A sampling of the many neighborhood and class-based accents in New Orleans circa 1983 from the documentary YEAH YOU RITE! by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker.
I was born and raised in New Orleans. I'll never forget when I was employed as a receptionist. The accounting lady was raised in the Garden district and grew up in the Gert town area. She swore she had no New Orleans accent and would make snide remarks about mine. That is until one day her father called and when I answered, he thought I was her. I laughed for days.
I've lived in New Orleans for 9 years now and I love New Orleans. The people, the culture, the accents. New Orleans has a definite culture of its own that you can't find anywhere else. I'm proud to call New Orleans home.
That's because they had a similar immigration pattern as Brooklyn, around the same time and same type of immigrants, (Working class, Italian, German, Irish, Eastern European etc...)
I love the typical "Yat" accent. My husband and all his family come from the Metairie, or more locally known as "Metry". It is so unique and different from the typical Florida Parishes accents (they have a more southern drawl to their voices). I wish that I grown up around the Metairie area, because I love going there, and it's just so unique. Gotta love how the "R" tends to disappear from the end of certain words.
From a cultural geography perspective, the different accents being heard in New Orleans are a product of a great variety of people settling in New Orleans and making it home. French, Spanish, Italian, African, German, Croatian, Irish, Creole, and many different groups. Class can have something to do with this too. It has an influence on the food too. Jambalaya has Spanish influences, gumbo has African, Native American, French and other influences. The muffaletta points to Italian influences.
Yep u got that right good buddy... before all the crime got real bad, I stopped hanging out on Bourbon in 2018, but the fun I had an only had to drive 5 miles to get home was cool...now, no way... I had fun bigtime... girls from out of town, or around the world would ask me to just talk, they wanted to hear me speak,,, specially when I said the cities name, NEW ORLEANS... One girl from Idaho, toll me after talking with her, she said her boyfriend now sounds like a female after hearing me speak... she was faithful to him, so that was good...
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" "There is a New Orleans city accent… associated with downtown New Orleans, particularly with the German and Irish Third Ward, that is hard to distinguish from the accent of Hoboken, Jersey City, and Astoria, Long Island, where the Al Smith inflection, extinct in Manhattan, has taken refuge. The reason, as you might expect, is that the same stocks that brought the accent to Manhattan imposed it on New Orleans." Now I can read the book with an accent :)
Unfortunately we are losing our accent. You don't hear it as much as when I was growing up in the fifties. I believe it's from the influx of out of towners. You hardly hear French spoken anymore. It makes me sad. My niece's children don't have a New Orleans accent. I'm finding that more and more in the young.
@@troyannbladsacker1811 Unfortunately, this is because of mainstreaming and the rise of the internet. Soon enough, everyone who doesn't care about heritage will have the bland American accent. Do you say Church as Choiych? Here in new england we say it as Chaurch. Did you know back in the 1950s and earlier, the American Accent was incredibly different from today, so much more love and rarity in the way everyone spoke, and unfortunately the rise of middle-upper class in the 1960s introduced the common-ety of the losing the Y sound in a sentence like "weyll" to "well". Elizabeth Montgomery has a "Weyll" type of dialect. There's also a beautiful and captivating film from the 1950s showcasing dialects across the spectrum of the united states. He pronounces Marry, mary, and merry in their own ways, but more importantly and unlike modern days affiliation of merry with a strong 'mair' sound, he says it marry with a strong "mauree" sound. Take these two excerpts: "What a merry day Fred, will you join me outside?" 1967 versus "W'hat a mauree day Andeh, won't you join(johyn) me outside." 1950 It's the subtlety that makes it so different...and so impossibly hard to write in a verbal sentence without vocal audio.
That Yat accent is perfect! I would in fact almost compare that accent to people who live deep in Brooklyn NY, some from Long Island and a little bit in Staten Island, but the older generation.
Years ago, I had a client from New Orleans. I could not understand a word this boy said. When he talked, it sounded like he had marbles in his mouth. I live in the rural south so I'm used to people talking with an accent but this was like nothing I had ever heard before. Finally, in desperation, I told him to start writing stuff down for me. It worked and he used to laugh at my inability to understand his accent. I swear, I thought he was speaking a completely different language.
I live in rural North Alabama, my cousins are from NW Mississippi, and the folks in NOLA--regardless of what part of town--talk like nobody ANYWHERE else in the South! And then you go down below and/or west of Baton Rouge, and the Cajun kicks in, and the NOLA folks can't understand a word of it, either!
VeryCool Doc The three main dialects of Louisiana: North Louisiana (general Southern), Acadiana (Cajun), greater New Orleans (Creole). The white Creole girl at 0:01 has a Yat dialect which is a Creole dialect (Creole is generally the culture associated with New Orleans). That's the dialect that has people the most curious usually.
My Yat accent comes and goes.... I have no trace of it until I become distressed in some way. It has happened a number of times while traveling and people will ask me if I am Irish or if I came from Brooklyn. Only once has someone recognized it for what it is, and that was a doctor. He asked my what part of New Orleans I was from, I told him then said it only comes out when i am upset or extremely tired, then he let his Yat accent take over too ..... It was great!
It’s still beautiful...they built a new hospital and several areas have been renewed and look nicer... but New Orleans is always going through changes... but it did have a decline since the times in this video...but I think it will have a nice future... they even built a nice park along the St. Claude levee between Poland and Elysian Fields... it’s getting nicer again...
I live in Quebec, a province in Canada, and the Yat accent reminds me a lot of some of the accent we hear over here. It also kinda sounds like a Brooklyn accent.
I'm proud of my Yat accent. My dad's family was originally from the 9th ward back in the day when it was mostly Whites and my mom's family was from St. Bernard Parish. My family was from the Bywater neighborhood of the 9th ward and the Marigny neighborhood of the 8th ward, but now most moved out to the suburbs in Metairie, the Westbank, St. Bernard and Slidell.
New Orleans is LOUDER than NYC.....Also people from New Orleans use the word " BASTARD " often, even in front of there mother . I was born on Canal street.....I know WHAT I am talking about !!!
