Dialectus

Phonetic representations of English accents.

Philadelphia

General Rules

If ever in doubt as to the transliteration of a Philadelphian term into English, the following rules should be applied to arrive at an approximation.

1. The a Split

• Rule: a → ay-a (when it comes before an m, n, f, s, or th sound)

• Explanation: The short “a” sound, as in “cat,” often becomes a two-part tense vowel.

• Examples: class → clay-ass, half → hay-af, pass → pay-ass.

• Exceptions: This rule also applies to the words mad, bad, and glad, but crucially, not to sad. This is why mad and sad do not rhyme.

2. The o Fronting

• Rule: Long o → e-o

• Explanation: The vowel in a word like “go” is “fronted,” meaning it’s produced more towards the front of the mouth.

• Examples: go → ge-o, no → ne-o.

• Exceptions: This does not apply when the vowel is followed by an ‘l’, so goal remains unchanged.

3. The ow Fronting

• Rule: ow/ou → e-ow

• Explanation: Similar to the long “o,” the vowel sound in “down” is also fronted.

• Examples: down → de-own, mouth → me-owth.

4. The Raised aw

• Rule: aw/off/augh → aw-uh

• Explanation: The vowel in “coffee” or “caught” is raised and pronounced as a diphthong (a two-part sound). This preserves the difference between words like cot and caught.

• Examples: coffee → caw-uh-fee, soft → saw-uhft, caught → caw-uht.

5. The on Shift

• Rule: on → awn

• Explanation: The word “on” is pronounced to rhyme with “dawn,” not “don.”

• Example: “Turn the lights awn.”

6. The th-Stopping

• Rule: The “th” sound (/θ/ and /ð/) at the beginning of a word is pronounced as a “t” or “d”.

• Explanation: The tongue stops the air by touching the ridge behind the teeth, instead of letting air pass through.

• Examples: this → dis, that → dat, three → tree.

7. The t-Glottalization

• Rule: The “t” sound, especially before an “n” sound in the middle of a word, is replaced by a glottal stop (the sound in “uh-oh”).

• Explanation: The sound is made by closing the vocal cords, not with the tongue.

• Examples: mountain → moun’in, button → buh’in, sentence -> sen’ence.

8. The L-Vocalization

• Rule: The “l” sound at the end of a word or before a consonant often becomes a vowel-like sound, similar to “o” or “w”.

• Explanation: Instead of the tongue-tip touching the roof of the mouth, the back of the tongue is raised.

• Examples: school → skew-oh, pool → pew-oh, towel → ta-oh.

Dictionary

Philadelphia Accent

English	Philadelphian
Acme	Ackame
Asked	Axed
Attitude	Ahdetude
Bagels	Beggles
Beautiful	Beyoodful
Coffee	Cawfee
Crayons	Crans
Don	Dawn
Did you eat?	Djeet?
Down there	Down’air
Eagles	Iggles
Erin	Urin
I got you	Gotchu
Legs	Laygs
On	Awn
On A	awna
Philadelphia	Filladelfya
Sandwich	Hoagie
Salad	Salit
Soft	Saf
Sprinkles	Jimmies
Tomato Sauce	Gravy
Towel	Tal
Thing	Jawn
Up there	Up’air
Water	Wooder
What do you mean	Wataya mean?
Hello	Yeo
You guys	Youse guys
Wow	Whale