Vermont English Information
Vermont English is a dialect of English Language spoken in the U.S. state of Vermont. Although a New England state, the variety of English spoken in most parts of the state generally has more in common with the accent spoken in nearby New York State and parts of the Midwest. Features include:
- The /æ/ in words like 'bad' and 'cat' is tensed in most environments to [eə], though rarely to the same extreme as the Inland North dialect.[1]
- As with Connecticut, Western Massachusetts and some Great Lakes English, glottal replacement of 't' is common.[2] This is heavily seen in words such as "mountain", and even the state's name: "Vermont." It is pronounced, by a Vermonter, something like /vɜr'mɑ̃ʔ/ ("vermo'").
- As with Maine and New Hampshire, 'caught' and 'cot' are usually merged, in this case to [ɑ].[1]
- Words ending in the letter 'a' are pronounced as if the word ended in 'er', for instance the word area would be pronounced 'air-ee-er'.[1]
- deep rural Vermont speakers demonstrate similarities with dialects in South West England, for instance pronunciation of the words "cow" and "cider".
References
- ^ a b c Walsh, Molly. "Vermont Accent: Endangered Species?". Burlington Free Press. http://www.virtualvermont.com/happiness/talkin.html. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
- ^ MacQuarrie, Brian (12 February 2004). "Taking bah-k Vermont". The Boston Globe.
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