Editing Baltimore accent (section)

{{Short description|Regional dialect of American English}}
A '''Baltimore accent''', also known as '''Baltimorese''' and sometimes humorously spelled '''Bawlmerese'''<ref name=":1">[http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bs-lt-baltimore-slang-20170209-story.html "Hold up, 'Hon': Baltimore's black vernacular youthful, dynamic if less recognized than 'Bawlmerese'"].</ref> or '''Ballimorese''',<ref>Leggett, Debbie A. (2016) "[https://tipsylinguist.com/2016/06/12/drinking-natty-boh-and-speaking-ballimorese-hon/ Drinking Natty Boh and speaking Ballimorese ‘Hon.]" ''Tipsy Linguist''. Tipsy Linguist.</ref> is an [[Accent (sociolinguistics)|accent]] or sub-variety of [[Philadelphia English|Delaware Valley English]] (a dialect whose largest hub is [[Philadelphia]]) that originates among [[blue-collar]] residents of [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], United States. It extends into the [[Baltimore metropolitan area]] and northeastern Maryland.<ref>Labov, William (2007) "Transmission and Diffusion", Language June 2007 p. 64</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2014/04/pennsylvania_dialects_from_pittsburghese_to_philadelphia_speak_the_keystone.html|title=Where Yinz At; Why Pennsylvania is the most linguistically rich state in the country.|publisher=[[The Slate Group]]|author=Malady, Matthew J.X.|date=2014-04-29|access-date=2015-06-12}}</ref><ref name=":2">[https://mdhumanities.podbean.com/e/the-revelatory-power-of-language/ "The Relevatory Power of Language"]. ''Maryland Humanities Council''. April 14, 2017.</ref>

At the same time, there is considerable linguistic diversity within Baltimore, which complicates the notion of a singular "Baltimore accent".<ref name=":1"/> According to linguists, the accent of white blue-collar Baltimoreans is different from the [[African-American Vernacular English]] accent of black Baltimoreans.<ref>Jones, Taylor (2020). Variation in African American English: The great migration and regional differentiation (Doctoral dissertation), University of Pennsylvania, pp. 158, 239.</ref> White working-class families who migrated out of Baltimore to the northwestern suburbs brought local pronunciations with them.