I used to live in New Orleans. Later, I was aware of the accent difference, but when I first arrived, I knew nothing about it. I got into a cab in the French Quarter. When the driver asked me where I wanted to go, I was shocked that he sounded as if he were from Brooklyn, New York. When I asked him which part of Brooklyn he was from, he answered, "Brooklyn? I 'm from New Orleans and I have never been outside of the city." Yes, some people in New Orleans speak like they're from Brooklyn, New York, and not with the stereotypical Southern accent.
+taino20 there is actually a perfectly good explanation for why the Yat accent sounds just like Brooklyn! It's because the immigration pattern was the same: Irish, German and Italian back at the turn of the 19th century. I love it!
+Jessica Waters Thank you very much, Jessica. I'm really interested in accents and dialects. I had no idea that some people(Yat accent) speak like Brooklyn. I'm from New York City. I thought everybody in New Orleans spoke with the stereotypical Southern accent.
Well, as a native of the NYC region I can say unequivocally that Debra Chauvin's accent is eerily similar to suburban NYC accent, perhaps even heavier.
I work (photography) for a family of woodworkers out in Lafitte just outside of New Orleans, they sound like they are cajun and when I asked, "hey ya'll from around here?" They said "no, we from the Caribbean!" my mind was blown!
Those girls talking about the "Yatty" girls that work in their office are Yats themselves, just to a lesser degree. They still have the Yat accent with the exception that they pronounce their R's. They don't sound that far off of the the last 2 girls, which is considered full on Yat, which today, is found in St. Bernard Parish (Chalmette), because of White flight of the 9th Ward.
@@Libertine852 Actually, white flight of most of the city, not just the 9th ward. The city of New Orleans went from being 69% white to 67% black in a matter of two decades...so yeah, white flight. Didn’t have anything to do with driveways and crowds because those folk’s families been living in that city for centuries. It had to do with migration patterns involving race. None of this has anything to do with 300 years of our culture.
@@Libertine852 I don’t know where you’re getting all this stuff you’re talking about, but it’s nonsense. One of my parents is from the city of New Orleans and the other is from St. Bernard Parish. I know for a fact (because my city family talked about it all the time) that the white flight happened because blacks started moving into the city in large numbers from outside of New Orleans, due to the civil rights movement that allowed them to now do so at that time and whites were not happy with that as they wanted to live in white neighborhoods like they always have been and it is that which caused the white flight. And it even got to the point late in the white flight where whites that moved to the suburbs would look down on whites that decided to remain in the city... so I know the reason because half of my family was part of it and they talked about it many times. And on top of that, many of my friends are from NOLA white flight families that lived all over the city in fully white neighborhoods that are now fully black neighborhoods today and their families have said the same exact thing. So I don’t know where you’re getting all that from but it’s not accurate. White flight happened because non-NOLA black migration happened and white New Orleanians didn’t want their neighborhoods to change. But you can’t blame them, they had every right to want their neighborhoods to remain how they were. One group came in and replaced the other. And now look what’s happening with all these white transplants (carpetbaggers) they are now replacing the blacks in various parts of the city and the blacks don’t want them there doing that and are complaining about them.
@@Libertine852 I’d have to disagree with you. The black NOLA citizens of pre-Katrina and today were not always there. The US Census of New Orleans in 1950 was 69% white and 31% black. The pre-Katrina 2000 census shows New Orleans was 67% black and 28% white... a complete role reversal from the 1950 census. Large waves of blacks moving from outside of New Orleans took place after the civil rights era allowed them to move into white neighborhoods. This happened in most major cities in fact as most major cities in the US turned from predominantly white to predominantly black. I can say for 100% certainty that I know many black New Orleanians that have told me their families originate in other parishes and towns outside of the New Orleans area such as other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. So I’m not remaking the history of New Orleans...New Orleans was predominantly white before 1980 and was still significantly white into the 1980’s until the 1990’s. I didn’t say all the whites left the city. Most of the affluent white neighborhoods uptown, near the lake and near City Park did not turn black, those whites stayed because most blacks moving in could not afford those areas and thus, no gentrification took place in those areas. But don’t be fooled, most white New Orleanians went to the suburbs. White New Orleanians have been surrounded by suburbs for centuries before white flight and never flighted before...race is absolutely the main factor. If you choose to ignore the migration patterns and stories that prove that the migration was race related, that is your own business. But because I have a wealth of knowledge about the city and it’s history, I just can’t accept it. No, not all of it was race oriented...some may have moved for the reasons you name...but the vast majority of it was race related. Sure, white New Orleans neighborhoods were always not that far from black New Orleans neighborhoods, but they mostly didn’t share neighborhoods and stayed within their areas. The migration is now happening all over again but as a black flight and a white gentrification instead of the white flight and black gentrification that took place in the late 20th century. Now we see a total reversal as blacks move to the suburbs and as white out-of-state transplants (white carpetbaggers) move into their neighborhoods and the white population is rising as the black population is decreasing. A complete reversal.
I lived in New Orleans for a few years and I have never been somewhere with sooo many accents. Sometimes people sounded more like New Yorkers than Southerners. I loved all of them. A few people made me feel like I was from another country because I had a northern accent and spoke with larger words. Such an interesting place.
We lived in NOLA from 1980-1982 and loved the Time Saver commercial with Rosemary and AnnaMay. If someone has a copy of one of these commercials would post it on TH-cam!
Thank you for posting! Finally I can hear the various accents (or dialects) of New Orleans. I have traveled to New Orleans recently a few times, and my friend explained to me the various accents. Very interesting to hear more in this video. :)
I'm just a random 28-year-old black guy from Tennessee but I think the yat accent is easily the coolest accent in the united states. So if you speak that dialect you are super cool to me.
I’m from New Orleans I struggle all the time with the complete opposite... not keeping my accent! Lmao! My mom would always corrected my speech as a child , she didn’t want me with the accent 😓
Some accents are charming and interesting like my own Boston, or New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore etc. Took bus tour of N.O. and the driver/guide, a local, said in some ways the accent can sound a bit like New Yorkers--kinda like how All in the Family characters would go to the "terlet".
Not anymore. But some older people in New Orleans still say that. My grandpa talks like that. "Terlet" for toilet. "Berl" for boil. "Earl" for oil. "Vej-a-tibbles" for vegetables. Etc.
It has changed so much in my 47 years of living here,90% of these people probably moved away after Katrina or passed. I truly miss the 80's & early 90's New Orleans vibe. Mostly how much friendlier people were back then & we didn't have shootings on I-10 or on Bourbon.
