How do you recognise a Boston accent?

Non-rhotic — “park the car” as “pahk the cah”. Intrusive R between vowels: “the idear of it”. A broad, fronted vowel in “park”, “aunt” and “half”. Local vocabulary: “bubbler” for a drinking fountain, “wicked” as an intensifier.

Which famous people have a Boston accent?

Mark Wahlberg is a speaker whose recorded speech anchors the Boston / Eastern New England English profile used by DialectGuessr.

How do I test whether I have a Boston accent?

DialectGuessr's free accent test asks 29 questions about the words you use and how you pronounce them, then scores your answers against the Boston / Eastern New England English profile and every other profile in the survey. It takes about two minutes and needs no account.

Boston and eastern New England

The Boston accent

The Boston accent is the best-known non-rhotic accent in the United States: the R in “car” and “Harvard” is dropped, and an R can appear where there is none, as in “idea-r of it”. Eastern New England also keeps “cot” and “caught” distinct while merging “father” and “bother”, an unusual combination in America.

Take the quiz and see how close your accent is →

How to recognise a Boston accent

Non-rhotic — “park the car” as “pahk the cah”.
Intrusive R between vowels: “the idear of it”.
A broad, fronted vowel in “park”, “aunt” and “half”.
Local vocabulary: “bubbler” for a drinking fountain, “wicked” as an intensifier.

Also known as Boston accent, New England accent, Massachusetts accent, Pahk the cah. Spoken in Boston and eastern New England, United States.

The Boston pronunciation fingerprint

These are the answers the quiz expects from a Boston speaker on its 30 pronunciation questions. Where a feature varies within the region, more than one answer counts as a match.

“bath” takes the short vowel of “cat”
The Trap–Bath Split: Does “Bath” Rhyme With “Cat” or “Father”?
“car” ends in a vowel, with no R sound
Rhotic vs Non-Rhotic: Do You Pronounce the R in “Car”?
a quick D-like tap in “bottle”, or a catch in the throat instead of the T in “bottle” — “bo’le”
Bottle, Bo'le or Boddle? The T in the Middle of a Word
“cot” and “caught” stay distinct
The Cot–Caught Merger: Do “Cot” and “Caught” Sound the Same?
“Mary”, “marry” and “merry” all sound different, or two of “Mary”, “marry” and “merry” match and one differs
Mary, Marry, Merry: One Sound, Two or Three?
“day” ends on a slight “ee” — day-ee
The Vowel in “Day”: Gliding or Steady?
“go” ends on a slight “oo” — go-oo
The Vowel in “Go”: Gliding or Steady?
“tune” sounds like “toon”, without a Y sound
Tune, Toon or Choon? The Y After a Consonant
no — they sound different
Do “Singer” and “Finger” Rhyme? The Velar Nasal Plus
one — “film”
“Film” or “Fillum”? The Helping Vowel in Highland and Irish English
no — they end in a vowel
The Bristol L: Why “Area” Can Sound Like “Areal”
a th sound
“Dat” for “That”: TH-Stopping in the Function Words
“ship” and “sheep” have different vowel sounds
Ship or Sheep? The Vowel That Divides Native and Learned English
“put” and “putt” have different vowels
The Foot–Strut Split: Do “Put” and “Putt” Rhyme?
“three” starts with a TH sound, with the tongue against the teeth
Three, Free or Tree? What Happens to Your TH
the H in “house” is pronounced
H-Dropping: Do You Say “House” or “'Ouse”?
“fur” and “fair” stay distinct
Fur and Fair: The Merger That Marks Liverpool
“beer” and “bear” stay distinct
Beer and Bear: The Merger That Marks New Zealand
“happy” ends on a long “-ee”
Happy: Does It End in “-ee” or “-ih”?
“wine” and “vine” start with different sounds
Wine or Vine? Where V and W Fall Together
“school” starts straight on the S
“Eschool” for “School”: The Vowel Some Accents Add
“bed” ends with D and “bet” ends with T
Bed or Bet? Final-Obstruent Devoicing
a smooth R, without tapping or rolling the tongue
Rolled, Uvular or Neither? How the R Is Made
“pin” and “pen” stay distinct
Pin or Pen? The Southern US Vowel Merger
the vowel in “ride” glides from one sound to another
Does “Ride” Stay on One Sound? Southern PRICE
“celery” and “salary” stay distinct
Celery or Salary? Melbourne's Quiet Giveaway

