Have any of you ever heard a Down East Drawl? LOL
Here are some tips to make it easier for you to understand me.
The key is to relax your jaw. Say "Mainer." Notice the tension in your jaw and how it opens only slightly. Now say "Mainah," letting your lower jaw drop on the "ah" paht (er, I mean "part"). Practice saying it in an exaggerated manner to get the feel. Now you're ready for the rules of Mainespeak.
1.Words that end in "er" are pronounced "ah." Mainer = Mainah. Car = Cah. Mother and Father = Muthah and Fathah. Water = Watah. You get the drift.
2.Conversely, words that end in "a" are sometimes, but not always, pronounced "er." California becomes Californier. Idea becomes idear. Yoga becomes Yoger.
3.Drop the "g" in "ing." Stopping and starting = stoppin' and startin', or more correctly, stoppin' and stahtin'.
4.Broaden a and e sounds. Calf becomes cahf. Bath becomes bahth. Can't becomes cahn't.
5.Drag out some one-syllable words into two syllables. There becomes they-uh. Here becomes hee-ah.
