1.
Introduction
In
the world, different places have different ways of speaking. These are called
dialects. For example, In Japan, There is Okinawa dialect, Kumamoto dialect,
Akita dialect and many more. The differences between them are intonation,
words, pronunciation, and accent. Not only Japan, but also America has a lot of
dialects.
My topic is New
England dialect. New England consists of six states: Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Look at this map. It is
bordered by New York to the west. New England is the oldest area in America.
New England was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples in 1616. English
Pilgrims and especially Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in England,
arrived there between 1620 to 1660. At first, in 1620, 102 Puritans were came
from British by Mayflower ship. After that, New England led the way to the
American Revolution. The region became a stronghold of the conservative
Federalist Party and opposed the War of 1812 with Great Britain. By the 1840s
it was the center of the American antislavery movement, and was the leading
force in American literature and higher education. There are 4 kinds of New
England dialects: Southeastern New England and Northeastern and Southwestern
and Northwestern. This paper’s research topic is what kinds of differences are
there in these four New England dialects? And, why are these differences?
2. Previous studies
Herman & Herman (2014, P. 25) said “the New England dialect is not
spoken throughout the New England area.”
Hirohisa
Kawaguchi(1977, P.80) said “One single dialect
formation caused the history of the colonization of the region is given. So,
the most immigrants to New England, from England South East of New England uses
a similar dialect. But they do not use same dialect.”
3. Characteristics of
New England Dialects
According
to Northwestern New England English is mainly spoken in Vermont. It has American
style R. And for example, ‘cot’ and ‘caught’ is same spoken by Northwestern
English.
Northeastern
New England English is mainly spoken in Boston, Massachusetts, extending into
New Hampshire, and coastal Maine. It has British style R. And ‘cot’ and ‘caught’
is same pronunciation spoken by Northeastern English.
Southwestern
New England English is mainly spoken in both Hartford in northwestern
Connecticut and Springfield in Southwestern Massachusetts. It has American
style R.
Southeastern
New England English is mainly spoken in Providence, Rhode Island and the
Narragansett Bay. It has British style R. And ‘cot’ and ‘caught’ is same pronunciation
by Southeastern English.
3-2. Kawaguchi said, there
are same Northeastern New England and Southeastern New England dialects.
(1)
Open
mouth a sound (“Broad a”): This sound is not same (a) there is for example “father”.
South British was using {a} there is for example “ask”
(2)
(“Short
o”): Sound “Short o” transformed sound (a) in 17 century in Britain. And now,
it become Received Pronunciation, it came to New England area. For example: (hot,
stop, on, crop, fog)
(3)
After
a vowel (r) “Postvocalic (r)”: In General American, people pronunciation after
a vowel “r”. But, Eastern New England and New York and South American area don’t
pronunciation after a vowel “r”. In 17 century, people were coming to America. And
they pronunciation “r”. But, in 18 century in Britain, A part of area were
exclude, this “r” was not using, this thing entered to Boston.
4. History of New
England dialect
Researching that why
New England dialect separate four. There were a lot of histories in New England
dialect. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh settled in ROANOKU island, but it was
finished in failure. But in 1607, It is settle to Chesapeake Bay, it succeeded.
Because a British king in that time was James I, the people who settled the
place was named James town. After the place, become a state of Virginia. Since
the soil in the northeast was not favorable to farming, and the Bay company
made the most forests and water resources. Puritan was running away to escape state
of Massachusetts Charles 1 in 1630 for 1641. About 300 ships were riding 20
thousand British people. And then, a lot of colonists are upper-lower and
lower-middle. These colonists were from Southeastern in England. Especially,
these colonists were a lot of from East Anglia. The British New England
colonies included Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
While there were several large communities within the Bay Colony. Boston became
the capital for the group of cities. After that, in 1846, all areas happened food
shortage in Ireland. A lot of areas did not take a potato, and happened
typhoid, a lot of people in Ireland death. Ireland did not help people, they
escaped to go to America. And, they decided to go to area is New England are. Also,
New England area increased a lot of the lower classes people in Ireland in 19
century. There was Kennedy president’s grandfather in their crows. According to
statistics in 1880, Massachusetts and around the area had 20% in population
that born to foreign countries people. In this, Ireland people were a lot. In country,
1000 more Ireland people lived in New England area.
5. Conclusion
This paper is about
New England dialect. New England is separated six states. The reason that New
England dialect was born is Britain came to this area in 1620. So, New England
dialect is similar to British English. In that, Boston was came to a lot of Ireland
people and they make a group once an accent. If researching that why New
England dialect was separated four areas, this paper is be able to better. And,
Eastern New England dialect’s kind more write. This paper is a little write for
John. F. Kennedy, but more information write for him. This paper’s result is
New England dialect has a lot of history and it connects British and Ireland
and African and any more countries history. Next time, the other American
dialect and this paper prepare. It may find new information of American
dialects. And Next time more deep New England history and about Kennedy.
6. Bibliography
History of New
England. (2015, May 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
06:26, June 18, 2015, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_New_England&oldid=663667982
Mike Szelog The Heart
of New England
http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/lifeinnewengland/Essays/accents.html
Herman, Lewis ＆ Marguerite Shalett Herman (2014)
American Dialects: A
Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers,
Routledge
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=P-SRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25&hl=ja&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
Martin Kelly (2015)
Characteristics of New England Colonies
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/a/Characteristics-Of-New-England-Colonies.htm
Carver, Craig M. American Regional Dialects. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 1989. https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/downing/www/course/350-192/printneast.html
Hirohisa Kawaguchi 1977
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/els/110006375389.pdf?id=ART0008372440&type=pdf&lang=jp&host=cinii&order_no=&ppv_type=0&lang_sw=&no=1453532249&cp=
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