and employ the Baltimore accent. Michael Tucker, who was born and raised in Baltimore, speaks with a West Baltimore accent.

Television

Television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire are both set in Baltimore and in some cases include actors who are native white and Black Baltimoreans. In the early Homicide: Life on the Street episode "Three Men and Adena", a suspect, Risley Tucker, describes how he can tell whereabouts in or around the city a person comes from simply by whether they pronounce the city's name as "Balti-maw", "Balti-moh", or "Bawl-mer".

In Season 4, Episode 7 of The Tracey Ullman Show, Baltimore actor Michael Tucker portrays the father of Ullman's character JoJo. The skit is set in a Baltimore row house. Tucker advises Ullman to "take a Liverpool accent and Americanize it." The episode called "The Stoops" begins with Tracey washing her marble stoops, which are the most common small porches attached to most Baltimore town homes (called row houses in Baltimore).

In the 30 Rock episode, "I Do Do", Elizabeth Banks parodies the accent by portraying Avery Jessup, the spokesperson for the fictional Overshoppe.com in a flashback scene.

Kathy Bates' character on the "Freak Show" season of American Horror Story was inspired by a Baltimore accent.

Whether it was on his ESPN Radio show or SportsCenter at Night, Scott Van Pelt always ended his segments with Tim Kurkjian by mentioning names in a Baltimore accent featuring at least one fronted 'o'.

Music

Singer-songwriter Mary Prankster uses several examples of Baltimore slang in her song, "Blue Skies Over Dundalk," from the album of the same name, including, "There'll be O's fans going downy ocean, hon."

Podcasts

Jason La Canfora, host of the B-More Opinionated podcast with Jerry Coleman and resident of Dundalk, regularly discussed events of the National Football League for The Tony Kornheiser Show podcast and will end the segment plugging his own podcast in a heavy Baltimore accent. The accent is so distinct that his dog, Copper, will react to it, barking constantly because he knows it is time for a walk.

Comedian Stavros Halkias (a native of Greektown) was also known for performing an exaggerated version of a Baltimore accent on the podcast Cum Town, when impersonating a typical citizen of Dundalk.

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Chang |editor1-first=Charles B. |editor2-last=Haynie |editor2-first=Hannah J. |chapter-url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wccfl/26/paper1656.pdf
• {{cite journal
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Hansson |editor1-first=Gunnar Ólafur |editor2-last=Farris-Trimble |editor2-first=Ashley |editor3-last=McMullin |editor3-first=Kevin |editor4-last=Pulleyblank |editor4-first=Douglas |chapter-url=http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/amphonology/article/viewFile/3653/3370 |chapter-format=PDF
• {{cite journal
• {{cite book

