How to Speak With a Philadelphia Accent

You can hear the Philadelphia accent in Philadelphia, its suburbs, southern New Jersey and other areas just outside of Philadelphia. It's a complex accent that has been studied for many years by linguists at the University of Pennsylvania.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Turn a long "e" before a "g" into a short "i." A beagle is a "biggle," Philly's football team is the "Iggles" and a league is a "lig." A long "a" must be turned into a short "e." A bagel is a "beggle," and the Hague is the "heg."

2. Make "ow" sound like a flat "a" when it comes before an "r" or an "l." For example, our is "are" and howl is "hal."

3. Simplify words that have two or more sounds in them. Mayor is "mare," tour is "tore," towel is "tal" (remember the "ow" rule) and Italy is "Itlee." Conversely, some short words that have an "oh" sound must end up with two syllables. Add a "w" sound after the "oh" so that thrown and phone become "throwen" and "phowen."

4. Use the "aw" sound frequently, like "dawg," "cawfee" and "maw" instead of dog, coffee and mall.

5. Add a subtle long "e" sound before an "an." Ann should almost sound like "Ian" and "pan" is almost "pee-ann."

6. Say "you" and "to" as "yuh" and "tuh." But remember that "two" is still pronounced "two." For example, "Yuh go tuh da store tuh get two cee-ans of soup."

7. Practice the Philly "a" a lot. It's difficult to master because it varies depending on usage. Use a tense "a" before most consonants, so that fan is "fa-an" and staff is "sta-aff." There is no steady rule when the word ends in "d" - mad is "ma-ad" but "brad" is "brahd." If there is another vowel after the consonant or if the word is a verb, the "a" is lax, as in "hahmer" for "hammer," "I cahn" and "I rahn" (I can and I ran).

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to always pronounce water "wooder" and library "liberry." "Go ahead" is "guhhead."
• Names of the days of the week always end in "dy," not day (Mundy, Wensdy.)
• You never go to the Jersey shore, you go "downashore."
• Finding real-life examples of the Philly accent is difficult. Most celebrities work to get rid of the accent and Hollywood usually gets it wrong (Rocky's accent was more New York than Philadelphia).

[Myshashi]

on 3/27/2009 The best way to do this is to hang around people who are speaking with an Philadelphia accent. If you do this regularly enough, then you will pick up the accent you are listening to.Update yourself with Philadelphia accent eg., http://www.neutralaccent.com

[Myshashi]

on 3/27/2009 The best way to do this is to hang around people who are speaking with an Philadelphia accent. If you do this regularly enough, then you will pick up the accent you are listening to.Update yourself with Philadelphia accent eg., http://www.neutralaccent.com

[bluestarchick95]

on 7/28/2008 I live in the Philly area, and my relatives that live far away always say I have a Philadelphian accent. I never realized I had one until I read this article. niiice articull LOL :]