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Tonya Papanikolas Reporting Have you ever gone out of town and had someone make fun of the way you talk? Linguists say language across the US is changing and becoming more distinct from city to city. So how exactly do we sound here in Utah?
Of course there are words and phrases here in Utah that you probably wouldn't hear so often in other places -- "gosh, oh my heck."
The phrase "tending" instead of babysitting is a Utah word, and "sluffing" is something you don't hear in other states. But this is just the beginning of "Utah speak."
My Fair Lady: "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."
Eliza Doolittle always did have problems with her vowels. And she's not the only one. Linguists say Utahns often change the sound of a vowel, especially before the consonant "l."
Marianna Di Paulo, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Univ. of Utah: "Heel and hill often sound alike, or feel and fill."
Kyle Rose: "Melk. The E instead of the I, it just gets to me."
Like many Utahns, Stephanie Garn says nells instead of fingernails. And the Hale theater can become a place of fire and brimstone if a Utahn says its name. Utahns also love to use the word "crick".
Emily Argyle: "I said crick! Oh, no. That's horrible."
Vowels aren't the only problem for Utah natives. We also sometimes have trouble pronouncing T's.
"Lay'ton, moun'ain, button, foun'ain."
Ronda Rose: "Having grown up here, that's just the way you speak."
Kyle Rose: "I grew up in Hawaii, so I know how things should be said."
How things "should" be said all depends on where you live. For example, take this pair of names, Don and Dawn. Do they sound the same? In the West, these type of pairs are pronounced almost the same, but not in New York.
A lot of the way we say words here is actually not unique to Utah; words are changing like this in different parts of the country.
Pronunciations also depend on your gender, ethnicity, age and where you live, in a big city or the country.
