Scope
Actual Philadelphia dialects are seldom heard nationally. Movies and television depictions often substitute a New York or a General American accent. Natives who work in media and entertainment often assimilate to the General American broadcast standard. Speakers with a noticeable local accent include Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money and political commentator Chris Matthews, Bam Margera, and several others in the MTV Jackass crew. In addition, the Philadelphia accent can be heard prominently in many of the songs of the Philadelphia area bands The Dead Milkmen, Bloodhound Gang, and G Love & Special Sauce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent much of his youth in the Philadelphia area, and his English is influenced by a Philadelphia accent. Venezuelan American actress Sonya Smith, who was born in Philadelphia, speaks with a Philadelphia accent in both English and Venezuelan Spanish (in the case of Venezuelan Spanish, it is affected by Philadelphia accent in terms of rhythm and intonation while retaining Venezuelan pronunciation).
Movies and television shows set in the Philadelphia region generally make the mistake of giving the characters a working class New York dialect (specifically heard in films set in Philadelphia such as the Rocky series, Invincible, and A History of Violence). A contrary example is the character of Lynn Sear (played by Toni Collette) in The Sixth Sense, who speaks with an accurate Philadelphia dialect.
The use of geographically inaccurate dialects is also true in movies and television programs set in Atlantic City or any other region of South Jersey; the characters often use a supposed "Joisey" dialect, when in reality that New York-influenced dialect for New Jersey natives is almost always exclusive to the extreme northeastern region of the state nearest New York City. An important factor here is that in the real world, "local" TV, political, and sports personalities in South Jersey and part of Central Jersey are culturally associated with Philadelphia, not New York City.
Read more about this topic: Philadelphia Dialect
Famous quotes containing the word scope:
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