Are New Yorkers (New Yawkers?) losing their accent? Get outta here!
The ever-popular NYC accent is quietly disappearing from everyday talk, according to new research released on Wednesday by a major word-search brand.
The Word Finder commissioned a survey of more than 3,000 Americans asking a simple but poignant question: Which regional accents across the United States are people vocalizing less often?
The Big Apple dialect came in at #12. It’s not the worst ranking to have, but is it the best? Fuhgeddaboudit! Folks in other regions are losing their vocal touch at a faster rate than New Yorkers. Americans at the top of the list for losing their accents include those from Appalachia, the South and, more specifically in the South, Louisiana.
To get this snapshot of linguistic leveling, Word Finder researchers surveyed 3,042 people, asking which accents or slang they use less, hear less or have stopped saying entirely. What emerged, the company said, is a portrait of a country that still loves its regional voices but increasingly treats them like heirlooms rather than everyday tools.
There could be various reasons for the linguistic loss, but researchers found that parents play a role. About 70% of surveyed parents said they would prefer their children speak “general American,” while only 30% want their kids to inherit the local accent.
Ironically, when the same group was asked whether the government should fund dialect-preservation efforts, more than half said yes. In other words, people want their kids to sound “neutral,” but they still want the culture preserved. It’s a “very unusual contradiction,” researchers said.
“Accents are one of the last truly local things we carry with us, but they are also the first to be trimmed when people want to blend in,” says Praveen Latchamsetty, founder of The Word Finder. “What this survey shows is that Americans still feel deeply attached to their regional voices even as many quietly set them aside in everyday life. The tension between pride and practicality is reshaping the sound of the country.”
Meanwhile, Americans appear to be abandoning their regional slang, and not always by choice. The survey showed these top reasons for easing off local expressions, such as New York’s “fuhgeddaboudit” or the South’s “y’all:”
- 64% say they have deliberately stopped using a slang phrase because it felt outdated.
- 36% kept certain phrases out of the workplace because they “sound unprofessional.”
- 19% say people “don’t understand” their local phrases outside their home region.
- 5% dropped slang after moving states.
- 39% say a phrase simply feels “old-fashioned now.”
‘I’m walkin’ here!‘ How to fake a New York accent
Meanwhile, linguists have described the NYC accent as having a complex vowel system and a history shaped by waves of immigrant communities.
Backstage, the trade publication for actors, even gives tips on creating the perfect New York City accent, such as hardening the “th” in words. For example, “The” would become “teh” and “wordsmith” would sound like “wordsmit.”
Even though some classic features — like dropping the final “R” in words aren’t as strong among the youngest Big Apple residents, people still recognize the New York sound instantly.
The top 10 dialects Americans say they’re using less
Although the New York City accent did not make the top 10 list, here’s which accents did:
Appalachian
Southern
Louisiana
Pacific Southwest
Hudson Valley
Mid-Atlantic
Boston Urban
Baltimore
Rocky Mountain
New Mexican English
