North-Central American English

Not all of these characteristics are unique to the North Central region.

The appearance of monophthongs in this region is sometimes explained because of the high degree of Scandinavian and German immigration to these northern states in the late 1800s. Linguist Erik R. Thomas argues that these monophthongs are the product of language contact and notes that other areas where they occur are places where speakers of other languages have had an influence such as the Pennsylvania "Dutch" region.[10] An alternative account posits that these monophthongal variants represent historical retentions, since diphthongization of the mid vowels seems to have been a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of the English language, appearing within the last few centuries, and did not affect all dialects in the U.K. The monophthongs heard in this region may stem from the influence of Scots-Irish or other British dialects that maintain such forms. The fact that the monophthongs also appear in Canadian English may lend support to this account since Scots-Irish speech is known as an important influence in Canada.

Ethnic makeup of the US in 2000; the western part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is the only region in the U.S. where Finnish Americans (medium light green) form the plurality. Likewise, Norwegian Americans (very light green) uniquely form the plurality in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, and northeastern-most Montana.

People living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (whose demonym, and sometimes sub-dialect, is known as "Yooper," deriving from the acronym "U.P." for "Upper Peninsula"), many northern areas of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and in Northern Wisconsin are largely of Finnish, French Canadian, Cornish, Scandinavian, German, and/or Native American descent. The North Central dialect is so strongly influenced by these areas' languages and Canada that speakers from other areas may have difficulty understanding it. Almost half the Finnish immigrants to the U.S. settled in the Upper Peninsula, some joining Scandinavians who moved on to Minnesota. Another sub-dialect is spoken in Southcentral Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley, because it was settled in the 1930s (during the Great Depression) by immigrants from the North Central dialect region.[5][11]

In this dialect, the preposition with is used without an object as an adverb in phrases like come with, as in Do you want to come with? for standard Do you want to come with me? or with us?. In standard English, other prepositions can be used as adverbs, like go down (down as adverb) for go down the stairs (down as preposition). With is not typically used in this way in standard English (particularly in British and Irish English), and this feature likely came from languages spoken by some immigrants, such as Scandinavian (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian), German (includes Austrian), or Dutch (includes Flemish) and Luxembourgish, all of which have this construction, like Swedish kom med.[12][13]

• breezeway or a skyway, a hallway-bridge connecting two buildings[14]
• frontage road, a service or access road[15]
• hotdish, a simple entree cooked in a single dish, like a casserole[16]
• pop or soda pop, a sweet carbonated soft drink[14]
• rummage sale, a yard or garage sale[15]
• Yooper, a person from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan[17]
• supper, dinner (though understood throughout the English-speaking world, it appears most commonly in this dialect region)

• Steven Avery — "recognizably thick Wisconsin accent"[18]
• Michele Bachmann — "that calming, matzoh-flat Minnesota accent"[19]
• Jan Kuehnemund
• Brock Lesnar
• Don Ness — "You'll find that Ms. Palin and Duluth Mayor Don Ness don't sound all that different."[20]
• Julianne Ortman
• Sarah Palin[5] — "Listeners who hear the Minnewegian sounds of the characters from Fargo when they listen to Ms. Palin are on to something: the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in Alaska, where she grew up, was settled by farmers from Minnesota"[11]

The Upper Midwestern accent is made conspicuous, often to the point of parody or near-parody, in the film Fargo (especially as displayed by Frances McDormand's character Marge Gunderson) and the radio program A Prairie Home Companion (as displayed by many minor characters, especially those voiced by Sue Scott, with whom lead characters, most frequently male roles voiced by Garrison Keillor). It is also evident in the film New in Town.

• Inland Northern American English
• North American English regional phonology
• Regional vocabularies of American English
• Yooper English

• Kortmand, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W. (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017532-5.
• Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter. pp. 187–208. ISBN 3-11-016746-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)