Baltimore accent

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Template:Short description A Baltimore accent, also known as Baltimorese and sometimes humorously spelled Bawlmerese[1] or Ballimorese,[2] is an accent or sub-variety of Delaware Valley English (a dialect whose largest hub is Philadelphia) that originates among blue-collar residents of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It extends into the Baltimore metropolitan area and northeastern Maryland.[3][4][5]

At the same time, there is considerable linguistic diversity within Baltimore, which complicates the notion of a singular "Baltimore accent".[1] According to linguists, the accent of white blue-collar Baltimoreans is different from the African-American Vernacular English accent of Black Baltimoreans.[6] White working-class families who migrated out of Baltimore to the northwestern suburbs brought local pronunciations with them.

Pronunciation

Template:IPA notice 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.[7] In Baltimore accents, sounds around Script error: No such module "IPA". are often "smoothed" or elided. For example, a word like bureau is commonly pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA". (e.g., Federal Beer-o of Investigation) and mirror is commonly pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA". ("mere"); the related mare–mayor merger also exists.

Vowels

  • Several vowels undergo fronting. /aʊ/ fronts to Script error: No such module "IPA". or Script error: No such module "IPA".. /uː/ fronts to Script error: No such module "IPA"..[8] Similarly, /oʊ/ shifts to Script error: No such module "IPA". or even Script error: No such module "IPA".. When word-final and spelled as -ow, it is pronounced like Script error: No such module "IPA"., resulting in colloquial or humorous spellings like pilla for pillow and winda for window.
  • No cot–caught merger: The words cot Script error: No such module "IPA". and caught Script error: No such module "IPA". 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 Script error: No such module "IPA". or, more uniquely, warter Script error: No such module "IPA"..
  • As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, short a is pronounced with a phonemic split: for example, the word sad Script error: No such module "IPA". does not rhyme with the word mad Script error: No such module "IPA".. Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city.[9] Baltimore follows the Philadelphia pattern.[10] For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see /æ/ raising.
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Following
consonant 		Example
wordsLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. 		New York
City, New
OrleansLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. 		Baltimore,
PhiladelphiaLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. 		Midland US,
New England,
Pittsburgh,
Western US 		Southern
US 		Canada,
Northern
Mountain
US 		Minnesota,
Wisconsin 		Great
Lakes
US
Non-prevocalic
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		fan, lamb, stand Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.[A][B] Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Prevocalic
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		animal, planet,
Spanish 		[æ]
Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. frank, language Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Non-prevocalic
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		bag, drag Script error: No such module "IPA".[A] [æ][C] [æ]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.[D]
Prevocalic Script error: No such module "IPA". dragon, magazine [æ]
Non-prevocalic
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		grab, flash, sad Script error: No such module "IPA".[A] Script error: No such module "IPA".[D]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Script error: No such module "IPA".Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Non-prevocalic
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		ask, bath, half,
glass 		Script error: No such module "IPA".[A]
Otherwise as, back, happy,
locality 		[æ][E]
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  1. ^ a b c d In New York City and Philadelphia, most function words (am, can, had, etc.) and some learned or less common words (alas, carafe, lad, etc.) have Script error: No such module "IPA"..Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  2. ^ In Philadelphia, the irregular verbs began, ran, and swam have Script error: No such module "IPA"..Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  3. ^ In Philadelphia, bad, mad, and glad alone in this context have Script error: No such module "IPA"..Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  4. ^ a b The untensed Script error: No such module "IPA". may be lowered and retracted as much as [ä] in varieties affected by the Low-Back-Merger Shift, mainly predominant in Canada and the American West.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  5. ^ In New York City, certain lexical exceptions exist (like avenue being tense) and variability is common before Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA". as in imagine, magic, and jazz.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
    In New Orleans, Script error: No such module "IPA". additionally occurs before Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA"..Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • The Script error: No such module "IPA". vowel in words like start is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to Script error: No such module "IPA".. Likewise, Script error: No such module "IPA". as in bore[dubious – discuss] can shift as high as Script error: No such module "IPA". as in boor. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.[11]
  • Canadian raising occurs for /aɪ/ before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word like [ɫʌɪk] begins with a higher nucleus than live [ɫaɪv].[11]
  • On the other hand, /aɪ/ may undergo smoothing before liquids, becoming Script error: No such module "IPA". before Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA".; e.g., fire is pronounced as Script error: No such module "IPA"., in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the Three Wise Men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."
  • Script error: No such module "IPA". 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 Script error: No such module "IPA". may be realized as stops (Script error: No such module "IPA". respectively); for instance, this may sound more like diss.
  • L–vocalization is common at the end of a word. The sound Script error: No such module "IPA". is often replaced by the semivowel or glide Script error: No such module "IPA". and/or Script error: No such module "IPA". or Script error: No such module "IPA".. Pronunciation of words like middle and college become Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA". respectively.
  • Epenthetic Script error: No such module "IPA". often occurs; notably, wash is pronounced as Script error: No such module "IPA"., popularly written as warsh, and Washington is pronounced as Warshington.
  • As is common in many US dialects, Script error: No such module "IPA". is frequently elided after Script error: No such module "IPA"., thus hunter is pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA"..

