Do Americans All Really Speak the Same Language?
I was raised by two schoolteachers which meant our family of four all had summer vacations together.
My parents were determined to make the most of that time and so every summer we went on extended road trips to nearly every corner of the country. As a result, I had been in 43 states by the time I was a teenager.
A few things I picked up on nearly right away on our travels were the distinct regional accents and how certain parts of the country used different words or different pronunciations for various things, all while speaking the same language.
Some that standout were flapjack instead of pancake, pocketbook instead of purse, icebox instead of refrigerator, and how the names Don and Dawn (which I pronounced exactly the same) were pronounced Don and 'Daughwn' on the east coast.
Now, a Ph. D student at North Carolina State, Joshua Katz, has published a group of awesome visualizations of how Americans pronounce words like:
Caramel
Been
Crayon
Lawyer
Coleslaw
Mayonnaise
Pajamas
Pecan
Syrup
The article also tackles the different words and phrases regions use to describe:
Crawfish
Groups of people
Carbonated beverages
Sandwiches
It's a very interesting read.