Boston accent

The Boston accent is a regional accent of Eastern New England English, centered specifically on the city of Boston, its suburbs, and much of eastern Massachusetts. Eastern New England English also traditionally includes New Hampshire and Maine, though some uniquely local phonological and lexical characteristics appear only on the eastern coast of Massachusetts.

Phonological characteristics

Non-rhoticity

The traditional Boston accent is non-rhotic, particularly in the early 1900s. Recent studies have shown that younger speakers tend less towards non-rhoticity than older speakers (younger speakers use more rhotics than older speakers from the Boston region).

The phoneme /r/ does not appear in coda position (where in English phonotactics it must precede other consonants, see English phonology#Coda), as in many dialects of English in England and all dialects of Australian English; card therefore becomes [kʰaːd]. After high and mid-high vowels, the /r/ is replaced by [ə] or another neutral central vowel like [ɨ]: weird [wiɨd], square [ˈskweə]. Similarly, unstressed /ɝ/ ("er") is replaced by [ə], [ɐ], or [ɨ], as in color [ˈkʰʌɫə]. A famous example is "Park the car in Harvard Yard", pronounced [pʰaːk ðə ˈkʰaːɹ‿ɪn ˈhaːvəd ˈjaːd], or as if spelled "pahk the cah(r) in Hahvuhd Yahd". Note that the r in car would usually be pronounced in this case, because the following word begins with a vowel (see linking R below).

Boston (horse)

Boston (1833–1850), was an outstanding chestnut Thoroughbred racehorse and a Leading sire in North America three times from 1851 to 1853. He started in about 45 races, winning 40 of these, including 15 in succession. Boston was later one of the initial inductees into the Hall of Fame.

Breeding

He was a chestnut stallion with a white blaze on his nose and he was foaled in Richmond, Virginia. Boston was bred by the Virginia attorney John Wickham (who had been Aaron Burr's counsel in his trial for treason). He was by the very good racehorse, Timoleon (by the great Sir Archy), his dam was Sister to Tuckahoe by Ball’s Florizel. Boston was inbred to Diomed in the third generation (3m x 3f). He was a half-brother to the Shylock mare who founded a successful family. They were from the number 40 family which traced back to the imported mare, Kitty Fisher.

As a two-year-old, Boston was lost by his breeder in a card game and was given to Wickham's friend Nathaniel Rives, of Richmond to repay his debt of $800. He was named after a popular card game and later given the nickname of "Old Whitenose". Boston had a wilful temperament and was difficult to train. Sent to the stable of John Belcher, and then to the trainer L. White, and then back to Belcher, White said, "The horse should either be castrated or shot—preferably the latter."

Boston (cocktail)

A Boston is a cocktail made with London dry gin, apricot brandy, grenadine, and the juice of a lemon.

See also

References

Boston (dance)

The Boston refers to a series of various step dances, considered a slow Americanized version of the waltz presumably named after where it originated. It is completed in one measure with the weight kept on the same foot through two successive beats. The "original" Boston is also known as the New York Boston or Boston Point.

Variations of the Boston include:

References