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.[12]
  • 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[1][13]

African-American Baltimore English includes the words ard for "alright", lor for "little",[14] rey for ready (associated with Baltimore users of Black Twitter),[15] 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.[16]

For example, among Black speakers, Baltimore is pronounced more like "Baldamore" Script error: No such module "IPA"., as compared to "Bawlmer" Script error: No such module "IPA".. Other notable phonological characteristics include vowel centralization before Script error: No such module "IPA". (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[17]) and the mid-centralization of Script error: No such module "IPA"., particularly in the word "dog," often pronounced like "dug," and "frog" as "frug."[1][16] 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

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Lifelong speakers


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.[27] 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.[28] 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".[29]

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).[30]

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.[31]

Kathy Bates' character on the "Freak Show" season of American Horror Story was inspired by a Baltimore accent.[32][33][34][35]

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'.[36]

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[37] 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.[38][39]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Hold up, 'Hon': Baltimore's Black vernacular youthful, dynamic if less recognized than 'Bawlmerese'" Script error: No such module "webarchive"..
  2. ^ Leggett, Debbie A. (2016) "Drinking Natty Boh and speaking Ballimorese ‘Hon. Script error: No such module "webarchive"." Tipsy Linguist. Tipsy Linguist.
  3. ^ Labov, William (2007) "Transmission and Diffusion", Language June 2007 p. 64
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Malady, Matthew J.X. (2014-04-29). "Where Yinz At; Why Pennsylvania is the most linguistically rich state in the country". The Slate Group. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  5. ^ "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. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Phonological Atlas of North America". www.ling.upenn.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dew as you dew: Baltimore Accent and The Wire". Word. The Online Journal on African American English. 2012-08-15. Archived from the original on 2013-07-08.
  9. ^ 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. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2005). The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change. Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-020683-8.
  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. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."How Baltimore talks". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2022-08-07. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  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. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeShields, Inte'a (17 May 2011). "Baldamor, Curry, and Dug': Language Variation, Culture, and Identity among African American Baltimoreans". Podcast. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hameed, Abdel (December 4, 2019). "@dooleyfunny on Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved December 8, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martin, Douglas (June 27, 2012). "Judy Agnew, Wife of Vice President, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Nation: THE COUNTERPUNCHER". Time. September 20, 1968. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mutnick, Ally; Everett, Burgess; Ferris, Sarah (February 3, 2023). "Old Bay melee: Maryland Dems circle as Cardin weighs reelection". Politico. Retrieved March 17, 2025. to succeed Cardin, who speaks with a notable Baltimore accent
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Big Hair, Big Knowledge". Orlando Sentinel. Tribune Publishing. April 20, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cox, Erin; Broadwater, Luke; Wenger, Yvonne (March 2, 2015). "Mikulski remembered as plain-speaking trailblazer for woman in politics". Chicago Tribune. Contributed to by Paul McCardell. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved April 16, 2025.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Marion, Jane (August 2024). "Little Nancy Comes Home: Our Lunch in Little Italy with Nancy Pelosi". Baltimore. Rosebud Entertainment. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Chappell, Kim (January 24, 1990). "TWO NEW PUBLICATIONS PLACE BALTIMORE ON THE BOOKSHELVES". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Souza, Gabriella (March 9, 2016). "John Waters Talks Politics, Gender, and Equality At MICA". Baltimore. Rosebud Entertainment. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Freeman, Nate (November 18, 2022). "Why John Waters Is Giving It All Away to the Baltimore Museum of Art". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pink Flamingos/Fun Facts - The Grindhouse Cinema Database". www.grindhousedatabase.com. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kaltenbach, Chris. "21 actors who appeared on both 'Homicide' and 'The Wire'". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Manas Burna (2016-02-27), Homicide S01E05 Three Men and Adena, archived from the original on 2021-12-22, retrieved 2017-12-02
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Stoops". The Tracey Ullman Show. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."I Do Do". 30 Rock. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bartel, Jordan (October 15, 2014). "'American Horror Story': The curious case of Kathy Bates' Baltimore-ish accent". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schremph, Kelly (October 8, 2014). "Kathy Bates' Accent on 'AHS: Freak Show' Is an Enigma That Needs to Be Unraveled". Bustle. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  34. ^ Script error: No such module "cite tweet".
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Kathy Bates's accent is the strangest on TV. So we asked a linguist to place it". Vox. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  36. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Scott Van Pelt uses his Baltimore accent to turn Tim Kurkjian into a giggling child". For The Win. 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  37. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."B-More Opinionated! – B-More Opinionated Podcast". 2019-02-03. Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  38. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pandya, Hershal (October 28, 2024). "Stavros Halkias Has Star Power". Vulture.
  39. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."They've Got Her. We've Got Stavvy". www.baltimoreravens.com.

Bibliography

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