Thanks for posting this!! It really breaks things down for all the 'non-new-orleanians'. ;) I LOVE these accents!! And I miss Mckenzie's!!(pardon my spelling)
I went to school uptown, at Fortier. I never forget being told I sound "white" by my classmate. What she really meant was I didn't speak her dialect. Moving to Cali whites would say I sounded West Indian.
I was born and raised in Biloxi, MS and grew up hearing all of these accents around town. The uptown and y'at accents were the most common. I guess it stems from the fact that so many people from Biloxi have lots of friends and family from New Orleans. I must point out that this similarity isn't the case with all the other towns along the MS Gulf Coast and is pretty unique to Biloxi.
Blx5 In Gautier we you here a tinge of the Mobile accent. Were as NO yat sounds like a southern version on Brooklyn, Mobile sounds like a very subtle Boston accent. While very different than Boston, the Mobile accent comes the closest to Boston in the USA in terms of how they say parking lot, six pack etc.
Sam yep, it always cracks me up the way people from Pascagoula say baby lol, and boy oh boy do they get furious at how we pronounce their town PasAgula instead of PasCagula.
I think it's that so many people from SE LA take poor man's vacations to Biloxi and the surrounding areas lol. Some people like it so much they move there. The gulf coast and maybe like Jackson are the only parts of MS I will step into. Otherwise, I feel like I'm in Deliverance without the mountains.
As someone from SELA, I have spent a lot of time on the MS Gulf Coast and have always loved it there. Being there feels like being in Louisiana; of course historically the MS Gulf Coast and Mobile, AL were part of Louisiana. I think people outside the Gulf Coast area have no idea what that part of MS is like, or what Mobile, AL is like either. People have certain ideas about the State of Mississippi in general, and expect the Coast to be the same. It is not. As you mentioned, people on the Coast do not speak with the 'stereotypical Southern' accent. In fact when visiting I can always pick out the people from other parts of Mississippi. They are the ones with the southern accents.
All of us being able to talk about it here and watch this video instantaneously from across the world is part of the reason why.....I mean after TV, highways, and the global economy things were already on that track, but the last 25 years put it into hyperdrive. Also ramped up word misuse and misspellings ("for all intensive purposes", "bonified" and the like wouldn't have gained traction if people that didn't really understand what they were hearing hadn't been able to spread them like wildfire so easily), but that's the price of technology.
Thanks for this informative vid. On three separate occasions I've mistaken people from New Orleans for Brooklynites. Now I understand they were speaking Yat. Fascinating.
Just saw the film Green Book, mainly shot in Louisiana. A NOLA friend with a Yat accent was cast in a speaking role that takes place in a Brooklyn bar! The Brooklyn/Yat accents are not the same, but I guess the director thought that to an average moviegoer they wouldn't notice the difference!
Charles Green when I went to Brooklyn, people thought I was a native 😂 I’m from Gonzales, but my mom has that yat (from grand isle buT was always in New Orleans)
@Rachulie That accent some people think sound like a Ny/Nj accent is known as the New Orleans Yat accent which was usually associated with Downtown New Orleans, but also existed as well in Mid City/Gentilly and parts of Uptown like the Irish Channel and Carrolton, which it was the most widespread accent. It is the old White New Orleans accent which still exists in parts of the city today, but is extremely strong in the suburbs now, due to White flight of the city in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
i lived in new orleans for about 30 years and didn't think i had any accent until i moved to california where many people there pointed it out to me. and after years of living in california, i lost my accent because people there couldn't detect one.
Wow, thanks for this clip. I love learning about the different accents and dialects of the United States. I didn't know about the yat accent before watching this. It's really unique that it resembles the Brooklyn accent.
The BEST way for anyone on this channel who's curious about New Orleans dialects, accents and speech patterns is to visit any youtube channel that has New Orleanians in impromptu conversations (while being filmed) with EACH OTHER and the topic isn't about accents and speech patterns of the people (Black or White), then you'll hear genuine accents without them paying attention to the way they're pronouncing words or using them too correctly, just an even flow of New Orleans "thick" accents and speech patterns.
But it must be noted that black New Orleanians and white New Orleanians have different accents from each other while still sharing many dialect and accent features. There are a range of local black accents and a range of local white accents plus white transplant accents (whites that moved to New Orleans since Katrina). When I say New Orleans, I mean greater New Orleans which includes the suburbs of New Orleans too where these accents exist also. Local black accents are strongest in the city and local white accents are strongest in the suburbs. It has been this way since the 1970’s-1980’s when white flight from the city turned the city from majority white to majority black. And the transplant white accents are strongest in the city because that’s where they have been settling since Katrina and they rarely exist in the suburbs. These are distinctions that people should know about when discussing New Orleans area accents.
Part Two - Creole - also refers to languages (any languages) which have blended together, and it is called "creolization". In places like Haiti, Florida and a number of Carribbean Islands have Creole people, which not unlike the lingos, is a blend of black and white. Then there is Cajun, which is French Canadian. They established themselves in Parishs OUTSIDE NOLA, and if they don't speak Cajun French, they usually have the accent.
I miss my state. I can not wait to move back. I definitely miss the culture. When we'd go on vacations, the locals would treat us like celebrities when they would learn where we're from.
My mom's side is from the projects; they sound like the girl at the beginning on the top right (when they had four ppl on screen), but actually a bit more ghetto. My dad's side is middle class-ish and from the seventh ward; they sound just like the man at the beginning on the bottom right. 😏
Oh my. I sounded like that when I moved to Texas at age 16. Jeez. It still creeps in when I talk fast. I never noticed until I moved away from the Marigny. Goodness!
One of the only things I find that studies like this usually don’t get completely right is that there’s a “Black accent”. The truth is that Black New Orleanians have different accents depending on their neighborhood as well. Different cadences to their speech depending on their origin. But it’s never studied as closely and just jumped together. Even in a majority Black city, it still gets lumped together. There are variations. There are even famous variations. Take rappers Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Master P, and Mannie Fresh. All Black men from different areas of New Orleans. Listen to them. They sound different.
I don't know what part of New Orleans the Neville Brothers are from, but Art Neville's accent is my favorite New Orleans accent. "Burn" sounds almost like "boin," and "roast" sounds almost like "rawoist." It's almost like a northeast accent tempered by a southern accent and is very pleasing on the ear.
