New Orleans English

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New Orleans English

fronting of /oʊ/ and possible monophthongization
of /aɪ/ (just these features, plus non-rhoticity, often characterize the Uptown accent).

Often, the term "Yat" refers particularly to the New Orleans accents that are "strongest" or most especially reminiscent of a working-class New York City accent,[1] though others use the term as a regional marker, to define the speech heard in certain parts of the city and its inner suburbs. Used in these narrower senses, Yat is simply one of many sub-dialects of New Orleans. The word comes from the common use of the local greeting, "Where y'at?" or "Where are you at (i.e. in life)?", which is a way of asking, "How are you?"

History

A unique New Orleans accent, or "Yat" accent, is considered an identity marker of white metropolitan people who have been raised in the greater New Orleans area. English professor Allan A. Metcalf discusses that "Yats" mostly live near the Irish Channel in blue-collar neighborhoods. The dialect's connotation with the working-class white population therefore encodes the speaker's identities.[5]

The striking similarity between the New Orleans Yat accent and the accent of the New York metropolitan area has been the subject of much speculation. Plausible origins of the accent are described in A. J. Liebling's book The Earl of Louisiana, in a passage that was used as a foreword to A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole's well-known posthumously published novel about New Orleans:[6]

There is a New Orleans city accent ... associated with

antebellum era, Northerners made up over a quarter of all free, white, non-immigrant residents of New Orleans.[11] Linguist William Labov specifically argues that Jewish American bankers and cotton merchants strongly affiliated with New York City were the biggest influence on upper-class accents (and presumably, the eventual accents of all classes) in New Orleans. He cites examples of Sephardic and German Jewish connections to influential mercantile firms in 19th-century New Orleans.[12]

Phonology

Many of the features bear a direct relation to Southern American English or New York City English, when not common across the United States more broadly. Of the "Yat" dialect features, the most distinct ones are:

There are some words with phonemic pecularities, but according to no particular pattern; including 'sink' /ziŋk/, 'room' /ɻʊm/, 'mayonnaise' /ˈmeɪnæz/, 'museum' /mjuˈzɛəm/, 'ask' /æks/.[citation needed]

New Orleans is locally pronounced [nəˈwɔəlɪnz] or [nəˈwɔəliənz], with the "New" destressed. The slurred, stereotypical "N'awlins" [nɔəlɪnz] and the General American [nu ɔɻˈlinz] are not often heard from natives. Louisiana can be pronounced as the standard [luˈiziænə] or a slightly reduced [ləˈwiziænə] in the 'Yat' dialect.

Vocabulary

Local variance

The Yat accent is the most pronounced version of the New Orleans accent, and is perceptually similar to a New York accent. As with all dialects, there is variance in the accent to geographic and social factors like one's exact locational or financial background.

Speakers of this dialect originated in the

sociolinguistic artifacts in the 21st century, the dialect is usually more distinct among older members of the population. The New Orleans suburban area of Chalmette
shows the strongest Yat accent.

In popular culture

The characters "Vic & Nat'ly" by local cartoonist Bunny Matthews are what some might call Yats.

The distinct New Orleans dialect has been depicted in many ways throughout the city and the U.S.

The main character of the

phonetically-rendered version of early-20th century Yat; friends of the New Orleans-born cartoonist George Herriman recalled that he spoke with many of the same distinctive pronunciations
.

Actual New Orleans accents were seldom heard nationally. New Orleanians who attained national prominence in the media often made an effort to tone down or eliminate the most distinctive local pronunciations. Dan Baum's Nine Lives shares the feelings of Ronald Lewis, a native of the Ninth Ward who is embarrassed by his local dialect when speaking in front of a group of white northerners. After the displacement of Greater New Orleans area residents because of Hurricane Katrina, the United States was introduced to some of the New Orleans Yat accents by constant news coverage. Steven Seagal's show Lawman exposed some Yat accents and dialects to the nation.

Ronnie Virgets, a New Orleans writer, commentator, and journalist, employs New Orleans dialects and accents in his written and spoken works, including the locally produced public radio program, Crescent City. WWNO, the local public radio station, broadcasts the program and provides access to past Crescent City programs on its website.

Seymore D. Fair; his name is a Yat derivative.

