Pittsburgh English
Kroll Show - Welcome to Pawnsylvania
Play videoA skit from the Kroll Show featuring a pawn shop owner from Philadelphia (played by Nick Kroll, who is from New York) and from Pittsburgh (played by an actor I don't recognize). The actors use stereotypical features of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh English. The video naturally recalls Barbara Johnstone's work on the enregisterment of Pittsburghese.
My Mother, Whenever She Passed Away, She Had Pneumonia
I have a good friend from West Virginia. Before knowing him I had never heard the use of "whenever" in a sentence like "Whenever we used to go to the lake as kids we would eat lots of popsicles." I would say something like "When we used to go to the lake as kids we would eat lots of popsicles." I know now this phenomenon to be called the "punctual whenever" and it seems to be localized in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, mostly, but Midlands, some of the South, and Appalachia in general. The only other region where this phenomenon is widespread is Northern Ireland.
Pittsburgh dad: giving directions
Play videoThis video comes from a channel dedicated to this character of "the Pittsburgh dad". This is what people usually think of when they think of a Pittsburgher in terms of accent and slang usage. Many Pittsburgh natives don't necessarily talk like this, though many do to varying degrees, so the accent indexes this persona more-so than it does the concept of localness. There are tons of other videos on the channel, but I think this one shows a lot of examples of the low back merger.
Dear Jagoffs, Pittsburgh officially has the ugliest accent in America
Pittsburgh is the official winner of Gawker's "America's Ugliest Accent" context. [Published on 10-20-2014]
Is the Pittsburgh accent ugly?
A radio interview with linguist Scott Kiesling about the Pittsburgh accent, which has made it to the semi-finals in Gawker's "ugliest accent" competition. The other three semi-finalists are Boston, Providence, and Scranton, PA. [Published on 10-14-2014]
Where Yinz At
An in-depth look at dialect diversity in Pennsylvania, with a particular focus on the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia dialects and an overview of their features, with comments from Barbara Johnstone and William Labov. [Published on 04-29-2014]
America's Ugliest Accents
The Kroll Comedy Show spooks speakers from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in one sketch, and Gawker calls them "America's ugliest accents."
www.Pittsburghese.com
The official website of "Pittsburghese."
Citation: Johnstone. 2009. American Speech. Pittsburghese Shirts.
Greg and Donny have an accent
Play videoPittsburgh Pronunciation
The Pronunciation page from the University of Pittsburgh's "Pittsburgh Speech and Society" page, which has audio of seven native Pittsburghers reading a passage.
Barbara Johnstone on Pittsburghese
Play videoA lecture by Barbara Johnstone for a popular audience on Pittsburghese, or English in Pittsburgh.