Editing Baltimore accent (section)

===Vowels===
*Several vowels undergo [[front vowel|fronting]]. {{IPAc-en|aʊ}} fronts to {{IPA|[ɛɔ]}} or {{IPA|[æɔ]}}. {{IPAc-en|uː}} fronts to {{IPA|[ʉu]}}.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://africanamericanenglish.com/2012/08/15/dew-as-you-dew-baltimore-accent-and-the-wire/|title=Dew as you dew: Baltimore Accent and The Wire|date=2012-08-15|work=Word. The Online Journal on African American English|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708100803/https://africanamericanenglish.com/2012/08/15/dew-as-you-dew-baltimore-accent-and-the-wire|archive-date=2013-07-08|language=en-US}}</ref> Similarly, {{IPAc-en|oʊ}} shifts to {{IPA|[əʊ]}} or even {{IPA|[eʊ]}}. When word-final and spelled as ''-ow'', it is pronounced like {{IPA|/ə/}}, resulting in colloquial or humorous spellings like ''pilla'' for ''pillow'' and ''winda'' for ''window''.
*No [[cot–caught merger]]: The words ''cot'' {{IPA|/ɑ/}} and ''caught'' {{IPA|/ɔ/}} do not rhyme, with the latter vowel maintaining a raised position. Likewise, the word ''on'' rhymes with ''dawn'' and not ''don''.
*As in Philadelphia, the word ''water'' is often pronounced as ''wooder'' {{IPA|[ˈwʊɾɚ]}} or, more uniquely, ''warter'' {{IPA|[ˈwɔɻɾɚ]}}.
*As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, [[/æ/ raising|short ''a'' is pronounced with a phonemic split]]: for example, the word ''sad'' {{IPA|/sæd/}} does not rhyme with the word ''mad'' {{IPA|/meəd/}}. Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city.<ref>[http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch17_2nd.rev.pdf New York City and the Mid-Atlantic States]</ref> Baltimore follows the Philadelphia pattern.<ref>Ash, Sharon. 2002. “The Distribution of a Phonemic Split in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Yet More on Short a.” In “Selected Papers from NWAV 30,” edited by Sudha Arunachalam, Elsi Kaiser, Daniel Ezra Johnson, Tara Sanchez, and Alexander Williams. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 8.3: 1–15. http:// repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol8/iss3/2.</ref> For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see ''[[:/æ/ raising]]''.

{{/æ/ raising in North American English}}

*The {{IPA|/ɑr/}} vowel in words like ''start'' is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to {{IPA|/ɔ/}}. Likewise, {{IPA|/ɔr/}} as in ''bore''{{Dubious|date=March 2023}}<!-- shorthand for ɔ sound is "awe". That's not how the vowel in bore in pronounced by any Americans, including philly-baltimore speakers --> can shift as high as {{IPA|/ʊr/}} as in ''boor''. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.<ref name=labov />
*[[Canadian raising]] occurs for {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word ''like'' [ɫʌɪk] begins with a higher nucleus than ''live'' [ɫaɪv].<ref name=labov>{{cite book|last1=Labov|first1=William|author-link=William Labov|last2=Ash|first2=Sharon|last3=Boberg|first3=Charles|year=2005|title=The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-020683-8}}</ref>
*On the other hand, {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} may undergo [[Monophthongization#Smoothing|smoothing]] before liquids, becoming {{IPA|[ɑ]}} before {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/l/}}; e.g., ''fire'' is pronounced as {{IPA|[fɑɻ]}}, in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the Three Wise Men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."
*{{IPA|[ə]}} is often eliminated entirely from a word when before a consonant; e.g. Annapolis = Naplis, cigarette = cigrette, company = compny, Italy = Itly.