Traces of the Southern Wisconsin Accent - Essay Example

A linguistics change is happening in Wisconsin. It is a phenomenon that they call the “Northern Cities Shift.”

The first settlers in Wisconsin were from Europe. The English dialect spoken in Wisconsin was influenced by languages that do not regularly use or contain the “th” sound; "German, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, French, Italian . . . It's not that common,” Says Luanne von Schneidemesser ( Tolan, 2008). A Germanic word used in Wisconsin is “gemuetlichkeit” which has no real English equivalent. It means that one is festively drinking beer with friends. “Gesundheit” is another word in Wisconsin meaning “good health” when somebody sneezes.

Around the United States, there are plenty of words that are derived from other countries being used in particular dialects. In the southwestern United States, many of Mexican descent speak “Chicano English”. It is a mixture of English with Spanish derivatives and not all speakers of Chicano English speak Spanish. English speakers may adopt words such as “hola,” hello, “casa,” home, or “hombre,” a male friend.