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Accents

The "Sephardi-Estuary-Ashkenazi" continuum

The Lõisian standard English accent belongs in a continuum of accents, with a quasi-Sephardi Hebrew accent on one end and a quasi-Ashkenazi Hebrew accent on the other end. However, it's been influenced significantly by the nearby Philadelphian accent (spoken in the ancient city of Philadelphia).

Overview

Vowels
Feature	Western ("Sephardi")	L-Philadelphian	L-Standard	Eastern ("Ashkenazi")
KIT	ɪ	ɪ~ɪ̈	ɪ~ɪ̈	i
DRESS	ɛ	ɛ	ɛ	e
TRAP	a~ɑ	æ	a	a; o ("Poylish")
BATH (the BATH lexical set is same as RP)	a~ɑ	eə	aː~æ:	a; o ("Poylish")
LOT	ɔ	ɑ~ä	ɔ~ɒ	o
STRUT	ʊ	ʌ~ɤ	ɜ̟~ɐ	ɜ
FOOT	ʊ	ʊ	ʊ̈~ɘ	u
FLEECE	iː	iʝ + reinforcement before C; ɪj otherwise	ɪj~iː	iː; ej ("Poylish")
FACE	eː~eɪ	ɪj + reinforcement before C; ɛɪ otherwise	ɛɪ	eɪ; aɪ ("Poylish")
PRICE	aɪ	əɪ~ʌɪ + reinforcement before C; ɑɪ~ɒɪ otherwise	ɑɪ	aɪ; oɪ ("Poylish")
CHOICE	oɪ	oɪ~ʊɪ + reinforcement before C; oɪ otherwise	oɪ	ɔɪ~oɪ; ui ("Poylish")
MOUTH	aʊ	æʊ~ɛɔ	æʊ	aʊ
GOAT	oː~oʊ	əʊ~ə̟ʊ~eʊ, oʊ before [ɫ]	ə̟ʊ~əʊ~əʏ~ʌʏ, ɔʊ~ɒʊ before [ɫ]	ɔɪ~oɪ; a: ("Poylish")
GOOSE	uː	üw~yː, uː before [ɫ]	üː, uː before [ɫ]	uː; iː ("Poylish")
PALM	ɑː	ɑ~ä	ɑː	aː
THOUGHT	ɑː	oə(ɹ)~ʊə(ɹ)	oː	ɔː; uː ("Poylish")
NEAR	iːɹ	iə(ɹ)	iɚ	iʀ
SQUARE	eːɹ	eə(ɹ)	ɛɚ	eʀ
NURSE	əːɹ	əː(ɹ)	ɚː	əʀ
START	ɑːɹ	ɒː(ɹ)	ɑɚ	aʀ
NORTH	ɑːɹ	oə(ɹ)	oɚ	oʀ
FORCE	oːɹ	oə(ɹ)	oɚ (oʊɚ~əʊɚ for Jewish speakers)	ɔɪʀ~oɪʀ
POOR	uːɹ	oə(ɹ)	uɚ	uʀ
CURE	juːɹ	joə(ɹ)~jə(ɹ)	juɚ~jɚː	juʀ
commA	ə	ə(ɹ)	ə	ə
lettER	əɹ	ə(ɹ)	ɚ	əʀ
happY	i	iː~ɪj	iː~ɪj	i
Other phenomena
Feature	Western	L-Philadelphian	L-Standard	Eastern
Rhoticity	Historical /r/ is always [ɹ]	Non-rhotic with intrusive R	Historical /r/ is always [ɹ]	Historical /r/ is always [ʀ]
Dark L	Always	Always, often vocalizing	Only when non-prevocalic	Never
/θ ð/	Always [t̪ d̪]	Often [t̪ d̪]	[θ ð]	[s̠ d]
/w/	[w]	[w]	[w]	[v]
Aspiration of voiceless stops and t/d-tapping	As in AmE	As in AmE	As in AmE	Never

Western accent

This is the "Western English" accent. When Hebrew is read in this accent, it sounds like Israeli Hebrew with an American accent. It still has some non-Sephardi features, e.g. tsere = FACE = [eɪ] is distinct from segol = DRESS = [ɛ].

The intonation is stereotypical American/Valley Girl.

L-Philadelphian

This accent is spoken in both the city of Alaşehir in Turkey (or as locals call it, "Flulfia"), and in Philadelphia, PA (called "New Philadelphia" in Lõis). It's basically a non-rhotic version of our Philly accent; r-intrusion is used, as in the New York accent.

A characteristic feature is reinforcement for certain vowels or diphthongs before consonants, which changes the pronunciation of the vowel:

• The nucleus is shortened.
• When the consonant is voiced, the offglide is lengthened: fame [fɪiːm]
• When the consonant is voiceless, the consonant is lengthened: face [fɪjsː]

/θ ð/ are commonly [t̪ d̪].

L-Standard English

Often called the "Newton accent". Also a standard for English Hebrew.

A kind of "Transatlantic accent", inspired by Californian + Philly + Modern RP/Estuary.

Vowels

• orange = [ɒɹɪndʒ~ɔɹɪndʒ]
• Mary [mɛəɹi] ≈ merry [mɛɹi] ≠ marry [maɹi]
• Mirror-nearer distinction
• Hurry-furry distinction
• No mergers before /l/

Consonants

• L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
  • wholly-holy split.
• No glottal reinforcement before stops.
• /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
• /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
• wine-whine merger optional.
• /r/ may be [ʋ] between vowels.

Eastern accent

When L-English Jews read Hebrew in this accent, it sounds almost exactly like the Ashkenazi accent. Source of "oy vey" (from oh woe /øɪ vøɪ/)

This is not a specifically Jewish accent, and not all L-English Jews (or even all Ultra-Orthodox Jews) speak it.

• /w/ = [v]
• /l/ is always light
• /r/ = [ʀ~ʁ]
• /s/ = Basque z
• /θ/ = Basque s
• /ð/ = [d]
• Stops are unaspirated

[o:l hju:mən bijənz əʀ boʀən fʀi: ən i:kwəl ɪn digniti ən ʀaɪts. dei əʀ ɪndaʊd wid ʀi:zən ən konʃəns ən ʃʏd akt toʀds won ənʏdəʀ ɪn ə spiʀit əv bʀʏdəχʏd]

Poylish

Traditionally spoken by the Azalic population of Poland. In a dialect continuum with Polish, a close sister language (which is not the same as our timeline's Polish since it's Azalic)