@@james-p I’m not sure what part but I think they’re from the 12th ward. But that pronunciation is more common amongst older folks. Younger folks don’t pronounce it that way. I do sometimes but only because it’s cute and funny to me. Lol
I’m from The TC’s in MN, the East Side of St. Paul to be exact. I think anyone who grew up on the ES of St. Paul before the 90s has the blue-collar St. Paul accent. It’s still Minnesotan but it sounds rougher. I know I sound like St. Paul. My kids were raised mostly in the suburbs, and my daughter sounds waaayyyy more “Proper” than me. If you go to Northside of MPLS...a you can always tell the black folks who were born and raised her before the 90s. If you listen to Prince, that’s how they sound
I live in New Orleans, so I listen to 90.7 FM WWOZ. But I've seen the website too. I like "the Dean's list" with Dean Ellis and I also like "Overnight Jazz" with Jelly Roll Justice.
White Creole girl (French Creole) in the beginning (colonial Louisiana French ancestry/possibly some Spanish in there too) 0:01 Surname Chauvin in New Orleans.
@@derlinclaire1778 The surname Chauvin in Louisiana is a French Creole surname (French Creoles in Louisiana are white Louisianians whose ancestors came to Louisiana from France and Québec). The surname Chauvin came to Louisiana from Québec. Of course I know Chauvin is originally a surname from France, but I’m saying where it came to Louisiana from and who had it. Cajuns (Acadian Creoles), Creoles of Color and Afro-Creoles may also have the surname Chauvin and they received it from French Creoles from intermarriage (for Cajuns), miscegenation (for Creoles of Color) and renaming (for Afro-Creoles).
I thought the girl in the barber shop was the best representation of the "black" accent to my knowledge, but the two girls at the end were great representations of the "white" dialect that my entire family speaks.
I'm a Spanish-French creole. I don't have any black ancestry that I know of. My grandparents spoke both Spanish and French. They learned English in school. You can cook a gumbo without shrimp. We do it all the time. A wintertime gumbo. Chicken and sausage. But if you want to make a seafood gumbo without shrimp, you can make it with crab and oyster. I eat gumbo on a regular basis also stuff like jambalaya, shrimp creole, crawfish etouffee, grits and grillades, turtle soup (cowan), etc.
My family is from the bay water area the same streets the first girl mentioned. I hear the myself and my family in yat dialect, hearing the girl & girl
![Former Slave Owner Interview in 1929 [Colorized]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Le794ObMGm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I was born and raised in New Orleans. I'll never forget when I was employed as a receptionist. The accounting lady was raised in the Garden district and grew up in the Gert town area. She swore she had no New Orleans accent and would make snide remarks about mine. That is until one day her father called and when I answered, he thought I was her. I laughed for days.
New Orleans is a whole wide world of its own. I am so glad I was born in its unique universe.
yes
yes definitely, that’s what makes it’s sinking all the more tragic. if or when new orleans sinks, we’ll lose a unique history and culture…
Right
A lot of the southern US is similar. I've never been to New Orleans, always wanted to go. It sounds pretty amazing.
I've lived in New Orleans for 9 years now and I love New Orleans. The people, the culture, the accents. New Orleans has a definite culture of its own that you can't find anywhere else. I'm proud to call New Orleans home.
Good!!
I'm a Brooklynite and I love the Yat accent, sounds like they're from Brooklyn.
I grew up a bit in Brooklyn too, and they really do have a version of the old school Brooklyn accent
Check out Erik Singer's videos! He says the most likely reason they sound alike is due to the shipping routes. NYC and NOLA Are connected.
That's because they had a similar immigration pattern as Brooklyn, around the same time and same type of immigrants, (Working class, Italian, German, Irish, Eastern European etc...)
Love it. I love it to pieces. Between yats and rural Cajuns you have the sound of my whole family and it's literal music to my ears.
The Irish contributed in the accent too lots of Irish settled there because the place has lot more Cajun and Creole Catholics...
that first accent reminded me of my aunt sooo much made me so nostalgic 💛
baby shay Me too! Use to love talking with my Aunt.
baby shay Creole Yat accent.
I love this damn accent 🤣🤣 OBSESSED!
I love the typical "Yat" accent. My husband and all his family come from the Metairie, or more locally known as "Metry". It is so unique and different from the typical Florida Parishes accents (they have a more southern drawl to their voices). I wish that I grown up around the Metairie area, because I love going there, and it's just so unique. Gotta love how the "R" tends to disappear from the end of certain words.
i love old videos like this. so nostalgic for pre-2000s days.
From a cultural geography perspective, the different accents being heard in New Orleans are a product of a great variety of people settling in New Orleans and making it home. French, Spanish, Italian, African, German, Croatian, Irish, Creole, and many different groups. Class can have something to do with this too. It has an influence on the food too. Jambalaya has Spanish influences, gumbo has African, Native American, French and other influences. The muffaletta points to Italian influences.
The Irish contributed to the Accent too...
Yep u got that right good buddy... before all the crime got real bad, I stopped hanging out on Bourbon in 2018, but the fun I had an only had to drive 5 miles to get home was cool...now, no way... I had fun bigtime... girls from out of town, or around the world would ask me to just talk, they wanted to hear me speak,,, specially when I said the cities name, NEW ORLEANS... One girl from Idaho, toll me after talking with her, she said her boyfriend now sounds like a female after hearing me speak... she was faithful to him, so that was good...
From "A Confederacy of Dunces"
"There is a New Orleans city accent… associated with downtown New Orleans,
particularly with the German and Irish Third Ward, that is hard to
distinguish from the accent of Hoboken, Jersey City, and Astoria,
Long Island, where the Al Smith inflection, extinct in Manhattan,
has taken refuge. The reason, as you might expect, is that the same
stocks that brought the accent to Manhattan imposed it on New
Orleans."
Now I can read the book with an accent :)
I'm reading the book now and looked for this video to get a sense of the accent!
I love New Orleans and all the amazing people that make the city so special!
Unfortunately we are losing our accent. You don't hear it as much as when I was growing up in the fifties. I believe it's from the influx of out of towners. You hardly hear French spoken anymore. It makes me sad. My niece's children don't have a New Orleans accent. I'm finding that more and more in the young.
