Baltimore accent

{{IPA notice|section}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html|title=Phonological Atlas of North America|website=www.ling.upenn.edu|access-date=4 December 2018}} In Baltimore accents, sounds around {{IPA|/r/}} are often "smoothed" or elided. For example, a word like bureau is commonly pronounced {{IPA|/ˈbiroʊ/}} (e.g., Federal Beer-o of Investigation) and mirror is commonly pronounced {{IPA|/mir/}} ("mere"); the related mare–mayor merger also exists.

• Several vowels undergo fronting. {{IPAc-en|aʊ}} fronts to {{IPA|[ɛɔ]}} or {{IPA|[æɔ]}}. {{IPAc-en|uː}} fronts to {{IPA|[ʉu]}}.{{Cite news|url=https://africanamericanenglish.com/2012/08/15/dew-as-you-dew-baltimore-accent-and-the-wire/|title=Dew as you dew: Baltimore Accent and The Wire|date=2012-08-15|work=Word. The Online Journal on African American English|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708100803/https://africanamericanenglish.com/2012/08/15/dew-as-you-dew-baltimore-accent-and-the-wire|archive-date=2013-07-08|language=en-US}} Similarly, {{IPAc-en|oʊ}} shifts to {{IPA|[əʊ]}} or even {{IPA|[eʊ]}}. When word-final and spelled as -ow, it is pronounced like {{IPA|/ə/}}, resulting in colloquial or humorous spellings like pilla for pillow and winda for window.
• No cot–caught merger: The words cot {{IPA|/ɑ/}} and caught {{IPA|/ɔ/}} 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 {{IPA|[ˈwʊɾɚ]}} or, more uniquely, warter {{IPA|[ˈwɔɻɾɚ]}}.
• As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, short a is pronounced with a phonemic split: for example, the word sad {{IPA|/sæd/}} does not rhyme with the word mad {{IPA|/meəd/}}. Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city.[http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch17_2nd.rev.pdf New York City and the Mid-Atlantic States] Baltimore follows the Philadelphia pattern.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. For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see :/æ/ raising.

{{/æ/ raising in North American English}}

• The {{IPA|/ɑr/}} vowel in words like start is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to {{IPA|/ɔ/}}. Likewise, {{IPA|/ɔr/}} as in bore{{Dubious|date=March 2023}} can shift as high as {{IPA|/ʊr/}} as in boor. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.
• Canadian raising occurs for {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word like [ɫʌɪk] begins with a higher nucleus than live [ɫaɪv].{{cite book|last1=Labov|first1=William|author-link=William Labov|last2=Ash|first2=Sharon|last3=Boberg|first3=Charles|year=2005|title=The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-020683-8}}
• On the other hand, {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} may undergo smoothing before liquids, becoming {{IPA|[ɑ]}} before {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/l/}}; e.g., fire is pronounced as {{IPA|[fɑɻ]}}, in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the Three Wise Men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."
• {{IPA|[ə]}} is often eliminated entirely from a word when before a consonant; e.g. Annapolis = Naplis, cigarette = cigrette, company = compny, Italy = Itly.

• Th–stopping occurs, where the dental fricatives {{IPA|/θ, ð/}} may be realized as stops ({{IPA|/t, d/}} respectively); for instance, this may sound more like diss.
• L–vocalization is common at the end of a word. The sound {{IPA|/l/}} is often replaced by the semivowel or glide {{IPA|[w]}} and/or {{IPA|[o]}} or {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. Pronunciation of words like middle and college become {{IPA|[ˈmɪdo]}} and {{IPA|[ˈkɑwɪdʒ]}} respectively.
• Epenthetic {{IPA|/r/}} often occurs; notably, wash is pronounced as {{IPA|[wɑɻʃ]}}, popularly written as warsh, and Washington is pronounced as Warshington.
• As is common in many US dialects, {{IPA|/t/}} is frequently elided after {{IPA|/n/}}, thus hunter is pronounced {{IPA|[ˈhʌnɚ]}}.

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 [http://honfest.net/ Honfest summer festival] and in landmarks such as the Hontown store and the Café Hon restaurant.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.
• 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 pronounStotko, 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.

