Baltimore English

Baltimore English is a distinct regional variety shaped by the city’s complex social history and diverse linguistic influences. Over time, these influences contributed to the development of multiple varieties reflecting different communities within Baltimore.

Background 

The New Cambridge History of the English Language book, authored by Aidan Malanoski and Michael Newman, discusses Baltimore English and its background within the chapter “New York City and Baltimore.” Baltimore was settled by England in the 1600s, with the majority of settlers from the West Country origin. White Baltimore English was influenced by large waves of Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries. Baltimore had one of the largest, free Black populations before the Civil War. During the mass migration of Black people to Baltimore, White people retreated to other areas of the city, thus causing the isolation of Black communities. These communities developed their own accent influenced by African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Southern English, and there became a clear distinction between White and Black English.1

For more information see the following:

  • Video essay about the Baltimore “Hood Accent”2
  • Interview with Dr. Inte’a Deshields about the Baltimore Accent3

Pronunciation

This list of features is courtesy of Baltimore English expert Aidan Malanoski. To describe the features, the Wells Lexical Set is used.[insert link here to the Wells Lexical Set page] The source for this information is a personal email correspondence with Malanoski.4 

Fronted GOOSE vowels

The GOOSE vowel /uː/ is fronted or placed further forwards in the mouth to either /ɯu/ or /yu/, except before /l/; especially among Black Baltimoreans.

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: shoe [ʃyu], blue [blɯu], zoo [zɯu]
  • TikTok Wordlist (0:17): “So somebody said, say two, avenue, pikachus, blue.” 
    • [tyu]; [ævɛnyu]; [pikətʃyus]; [blɯu]

Fronted GOAT

The GOAT vowel /oʊ/ is fronted to something close to /ɘʊ/, except before /l/. 

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: go [gɘʊw], soap [sɘʊp]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (0:06): “The rainbow passage.”
    • [ɹenbɘʊw]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (2:33): “Cause it was wonderful and it was before he got sick and the drugs took over and everything.”
    • [bɪfoɹ̩]
    • [ɘʊvɹ̩]

Fronted MOUTH vowels 

The MOUTH vowel /aʊ/ is fronted to an /e/-like sound and sometimes diphthongized with a lower off-glide. It is also more raised before nasals.

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: house [heɑʊs], crown [kɹeɑʊn]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (0:16): “These take the shape with a long round arch.”
    • [ɹeɑʊn]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (1:38): “My mother worked downtown at the Hecht Company, so she’d get the bus and we’d go down there on Saturdays.”
    • [deɑʊnteɑʊn]
    • [d̥eɑʊn]

Raised PRICE vowels

The PRICE vowel /aɪ/ is raised higher in the mouth before voiceless consonants to /ɐɪ/. 

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: knife [nɐɪf]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (0:13): “The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors.”
    • [wɐɪʔ lɐɪʔ]

Monophthongal PRICE vowels 

However, the PRICE vowel is monophthongal /a/ especially before liquids (e.g., iron in, “Aaron earned an iron urn.”).

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: spider [spadɹ̩], tiger [tagɹ̩], five [fav]

*The following recording contains some expletives.*

  • YouTube (0:11): “Aaron earned an iron urn.”
    • [aɹn]

Complex short-a split with raised and ingliding BATH vowels 

Similar to Philadelphia, PA, the BATH vowel /æ/ in Baltimore English can be pronounced in two ways depending on whether or not it is tensed (usually in front of front voiceless fricatives and voiceless nasals).5 This means that, when tensed, the /æ/ vowel can be changed to a higher and diphthongal sound because of the glide that starts at another higher vowel sound and then quickly becomes more relaxed and lower into another vowel sound ≈/eæ/.

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: giraffe [gɹ̩eæf], pajamas [pədʒeæməz]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (2:02): “And that’s where my husband Al is from.”
    • [eæl]

Raised and ingliding THOUGHT vowels

The THOUGHT vowel /ɔː/ is higher and glides in from another vowel sound into a second vowel sound, something like /oə/, especially in the word on /oən/.

  • IDEA Maryland 2 (0:50): “Alright I grew- I- I s- I- I was born on a farm.”
    • [oən]

/ɑ/ in pre-rhotic CLOTH vowels 

The CLOTH vowel /ɔ/ is a /ɑ/ when it is put before an /ɹ/ likely only in multisyllabic words where [ɹ] is in a different syllable than a CLOTH vowel like in forest [fɑɹɪst] or historic [hɪstɑɹɪk].

*The following recording contains some expletives.*

Raised START vowels 

The START vowel is higher in the mouth and sounds almost like a pre-rhotic THOUGHT vowel similar to [ɔɹ].