@@troyannbladsacker1811
Unfortunately, this is because of mainstreaming and the rise of the internet. Soon enough, everyone who doesn't care about heritage will have the bland American accent.
Do you say Church as Choiych? Here in new england we say it as Chaurch.
Did you know back in the 1950s and earlier, the American Accent was incredibly different from today, so much more love and rarity in the way everyone spoke, and unfortunately the rise of middle-upper class in the 1960s introduced the common-ety of the losing the Y sound in a sentence like "weyll" to "well". Elizabeth Montgomery has a "Weyll" type of dialect. There's also a beautiful and captivating film from the 1950s showcasing dialects across the spectrum of the united states. He pronounces Marry, mary, and merry in their own ways, but more importantly and unlike modern days affiliation of merry with a strong 'mair' sound, he says it marry with a strong "mauree" sound.
Take these two excerpts:
"What a merry day Fred, will you join me outside?" 1967
versus
"W'hat a mauree day Andeh, won't you join(johyn) me outside." 1950
It's the subtlety that makes it so different...and so impossibly hard to write in a verbal sentence without vocal audio.
That Yat accent is perfect! I would in fact almost compare that accent to people who live deep in Brooklyn NY, some from Long Island and a little bit in Staten Island, but the older generation.
The Irish contributed in the accent too lots of Irish settled there because the place has lot more Cajun and Creole Catholics...
Years ago, I had a client from New Orleans. I could not understand a word this boy said. When he talked, it sounded like he had marbles in his mouth. I live in the rural south so I'm used to people talking with an accent but this was like nothing I had ever heard before. Finally, in desperation, I told him to start writing stuff down for me. It worked and he used to laugh at my inability to understand his accent. I swear, I thought he was speaking a completely different language.
I live in rural North Alabama, my cousins are from NW Mississippi, and the folks in NOLA--regardless of what part of town--talk like nobody ANYWHERE else in the South! And then you go down below and/or west of Baton Rouge, and the Cajun kicks in, and the NOLA folks can't understand a word of it, either!
VeryCool Doc The three main dialects of Louisiana: North Louisiana (general Southern), Acadiana (Cajun), greater New Orleans (Creole). The white Creole girl at 0:01 has a Yat dialect which is a Creole dialect (Creole is generally the culture associated with New Orleans). That's the dialect that has people the most curious usually.
Ya gotta love that Yat, especially the last scene. That's what I'm used to.
My Yat accent comes and goes.... I have no trace of it until I become distressed in some way. It has happened a number of times while traveling and people will ask me if I am Irish or if I came from Brooklyn. Only once has someone recognized it for what it is, and that was a doctor.
He asked my what part of New Orleans I was from, I told him then said it only comes out when i am upset or extremely tired, then he let his Yat accent take over too ..... It was great!
Irish contributed Accent in New Orleans... many Irish settled there because they're Catholics like cajuns
New Orleans was so beautiful 😞
It’s still beautiful...they built a new hospital and several areas have been renewed and look nicer... but New Orleans is always going through changes... but it did have a decline since the times in this video...but I think it will have a nice future... they even built a nice park along the St. Claude levee between Poland and Elysian Fields... it’s getting nicer again...
I live in Quebec, a province in Canada, and the Yat accent reminds me a lot of some of the accent we hear over here. It also kinda sounds like a Brooklyn accent.
Probably the French links & I hear Brooklyn too
The Irish contributed in the accent too lots of Irish settled there because the place has lot more Cajun and Creole Catholics...
I'm proud of my Yat accent. My dad's family was originally from the 9th ward back in the day when it was mostly Whites and my mom's family was from St. Bernard Parish. My family was from the Bywater neighborhood of the 9th ward and the Marigny neighborhood of the 8th ward, but now most moved out to the suburbs in Metairie, the Westbank, St. Bernard and Slidell.
Louisiana and Texas accents are my favorite accents ever 🔥💯🔥
Im so obsessed with New Orleans, from the accents and food to the historic landmarks 😭
Excellent summary. Proud to be a native New Orleanian.
Many New Orleans sounds almost exactly like many NYC accents.
I have read it's due to the settlement of large amount Italians in both cities.
New Orleans is LOUDER than NYC.....Also people from New Orleans use the word " BASTARD " often, even in front of there mother . I was born on Canal street.....I know WHAT I am talking about !!!
Not just Italians, but other similar ethnicities mixing together. I guess it comes with being a port city.
+MacGuffin yeah! My answer was incomplete. There was similar immigrant populations in both cities.
jtreynol .. what do you mean they imposed it? why did people from NYC come here or Vice Versa
I used to live in New Orleans. Later, I was aware of the accent difference, but when I first arrived, I knew nothing about it. I got into a cab in the French Quarter. When the driver asked me where I wanted to go, I was shocked that he sounded as if he were from Brooklyn, New York. When I asked him which part of Brooklyn he was from, he answered, "Brooklyn? I 'm from New Orleans and I have never been outside of the city." Yes, some people in New Orleans speak like they're from Brooklyn, New York, and not with the stereotypical Southern accent.
+taino20 there is actually a perfectly good explanation for why the Yat accent sounds just like Brooklyn! It's because the immigration pattern was the same: Irish, German and Italian back at the turn of the 19th century. I love it!
+Jessica Waters Thank you very much, Jessica. I'm really interested in accents and dialects. I had no idea that some people(Yat accent) speak like Brooklyn. I'm from New York City. I thought everybody in New Orleans spoke with the stereotypical Southern accent.
Sounded like he had a Yat accent. It sounds like Brooklynese on Quaaludes
+assaultislove Thank you for the info. and morning laughter. "Brooklynese on Quaaludes."
taino20 Damn how long ago was that....because most cabbies now sound like they are from the Middle East or India lol
Well, as a native of the NYC region I can say unequivocally that Debra Chauvin's accent is eerily similar to suburban NYC accent, perhaps even heavier.
What about the two ladies at the end? Their accents are pure blue collar yat.They rule! I love those two. Cute too.
Im from new Orleans and just moved to texas ppl here tellme i sound like im fromthe Caribbean lol
I work (photography) for a family of woodworkers out in Lafitte just outside of New Orleans, they sound like they are cajun and when I asked, "hey ya'll from around here?" They said "no, we from the Caribbean!" my mind was blown!
