Pittsburghese

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A regional dialect and set of speech patterns found in and around a specific city in western Pennsylvania, including distinctive vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammatical features unique to that area
2. A variety of English spoken primarily in a western Pennsylvania city, characterized by unique expressions, accent traits, and local slang that distinguish it from standard American English
3. A localized form of speech native to a western Pennsylvania urban center, notable for its particular words, sounds, and grammatical quirks that reflect the cultural identity of its speakers

Etymology: Pittsburghese is about as transparent as English coinages get: it is simply "Pittsburgh" with the suffix "-ese", the same ending that gives us "Japanese" and "Portuguese" and that in English names the language or dialect of a place. The pattern is old and productive, and it is applied most often to a place's distinctive speech, so a regional way of talking gets labelled with the city's name plus this ending. The word's interest lies less in its form than in what it names. Pittsburgh's accent and vocabulary have been shaped by its industrial past and by the mix of immigrant communities, and the local dialect is known for words such as "yinz" for "you all" and for distinctive vowel sounds. Speakers and writers have needed a single label for all of that, and "Pittsburghese" supplies it in the same way that "Brooklynese" or "Bostonese" describe their own cities' speech.

Synonyms: Pittsburgh dialect, Pittsburgh English