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: star [stɔɹ], guitar [gətɔɹ]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (1:18): “My dad was a mechanic, automechanic, and then he worked the farm but when he didn’t wanna work the farm anymore he went into the mechanic business full time, Chevrolet cars.”
    • [fɔɹm]; [cɔɹs]

NORTH–FORCE–CURE merger 

The NORTH /ɔː/, FORCE /ɔə/, and CURE /ʊə/ vowel all sound like the same vowel /o/ and they all are in a high-back position in the mouth.

  • IDEA Maryland 2 (0:50): “Alright I grew- I- I s- I- I was born on a farm.”
    • [boɹn]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (2:10): “I said you don’t live in Gettysburg and not tour it.” 
    • [gɛɾɪzboɹg] (the merger isn’t as noticeable in the word Gettysburg)
    • [toɹ]
  • IDEA Maryland 2 (2:33): “Cause it was wonderful and it was before he got sick and the drugs took over and everything.”
    • [bəfoɹ]

Preconsonantal intrusive r

In certain words, there is an added /ɹ/ added before consonants, particularly in water [wɑɹdɹ̩], wash [wɑɹʃ], and Washington [wɑɹʃiŋtən].

  • Intrusive R TikTok (0:07): “Whadda you want me to say hon? I gotta wash my clothes today.”
    • [wɑɹʃ]

L-vocalization

The l-vocalization is called “vocalization” because the /l/ sound is pronounced as a vowel sound. The /l/ sound can be transcribed with [w] or with [ʊ].

  • IDEA Maryland 2 (1:51): “Vacations weren’t that exciting because we just went to places like Gettysburg, which was a big trip when you lived in Baltimore.”
    • [bɑwdʌmɔɹ]

THOUGHT–PALM–START–STRUT vowels

The THOUGHT /ɔ/, PALM /ɑ/, START /ɑr/, and sometimes also STRUT /ʌ/ vowels merge together into different sounds depending on the situation. One particularly unique example is the THOUGHT–STRUT merger in words like dog, which, although traditionally the THOUGHT vowel in Standard American English, merges into the STRUT vowel in Black Baltimore English. The most salient examples are dog and father, pronounced as [dʌg] and [fʌðə], respectively. However, this THOUGHT–STRUT merger may translate over to a variety of other words.

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: frog [fɹʌg]

*The following recording contains some expletives.*

Centralized pre-rhotic vowels

Vowels before the /ɹ/ sound are more centralized in the mouth so they sound similar and more schwa-like /ə/. This is more pronounced among Black Baltimoreans.

  • Goldman-Fristoe Test: door [dɜɹ], chair [tʃɜɹ]

*The following recording contains some expletives.* 

  • YouTube (0:11): “Aaron earned an iron urn.” 
    • [ɜɹn]; [ɜɹnd]; [aɹn]; [ɜɹn]
  • TikTok Wordlist (0:31): “And then y’got cereal.”
    • [sʊɹl̩]

Goldman-Fristoe Test Items

Goldman-Fristoe Word Standard American English Baltimore English Recording Examples
Shoe  [ʃu] [ʃyu] TikTok Wordlist (0:17)
Blue [blu]  [blɯu] TikTok Wordlist (0:17)
Zoo [zu]  [zɯu]  TikTok Wordlist (0:17)
Go [ɡoʊ]  [gɘʊw]  IDEA Maryland 2 (0:06)
Soap [soʊp]  [sɘʊp]  IDEA Maryland 2 (0:06)
House [haʊs]  [heɑʊs]  IDEA Maryland 2 (1:38)
Crown [kraʊn]  [kɹeɑʊn]  IDEA Maryland 2 (1:38)
Knife [naɪf]  [nɐɪf]  IDEA Maryland 2 (0:13)
Spider [ˈspaɪdɚ]  [spadɹ̩] YouTube (0:11)
Tiger [ˈtaɪɡɚ]  [tagɹ̩] YouTube (0:11)
Five [faɪv]  [fav]  YouTube (0:11)
Giraffe [dʒəˈræf] [gɹ̩eæf]  IDEA Maryland 2 (2:02)
Pajamas [pəˈdʒɑməz]  [pədʒeæməz] IDEA Maryland 2 (2:02)
Star [stɑɹ]  [stɔɹ]  IDEA Maryland 2 (1:18)
Guitar [ɡɪˈtɑɹ]  [gətɔɹ]  IDEA Maryland 2 (1:18)
Frog [frɔɡ]  [fɹʌg]  TikTok Wordlist_2 (0:27)
Door [dɔɹ]  [dɜɹ] TikTok Wordlist (0:31)
Chair [tʃɛɹ]  [tʃɜɹ] TikTok Wordlist (0:31)

Grammar

Maryland’s past leads to a vibrant history of AAVE features within the Baltimore English variety.6 The following features are just some of the features you will hear within a Baltimore English variety that stem from its historical roots.