@@michellenkowalski Both NOLA and the Caribbean have a lot of African and French influence on the the dialects. That's probably why.
I use to get that here in California .
It’s true.
I was told that in the military. Especially when I said WATER
I grew up in New Orleans and can so relate to this. Lovely!
Those girls talking about the "Yatty" girls that work in their office are Yats themselves, just to a lesser degree. They still have the Yat accent with the exception that they pronounce their R's. They don't sound that far off of the the last 2 girls, which is considered full on Yat, which today, is found in St. Bernard Parish (Chalmette), because of White flight of the 9th Ward.
@@Libertine852 Actually, white flight of most of the city, not just the 9th ward. The city of New Orleans went from being 69% white to 67% black in a matter of two decades...so yeah, white flight. Didn’t have anything to do with driveways and crowds because those folk’s families been living in that city for centuries. It had to do with migration patterns involving race. None of this has anything to do with 300 years of our culture.
@@Libertine852 I don’t know where you’re getting all this stuff you’re talking about, but it’s nonsense. One of my parents is from the city of New Orleans and the other is from St. Bernard Parish. I know for a fact (because my city family talked about it all the time) that the white flight happened because blacks started moving into the city in large numbers from outside of New Orleans, due to the civil rights movement that allowed them to now do so at that time and whites were not happy with that as they wanted to live in white neighborhoods like they always have been and it is that which caused the white flight. And it even got to the point late in the white flight where whites that moved to the suburbs would look down on whites that decided to remain in the city... so I know the reason because half of my family was part of it and they talked about it many times. And on top of that, many of my friends are from NOLA white flight families that lived all over the city in fully white neighborhoods that are now fully black neighborhoods today and their families have said the same exact thing. So I don’t know where you’re getting all that from but it’s not accurate. White flight happened because non-NOLA black migration happened and white New Orleanians didn’t want their neighborhoods to change. But you can’t blame them, they had every right to want their neighborhoods to remain how they were. One group came in and replaced the other. And now look what’s happening with all these white transplants (carpetbaggers) they are now replacing the blacks in various parts of the city and the blacks don’t want them there doing that and are complaining about them.
@@Libertine852 I’d have to disagree with you. The black NOLA citizens of pre-Katrina and today were not always there. The US Census of New Orleans in 1950 was 69% white and 31% black. The pre-Katrina 2000 census shows New Orleans was 67% black and 28% white... a complete role reversal from the 1950 census. Large waves of blacks moving from outside of New Orleans took place after the civil rights era allowed them to move into white neighborhoods. This happened in most major cities in fact as most major cities in the US turned from predominantly white to predominantly black. I can say for 100% certainty that I know many black New Orleanians that have told me their families originate in other parishes and towns outside of the New Orleans area such as other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. So I’m not remaking the history of New Orleans...New Orleans was predominantly white before 1980 and was still significantly white into the 1980’s until the 1990’s. I didn’t say all the whites left the city. Most of the affluent white neighborhoods uptown, near the lake and near City Park did not turn black, those whites stayed because most blacks moving in could not afford those areas and thus, no gentrification took place in those areas. But don’t be fooled, most white New Orleanians went to the suburbs. White New Orleanians have been surrounded by suburbs for centuries before white flight and never flighted before...race is absolutely the main factor.
If you choose to ignore the migration patterns and stories that prove that the migration was race related, that is your own business. But because I have a wealth of knowledge about the city and it’s history, I just can’t accept it. No, not all of it was race oriented...some may have moved for the reasons you name...but the vast majority of it was race related. Sure, white New Orleans neighborhoods were always not that far from black New Orleans neighborhoods, but they mostly didn’t share neighborhoods and stayed within their areas. The migration is now happening all over again but as a black flight and a white gentrification instead of the white flight and black gentrification that took place in the late 20th century. Now we see a total reversal as blacks move to the suburbs and as white out-of-state transplants (white carpetbaggers) move into their neighborhoods and the white population is rising as the black population is decreasing. A complete reversal.
I simply love the different dialects and sounds! It's all a part of the rich gumbo of New Orleans, Nyalins, New Oryins! Yeah, you rite!
I lived in New Orleans for a few years and I have never been somewhere with sooo many accents. Sometimes people sounded more like New Yorkers than Southerners. I loved all of them. A few people made me feel like I was from another country because I had a northern accent and spoke with larger words. Such an interesting place.
I am in love with the Yat accent, god bless from Canada xo
We lived in NOLA from 1980-1982 and loved the Time Saver commercial with Rosemary and AnnaMay. If someone has a copy of one of these commercials would post it on TH-cam!
OMG, thank you for this! It's truly amazing.
This is so fascinating. I had no idea about all these different accents
Thank you for posting! Finally I can hear the various accents (or dialects) of New Orleans. I have traveled to New Orleans recently a few times, and my friend explained to me the various accents. Very interesting to hear more in this video. :)
I'm just a random 28-year-old black guy from Tennessee but I think the yat accent is easily the coolest accent in the united states. So if you speak that dialect you are super cool to me.
I’m from New York but I love New Orleans accents
Same. Hope it doesn't fade.
I’m from New Orleans I struggle all the time with the complete opposite... not keeping my accent! Lmao! My mom would always corrected my speech as a child , she didn’t want me with the accent 😓
been away from N'awlins for years and still have not lost my accent!
i love their accents
This is a brilliant brilliant share . Incredible.
A famous writer from New Orleans, John Toole, called New Orleans "that Hoboken on the Gulf".
Yes, many people are unfamiliar with his quote...but I know it..
Some accents are charming and interesting like my own Boston, or New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore etc. Took bus tour of N.O. and the driver/guide, a local, said in some ways the accent can sound a bit like New Yorkers--kinda like how All in the Family characters would go to the "terlet".
Not anymore. But some older people in New Orleans still say that. My grandpa talks like that. "Terlet" for toilet. "Berl" for boil. "Earl" for oil. "Vej-a-tibbles" for vegetables. Etc.
Ha. Those two girls at the end sound like my aunts
same
Sounds just like my aunts and nanny lol
That's incredibly interesting, actually. Thanks for sharing!
