o fronting

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Busts Out His Baltimore Accent

In this video, a Maryland-born reporter gives an example of "Baltimorese," an accent of English found among many white working-class individuals in the Baltimore metropolitan area. This video also gives an example of language prejudice, as the reporter from Maryland expresses his own dislike for the accent, and the two other reporters mock the accent to some extent. Given that Baltimorese is a working-class accent, this prejudice against the language is likely a proxy for some prejudice against working class people.

Posted by Aidan Malanoski on February 28, 2018

Tags:: Baltimore English;; Socioeconomic Status;; Accent;; Stigma;; o fronting

Indie Pop Voice

This is a somewhat-researched article on an apparently new phenomenon in pop music called "Indie Pop Voice." The voice involves the dipthongization and fronting of suppressed vowels in order to make them more remarkable. The result is an eerie augmentation that does not change meaning but nevertheless alters style. I believe that this phenomenon would be interesting to study: What are the linguistic conditions in which this most occurs? Can we find an origin in a certain speech community? Does this feature index particular demographics/identities? [Published on 10-06-2015]

Posted by Matthew Bernobich on October 6, 2015

Tags:: o fronting;; Prosody;; Womens Language

Baltimore Accent Discussion: Crabs for Christmas

An NPR tidbit about a Christmas musical that takes its charm from its use of the Baltimore accent. There's some nice discussion of what is indexed by the variety. [Published on 12-24-2014]

Posted by Allesandra Geffen on December 24, 2014

Tags:: Baltimore English;; Socioeconomic Status;; o fronting;; Indexicality

Kathy Bates' American Horror Story Accent, explained by a linguist

A linguist's response to the internet controversy over actress Kathy Bates' attempt to produce a Baltimore accent on the TV show American Horror Story. [Published on 10-22-2014]

Posted by Kara Becker on October 22, 2014

Tags:: Baltimore English;; Accent;; o fronting;; u fronting

The Californians

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A Saturday Night Live skit parodying the California Vowel Shift.

Posted by Kara Becker on June 16, 2013

Tags:: California English;; o fronting;; u fronting

Shoes

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The popular YouTube video 'Shoes," which demonstrates a number of California Shifted features, including the fronting of back vowels

Posted on October 2, 2012

Tags:: California English;; Chain shift;; u fronting;; o fronting

Valley Girl: Frank and Moon Zappa

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A performance of Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl," from the 1980s, featuring his daughter Moon Unit Zappa performing as a valley girl, and utilizing many features of California English.

Posted on October 2, 2012