Habitual be

The habitual be means always, similar to AAVE variety and is reflected in the Baltimore English variety.7

  • “He be tired out.”8
  • “The coffee be cold.”9

Copular deletion

In some sentence structures, the be verb is deleted in a copular deletion. This feature is also seen in the AAVE variety.10

  • “She nice.”11
  • “He tall.”12
  • YouTube (1:32): “Whatever yous guys do while you here.”

Double negation

In Baltimore English, it is grammatically correct to use double negations.13

  • “The lady don’t know nothing.”14 
  • “The boss don’t laugh at nobody.”15 

Subject-verb agreement

Some Baltimore English speakers construct sentences that don’t fit the subject-verb agreement expectation of Standard English. Baltimore English allows singular subjects and plural verbs or vice versa.16

  • “She love the boyfriend.”17
  • “I did not know you was in the house.”18
  • YouTube (1:19): “I thought it you guys was gonna be here for a couple of days, you’d want to know how to communicate with the local people so as you could ask for beer, or maybe catch a bus. Whatever you guys do when you’re here”

Gonna

In this same recording, there was the use of gonna instead of going to. This feature is also seen in AAVE and other English dialects. In this sentence, gonna is in the future tense.

Lexical Items

The following words are common in Baltimore English:

Downey/Downy Ocean ‘Heading to Ocean City, MD for a vacation’19
Dummy ‘A noninsulting, playful address term that can be a nickname for a friend’20
Half-n-Half ‘A mix of lemonade and iced tea’21
Hon’ ‘A friendly address term, especially in working-class communities; not used as commonly now, but is seen as a working class stereotype and claimed by Baltimore’ 22
Snowball ‘Shaved ice with flavored syrup’23
Yo ‘Used to get attention, emphasize, or show surprise; considered a gender-neutral pronoun’24

This page was created by the following students at Brigham Young University, in 2026: Abigail Karlinsey, Ella Aldridge, Leah Laret, McKenzie VanOrden, Rachel Bowden.

 

  1. Aidan Malanoski and Michael Newman, “New York City and Baltimore,” in The New Cambridge History of the English Language, vol. 5, North America and the Caribbean, ed. Natalie Schilling, Derek Denis, and Raymond Hickey (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
  2. Patricio Languages, “Baltimore ‘Hood Accent’ Explained | Baltimore African American Accent Explained,” September 21, 2025, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUOpCvhve3w.
  3. WJZ, “Where Does the Baltimore Accent Come From?,” May 12, 2025, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qIuCjl_sLs.
  4. Aidan Malanoski, email exchange with Abigail Karlinsey, September, 2025.
  5. Sharon Ash, “The Distribution of a Phonemic Split in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Yet More on Short A,” University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 8, no. 3, (2002): 3, https://repository.upenn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/2c058a93-b9a2-4751-ac38-b204447a923e/content.
  6. Joseph Trotta and Oleg Blyahher, “Game Done Changed: A Look at Selected AAVE Features in the TV Series ‘The Wire’,” Moderna Språk 105, no. 1 (2011): 15-42, https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v105i1.8284.
  7. Robert Mokaya Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’” (Master thesis, Morgan State University, 2004), ProQuest (1420570), https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/new-baltimorese/docview/305056210/se-2.
  8. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 29.
  9. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 29.
  10. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’.”
  11. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 29.
  12. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 29.
  13. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’.”
  14. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 43.
  15. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 43.
  16. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 31.
  17. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 31.
  18. Matunda, “The New ‘Baltimorese’,” 31.
  19. National Programs – Maryland Public Television, “Downee Ocean Hon! Promo,” January 9, 2014, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDTd0dAFo1k.
  20. Bethel Afful, “17 Baltimore Slang Terms You Should Know,” Mentalfloss.com, February 3, 2023, https://www.mentalfloss.com/language/slang/baltimore-slang-terms.
  21. Afful, “17 Baltimore Slang Terms.”
  22. David J. Puglia, “Hon Culture Wars: Revering and Reviling the Vernacular in Baltimore and Beyond,” The Pennsylvania State University, Order No. 28929372 (2015), https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/hon-culture-wars-revering-reviling-vernacular/docview/2605569771/se-2.
  23. Afful, “17 Baltimore Slang Terms.”
  24. Elaine M. Stotko and Margaret Troyer, “A New Gender-Neutral Pronoun in Baltimore, Maryland: A Preliminary Study,” American Speech 82, no. 3 (2007): 262–79, https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-2007-012.