It has changed so much in my 47 years of living here,90% of these people probably moved away after Katrina or passed. I truly miss the 80's & early 90's New Orleans vibe. Mostly how much friendlier people were back then & we didn't have shootings on I-10 or on Bourbon.
Late 80’s early 90’s had some of the highest murder rates ever in New Orleans.
Thanks for posting this!! It really breaks things down for all the 'non-new-orleanians'. ;)
I LOVE these accents!! And I miss Mckenzie's!!(pardon my spelling)
I went to school uptown, at Fortier. I never forget being told I sound "white" by my classmate. What she really meant was I didn't speak her dialect. Moving to Cali whites would say I sounded West Indian.
I love their accents!
The host sounds the most authentic
I was born and raised in Biloxi, MS and grew up hearing all of these accents around town. The uptown and y'at accents were the most common. I guess it stems from the fact that so many people from Biloxi have lots of friends and family from New Orleans. I must point out that this similarity isn't the case with all the other towns along the MS Gulf Coast and is pretty unique to Biloxi.
Blx5 In Gautier we you here a tinge of the Mobile accent. Were as NO yat sounds like a southern version on Brooklyn, Mobile sounds like a very subtle Boston accent. While very different than Boston, the Mobile accent comes the closest to Boston in the USA in terms of how they say parking lot, six pack etc.
Sam yep, it always cracks me up the way people from Pascagoula say baby lol, and boy oh boy do they get furious at how we pronounce their town PasAgula instead of PasCagula.
I think it's that so many people from SE LA take poor man's vacations to Biloxi and the surrounding areas lol. Some people like it so much they move there.
The gulf coast and maybe like Jackson are the only parts of MS I will step into. Otherwise, I feel like I'm in Deliverance without the mountains.
As someone from SELA, I have spent a lot of time on the MS Gulf Coast and have always loved it there. Being there feels like being in Louisiana; of course historically the MS Gulf Coast and Mobile, AL were part of Louisiana. I think people outside the Gulf Coast area have no idea what that part of MS is like, or what Mobile, AL is like either. People have certain ideas about the State of Mississippi in general, and expect the Coast to be the same. It is not. As you mentioned, people on the Coast do not speak with the 'stereotypical Southern' accent. In fact when visiting I can always pick out the people from other parts of Mississippi. They are the ones with the southern accents.
Heather Budden - You are speakin' the TRUTH!
So sad these regional accents are being lost. Everybody talks the same, like they re from Wisconsin or someplace.
I've once met a Wisconsinite. It felt as if I'd met an Eskimo.
everyone is starting to sound like they're from California. it's a shame, i agree
bro Wisconsin people have a crazy accent
All of us being able to talk about it here and watch this video instantaneously from across the world is part of the reason why.....I mean after TV, highways, and the global economy things were already on that track, but the last 25 years put it into hyperdrive. Also ramped up word misuse and misspellings ("for all intensive purposes", "bonified" and the like wouldn't have gained traction if people that didn't really understand what they were hearing hadn't been able to spread them like wildfire so easily), but that's the price of technology.
@@CallMeOpia I’m a native Californian and I agree. What’s the fun of visiting different places if it’s all the same?
If I didn’t know where these people were from, I’d have assumed they were from the Northeast. Crazy how colloquially diverse New Orleans is.
Thanks for this informative vid. On three separate occasions I've mistaken people from New Orleans for Brooklynites. Now I understand they were speaking Yat. Fascinating.
The Irish contributed in the accent too lots of Irish settled there because the place has lot more Cajun and Creole Catholics...
The narrator has it best easily! 4:20
Right here, almost every word has the addition to it.
I love WWOZ, I listen to 90.7 all the time. All that Jazz!
Just saw the film Green Book, mainly shot in Louisiana. A NOLA friend with a Yat accent was cast in a speaking role that takes place in a Brooklyn bar! The Brooklyn/Yat accents are not the same, but I guess the director thought that to an average moviegoer they wouldn't notice the difference!
Charles Green when I went to Brooklyn, people thought I was a native 😂 I’m from Gonzales, but my mom has that yat (from grand isle buT was always in New Orleans)
The accent is basically the same
the end is like an excerpt of some sort of 80s sitcom XD
@Rachulie That accent some people think sound like a Ny/Nj accent is known as the New Orleans Yat accent which was usually associated with Downtown New Orleans, but also existed as well in Mid City/Gentilly and parts of Uptown like the Irish Channel and Carrolton, which it was the most widespread accent. It is the old White New Orleans accent which still exists in parts of the city today, but is extremely strong in the suburbs now, due to White flight of the city in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
The last one does sound very Brooklynish.
I have been ignorant all these years - I had no idea the New Orleans accent was so distinct to the rest of Louisiana.
I grew up on the westbank I now live in Arizona and everyone thinks I am from New Jersey 😂
Lol
i lived in new orleans for about 30 years and didn't think i had any accent until i moved to california where many people there pointed it out to me. and after years of living in california, i lost my accent because people there couldn't detect one.
If you mosey on down to 2:10 you'll find the gay accent.
No one could miss that.
HAHA you so rude but lol true...
you don't really have to bee higgins/diggins to find out!
Hahahahaahahah!!!
Lmao hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😊
Wow, thanks for this clip. I love learning about the different accents and dialects of the United States.
I didn't know about the yat accent before watching this. It's really unique that it resembles the Brooklyn accent.
nope N.O. had it first brooklyn copied us! :))
@@mikestarke1216 wow, cool. I heard a lady from New Orleans speak with the yat accent.
@@mikestarke1216 wrong
OMG I am a born and raised New Yorker. Living here in the Quarter since 2019...You should see the looks I get when I start talking!!!
I went to John w Hoffman as well. I miss my city
south Roman st.a cross from Taylor park, sad to say no longer there
I grew up uptown st Stephen's school yard. Yes other parts thought we sounded uppity
The BEST way for anyone on this channel who's curious about New Orleans dialects, accents and speech patterns is to visit any youtube channel that has New Orleanians in impromptu conversations (while being filmed) with EACH OTHER and the topic isn't about accents and speech patterns of the people (Black or White), then you'll hear genuine accents without them paying attention to the way they're pronouncing words or using them too correctly, just an even flow of New Orleans "thick" accents and speech patterns.
