The West was the last area in North American to be reached in the gradual westward expansion of English-speaking settlement, and its history shows considerable mixing of the linguistic patterns of other regions. As the settlement populations are young and new compared to other regions, the West is a dialect area in formation.
Vocabulary
- buckaroo: cowboy; Anglicization of vaquero.
- be all: used as a quotative.
- be like: quotative; now used throughout the country.
- hella: adverb; very
- like: filler word; now used throughout the country.
Phonology and Phonetics
Local Dialects
References
Labov, William, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016746-8
See also
External Links
|
