The Baltimore dialect, most popularly known as Baltimorese (sometimes pseudophonetically written Bawlmerese or Ballimerese), is a dialect of American English in the Mid-Atlantic United States that originated among the White blue-collar residents of South and Southeast Baltimore. It has a few similarities with the Philadelphia dialect, although they can sound very different. The most notable characteristics of Baltimore English are the fronted "oh" sound (occasionally written out as "eh-ew" or "ao") and the usage of the endearment "hon".[1]
It is spoken mostly in Baltimore City and the surrounding areas (particularly Essex, Dundalk, Middle River). It is also heard in other parts of the nearby counties – Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard. While the dialect is localized in these areas, it is not limited to them and can be heard as far west as Frederick and Hagerstown, as far east as Elkton, and as far south as Calvert County. Due to Maryland's small size and its close proximity to a variety of strong cultures, the further one gets from Baltimore, the more the local speech is influenced by these other cultures. For example, the speech of Western Maryland is influenced by Appalachia, Northeast Maryland by Delaware Valley and the Eastern Shore of Maryland by the Tidewater accent. Families who migrated out of the city along the Maryland Route 140 and Maryland Route 26 corridors brought the dialect and in some cases pronunciations melded with local colloquialisms such as the word "bixicated" referring to someone who is silly or simple.
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Baltimore English closely resembles blue-collar Philadelphia-area English pronunciation in many ways. These two cities are the only major ports on the Eastern Seaboard never to have developed nonrhotic speech among European American speakers; they were greatly influenced in their early development by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. Due to the significant similarity between the speeches of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Delaware and southern New Jersey, some sociolinguists refer to them collectively as the Mid-Atlantic dialect.[2]
The Bawlmerese or Ballimerese dialect that originated among the White blue-collar residents of South and Southeast Baltimore is not the only accent found in Baltimore. There is also an accent found among African American Baltimoreans. Notable characteristics include vowel centralization before /r/ (words such as "carry" are often pronounced like "curry") and the centralization of /ɑ/ to schwa, particularly in the word "dog" (often pronounced as "dug").[3]
The following is a list of words and phrases used in the Baltimore area that are used much less or differently in other American English dialects.
The films of John Waters, many of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, often attempt to portray this Baltimore accent, particularly the early films. For example, John Waters portrays a Baltimore accent in the commentary during his film Pink Flamingos. John Travolta's character in the 2007 version of John Waters' Hairspray spoke with a poor and exaggerated Baltimore accent. Likewise, several of the films of Barry Levinson are set in and around Baltimore during the 1940s-1960s, and employ the Baltimore accent. Actor Danny DeVito, though not a native of the area, speaks with an exaggerated Baltimore accent in Levinson's film Tin Men. Johnny Depp spoke with a Baltimore accent when portraying Willy Wonka.
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