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North Central American English

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North Central American English is used to refer to two dialects spoken in the Midwest United States.

Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario

It refers to the dialect of the English language spoken most commonly in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP), where it is commonly called Yooper. Although it is also spoken in parts of northern and central Wisconsin and southern Ontario, Canada, its use is most prevalent in the UP.

It is common in the Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin to append the classic Canadian "eh" to statements-turned-questions, in place of the usual "isn't it?", "right?" or "hmmm?" (as in "You think so, eh?") — but this tendency does not extend to statements as is frequently heard in Canada. It is also common to put a superfluous "then" at the end of sentences, and it is common to use the expression "bye now".

These speakers tend to leave out the object of "to go with," "to come with," and similar constructions. "You wanna come with?" is considered correct, with an implied "me" or "us" at the end (cf. German "Kommst Du mit?", Swedish ''Följer du med?", Dutch "Kom je mee?"). This descends from the Germanic separable prefix verbs, which heavily influences the speech in the area. (This phenomenon has also been recorded in French-speaking areas of Belgium: Vas-tu avec?.)

Minnesota

The term is also refers to a similar accent spoken in Minnesota, particularly in rural areas. The accent is perhaps most famous for its heavily emphasized use in the movie Fargo, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, which is, in fact, located in North Dakota (the movie takes place primarily in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area), as well as by the popular radio host Garrison Keillor. The accent itself is known for its long 'O' vowels, as in the words "boat", "toast", "snow" or "ghost". The sound of "a" in "that" is pronounced long, and often with acute accent. Minnesotans are stereotypically known for using "Uff da" (Norwegian, pronounced "oofda"), "yah sure" and "you betcha" in everyday conversation, but it's as likely as not that such usage is among some an intentional, self-referencing joke. Another common usage is "hot-dish" instead of "casserole" (from the Swedish varmrätt.

These very similar accents were heavily influenced by 19th century immigrants from Scandinavia, Finland, Germany and Poland. Many people in Minnesota dialect have a melodic way of speaking that is reminiscent of Swedish and Norwegian.

In these accents, "yah" or "ya" is frequently used instead of "yeah" or "yes" (cf. Swedish, Norwegian, German, Danish, Dutch, "ja"). The Germanic trend of replacing \ð\ with \d\ and \θ\ with \t\ is sometimes heard, including "that" becoming "dat" and the Minneapolis Northeast district sometimes, often in jest, referred to as "Nordeast."


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