Pittsburgh

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the city of Pittsburgh has long been known as a 'steel' tough city filled with a variety of individuals who are as rough and coarse as the city itself. The writer points out that this perception of Pittsburgh and its inhabitants began to change in the early 1980s with the decline of the steel production for which the city was famous. Pittsburgh, from the time of the Civil War until those early 1980s, was a city filled with steel mills and other factories whose sole purpose was to provide America and the world with the steel it needed to fuel unprecedented growth. The writer then looks at the dialect that developed in Pittsburgh. The writer discusses that with competition and a decline in the need for steel, Pittsburgh had to transform itself from a city of steel mills to a city that provides (primarily) services such as healthcare and medical expertise.

From the Paper:

"Another important factor in this continued use of Pittsburghese is the media's use of the same words and pronunciations. Many of the immigrants were poor and uneducated and easily fell into the same patterns of language usage as those around them, both at work and at home. Many of them were unable to read, but importantly, they wanted more for their children and because of the available work, they were able to provide the children with the opportunity to become educated. Because the media continued to use the same phrases as they had used earlier, even the now educated offspring spoke in the same manner."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Andrus, J., Johnstone, B., Danielson, A.E., (2006) Mobility, Indexicality, and the Enregisterment of "Pittsburghese", Journal of English Linguistics, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 77-104
• Bodnar, J.E., Weber, M.P., Simon, R.D. (2000) Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians, and Poles in Pittsburgh 1900 - 1960, Springfield, Illinois: University of Illinois Press
• Creative Host opens City of Bridges Cafe at Pittsburgh Airport, (2005) Nation's Restaurant News Vol. 39 Number 32, p. 28 From General Reference Center Gold
• Furniss, Charlie.(2007) "Modern languages: more than half of the world's languages could be extinct by the end of the century, and many may not last beyond 2050. But an unikely saviour is at hand: far from bringing about cultural homogenisation, as many had predicted, the internet seems to be keeping endangered languages alive" Geographical, Vol 79 Number 4, pp 53 - 62
• Johnstone, B., (2007) Pittsburgh Speech and Society, accessed on July 29, 2007 at http://english.cmu.edu/pittsburghspeech/contact.html

More papers on Pittsburgh:

• Admission Essay # 131651 : "University of Pittsburgh Application Essay"
• Term Paper # 94290 : "Neighborhood Analysis: South Side Pittsburgh"
• Research Paper # 32814 : " Pittsburgh And Washington, D.C."

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