Speaking Pittsburghese : The Story of a Dialect / by Barbara Johnstone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnstone, Barbara.

Series:

Oxford Studies in Sociolinguists Speaking Pittsburghese

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Dialects--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Lancaster County, Pa.).

English language.

Americanisms--Pittsburgh (Lancaster County, Pa.)--Pennsylvania.

Americanisms.

Sociolinguistics--Pittsburgh (Lancaster County, Pa.)--Pennsylvania.

Sociolinguistics.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : OUP USA, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An engaging exploration of the history of Pittsburghese, one of the most recognizable urban "dialects" in the United States today. This book explores the history of Pittsburghese, the language of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area as it is imagined and used by Pittsburghers. Pittburghese is linked to local identity so strongly that it is alluded to almost every time people talk about what Pittsburgh is like, or what it means to be a Pittsburgher. But what happened during the second half of the 20th century to reshape a largely unnoticed way of speaking into this highly visible urban "dialect"? In this book,sociolinguist Barbara Johnstone focuses on this question. Treating Pittsburghese as a cultural product of talk, writing, and other forms of social practice, Johnstone shows how non-standard pronunciations, words, and bits of grammar used in the Pittsburgh area were taken up into a repertoire of words andphrases and a vocal style that has become one of the most resonant symbols of local identity in the United States today.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-19-937491-0

0-19-994569-1