Episode 115: The Chicago Accent

In this episode, Misha explores the origins of the Chicago accents and how our accents fit into our overall identities.

Show Notes:

Modern Languages @ DePaul https://las.depaul.edu/academics/modern-languages/Pages/default.aspx & bhoot@depaul.edu

Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse @DePaul https://las.depaul.edu/academics/writing-rhetoric-and-discourse/Pages/default.aspx

History @ DePaul https://las.depaul.edu/academics/history/Pages/default.aspx

American Studies (AMS)@ DePaul University https://catalog.depaul.edu/course-descriptions/ams/

Why the Chicaaaaago Accent Is Really a New York One https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/chicago-accent-erie-canal-vowel-shift/

Where the Chicago Accent Comes From and How Politics is Changing It https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/march-2012/where-the-chicago-accent-comes-from-and-how-politics-is-changing-it/

Long Drive Troo Sconsin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uAkqsDRrIw

Chicago Bears Podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/2N1YgAUIcKECQpHqbqF8Ei?si=a30e4580fbae4bd7

Bill Swerski’s Super Fans: Thanksgiving – SNL https://youtu.be/kBnnon_iZOM

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Chicago city, Illinois https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/chicagocityillinois

The ‘Blaccent’ That Defines Chicago https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/the-blaccent-that-defines-chicago/

Lil Durk Takes Complex on a Tour of Englewood on Chicago’s South Side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMHTdc9xh0g

TAG: How Do You Say These Words (Chicago “Blaccent”)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlV3qCzM5uQ&t=4s

The Chicagoland Language Project – Northwestern Linguistics https://sites.northwestern.edu/chilang/

Sources of variation in the speech of African Americans: Perspectives from sociophonetics – Farrington – 2021 – WIREs Cognitive Science https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcs.1550

Is Da Chicago Accent Disappearing or Just Evolving? – InsideHook https://www.insidehook.com/article/culture-chicago/da-chicago-accent-disappearing

The disappearing Chicago accent is layered with local history https://chicagoreader.com/best-of-chicago/the-disappearing-chicago-accent-is-layered-with-local-history/

Meet the YouTube Botanist with a Thick Chicago Accent and Foul Mouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BT8XHJaDm0

Borderwall Botany & San Diego’s Rarest Plant https://youtu.be/QD6mVnBciIQ

How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.mobile.html

The Great Vowel Shift | Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/great-vowel-shift

Further Reading:

Learn the CHICAGO accent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqhvk4Rcjfs

Chicago Accents Are Not Sexy At All, Study Finds https://blockclubchicago.org/2018/07/27/chicago-accents-are-not-sexy-at-all-study-finds/

American Voices: how dialects differ from coast to coast https://archive.org/details/americanvoicesho0000unse/mode/2up