New York-New Jersey English: Encyclopedia II - New York-New Jersey English - The New Jersey accent

New York-New Jersey English - The New Jersey accent

Generally, the so-called Jersey accent or North Jersey accent spoken in northern New Jersey is somewhat closer to General American than the speech of New Yorkers, but still shares enough features with it that two can be considered together as a single dialect group for sociolinguistic purposes. Most colloquial greetings and expressions used in New York are also said by New Jerseyans and with the same frequency. However, aside from the areas immediately closest to New York, north Jersey speech is free of certain New York City features which are heavily stigmatized: the Jersey accent is at least somewhat rhotic and æ-tensing is less pronounced than in New York.

This accent is found in the northeast quarter of New Jersey, and is basically the part of the state which is in New York City's metropolitan area but not the dialect region. It includes cities such as Rutherford and Rahway.

Residents in southern New Jersey generally speak with their own unique accent; however, it is closely related to the accent used in Philadelphia. After all, many parts of southwestern New Jersey on or near the Pennsylvania border are often considered suburbs of Philadelphia, and even house many native Philadelphians who migrated there. The South Jersey accent is less heavy and more subtle than either its Philadelphia or New York neighbors.

Contrary to popular belief, few people in any part of New Jersey refer to their state as Joisey. This word is generally a mistaken attempt by non-New Jersey residents to speak with a New Jersey accent.

It may also be noted that northern New Jerseyans have a propensity to rapid speech and to "smush" their sentences into one or a few words. I'm going down the shore is often, at least in casual speech, I'mgoindowndashore. This is most common with younger speakers. There is a similar phenomenon in Parisian French and Guatemalan Spanish. Ex. Je te le jure to J't'l jure. As well, northern New Jerseyans tend to generally have a more relaxed and free beat to their speech than New Yorkers, tend to extend the rhotic endings and pronounce them in a wavery manner, and to have a bit of a "growl" to their speech, even among those with high voices. As well, New Jerseyans, especially around Essex, Passaic, and Union counties, talk with more of a monotone to their voices, though choosing a generally New Yorkish, if less intense, tone.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The New Jersey accent", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki