Massachusetts

Some general Algonkian loanwords and a few place-names—such as Massachusetts itself, Chicopee, Quebbin, and Naukeag—are the language echoes of the Massachuset, Pennacook, and Mahican Indians so historically important in the founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony and Old Colony, now Plymouth.

On the whole, Massachusetts English is classed as Northern, but early migration up the Connecticut River left that waterway a sometimes sharp, sometimes vague boundary, setting off special variations within the eastern half of the state. Two conspicuous but now receding features long held prestige because of the cultural eminence of Boston: the absence of /r/ after a vowel, as in fear and port, and the use of a vowel halfway between the /ah/ in half and past and as well as in car and park and the short /a/ of cat . Eastern Massachusetts speakers are likely to have /ah/ in orange and to pronounce on and fog with the same vowel as in form. In the east, a sycamore is a buttonwood, a tied and filled quilt is a comforter, a creek is a saltwater inlet, and pancakes may be called fritters .

Around Boston are heard the intrusive /r/ as in "the lawr of the land," the /oo/ vowel in butcher, tonic for soft drink, submarine for a large sandwich, and milkshake for a concoction lacking ice cream. West of the Connecticut River are heard the /aw/ sound in orange, /ah/ in on and fog, and the short /a/ of cat in half and bass; buttonball is a sycamore, and comfortable is a tied quilt.

In 2000, 81.3% of the population five years of age or older (down from 84.8% in 1990) spoke only English at home.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over.