What’re Words For, Part 16

Time for you all to REALLY get the feel of the Maine accent. You all know, by now, about the drawl associated with the letter (lett-ah) “R”. Here’s the explanation:


Word: R
Pronunciation Note:
The first rule is to replace the final “r” (or “re”) with something close to “ah” or “uh”. Thus, “there” becomes “thay-uh”, “near” becomes “ne-uh”, and so forth.

The second rule is to add the final “r” to those given names appearing to lack them – e.g. “Lucinda” becomes “Lucinder”, “Amanda” becomes “Amander”, “Augusta” (the State Capital) becomes “Auguster”, etc.

The third rule, which is restricted to Aroostook County (the largest and most Northern county in the State of Maine), is to disregard the first two rules because therre, the morre “r”’s the betterr.

(Definition from: "How To Talk Yankee", by Gerald Lewis & Tim Sample, copyright 1979, 1986 by The Thorndike Press; copyright 1989 by the First North Country Press)


And it’s most funny when Rules One and Two are applied to the same word. An example of this is when “Martha” becomes “Mah-ther”.

Keep studying everybody, your dialects are coming along just fine, ayuh.