VS ACCENTS

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Here’s a concise table summarizing major accents in the U.S., their features, and examples:

Region / Accent	Key Features	Example / Vocabulary Notes
New England (Boston, Maine)	Non-rhotic in some areas (“car” → “cah”), broad “a” in words like bath	Park the car in Harvard Yard → “Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd”
New York City	Dropped “r” in certain contexts, nasal vowels, distinct “aw”	Coffee → “cawfee”, talk → “tawk”
Mid-Atlantic / Philadelphia	Shortened vowels, “o” → “ah” sound	Water → “wooder”, home → “hewm”
Southern (Deep South)	Drawl, vowel elongation, “pin/pen” merger	I might could go (double modal), y’all = you all
Appalachian / Rural South	Unique grammar, rhotic, archaic words	Ain’t, fixin’ to, “hit the hay”
Midwestern / General American	“Neutral” accent, rhotic, minimal diphthongs	Standard broadcast English, pop = soda
Western (California, Pacific NW)	Vowel shifts (cot–caught distinction), “Valley speak” slang	Like, totally, dude, uptalk at sentence ends
African American Vernacular English (AAVE)	Dropped consonants, habitual be, unique verb forms	He be working = he works regularly, consonant cluster simplification

Gist:

• Eastern accents often drop “r” or shift vowels.

• Southern accents elongate vowels, merge sounds, and have unique grammar.

• Midwestern/Western accents are more neutral but show vowel shifts.

• AAVE has distinctive grammatical patterns and pronunciation features.

I can also make a map with accents and examples across the U.S., which visually shows how pronunciation changes by region.

Do you want me to make that map?