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.
Aliases (3)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
dialect of English
→
regional variety of American English → |
| country |
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 |
Bay Area English
→
Chicano English in California → Northern California English → 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 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
→
|
| 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 (5)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
California English
("Southern California English")
→
California English ("Bay Area English") → Western American English → |
hasSubvariety |
|
Nevada English
→
|
overlapsWith |
|
California English
("California Vowel Shift")
→
|
phonologicalFeature |