References

1. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bs-lt-baltimore-slang-20170209-story.html "Hold up, 'Hon': Baltimore's Black vernacular youthful, dynamic if less recognized than 'Bawlmerese'"] {{Webarchive. link. (2017-11-04 .)
2. Leggett, Debbie A. (2016) "[https://tipsylinguist.com/2016/06/12/drinking-natty-boh-and-speaking-ballimorese-hon/ Drinking Natty Boh and speaking Ballimorese ‘Hon.] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-09-04 " ''Tipsy Linguist''. Tipsy Linguist.)
3. Labov, William (2007) "Transmission and Diffusion", Language June 2007 p. 64
4. Malady, Matthew J.X.. (2014-04-29). "Where Yinz At; Why Pennsylvania is the most linguistically rich state in the country.". [[The Slate Group]].
5. [https://mdhumanities.podbean.com/e/the-revelatory-power-of-language/ "The Relevatory Power of Language"]. ''Maryland Humanities Council''. April 14, 2017.
6. Jones, Taylor (2020). Variation in African American English: The great migration and regional differentiation (Doctoral dissertation), University of Pennsylvania, pp. 158, 239.
7. "Phonological Atlas of North America".
8. (2012-08-15). "Dew as you dew: Baltimore Accent and The Wire". Word. The Online Journal on African American English.
9. [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch17_2nd.rev.pdf New York City and the Mid-Atlantic States]
10. Ash, Sharon. 2002. “The Distribution of a Phonemic Split in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Yet More on Short a.” In “Selected Papers from NWAV 30,” edited by Sudha Arunachalam, Elsi Kaiser, Daniel Ezra Johnson, Tara Sanchez, and Alexander Williams. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 8.3: 1–15. http:// repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol8/iss3/2.
11. (2005). "The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change". Mouton de Gruyter.
12. Rizzo, M. (2010). Hon-ouring the past: play-publics and gender at Baltimore's HonFest. International Journal Of Heritage Studies, 16(4-5), 337-351.
13. Stotko, E. M., & Troyer, M. (2007). A new gender-neutral pronoun in Baltimore, Maryland: A preliminary study. American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, 82(3), 262.
14. "How Baltimore talks".
15. Jones, T. (2015) Toward a description of African American Vernacular English dialect regions using “Black Twitter.” American Speech, 90(4): 403-440. doi:10.1215/00031283-3442117
16. DeShields, Inte'a. (17 May 2011). "Baldamor, Curry, and Dug': Language Variation, Culture, and Identity among African American Baltimoreans". Podcast.
17. Hameed, Abdel. (December 4, 2019). "@dooleyfunny on Instagram".
18. Martin, Douglas. (June 27, 2012). "Judy Agnew, Wife of Vice President, Dies at 91". The New York Times.
19. . (September 20, 1968). ["Nation: THE COUNTERPUNCHER"](https://time.com/archive/6632823/nation-the-counterpuncher/).
20. (February 3, 2023). "Old Bay melee: Maryland Dems circle as Cardin weighs reelection". Politico.
21. . (April 20, 2008). ["Big Hair, Big Knowledge"](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2008/04/20/big-hair-big-knowledge/). *Tribune Publishing*.
22. (March 2, 2015). "Mikulski remembered as plain-speaking trailblazer for woman in politics". Tribune Publishing.
23. Marion, Jane. (August 2024). "Little Nancy Comes Home: Our Lunch in Little Italy with Nancy Pelosi". Rosebud Entertainment.
24. Chappell, Kim. (January 24, 1990). "TWO NEW PUBLICATIONS PLACE BALTIMORE ON THE BOOKSHELVES". The Washington Post.
25. Souza, Gabriella. (March 9, 2016). "John Waters Talks Politics, Gender, and Equality At MICA". Rosebud Entertainment.
26. Freeman, Nate. (November 18, 2022). "Why John Waters Is Giving It All Away to the Baltimore Museum of Art". Condé Nast.
27. "Pink Flamingos/Fun Facts - The Grindhouse Cinema Database".
28. Kaltenbach, Chris. "21 actors who appeared on both 'Homicide' and 'The Wire'". Baltimore Sun.
29. Manas Burna. (2016-02-27). "Homicide S01E05 Three Men and Adena".
30. "The Stoops". The Tracey Ullman Show.
31. "I Do Do". 30 Rock.
32. Bartel, Jordan. (October 15, 2014). "'American Horror Story': The curious case of Kathy Bates' Baltimore-ish accent". [[The Baltimore Sun]].
33. Schremph, Kelly. (October 8, 2014). "Kathy Bates' Accent on 'AHS: Freak Show' Is an Enigma That Needs to Be Unraveled". [[Bustle (magazine).
34. Bates, Kathy. (9 October 2014). "@gliattoT People online. Just to clear up the mystery, my accent is Baltimore not "broad Canadian." :-)".
35. "Kathy Bates's accent is the strangest on TV. So we asked a linguist to place it.". Vox.
36. (2015-09-15). "Scott Van Pelt uses his Baltimore accent to turn Tim Kurkjian into a giggling child". For The Win.
37. (2019-02-03). "B-More Opinionated! – B-More Opinionated Podcast".
38. Pandya, Hershal. (October 28, 2024). "Stavros Halkias Has Star Power".
39. "They’ve Got Her. We’ve Got Stavvy".