African-American Baltimore English includes the words ard for "alright", lor for "little",{{Cite web|url=http://data.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-dictionary/|title=How Baltimore talks|website=The Baltimore Sun|language=en|access-date=2017-12-02|archive-date=2022-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807200217/http://data.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-dictionary/|url-status=dead}} rey for ready (associated with Baltimore users of Black Twitter),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 and woe for a close friend.

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.{{cite web|url=http://baltimorelanguage.com/baldamor-curry-and-dug-podcast/|title=Baldamor, Curry, and Dug': Language Variation, Culture, and Identity among African American Baltimoreans|last=DeShields|first=Inte'a|work=Podcast|date=17 May 2011 |access-date=17 July 2011}}

For example, among Black speakers, Baltimore is pronounced more like "Baldamore" {{IPA|/ˌbɔldəˈmɔr/}}, as compared to "Bawlmer" {{IPA|/ˈbɔlmər/}}. Other notable phonological characteristics include vowel centralization before {{IPA|/r/}} (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") and the mid-centralization of {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, 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.

{{more citations needed section|date=March 2025}}

• Judy Agnew – U.S. Second Lady{{cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=June 27, 2012|title=Judy Agnew, Wife of Vice President, Dies at 91|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/us/judy-agnew-wife-of-vice-president-dies-at-91.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=May 21, 2025}}
• Spiro Agnew – U.S. Vice President{{cite magazine|author=|date=September 20, 1968|title=Nation: THE COUNTERPUNCHER|url=https://time.com/archive/6632823/nation-the-counterpuncher/|magazine=Time|access-date=May 21, 2025}}
• Ben Cardin – Maryland U.S. Senator (2007–present){{cite news|last1=Mutnick|first1=Ally|last2=Everett|first2=Burgess|last3=Ferris|first3=Sarah|date=February 3, 2023|title=Old Bay melee: Maryland Dems circle as Cardin weighs reelection|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/03/maryland-dems-cardin-reelection-00081005|work=Politico|access-date=March 17, 2025|quote=to succeed Cardin, who speaks with a notable Baltimore accent}}
• 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{{cite news|author=|date=April 20, 2008|title=Big Hair, Big Knowledge|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2008/04/20/big-hair-big-knowledge/|work=Orlando Sentinel|publisher=Tribune Publishing|access-date=April 17, 2025}}
• Barbara Mikulski – Maryland U.S. Senator (1987– 2017){{cite news|last1=Cox|first1=Erin|last2=Broadwater|first2=Luke|author-link2=Luke Broadwater|last3=Wenger|first3=Yvonne|others=Contributed to by Paul McCardell|date=March 2, 2015|title=Mikulski remembered as plain-speaking trailblazer for woman in politics|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/03/02/mikulski-remembered-as-plain-speaking-trailblazer-for-woman-in-politics/|work=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Publishing|access-date=April 16, 2025}}
• Felicia Pearson – actress on The Wire
• Nancy Pelosi – former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives{{cite magazine|last=Marion|first=Jane|date=August 2024|title=Little Nancy Comes Home: Our Lunch in Little Italy with Nancy Pelosi|url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/historypolitics/nancy-pelosi-profile-hometown-baltimore-little-italy/|magazine=Baltimore|publisher=Rosebud Entertainment|access-date=March 24, 2025}}
• Babe Ruth – Baseball Hall of Famer
• John Waters – filmmaker{{cite magazine|last=Souza|first=Gabriella|date=March 9, 2016|title=John Waters Talks Politics, Gender, and Equality At MICA|url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/john-waters-talks-politics-gender-and-equality-at-mica/|magazine=Baltimore|publisher=Rosebud Entertainment|access-date=March 24, 2025}}{{cite magazine|last=Freeman|first=Nate|date=November 18, 2022|title=Why John Waters Is Giving It All Away to the Baltimore Museum of Art|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/11/john-waters-exhibit-baltimore-museum-art?srsltid=AfmBOorRD070wPyYWB0bxa_EX38LAAIWUuZuDKE3NY4NQB5D_FV3NN5f|magazine=Vanity Fair|publisher=Condé Nast|access-date=March 24, 2025}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Pink_Flamingos/Fun_Facts|title=Pink Flamingos/Fun Facts - The Grindhouse Cinema Database|website=www.grindhousedatabase.com|access-date=4 December 2018}} 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 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-18-actors-who-appeared-on-both-homicide-and-the-wire-20160105-photogallery.html|title=21 actors who appeared on both 'Homicide' and 'The Wire'|last=Kaltenbach|first=Chris|work=Baltimore Sun|access-date=2017-12-02|language=en-US}} 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".{{Citation|last=Manas Burna|title=Homicide S01E05 Three Men and Adena|date=2016-02-27|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gan5ZcHctlI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/Gan5ZcHctlI |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=2017-12-02}}{{cbignore}}

