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Is the 'New York City accent' disappearing?
We all know the sound of a classic New York accent. But with more transplants settling into the city, the traditional accent seems to be slipping away, FOX 5 NY's Sharon Crowley reports.
NEW YORK - Real New Yorkers tend to have a distinctive way of speaking. But some believe "New York English" may disappearing.
"Some of the features that have been traditionally associated with New York City English are diminishing," explained Michael Newman, a professor of linguistics and chair of the Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders at Queens College of the City University of New York. "We're still different. When you go somewhere else, you get off a plane, people don't sound the same."
Newman says, over time, newcomers -- especially in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn -- are diluting the sound of the New York City dialect.
"The younger generation, between Gen Z and the millennials, it's been falling off pretty rapidly," he continued. "What's being lost is the final ‘R.’ You get in the ‘caw’ and you go to the ‘baw.’ It's now ‘car’ and ‘bar.’"
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He says language is always evolving, but rest assured, New Yorkers’ accents will never be silenced entirely.
"None of us as New Yorkers really want to sound like we are from somewhere else," he added.
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