Wisconsin English

E84856

Wisconsin English is a regional variety of American English spoken in Wisconsin, characterized by features influenced by Midwestern speech patterns and the state’s strong German and Scandinavian heritage.

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Observed surface forms (3)


Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf dialect of English
regional variety of American English
associatedWith German-American communities in Wisconsin
Scandinavian-American communities in Wisconsin
rural speech in northern Wisconsin
urban speech in Milwaukee
country United States of America
surface form: United States
hasFeature /æ/ raising before nasal consonants
/ɔ/ and /ɑ/ merger in some speakers
Canadian raising of /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ in some northern areas
Northern Cities Vowel Shift region English
surface form: Northern Cities Vowel Shift (in some speakers)

distinct short-a system in some regions
fronted /o/ and /u/ vowels in some speakers
monophthongal pronunciation of /oʊ/ in some areas
retention of /r/ (rhotic accent)
hasLexicalItem Friday fish fry (cultural and lexical item)
brat (for bratwurst sausage)
bubbler (for drinking fountain)
by (for ‘at’ or ‘near’, as in ‘Are you by your house?’)
cheesehead (for Wisconsinite, especially Packers fan)
come with (without object, as in ‘Do you want to come with?’)
stop-and-go lights (for traffic lights) in some speakers
supper (for evening meal)
tyme machine (historically, for ATM, from a brand name) in some areas
up north (for northern vacation areas)
yet (sentence-final, influenced by German ‘noch’) in some speakers
hasPhonologicalFeature /w/ and /v/ confusion in some heritage German speakers historically
/θ/ realized as /t/ in some German-influenced speakers historically
tensing of /æ/ before /g/ and /ŋ/ in some speakers
hasRegionalVariant Wisconsin English self-linksurface differs
surface form: Fox Valley English

Wisconsin English self-linksurface differs
surface form: Milwaukee English

northern Wisconsin English
hasSyntacticFeature occasional use of positive anymore in some speakers
use of ‘come with’ as a particle verb without explicit object
influencedBy German
surface form: German language

Inland North American English
Midwestern American English
surface form: Midwestern English

Inland North American English
surface form: North Central American English

Norwegian language
Polish language
North Germanic languages
surface form: Scandinavian languages

Swedish language
Yiddish
languageFamily Germanic languages
partOf American English
spokenIn Midwestern United States NERFINISHED
Wisconsin
studiedIn dialectology
sociolinguistics

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Wisconsin English hasRegionalVariant Wisconsin English self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Milwaukee English
Wisconsin English hasRegionalVariant Wisconsin English self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Fox Valley English
Midwestern American English hasSubvariety Wisconsin English
this entity surface form: Upper Midwestern English
Midwestern American English hasSubvariety Wisconsin English