Story at a glance
- Regional vernacular or dialect is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as a language that’s native to a region rather than one that belongs to a culture or country.
- It’s often distinguished by unique vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation depending on the person speaking.
- In the southern U.S., people work out in “tennis shoes” while in the East Coast they call the same shoes “sneakers.”
(WXIN/NEXSTAR) — Do you say “pop,” “soda,” or “Coke” when you’re talking about carbonated beverages? Chances are where you live affects how you ask for a soft drink — and that has everything to do with your vernacular.
But what does regional vernacular actually mean?
Regional vernacular or dialect is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as a language that’s native to a region rather than one that belongs to a culture or country. It’s often distinguished by unique vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation depending on the person speaking.
These idiosyncrasies happen as parents pass down their way of speaking to their children and those children eventually pass it along, too. Sometimes this becomes complicated if children are raised elsewhere and have parents from different regions.
| Regional Dialect Examples | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dialect | Region | Characteristics |
| Southern American English | Southern United States | Use of monophthongal vowel sounds, “y’all” as a second-person plural pronoun, “fixin'” as a colloquialism for “getting ready to” |
| Geordie English | North East England | Use of “canny” to mean “good” or “nice,” “pet” as a term of endearment, “hoy” to mean “throw” |
| Scouse English | Liverpool, North West England | Use of “la” or “kid” as a term of address, “giz” or “give us” to mean “give me” |
| West Country English | South West England | Use of “where to” instead of “where,” “gurt” instead of “great,” use of “-ee” instead of “-y” as a diminutive |
| AAVE (African American Vernacular English) | African American communities in the United States | Use of double negatives, deletion of final consonants, non-standard verb forms |
StudySmarter broke down a few examples of dialect by region.
Northern dialect regions
Inland North dialect stretches from the Great Lakes to Western New York including major cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo. People from this region might pronounce the word “cat” like “kiy-ut.”
Eastern New England includes major cities like New York City and Boston. Natives from the “Big Apple” tend to switch the letter T for D and say “da” instead of “the.” In Boston, they often switch the “r” for “h.” For example, someone from Boston may say “waduh” instead of “water,” while a native Philadelphian might say “wudder.”
Inland/mountain Southern dialect regions
The Inland/Mountain Southern dialect is prominent among people from Appalachia, Texas, Tennessee and other nearby Southern states. In this region, people are known for their distinctive drawn-out vowel sounds which combine phrases like “you all” into “y’all.”
Dialect vocabularies
Vocabularies vary by regional dialect. People in the Midwestern U.S. drink “pop,” while on the East Coast the same drink is called “soda.” Some people born and raised in the South are known to call all soft drinks “Coke,” regardless of which brand or flavor they’re referring to.
In the southern U.S., people work out in “tennis shoes” while in the East Coast they call the same shoes “sneakers.”
A few other examples include “lollipops” vs. “suckers”; “lightning bugs” vs. “fireflies”; “grocery carts” vs. “buggies”; and “subs” vs. “hoagies.”