The name of the official mascot for the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, held in New Orleans, was derived from the truncated pronunciation of "See More of the Fair," which results in the pseudo yat speak "Seymore D. Fair."

A Midwest Cajun restaurant chain based in Indianapolis, Indiana carries the name Yats.

Cellphone company Boost Mobile used the phrase "Where Y'At?" in early advertising campaigns.

Who Dat? is a chant commonly tied to the Yat dialect and used in support of the New Orleans Saints football
team. The entire chant is "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?" Saints fans are collectively called the "Who Dat Nation."

The Yat dialect is seldom heard when New Orleans is depicted in movies and television shows. Traditionally, characters portrayed from New Orleans are heard using a southern or Cajun accent. An example of this is 1986's The Big Easy, in which Dennis Quaid speaks an exaggerated Cajun/southern derivation.[16] This trend has been challenged, though, in light of post-Katrina New Orleans representation, like HBO's Treme and Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, both of which feature actual New Orleans locals either speaking in Yat or one of its variations.

Other local dialects and misconceptions

Historically, the city of New Orleans has been home to people of French, Spanish, and African heritages, which led to the creation of the

non-rhotic
English-speaking society. Similarly, much of the South has historically spoken non-rhotic English.

A misconception in other parts of the U.S. is that the local dialect of New Orleans is the same as

South Louisiana), but the city's cultural and linguistic traditions are distinct from that of the predominantly rural Acadiana, an area spanning across South Louisiana. While there has been an influx of Cajuns into the city since the oil boom of the later 20th century and while there are some similarities due to shared roots, Cajun culture has had relatively little influence upon Creole culture and thus Yat culture. The confusion of Cajun culture with the Creole culture is largely due to the confusion of these French cultures by the tourism and entertainment industries; sometimes this was done deliberately, as "Cajun" was often discovered to be a potentially lucrative marketing term. Speakers with a New Orleans accent are typically proud of their accent as it organically stems from the historical mixing of language and culture. This distinctive accent has been dying out generationally in the city due to white flight of the city, but remains very strong in the suburbs. However, the Yat dialect does survive in the city in several areas, notably Mid-city, Lakeview, parts of Gentilly and Uptown.[17]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Bernstein (2014:220)
  2. ^ Bernstein (2014:219)
  3. ^ Alvarez, Louis (director) (1985). Yeah You Rite! (Short documentary film). USA: Center for New American Media.
  4. ^ Labov et al (2006:260–1)
  5. ^ Metcalf, Allan A., How We Talk: American Regional English Today (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000). Print.
  6. ^ Toole, John Kennedy (1980). A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: LSU.
  7. ^ Liebling, A. J. (1970). The Earl of Louisiana. Baton Rouge: LSU.
  8. ^ Bernstein (2014:220)
  9. ^ Carmichael, Katie; Becker, Kara (2014). "That Hoboken near the Gulf of Mexico: What (r) can tell us about English in New York City and New Orleans". Paper to be presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 43, Chicago IL.
  10. ^ Carmichael, Katie; Becker, Kara (2018). "The New York City–New Orleans connection: Evidence from constraint ranking comparison." Language Variation and Change 30.3: 287-314. pp. 19, 22.
  11. ^ Carmichael & Becker, 2018, p. 5
  12. ^ Labov, William. "Transmission and Diffusion". Language. Volume 83, Number 2, June 2007, 344–387. Linguistic Society of America. pp. 33-34.
  13. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), pp. 260–1.
  14. ^ Ben Trawick-Smith (1 September 2011). "On the Hunt for the New Orleans Yat". Dialect Blog. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  15. ^ "The Rise of Canadian Raising of au in New Orleans". pubs.aip.org. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  16. YouTube
  17. ^ Brasted, Chelsey. "site-logo BATON ROUGE NEW ORLEANS ACADIANA LAKE CHARLES GAMBIT ADORE LOG IN SUBSCRIBE VIEW E-EDITION NEWSLETTERS 79° WEATHER NEWS SPORTS SPORTS BETTING ENTERTAINMENT/LIFE OPINIONS LEGALS HOMES OBITUARIES JOBS CALENDAR STORE Not happy about the Yat accent disappearing? Neither is this man". nola.com. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

References

External links