Pacific Northwest English - History

History

The linguistic traits that flourish throughout the Pacific Northwest attest to a culture that transcends national boundaries in the region. Historically, this hearkens back to the early years of colonial expansion by the British and Americans, when the entire region was considered to be a single, unified area. Until the Oregon Treaty of 1846, it was identified as being either Oregon Country (by the Americans) or Columbia (by the British). As a result of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, the culture of the Pacific Northwest expanded northward into Yukon and Alaska, carried along by the thousands of people who were attracted to the gold fields in the north. Today, the dialect common to this shared culture can be heard by people from Eugene, Oregon to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Although residents of the Pacific Northwest shared many cultural traditions and norms, it was not until the latter 20th century that their dialect became recognized officially as distinct. Linguists who studied English as spoken in the West before and in the period immediately after the Second World War tended to find few if any distinct patterns unique to the Western region. However, several decades later, with a more settled population and continued immigration from around the globe, linguists began to notice a set of emerging characteristics of English spoken in the Pacific Northwest. However, Pacific Northwest English still remains remarkably close to the standard American accent, which shows, for example, the cot–caught merger (although this phenomenon is not universal).