Any infusion of outsiders to an area is bound to dilute the dialect of the native speakers, said Gayle Belin, a clinical supervisor at the E.M. Luse Center, the clinical arm of the University of Vermont's Department of Communication Sciences. The Luse Center has launched a study to help define the Vermont dialect and document sub-dialects within the state. If the Vermont accent is fading, speech expert Julie Roberts will be surprised. In fact they are becoming stronger. It's very much a way to signal group membership.
Accents make regional expressions more authentic.
The accent's origins Conventional wisdom holds that around Vermont there are audible differences in the dialect. And according to Roberts, geographical barriers such as rivers and mountains can separate speakers and result in subdialects. Ethnic groups also have an impact. In central and northern Vermont, for example, the influence of French-Canadian immigrants is heard in the way English is spoken and the use of French instead of English. But Vermont was primarily settled by the English and many features of the Vermont accent can be traced directly to England, said Ralph Aldrich, associate professor of English at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville.