Is the “New York accent” different by the borough or basically the same? What differences are there?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Is there a different accent across each borough?
|
Anonymous
| A real NY accent has almost completely disappeared. I almost never hear it in Manhattan, where I work, or Brownstone Brooklyn, where I live. You’ll hear it in the far reaches of the boroughs, among people who mostly interact with other people with the same accent. I can’t distinguish between a Brooklyn or Queens accent, if there even is a strong difference. Hardly ever interact with people from the Bronx or Staten Island. |
Anonymous
Interesting! Thanks PP. I’ve been curious if New Yorkers can distinguish between borough accents. |
Anonymous
|
There are definitely differences.
A traditional Bronx accent is different than Queens or Staten Island. LI has its own accent. They aren’t as common anymore, but sometimes you can still find people with them. This video goes over some of them: https://youtu.be/1hrA9-6o4tI?si=CNs7E233MaFpv_Gy |
Anonymous
| I grew up in the area, I remember hearing Long Island accents, Brooklyn, The Bronx, New Jersey, Staten Island and Manhattan (the most indistinguishable) |
Anonymous
|
"Hey, I'm walkin' heya!"
|
Anonymous
This last sentence made me laugh! I am from the Bronx and a lot of people still have heavy accents. The accent is definitely watered down in the younger generations, especially those who work outside the Bronx. I know so many people who have a completely different Manhattan work accent from their Bronx corner store accent. As for the different boroughs, there are slight differences but they are hard to pick up on. I suspect its dependent on the concentration of immigrant or immigrant descendant communities in each of the boroughs. Italians, Irish, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Caribbean etc etc. All different versions of a New York accent but they have their own inflections and tones. |
Anonymous
|
Wow, my mom grew up in Manhattan and while she and her siblings all moved to the suburbs to raise families, they all still have a NY accent, and most of the kids do too!
Maybe the difference from the PPS above, who say NY accents have disappeared is that my family is blue-collar italian american. I am UMC now, but when I go home to see my family, DH and DCs are flabbergasted by how my accent morphs back into a New Yawker. |
Anonymous
|
It is dependent on race as the accents are driven from community. If you are asking generally about non-immigrant white accents, there are differences.
If you watch the movie Working Girl, Joan Cusack does a solid Staten Island accent - although exaggerated at certain parts. Marisa Tomei delivers Brooklyn in My Cousin Vinny and King of Queens does a solid job. |
Anonymous
Ugh, don't you know nobody actually says that? It's like hearing someone talk about people from Boston and promptly saying something about parking your car in the Harvard yard. It's not funny to anyone who is from these places. |
Anonymous
|
The person who said the accents have disappeared is probably A. Not from NY and B. interacts mostly with people who were not born and raised in NY.
I grew up in NY and can absolutely hear distinctions. |
Anonymous
Leah Remini doesn't do a Queens accent on King of Queens. She just did her regular voice, which has a Brooklyn accent because that's where she grew up. |
Anonymous
| I am from LongGuyLand which is a different accent than Brooklyn and the Bronx |
Anonymous
|
My college roommate is from long Island, and another of her neighborhood friends came to the same school and is part of our friend group, so two Longguylanders.
I am from the sticks, rural maryland, had never been to New York and new almost no new yorkers or places in New York and had no reason to utter the words Long Island together in my life before meeting them. They don't have really strong accents, but I totally say LongGuyLand just like they do. |
Anonymous
|
LI accents depend on where people are from. I have older relatives on LI who still have it VERY strong. I dated a guy from LI for a few years after college and visited frequently, even lived there for a few years. He didn't have the typical LI accent nor did his friends who grew up there.
Interestingly, my mom who was born on LI in the 1930s seemed to lose her accent when she moved to CT in the 1950s, though not sure how long it took her to lose the accent. Her mom and 4 sisters who stayed on LI kept their (very strong) accents. NY is such a transient melting pot, a lot depends on whether you're meeting someone who grew up there with families who have been there for years (So parents and family members have the accents) vs. someone where they and their family moved there later. You can definitely hear differences between Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, NJ accents (Remember when the show Jersey Shore was all kids from staten island)? But as I'm older and no longer live in the area, it's harder for me to distinguish the nuances anymore. |