Boston English
5 most difficult American accents to understand…
Play videoA British man lists the American accents that he finds most difficult to understand. He mentions what historical and linguistic roots he associates with each accent, and he broadly points to how interesting it is that English speakers are not always intelligible to each other. Particularly for the last one, he expresses a complete inability to understand speakers of it, and many Americans in the comment section even agree.
American Comic in China Comparing Northeastern Accents
Jesse Appell, an American comic, performs a standup routine speaking Mandarin Chinese, comparing the Northeastern Boston accent in English with the Northeastern Shandong accent in Chinese. Particularly, he jokes about the rhotics in Boston are almost completely omitted, whereas the Shandong accent emphasizes and adds rhoticization.
Bostonian trying to pronounce the Spanish r
A Bostonian man with a non rhotic accent rants a out how hard it is to pronounce the trilled Spanish r
Aaron Earned An Iron Urn (Boston accent challenge)
Play videoTiktoker @dooleyfunny attempts a Boston accent challenge where he tries to say Aaron Earned An Iron Urn.
Revolutionary War - SNL
Play videoSNL skit about the differences in the ideologies of Philadelphians and New Englanders and it also shows the differences in their accents.
Boston Accent Trailer
Play videoA joke trailer from comedian Seth Myers spoofing the many movies set in Boston that make use of marked Boston accents.
Speech Accent Archive: Boston
Play audioA speaker from Boston (English21) from the George Mason's Speech Accent archive. She is a 37 year old female.
American Tongues: Tough Guy from Boston's North End
Play videoAn excerpt from the documentary American Tongues profiling speakers from the North End of Boston.
In Walsh, students of Bostonese have found their avatah
A 2013 article on Boston mayor-elect Marty Walsh, who has a pronounced Boston accent. The comments about Boston being "lazy" are unfortunate, as are the interviews with speech coaches.
Good Will Hunting: How do you like them apples?
Play videoVal Systems: Pretentious /ae/ hole
The blog post provides a clip from the popular NPR show "Car Talk, with two native Bostonians as hosts. In the clip, one hosts relates being teased by his daughter for his trap-bath split, saying it sounds pretentious.
Good Will Hunting
Play videoA clip of the bar scene from the movie Good Will Hunting. Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are both native Bostonians and utilize many features of Boston English.
r-vocalization in Boston English
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