Inland Northern American English
The Inland North dialect of American English is spoken in a region that includes most of the cities along the Erie Canal and on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes region, reaching approximately from Herkimer, New York to Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as a corridor extending down across central Illinois from Chicago to St. Louis.
This dialect used to be the Standard Midwestern speech that is traditionally regarded as the basis for General American in the mid-20th century, though it has been since modified by an innovative vowel shift known as the Northern Cities Shift, which has altered its character.
Notable speakers of the Inland North Dialect include US President Ronald Reagan, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, actors, Dennis Farina, Dennis Franz, Gene Wilder, Jeff Daniels, John Belushi and Chris Farley; US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; actresses Bonnie Hunt and Jami Gertz; filmmaker Michael Moore; financial adviser Suze Orman; talk show host Steve Wilkos; and musicians Iggy Pop and Bob Seger.
The dialect was used for comedic effect in the Saturday Night Live skit Bill Swerski's Superfans, and in the film The Blues Brothers.
Read more about Inland Northern American English: Distribution
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“So far as inland discovery was concerned, the adventurous spirit of the English was that of sailors who land but for a day, and their enterprise the enterprise of traders.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In civilization, as in a southern latitude, man degenerates at length, and yields to the incursion of more northern tribes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“[The ladies] must be aware that a great evil cannot for a long time, predominate, without, at least, their connivance. Silence is often as effectual an advocate in a cause as eloquence.”
—“Censor,” U.S. women’s magazine contributor. American Ladies Magazine, pp. 337-340 (August, 1828)
“Six hours for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.”
—18th-century English proverb.