A distinct brand of English spoken especially in the NYC metropolitan area, including the buroughs (excl. alot of Manhattan, full of transplants), Long Island, parts of upstate, and a great deal of New Jersey and Connecticut.

Those who portray it as low-class or ugly, forget that some of the finest speakers of the English language, including Robert Rinero and Christopher Walken, have thick New York accents.

Some features it is known for were previously common, but are now disappearing (such as pronouncing "girl" as "goil" which noone except very old men does anymore).

One of the most widespread features is pronouncing the "a" in words Kerry and carry seperately. Most Americans pronounce the short a in words like "carry", "Larry" "vary", and "marry" with an e, giving them the same vowel as "berry".

A slightly less common, but still widespread feature is an additional vowel not used in General American English, often written as "aww. In words like "caught", "long", "off, and sometimes even "dog" or "fog" are pronounced with the lips more rounded into an o-like a. Most Americans and Canadians as well just pronounce it with a long a, as in "father".

One feature that's still easy to find, but not necessarily the norm anymore, is r-dropping, as in other Northeastern US accents, pronouncing "here" and "there" "hee-uh" and "theh-uh". Many of those that don't drop the r at least soften it, or only drop it in some words while speaking quickly.

A distincitive dialect of American English that differs from general American English by way of pronunciation, vocabulary, phrasing, and vocal inflection. The stereotypical accent (which is becomingly increasingly rare) is often associated with the borough of Brooklyn however is no more prevalent in Brooklyn than in any other borough. Rhoticising of words (dropping of R's) is seldom found in newer generation natives of New York City and the 'aw' or 'oa' sound is also becoming less prevalent. Orange, horrible, majority, forest etc. are words that are almost always pronounced with the same syllable in hot, pot etc. Words such as Harris and Jared are pronounced with less stress on the r (the ha in Harris for example is pronounced much the same way that it is hat).

Native New Yorkers wait on line rather than in line and use vocabulary such as sneakers and soda in preference over running shoes and pop. Stoop is also exclusive to New York English and was borrowed from the Dutch. The word American is often pronounced with a u rather than an e (Amurican). Words in a sentence often run into one another and it is generally agreed that some (but not all) New Yorkers speak in a very non-distinguished manner. th's for example often sound closer to d's but often lie somewhere in between.

The accent was built up from older generation Americans imitating European settlers. One of the most notable influences were in fact the British. Though Americans made a conscious decision to ma...