Pittsburghese: Carnegie Mellon's Barbara Johnstone Uncovers the Story of a Dialect (VIDEO)
Caption
What's in a word? Plenty, if you're from Pittsburgh, Pa., where phrases like "Yinz going dahntahn to watch dem Stillers?" are symbols of local identity. A new book by Carnegie Mellon University's Barbara Johnstone uncovers that there is much more to "Pittsburghese" than how native western Pennsylvanians speak. "Speaking Pittsburghese: The Story of a Dialect" traces the history of Pittsburgh's language as it is imagined and used by Pittsburghers. Johnstone asks why the city's words and expressions are so strongly linked to local identity that Pittsburghese is alluded to almost every time people talk about what Pittsburgh is like or what it means to be from the area.
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Carnegie Mellon University
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