Standard New York Dialect

Series Summary

The New York dialect is one of the most distinct and recognizable in the United States. It's history and origins are hard to determine with any precision. But, who cares? It's fun. Its' recognizable. It's ever-present on TV and radio and in the movies. Knowing the New York dialect is great for doing characters, telling jokes, performing impressions and otherwise entertaining people.

Our public speaking and communications expert, Tracy Goodwin, is a whiz at speaking with a New York accent. She can have you on your way to sounding like a New Yorker in no time. Tracy will give you tips on how to visualize and place words in your mouth. She will teach you about the pitch, or lilt, of the New York dialect. Then, she will demonstrate the distinct vowel and consonant sounds of the New York dialect while providing you with helpful exercise to practice and perfect your pronunciation.

Video Transcript

"Hi there, I'm Tracy Goodwin and I'm the Red Sweater Lady. So, I understand you want to learn how to do a New York dialect. Well, you're in luck. Doing a dialect is not that difficult. But there some very important steps and rules you have to follow in order to do it. Actually, learning a dialect is pretty simple, but there is a right way and a wrong way to learn a dialect and I'm going to teach today the right way to learn a New York Dialect, and I'm going to be teaching you what would be considered standard New York. Now, you've got lots of offshoots that sound a little bit different, like the Bronx, Brooklynese, Long Island, there are slight variations, so I'm going to be just teaching you standard New York: what you would hear, what you would think you would hear if you went to New York, but we're going to learn it in the sense of placement rather than hearing, and I'll talk more about that in just a minute."