Editing American English (section)

===Regional accents===
{{Main|Regional vocabularies of American English|North American English regional phonology}}
The regional sounds of present-day American English are reportedly engaged in a complex phenomenon of "both convergence and divergence": some accents are homogenizing and [[accent leveling|leveling]], while others are diversifying and deviating further away from one another.{{sfn|Labov|2012}} In 2010, [[William Labov]] noted that Great Lakes, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Coast accents have undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since the mid-nineteenth century onwards, so they "are now more different from each other than they were 50 or 100 years ago", while other accents, like those of New York City and Boston, have remained stable in that same timeframe.{{sfn|Labov|2012}}

Having been settled longer than the American West Coast, the East Coast has had more time to develop unique accents, and it currently comprises three or four linguistically significant regions, each of which possesses English varieties both different from each other as well as quite internally diverse: [[New England]], the [[Mid-Atlantic states]] (including a [[New York accent]] as well as a unique [[Mid-Atlantic American English|Philadelphia–Baltimore accent]]), and the [[Southern United States|South]]. As of the 20th century, the middle and eastern [[Great Lakes area]], Chicago being the largest city with these speakers, also ushered in certain unique features, including the [[fronting (phonetics)|front]]ing of the {{sc2|LOT}} {{IPA|/ɑ/}} vowel in the mouth toward {{IPA|[a]}} and [[tenseness|tensing]] of the {{sc2|TRAP}} {{IPA|/æ/}} vowel wholesale to {{IPA|[eə]}}. These sound changes have triggered a series of other [[vowel shift]]s in the same region, known by linguists as the "[[Inland North]]".{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=190}} The Inland North shares with the [[Eastern New England English|Eastern New England dialect]] (including [[Boston accent]]s) a [[back vowel|backer tongue positioning]] of the {{Sc2|GOOSE}} {{IPA|/u/}} vowel (to {{IPA|[u]}}) and the {{Sc2|MOUTH}} {{IPA|/aʊ/}} vowel (to {{IPA|[ɑʊ~äʊ]}}) in comparison to the rest of the country.{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=230}} Ranging from northern New England across the Great Lakes to Minnesota, another Northern regional marker is the variable fronting of {{IPA|/ɑ/}} before {{IPA|/r/}},{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=111}} for example, appearing four times in the stereotypical Boston [[shibboleth]] ''Park the car in Harvard Yard''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vorhees|first=Mara|title=Boston. Con Pianta. Ediz. Inglese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0sQ5UzkiQUC&pg=PA52|year=2009|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74179-178-5|page=52}}</ref>

[[File:Non-RhoticityUSA.png|thumb|upright=1.15|The red dots show every U.S. metropolitan area where over 50% non-rhotic speech was documented among some of that area's white speakers in the 1990s. Non-rhoticity may be heard among [[African-American English|black speakers]] throughout the whole country.<ref>Labov, p. 48.{{incomplete short citation|date=March 2025}}</ref>]]
Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents. [[New England English|Boston]], [[Western Pennsylvania English|Pittsburgh]], [[North-Central American English|Upper Midwestern]], and [[Western American English|Western U.S. accents]] have fully completed a merger of the {{Sc2|LOT}} vowel with the {{Sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel ({{IPA|/ɑ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, respectively):{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=60}} a [[cot–caught merger|''cot–caught'' merger]], which is rapidly spreading throughout the whole country. However, the South, Inland North, and a Northeastern coastal corridor passing through Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore typically preserve an older ''cot–caught'' distinction.{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=190}} For that Northeastern corridor, the realization of the {{sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel is particularly [[markedness|marked]], as depicted in humorous spellings, like in ''tawk'' and ''cawfee'' (''talk'' and ''coffee''), which intend to represent it being [[tenseness|tense]] and [[diphthong]]al: {{IPA|[oə]}}.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=New England |chapter-url=http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch16_2nd.rev.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch16_2nd.rev.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |last1=Labov |first1=William |last2=Ash |first2=Sharon |last3=Boberg |first3=Charles |title=The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change |date=January 1, 2005 |quote=This phonemic and phonetic arrangement of the low back vowels makes Rhode Island more similar to New York City than to the rest of New England}}</ref> A [[æ tensing|split of {{sc2|TRAP}}]] into two separate [[phoneme]]s, using different ''a'' pronunciations for example in ''gap'' {{IPA|[æ]}} versus ''gas'' {{IPA|[eə]}}, further defines New York City as well as Philadelphia–Baltimore accents.{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=173}}

