"Pittsburghese" Resources
Resources about "Pittsburghese"
The resources on this page are about Pittsburghese. Pittsburghese is how people imagine Pittsburghers talk. If you are interested in studying Pittsburgh speech (how Pittsburghers actually talk, as opposed to popular ideas about how Pittsburghers talk), you are on the wrong page. You need to go to the "Resources" tab under "Pittsburgh Speech."
http://www.pittsburghese.com - an interactive site, no longer maintained, on which people contributed items they consider to be "Pittsburghese." Also includes a video demonstration. Because anyone could contribute and because the explanations on the site are humorous, this is not an authoritative source of information about Pittsburgh speech. It is an interesting source of data and ideas for research, however.
There are hundreds of other websites, videos, Facebook pages, and so on about "Pittsburghese." Remember that these are also not accurate descriptions of Pittsburgh speech. Instead, they tend to portray popular stereotypes of Pittsburghers. Some of them are funny, others may be objectionable to some people.
Researched Articles on "Pittsburghese"
(Most of these are quite technical and require some background knowledge of anthropology, cultural studies, and/or linguistics. Ones that are meant for a general audience are marked with an asterisk.)
*Johnstone, B. (2013). Speaking Pittsburghese: The history of a dialect. Oxford UK, Cambridge USA: Oxford University Press.
*Johnstone, B. (2002). Language and place: "Pittsburghese." Western Pennsylvania History, 85(1), p. 46. [how local speech enters into local identity in Pittsburgh]
Johnstone, B. (2007). Discursive sources of linguistic diversity: Stancetaking and vernacular non-formation, in: Y. Matsumoto, D. Oshima, O. Robinson & P. Sells (Eds) Diversity and Universals in Language: Perspectives and Implications, pp. 167-196 (Palo Alto, CA, Center for the Study of Language and Social Interaction, Stanford University). [compares three ways of thinking about Pittsburgh speech/"Pittsburghese"]
Johnstone, B. (2007). A new role for narrative in variationist sociolinguistics, in: M. Bamberg (Ed) Narrative: State of the Art, pp. 57-67 (Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins). [an analysis of "narratives of linguistic encounter" about experiencing another dialect]
Johnstone, B. (2007). Linking identity and dialect through stancetaking, in: R Englebretson (Ed) Stancetaking in Discourse: Subjectivity in Interaction, pp. 49-68 (Amsterdam, Philadelphia, John Benjamins). [an analysis of a conversation about "Pittsburghese"]
Johnstone, B. (2009). Pittsburghese Shirts: Commodification and the Enregisterment of an Urban Dialect. American Speech, 84, 157-175. [why it makes sense, economically, historically, and ideologically, for t-shirts with Pittsburghese on them to be produced and sold; the effects of such shirts]
Johnstone, B. (2010). Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect. Language & Communication, 31, 3-15 . [who has been considered an expert on Pittsburgh speech over the years, and how that has shaped ideas about "Pittsburghese"]
Johnstone, B. (2010). Indexing the local. In N. Coupland (Ed.), The handbook of language and globalization (pp. 386–405). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Johnstone, B. (2011). Dialect enregisterment in performance. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 15(5), 657–679. [how Pittsburghese is represented in “WDVE Morning Show” skits with Jim Krenn and others]
Johnstone, B., Andrus, J. & Danielson, A. (2006) Mobility, indexicality, and the enregisterment of "Pittsburghese," Journal of English Linguistics, 34(2), 77-104. [the history of the idea that there is a Pittsburgh dialect]
Johnstone, B., & Baumgardt, D. (2004). "Pittsburghese" Online: Vernacular Norming in Conversation. American Speech, 79, 115-145. [analysis of an online discussion of "our local dialect" explores how popular ideas about what "counts" as local speech arise in interaction.]
Wisnosky, M. (1999). "Pittsburghese" in Pittsburgh Humor. MA Thesis, Department of Linguistics: University of Pittsburgh.
