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Pennsylvania Rural Accents

We dig into a variety of Rural Pennsylvania accents, including the stronger Pennsylvania Dutch accents from the Susquehanna River Valley. You'll hear native speakers and teaching audio for both the heavier and lighter rural accents of PA.
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Pennsylvania Rural Accent Materials

  • The Pennsylvania Rural accent materials include recordings of AccentHelp coach Jim Johnson guiding you through learning the stronger Pennsylvania Dutch accent as well as other rural Pennsylvania accents.
  • Jim gathered numerous recordings of native speakers while traveling in Pennsylvania - bringing the experience back to you in this download. You'll get PDF transcripts of their conversations so that you can follow along as you listen.
  • You'll get a PDF of the teaching materials, along with three other versions of the book: a PDF file to print, MOBI for Kindle, and EPUB for other portable readers.
  • This stronger accent was used in the Harrison Ford film Witness, and it's commonly referred to as Penn Dutch and Pennsylvania German.
  • The Pennsylvania Dutch accent is influenced by other Pennsylvania accents to some degree. The primary influence was German immigration in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is spoken by the Amish of this region and in other parts of the country, and it's also spoken by others who live in this region of eastern Pennsylvania.  There are elements of this in Pittsburgh accents, and it certainly has a lot in common with German accents, too.
  • All of the sound files are in MP3 format so that you can play them on your computer, load them onto your phone, or burn them to a CD.
  • You'll receive a link via email so that you can download all of the materials as ZIP files directly to your computer.
  • You'll also get future updates for free! (last update: 2019)

5% of all profits from these materials go to diversity scholarships for actors at the University of Houston.

Listen to a Sample!

Audio files in Three Volumes (288.5MB, 377minutes)

Pennsylvania Rural Vol 1: Learning the Accent

  1. Sound Placement, Intonation and Helpful Hints (15:41)
  2. Pennsylvania Dutch Consonant sound changes 1 (12:10)
  3. Pennsylvania Dutch Consonant sound changes 2 (11:21)
  4. Pennsylvania Rural Consonant sound changes (8:58)
  5. Penn Dutch Vowel sound changes (12:46)
  6. Penn Rural Vowel sound changes (9:51)
  7. changes to Diphthongs in Penn Dutch (8:17)
  8. Penn Rural Diphthongs (9:37)
  9. Alternate Pronunciations (3:09)
  10. Penn Dutch Practice Sentences (3:09)
  11. Penn Rural Practice Sentences (3:00)
  12. Penn Dutch Text Practice on Sounds (24:25)
  13. Penn Rural Text Practice on Sounds (19:16)
  14. Intonation & Placement Practice (9:28)
  15. Monologue Examples (2:13)

Pennsylvania Rural Vol 2: Native Speakers

  1. Male from Rough and Ready reading (1:07)
  2. + his conversation (7:25)
  3. Sisters from Leck Kill in conversation (3:57)
  4. Male from Klingerstown in conversation (11:11)
  5. Male from Red Cross reading (1:33)
  6. + his conversation (5:56)
  7. Female from Red Cross reading (1:30)
  8. + her conversation (5:00)
  9. Male from Dalmatia in conversation (5:21)
  10. Male from Mount Joy reading (1:21)
  11. + his conversation (6:07)
  12. Male from Leck Kill reading (1:16)
  13. + his conversation (9:02)
  14. Two Males from Herndon in conversation (12:07)
  15. Female from Dornsife reading (1:03)
  16. + her conversation (4:54)
  17. Female from Tamaqua reading (1:04)
  18. + her conversation (3:22)
  19. Female from Frackville reading (1:19)
  20. + her conversation (8:45)
  21. Female from Locustdale reading (1:05)
  22. + her conversation (5:47)
  23. Male from Atlas reading (1:42)
  24. + his conversation (10:38)
  25. Male from Shamokin reading (1:06)
  26. + his conversation (4:04)
  27. Male from Tremont reading (1:19)
  28. + his conversation (3:54)
  29. Female from Lykens reading (1:18)
  30. + her conversation (9:48)

Pennsylvania Rural Vol 3: Native Speakers

  1. Female from Lewisburg reading (1:08)
  2. + her conversation (4:07)
  3. African-American Female from Steelton reading (1:10)
  4. + her conversation (4:37)
  5. Male from Middletown reading (1:18)
  6. + his conversation (6:19)
  7. Female from Lampeter reading (1:20)
  8. + her conversation (7:19)
  9. Male from Salunga reading (1:11)
  10. + his conversation (5:33)
  11. Female from York reading (1:03)
  12. + her conversation (4:05)
  13. Female from Philipsburg reading (:56)
  14. + her conversation (7:03)
  15. Female from Academia reading (1:05)
  16. + her conversation (4:45)
  17. Female from Thompsontown reading (1:11)
  18. + her conversation (6:30)
  19. Female from Allensville reading (1:08)
  20. + her conversation (9:43)
  21. Male from Huntingdon reading (1:25)
  22. + his conversation (3:52)
  23. Female from Huntingdon reading (1:06)
  24. + her conversation (6:20)
  25. Female from Saxton reading (1:01)
  26. + her conversation (4:31)

Most of these recordings are made "in the field" so you will hear such things as birds, cars or other people in the background. A transcription of the conversations is included to help you follow along.