North Central American English

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North Central American English is used to refer to two dialects spoken in the Midwest United States. A fuller explanation of key distinctions of the region's speech may be found in the appropriate section of American English regional differences.

A related accent, of an adjacent region to the east, is Inland Northern American English.

Michigan and Wisconsin

Main article: Yooper dialect

It refers to the dialect of the English language spoken most commonly in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP), where it is commonly called Yooper. Although it is also spoken in parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern and central Wisconsin and southern Ontario, Canada, its use is most prevalent in the UP.

It is common in the Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin to append the classic Canadian "eh" to statements-turned-questions, in place of the usual "isn't it?", "right?" or "hmmm?" (as in "You think so, eh?") — but this tendency does not extend to statements as is frequently heard in Canada. It is also common to put a superfluous "then" at the end of sentences, and it is common to use the expression "bye now". A related expression may be a contraction of "isn't it so" pronounced "in-so." This expression appears to be local to the region around Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.

The local dialect of the city of Milwaukee is heavily influenced by German features, resulting in certain unique constructions and phraseologies. For example, one goes "by" a destination, not "to", as in "I'm going by the store", a usage copied from the German preposition "bei". One notable (and absolutely unique) vocabulary item is "bubbler", meaning "drinking fountain". One explanation of its origin is from a child's remark at the ceremony opening of the first such public fountain in the city. However, the term "bubbler" most likely comes from the name of a water fountain design made by Kohler, the predominant maker of fountains in these areas. In the region, it is commonly used to the north in Sheboygan and in the west to Madison, although it is also found in parts of Eastern New England, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Minnesota

The term also refers to a similar accent spoken in Minnesota, particularly in rural areas. The accent is perhaps most famous for its heavily emphasized use in the movie Fargo, although the depiction was not an entirely accurate one. (While the movie's title city is in fact located in North Dakota, it's set primarily in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.) The popular radio host Garrison Keillor has also helped to make the accent well-known. The accent itself is known for its long, monophthongal 'O' vowels, as in the words "boat", "toast", "snow" or "ghost". The sound of "a" in "that" is pronounced long, and often with acute accent. Minnesotans are stereotypically known for using "Uff da" (Norwegian, pronounced "oofda"), "yah sure" and "you betcha" in everyday conversation, but these are only used infrequently except as a self-referential joke. Another common usage is "hot-dish" instead of "casserole" (possibly from the Swedish varmrätt).

These very similar accents were heavily influenced by 19th century immigrants from Scandinavia, Finland, Germany and Poland. Many people in Minnesota, particularly those who are older and live in rural portions of the state, have a melodic way of speaking that is reminiscent of Swedish and Norwegian.

In these accents, "yah" or "ya" is frequently used instead of "yeah" or "yes" (cf. Swedish, Norwegian, German, Danish, Dutch, "ja"). The Germanic trend of replacing /ð/ with /d/ and /θ/ with /t/ is sometimes heard, including "that" becoming "dat" and the Minneapolis Northeast district sometimes, often in jest, referred to as "Nordeast."

In addition, many Minnesotans use the word "borrow" to mean both "lend" and "borrow," as in, "I borrowed him the book." This usage may be traced to Swedish or German, where the word for "lend" and "borrow" are the same (låna).

Common features

These speakers tend to leave out the object of "to go with," "to come with," and similar constructions. "You wanna come with?" is considered correct, with an implied "me" or "us" at the end (cf. German "Kommst Du mit?", Swedish "Följer du med?", Dutch "Kom je mee?"). This descends from the Germanic separable prefix verbs, which heavily influences the speech in the area. (This phenomenon has also been recorded in French-speaking areas of Belgium and Switzerland: "Vas-tu avec?".)

See also

• Inland Northern American English