But it must be noted that black New Orleanians and white New Orleanians have different accents from each other while still sharing many dialect and accent features. There are a range of local black accents and a range of local white accents plus white transplant accents (whites that moved to New Orleans since Katrina). When I say New Orleans, I mean greater New Orleans which includes the suburbs of New Orleans too where these accents exist also. Local black accents are strongest in the city and local white accents are strongest in the suburbs. It has been this way since the 1970’s-1980’s when white flight from the city turned the city from majority white to majority black. And the transplant white accents are strongest in the city because that’s where they have been settling since Katrina and they rarely exist in the suburbs. These are distinctions that people should know about when discussing New Orleans area accents.
First girl sounds more New York than a New Yorker
Part Two - Creole - also refers to languages (any languages) which have blended together, and it is called "creolization". In places like Haiti, Florida and a number of Carribbean Islands have Creole people, which not unlike the lingos, is a blend of black and white. Then there is Cajun, which is French Canadian. They established themselves in Parishs OUTSIDE NOLA, and if they don't speak Cajun French, they usually have the accent.
The narrator is a proper Nooo Yawker... I love the diversity of the US accents. ❤
The narrator grew up in mid-city. You are incorrect. You are forgiven.
I miss my state. I can not wait to move back. I definitely miss the culture. When we'd go on vacations, the locals would treat us like celebrities when they would learn where we're from.
that's funny you say that.i'm from south louisiana and on my vacation to vegas some people told me i sounded like i was from n.y
My fave accent
believe me, it's wonderful ;P i wish i was still living in this wonderful place
My mom's side is from the projects; they sound like the girl at the beginning on the top right (when they had four ppl on screen), but actually a bit more ghetto. My dad's side is middle class-ish and from the seventh ward; they sound just like the man at the beginning on the bottom right. 😏
I came here from halfway through the book to understand what accent I should be reading! (I'm from Australia) :)
G'day,my dear Aussie chap.Kudos,and God bless you.
This is really cool.
Oh my. I sounded like that when I moved to Texas at age 16. Jeez. It still creeps in when I talk fast. I never noticed until I moved away from the Marigny. Goodness!
One of the only things I find that studies like this usually don’t get completely right is that there’s a “Black accent”. The truth is that Black New Orleanians have different accents depending on their neighborhood as well. Different cadences to their speech depending on their origin. But it’s never studied as closely and just jumped together. Even in a majority Black city, it still gets lumped together. There are variations. There are even famous variations. Take rappers Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Master P, and Mannie Fresh. All Black men from different areas of New Orleans. Listen to them. They sound different.
I don't know what part of New Orleans the Neville Brothers are from, but Art Neville's accent is my favorite New Orleans accent. "Burn" sounds almost like "boin," and "roast" sounds almost like "rawoist." It's almost like a northeast accent tempered by a southern accent and is very pleasing on the ear.
@@james-p I’m not sure what part but I think they’re from the 12th ward. But that pronunciation is more common amongst older folks. Younger folks don’t pronounce it that way. I do sometimes but only because it’s cute and funny to me. Lol
I really like the accents of New Orleans. Kinda sounds like the North Eastern accents.
Dialects are fascinating!
makes me miss LA....
I’m from The TC’s in MN, the East Side of St. Paul to be exact. I think anyone who grew up on the ES of St. Paul before the 90s has the blue-collar St. Paul accent. It’s still Minnesotan but it sounds rougher. I know I sound like St. Paul. My kids were raised mostly in the suburbs, and my daughter sounds waaayyyy more “Proper” than me. If you go to Northside of MPLS...a you can always tell the black folks who were born and raised her before the 90s. If you listen to Prince, that’s how they sound
This is actually really cool. I wish I had one of these but I don't even sound like I was born here.
I live in New Orleans, so I listen to 90.7 FM WWOZ. But I've seen the website too. I like "the Dean's list" with Dean Ellis and I also like "Overnight Jazz" with Jelly Roll Justice.
Hey it's nice to hear Billy Dell from WWOZ do the narration. I loved his Wednesday night show "Records from the Crypt"
White Creole girl (French Creole) in the beginning (colonial Louisiana French ancestry/possibly some Spanish in there too) 0:01 Surname Chauvin in New Orleans.
Chain in is a French surname,friends.
@@derlinclaire1778 The surname Chauvin in Louisiana is a French Creole surname (French Creoles in Louisiana are white Louisianians whose ancestors came to Louisiana from France and Québec). The surname Chauvin came to Louisiana from Québec. Of course I know Chauvin is originally a surname from France, but I’m saying where it came to Louisiana from and who had it. Cajuns (Acadian Creoles), Creoles of Color and Afro-Creoles may also have the surname Chauvin and they received it from French Creoles from intermarriage (for Cajuns), miscegenation (for Creoles of Color) and renaming (for Afro-Creoles).
I grew up in the lower 9th⚜️ ward .left the area around 1994 ..now 28years I'm searching the web 🕸️⚜️🤣
Its so true. It really does sound like that.
Last girl sounds like she was an extra from the Warriors movie the white NOLA accent and 70s New York is almost indistinguishable
I thought the girl in the barber shop was the best representation of the "black" accent to my knowledge, but the two girls at the end were great representations of the "white" dialect that my entire family speaks.
I like the so called," YADAH YADAH "voice its awesome! And it doesn't sound ignorant to me!
I'm a Spanish-French creole. I don't have any black ancestry that I know of. My grandparents spoke both Spanish and French. They learned English in school. You can cook a gumbo without shrimp. We do it all the time. A wintertime gumbo. Chicken and sausage. But if you want to make a seafood gumbo without shrimp, you can make it with crab and oyster. I eat gumbo on a regular basis also stuff like jambalaya, shrimp creole, crawfish etouffee, grits and grillades, turtle soup (cowan), etc.
New Orleans has always stood out in the South because of its place as a center of cultural mixing.
Cultural mixing happened everywhere
tadfly yeah you rite! I LOVE diversity and the way people from 1 city,speak!! LOVE IT! LOVE NEW ORLEANS! Its the BEST city in the USA!
I love the Yat accent.
I'm from Chalmette and I heard it da first second she stawted tawkin.
It's good to be apart of a unique culture. :-)
My family is from the bay water area the same streets the first girl mentioned. I hear the myself and my family in yat dialect, hearing the girl & girl