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).{{cite news|title=The Stoops|work=The Tracey Ullman Show|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHOOYntGgxA&t=28s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/NHOOYntGgxA |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKaHuLMg9tY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/HKaHuLMg9tY |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|work=30 Rock|title=I Do Do}}{{cbignore}}

Kathy Bates' character on the "Freak Show" season of American Horror Story was inspired by a Baltimore accent.{{cite news|last=Bartel|first=Jordan|work=The Baltimore Sun|title='American Horror Story': The curious case of Kathy Bates' Baltimore-ish accent|date=October 15, 2014|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bthesite/tv-lust/bal-american-horror-story-the-curious-case-of-kathy-bates-baltimoreish-accent-20141015-story.html|access-date=25 November 2015}}{{cite news|last=Schremph|first=Kelly|work=Bustle|title=Kathy Bates' Accent on 'AHS: Freak Show' Is an Enigma That Needs to Be Unraveled|date=October 8, 2014|url=http://www.bustle.com/articles/43372-kathy-bates-accent-on-ahs-freak-show-is-an-enigma-that-needs-to-be-unraveled|access-date=25 November 2015}}{{cite tweet|user=MsKathyBates|author=Bates, Kathy |number=520085081298186241|date=9 October 2014|title=@gliattoT People online. Just to clear up the mystery, my accent is Baltimore not "broad Canadian." :-)}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2014/10/22/7031005/kathy-bates-american-horror-story-accent-baltimore|title=Kathy Bates's accent is the strangest on TV. So we asked a linguist to place it.|work=Vox|access-date=2017-12-02}}

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'.{{Cite news|url=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/scott-van-pelt-tim-kurkjian-baltimore-accent-giggling-video|title=Scott Van Pelt uses his Baltimore accent to turn Tim Kurkjian into a giggling child|date=2015-09-15|work=For The Win|access-date=2017-11-30|language=en-US}}

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."

Jason La Canfora, host of the B-More Opinionated{{Cite web|date=2019-02-03|title=B-More Opinionated! – B-More Opinionated Podcast|url=http://bmoshow.com/|access-date=2020-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203073153/http://bmoshow.com/|archive-date=2019-02-03}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/stavros-halkias-lets-start-a-cult-performance-close-read.html|title=Stavros Halkias Has Star Power|first=Hershal|last=Pandya|date=October 28, 2024|website=Vulture}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/taylor-swift-stavros-stavvy-ronnie-chiefs-ravens-celebrities-counter-afc-championship|title=They’ve Got Her. We’ve Got Stavvy|website=www.baltimoreravens.com}}

{{portal|Baltimore}}

• Culture of Baltimore
• List of people from Baltimore
• Regional vocabularies of American English

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{{refend}}

• [http://www.baltimorehon.com/ Baltimore Hon] (A through dictionary of Baltimorese)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090516232255/http://www.seiglefamily.com/baltimorese/ Baltimorese (with some audio)]
• "[http://www.evolpub.com/Americandialects/MidAtldialects.html The Mid-Atlantic Dialects]", Evolution Publishing
• In March 2011, the VOA Special English service of the Voice of America broadcast a 15-minute feature on Bawlmerese, written and voiced by longtime VOA Special English announcer, photographer, voice-over artist, and Baltimore native [https://web.archive.org/web/20100831140303/http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/about-us/broadcasters/82432777.html Steve Ember]. A transcript and MP3 of the program – intended for those want to learn American English – can be found at [https://web.archive.org/web/20110622064352/http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/usa/A-Lesson-in-Bawlmerese-117490218.html An Extended Lesson in Bawlmerese]

{{Baltimore}}

{{English dialects by continent}}

{{Languages of the United States}}

{{Languages of Maryland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore Dialect}}

Category:American English

Category:American slang

Category:City colloquials

Category:European-American culture in Baltimore

Category:White American culture in Baltimore

Category:Languages of Maryland

Category:Working-class culture in Maryland

Category:African-American English