Yat (New Orleans)


Yat refers to a unique dialect of English spoken in New Orleans, Louisiana. The term also refers to those people who speak with a Yat accent. The name comes from the common use amongst said people of the greeting, "Where y'at?" (Where you at?), which is a way of asking, "How are you?" The Yat dialect sounds similar to that of Brooklyn, New York natives, with influences from Louisiana Creole French and Southern American English. While the term Yat is usually reserved specifically for the strongest varieties of the New Orleans dialect within the city, the term often refers specifically to speakers of Yat, outside of the city proper, and around the rest of Louisiana, it is often used as a colloquial demonym for any person from New Orleans.

History

The origins of the accent are described in A. J. Liebling's book, The Earl of Louisiana, in a passage that was used as a forward to John Kennedy Toole's well-known posthumous novel about New Orleans, A Confederacy of Dunces:[1]

Historically, New Orleans was home to people of French, Spanish, and African heritage, which led to the creation of the Louisiana Creole language. The city came under U.S. rule in the Louisiana Purchase, and over the course of the 19th century, the dominant language of New Orleans gradually became non-rhotic English. An influx of Irish, Italian, and German immigrants during the 19th century, along with the city's geographic isolation, led to the creation of a new local dialect.

It is a common misconception that that the local dialect of New Orleans is Cajun. While certain Cajun words, such as jambalaya, have been incorporated into the vocabulary of Southern Louisiana, Cajun culture has had relatively little influence upon Yat. The confusion of the Cajun culture of Southern Louisiana with the Creole culture of New Orleans is largely due to the merging of these French cultures by the tourism industry.

This distinctive accent is dying out generation by generation in the city but remains very strong in the surrounding Parishes. However, Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and its resultant mass evacuation of New Orleans and other areas along the Mexican Gulf has further endangered the preservation of these dialects.

Local Variance

The Yat dialect is the most pronounced version of the New Orleans Accent. Natives often speak with varying degrees of the Brooklyn-esque accent, ranging from a slight intonation to what is considered full Yat. As with all dialects, there is variance by local speakers due to geographic, ethnic, racial, and social factors. This results in many different levels of Yat throughout the city, marking distinct differences between higher-income people, lower-income whites, lower-income African-Americans, and Creoles. African-American varieties of Yat have been significantly influenced by African American Vernacular English. Yat tends to differ in strength and intonation from neighborhood to neighborhood, regardless of race.

Longtime New Orleans residents can often tell what New Orleans neighborhoods other residents are from by their accent. Speakers of this dialect originated in the Ninth Ward, as well as the Irish Channel and Mid-City. While some remain there, most have moved to the suburbs of St. Bernard Parish, such as Arabi, Chalmette, Meraux, and Violet, as well as to the suburbs of Jefferson Parish, such as Gretna, Marrero, and Westwego. Slighter intonations of the dialect can be heard throughout the city, and the suburbs of Metairie and Kenner. As with many sociolinguistic artifacts, the dialect is usually more distinct among older members of the population.

Linguistic features

Pronunciation

There are also numerous phonological differences between words pronounced in the dialect and their standard equivalents. This most often occurs in the form a stress-shift towards the front of a word (i.e. 'insurance', 'ambulance' as ['inʃuɻəns], ['æmbjə'læns]), or in the form of a change in vowel quality. Some of the most distinct features are:

And then there are words which can be pronounced differently, yet according to no particular pattern: 'lunch' [lɝntʃ], 'corner' ['kɔʷndə], 'sink' [zink], 'orange' [ɝndʒ], 'room' [ɻʊm], 'mayonnaise' ['mejnæz], 'museum' [mju'zæm], 'ask' [æks], just to name a few examples.

New Orleans is pronounced [nə'wɔʷlɪnz], [nə'wɔʷlijənz] or with the /ɻ/ still intact. The 'Nawlins' [nɔlɪnz] of the tourist industry and the common [nuwɔɻ'linz] are not to be heard among natives. Louisiana is pronounced as the standard [lu'wiziænə] or a slightly reduced [lə'wiziænə], but never as ['luziænə].

Lexicon

New Orleans accent in popular conception

The distinct New Orleans dialect has been depicted in many ways throughout the city and America.

The main character of the cartoon strip Krazy Kat spoke in a slightly exaggerated phonetically-rendered version of early-20th Century Yat; friends of the New Orleans-born cartoonist George Herriman recalled that he spoke with many of the same distinctive pronunciations.

Benny Grunch and the Bunch recorded an album known as the 12 Yats of Christmas, which is one of the truest expressions of Yat language and culture. The songs explain much of the local customs and traditions of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, but perhaps raise as many questions as they answer for outsiders, due to the fact that the lyrics are mostly in Yat. The local CBS affiliate, WWL-TV Channel 4 usually broadcasts videos of the songs during the Christmas holidays during their evening newscasts and via the station's website.

Actual New Orleans accents were long seldom heard nationally (New Orleanians who attained national prominence in the media often made an effort to tone down or eliminate the most distinctive local pronunciations). Movies and television shows set in New Orleans generally make the mistake of imbuing the characters with a generic "Southern" accent, a "Gone With the Wind" accent, or a Cajun accent (primarily heard in Southwest Louisiana, not in the city), much to the amusement or annoyance of New Orleanians. The national attention the city received from the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 gave many people from elsewhere in the nation a chance to hear people speaking with New Orleans accents for the first time.

References

External links

Citations