California English
E60023
California English is a regional variety of American English spoken in California, characterized by distinctive vowel shifts, lexical choices, and speech patterns influenced by the state's diverse cultures and media.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| California English canonical | 4 |
| Bay Area English | 1 |
| California Vowel Shift | 1 |
| Southern California English | 1 |
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
dialect of English
ⓘ
regional variety of American English ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| distinctFrom |
Midwestern American English
ⓘ
New York City English ⓘ Southern American English ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
distinctive lexical choices
ⓘ
distinctive speech patterns ⓘ distinctive vowel shifts ⓘ |
| hasRegister |
informal speech
ⓘ
youth slang in California ⓘ |
| hasSubvariety |
California English
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Bay Area English
Chicano English in California ⓘ Northern California ⓘ
surface form:
Northern California English
California English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Southern California English
Valley Girl speech ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
African American communities in California
ⓘ
Asian American communities in California ⓘ California media ⓘ California’s diverse cultures ⓘ Hispanic and Latino communities in California ⓘ Silicon Valley tech culture ⓘ surf culture ⓘ |
| ISO639-3 | eng ⓘ |
| languageFamily | Germanic languages ⓘ |
| lexicalFeature |
use of "bro" as a familiar address term
ⓘ
use of "dude" as a familiar address term ⓘ use of "freeway" more than "highway" or "expressway" ⓘ use of "the 5" or "the 405" for freeways in Southern California ⓘ use of "the city" to refer to San Francisco in Northern California ⓘ use of intensifier "hell of" in Northern California ⓘ use of intensifier "hella" in Northern California ⓘ use of the discourse marker "like" ⓘ |
| mediaRepresentation |
often portrayed in Hollywood films
ⓘ
often portrayed in television shows set in California ⓘ |
| partOf | American English ⓘ |
| phonologicalFeature |
/æ/ tensing before nasals in many speakers
ⓘ
California English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
California Vowel Shift
cot–caught merger in many speakers ⓘ fronting of /u/ and /oʊ/ ⓘ |
| prosodicFeature |
lengthened vowels in Valley Girl speech stereotypes
ⓘ
uptalk in some younger speakers ⓘ |
| spokenIn |
California, United States
ⓘ
surface form:
California
|
| studiedIn |
dialectology
ⓘ
sociolinguistics ⓘ |
| timePeriod | emerged prominently in the late 20th century ⓘ |
| usedBy |
many younger speakers in California
ⓘ
residents of California ⓘ |
| writingSystem | Latin script ⓘ |
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Southern California English
this entity surface form:
Bay Area English
this entity surface form:
California Vowel Shift