Most Americans preserve all historical {{IPA|/r/}} sounds, using what is known as a [[Rhoticity in English|rhotic accent]]. The only traditional ''r''-dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in [[Eastern New England English|eastern New England]], [[New York City English|New York City]], and some of the [[older Southern American English|former plantation South]] primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some [[African-American Vernacular English]] across the country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its ''r'' pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's ''r''-dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from the late 18th century onwards,{{sfn|Trudgill|2004|pp=46–47}} but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century.{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=5, 47}} Non-rhoticity makes a word like ''car'' sound like ''cah'' or ''source'' like ''sauce''.{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=137, 141}}

New York City and [[Southern American English|Southern accents]] are the most widely recognized regional accents in the country, as well as the most stigmatized and socially disfavored.<ref>{{multiref|1=Hayes, Dean (2013). "[http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/15 The Southern Accent and 'Bad English': A Comparative Perceptual Study of the Conceptual Network between Southern Linguistic Features and Identity]". UNM Digital Repository: Electronic Theses and Dissertations. pp. 5, 51.|2=Gordon, Matthew J.; Schneider, Edgar W. (2008). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=bGjixKTt9JcC&pg=PA67 New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: Phonology]". Varieties of English 2: 67–86.|3=Hartley, Laura (1999). [https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/lang_fac/17 A View from the West: Perceptions of U.S. Dialects from the Point of View of Oregon]. Faculty Publications – Department of World Languages, Sociology & Cultural Studies. 17.|4=Yannuar, N.; Azimova, K.; Nguyen, D. (2014). "[http://kata.petra.ac.id/index.php/ing/article/view/18880 Perceptual Dialectology: Northerners and Southerners' View of Different American Dialects]". k@ta, 16(1), pp. 11, 13.}}</ref> Southern speech, strongest in southern Appalachia and certain areas of Texas, is often identified by Americans as a "country" accent,<ref name="Hayes, 2013, p. 51">Hayes, 2013, p. 51.</ref> and is defined by the {{IPA|/aɪ/}} vowel losing its [[diphthong|gliding quality]]: {{IPA|[aː]}}, the initiation event for a complicated Southern vowel shift, including a "[[Southern drawl]]" that makes short [[front vowel]]s into distinct-sounding [[gliding vowel]]s.{{sfn|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=125}} The fronting of the vowels of {{sc2|GOOSE}}, {{sc2|GOAT}}, {{sc2|MOUTH}}, and {{sc2|STRUT}} tends to also define Southern accents as well as the accents spoken in the "[[Midland American English|Midland]]": a vast band of the country that constitutes an intermediate dialect region between the traditional North and South. Western U.S. accents mostly fall under the General American spectrum.

Below, ten major American English accents are defined by their particular combinations of certain vowel sounds:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Accent name !! |Most populous city !! Strong {{IPA|/aʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/oʊ/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/u/}} fronting !! Strong {{IPA|/ɑr/}} fronting !! [[Cot–caught merger|''Cot–caught'' merger]] !! [[Pin–pen merger|''Pin–pen'' merger]] !! [[/æ/ tensing|/æ/ raising system]]
|-
| '''[[General American]]''' || || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal
|-
| '''[[Inland North]]ern''' || Chicago || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || general
|-
| '''[[Midland American English|Midland]]''' || Indianapolis || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || pre-nasal
|-
| '''[[New York accent|New York City]]''' || New York City || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || split
|-
| '''[[North-Central American English|North-Central (Upper Midwestern)]]''' || Minneapolis || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal & pre-velar
|-
| '''[[New England English|{{nowrap|Northeastern New England}}]]''' || Boston || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal
|-
| '''[[Mid-Atlantic American English|Philadelphia/Baltimore]]''' || Philadelphia || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || split
|-
| '''[[Southern American English|Southern]]''' || San Antonio<!-- Houston is the largest city in Texas, but it barely falls under the Southern dialect, according to ANAE p. 131 -->|| {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || {{Yes}} || Southern
|-
| '''[[Western American English|Western]]''' || Los Angeles || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || pre-nasal
|-
| '''[[Western Pennsylvania English|Western Pennsylvania]]''' || Pittsburgh || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Partial|Mixed}} || pre-nasal
|}