Speaking Pittsburghese The Story Of A Dialect

About this book

This book explores the history of Pittsburghese, the local dialect of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area as it is imagined and used by Pittsburghers. Sociolinguist Barbara Johnstone asks what happened during the second half of the 20th century to reshape a largely unnoticed way of speaking in the southwestern Pennsylvania region into a highly visible urban 'dialect' called Pittsburghese, linked to local identity so strongly that Pittsburghese is alluded to almost every time people talk about what Pittsburgh is like or what it means to be a Pittsburgher.