Everyday words in Boston and eastern New England

Expected everyday vocabulary for a Boston speaker.
Question	Usual answer
What do you usually call a sweet carbonated drink?	Soda
What do you call shoes worn for sport or exercise?	Sneakers
What do you usually call the main evening meal?	Dinner
What do you call a small, round piece of bread for one person?	Roll
What do you call thin strips of potato served hot and fried?	Fries
What is your general word for small sugary treats?	Candy
What do you call the wheeled basket used in a supermarket?	Shopping cart
What do you call restaurant food collected to eat elsewhere?	Takeout
What do you call a public fixture you drink water from?	Bubbler
What do you call a small neighbourhood shop selling everyday items?	Convenience store
How do you usually address a group of people informally?	You guys
What do you call the household container for unwanted rubbish?	Trash can
What do you call the narrow passageway between or behind houses?	Alley / alleyway
What do you call the insulated box you carry cold drinks in?	Cooler
You are waiting your turn behind other people. What are you doing?	Waiting in line
“Man’s getting emotional.” Who is “man”?	It does not make sense to me
What do you call rubber sandals held on by a strap between the toes?	Flip-flops
What do you call the red-amber-green signal at a junction?	Traffic lights
What do you call a circular junction you drive around?	Rotary
How do you say “the” in a phrase like “I’m going down the shop”?	A full “the”
“We’ll not be home while seven.” What does that sentence mean to you?	It does not make sense to me
“I’m after having my dinner.” What does that sentence mean to you?	It does not make sense to me
What do you call a shared minibus used as public transport?	I do not have a word for that
Does “she be working on Fridays” sound like a normal way to say she works Fridays regularly?	No — it does not sound like my English
Does “the car needs washed” sound normal — without “to be”?	No — I would say “needs to be washed”
What do you call a long sandwich in a split roll?	Grinder
What do you call a multi-storey building for parking cars?	Parking garage
Can “da kine” stand in for a thing you have not named?	No — that is not a word I use

What 14 people from the Boston area told the survey

14 people who grew up in the Boston area have taken the DialectGuessr quiz. These are the answers where they differ most from everyone else who has taken it.

Answers from people who grew up in the Boston area, against everyone else in the survey.
Question	Their answer	Here vs elsewhere
What do you call shoes worn for sport or exercise?	Sneakers	93% vs 32% elsewhere · 13 of 14
What do you call a circular junction you drive around?	Rotary	62% vs 1% elsewhere · 8 of 13
What do you usually call a sweet carbonated drink?	Soda	93% vs 41% elsewhere · 13 of 14
Which is closest to how you naturally say “tune”?	“Toon” — without a Y sound	93% vs 46% elsewhere · 13 of 14
Do “cot” and “caught” rhyme in your natural accent?	Yes — they sound the same	86% vs 45% elsewhere · 12 of 14
What do you call restaurant food collected to eat elsewhere?	Takeout	79% vs 38% elsewhere · 11 of 14

From people who chose to take the quiz and pinned where they grew up, so a self-selected sample rather than a random one. The figures are recalculated daily as more people answer.

How Massachusetts answered the Harvard Dialect Survey

The Harvard Dialect Survey, collected by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder in 2002–2003, recorded how respondents in every US state answered the same questions. These are Massachusetts’s answers, most common first.

Massachusetts, Harvard Dialect Survey.
Question	Answers in Massachusetts
Soda, Pop or Coke? The Map of How America Orders a Fizzy Drink	soda 76% · coke 3% · pop 2%
Traffic Circle, Roundabout or Rotary?	rotary 89% · traffic circle 4% · roundabout 4%
Water Fountain, Drinking Fountain or Bubbler?	water fountain 49% · bubbler 36% · drinking fountain 10%
Lightning Bug or Firefly?	firefly 56% · lightning bug 10%
Crawfish, Crawdad or Crayfish?	crayfish 50% · crawfish 39% · crawdad 2%
You Guys, Y'all or You All?	you guys 50% · you all 10% · y'all 4%
Kitty-Corner or Catty-Corner?	kitty-corner 58% · catty-corner 8%
Garage Sale or Yard Sale?	yard sale 68% · garage sale 16%
Tennis Shoes or Sneakers?	sneakers 94% · tennis shoes 2%
Trash Can or Garbage Can?	trash can 43% · garbage can 11%
Frosting or Icing?	frosting 55% · icing 4%
Scratch Paper or Scrap Paper?	scrap paper 58% · scratch paper 12%
Frontage Road, Service Road or Access Road?	access road 27% · service road 26% · frontage road 12%
Does “Route” Rhyme With “Out” or “Hoot”?	rhymes with "hoot" 68% · rhymes with "out" 3%
Caramel: Two Syllables or Three?	with 3 syllables ("carra-mel") 57% · with 2 syllables ("car-ml") 22%
Mischievous or Mischievious?	mischievous (3 syllables) 72% · mischievious (4 syllables) 10%
Rubber Band, Hair Tie or Elastic?	(hair) elastic 53% · rubber band 15% · hair tie 11%

Data from the Harvard Dialect Survey (Bert Vaux and Scott Golder, 2002–2003), used under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 licence. A self-selected sample from two decades ago: how people spoke then, not a census.

Speakers with a Boston accent

Mark Wahlberg
Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Born and raised in Dorchester; this match uses the classic eastern Massachusetts profile.

Accent profiles are anchored to primary-source regional recordings from the International Dialects of English Archive, not to any individual performance.