Utah English
Encyclopedia : U : UT : UTA : Utah English
Utah English, sometimes referred to as "Utahnics"([Disputed statementdisputed]—see [dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of Utah. Influences are as varied as ancestries of its immigrants, from Scottish to Mexican Spanish.
Distinctions of the dialect
Vowel shifts
- The merger of [oʊ] and [ʊ] to [ʊ] before [ɫ], making pairs like the following homophonous (the second word in the pair is pronounced like the first):
- * bowl / bull
- * foal / full
- * foley / fully
- * Folsom / fulsome
- * poll, pole / pull
- * polar / puller
- Further dipthongization (splitting one sound into two) of [ɛ] as [ɛɪ]: "egg" and "leg" are pronounced "ayg" and "layg", "leisure" and "pleasure" pronounced "layzhur" and "playzhur."
- In some cases, "ar" and "or" are reversed: "I was barn in a born" ("I was born in a barn"). (This is often unique to especially rural areas.) Also seen as the merger of /ar/ and /or/ by some speakers, so that "far" and "for," "card" and "cord," etc., are homonyms (the second in the pair exhibiting the traditional pronunciation of the first).
Introduction, removal, and morphing of stops and plosives
- Introduction of a "T" into certain words: "teacher" pronounced "teat-chur;" "preacher" as "preat-chur;" other examples include between the sounds "L" and "S" ("Nelsen" and "Wilson" pronounced as "Neltson" and "Wiltson").
- Shortening of some words from several syllables to one or two (different from general consonant cluster reduction): "corral" as "crall", "probably" to "probly" or "prolly."
- the final "T" is frequently voiced as a glottal stop: "cute" becomes "cuʔ" and "late" becomes "laʔ". Non-native speakers often have trouble distinguishing between the local pronunciation of words like "can" and "can't". The same also applies to the letter "T" in the middle of a word such as "mountain," "button," or the Northern Utah town of "Layton;" the "T" is replaced with a glottal stop (becoming, roughly, "mahw-uhn," "buh-uhn," or "Lay-uhn"). (This is possibly the most widely-spread element of the dialect.)
Unique vocabulary
- The use of "fer" in certain expressions, such as "fer cute," meaning "cute," or "fer ignernt," meaning "rude." (
- Due to the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its traditionally conservative language use, unique euphemisms such as "oh my heck" and "gol."
Changes
The unique pronunciations of the dialect, as is typical of American accents, are most marked in the speech of rural and older residents. Much of the state continues to move towards the General American accent (due in large part to immigration and technological/communication advances within the last fifty years, specifically the ubiquity of the television). More extreme elements of traditional "Utahnics" are sometimes used sarcastically by teenagers, in jest of the "older" accent; for example, "fer cute" or an exaggerated "see-ick" (for "sick") may be observed, especially among teenage females.
References
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