The Maine accent is the local traditional accent of Eastern New England English spoken in parts of Maine, especially along the "Down East" and "Mid Coast" seaside regions.^[1] It is characterized by a variety of features, particularly among older speakers, including r-dropping (non-rhoticity), resistance to the horse–hoarse merger,^[2] and a deletion or "breaking" of certain syllables. The traditional Maine accent is rapidly declining; a 2013 study of Portland speakers found the older horse–hoarse merger to be currently embraced by all ages; however, it also found the newer cot–caught merger to be resisted,^[3] despite the latter being typical among other Eastern New England speakers, even well-reported in the 1990s in Portland itself.^[2] The merger is also widely reported elsewhere in Maine as of 2018, particularly outside the urban areas.^[4] In the northern region of Maine along the Quebec and the New-Brunswick border, Franco-Americans may show French-language influences in their English.^[5] Certain vocabulary is also unique to Maine.

Phonology

One phonological feature of the traditional Maine accent, like in Eastern New England English generally, is that the "r" sound is only pronounced when it comes before a vowel, but not before a consonant or in any final position. For example, "car" may sound to listeners like "cah" and "Mainer" like "Mainah."^[6]

Also, as in much New England English, the final "-ing" ending in multi-syllable words sounds more like "-in," for example, in stopping [ˈstɒpɪn] and starting [ˈstaʔɪn].^[6]

Thus, Maine accent follows the pronunciation of Eastern New England English, like the Boston accent, but with the following additional features:

• Resistance to the horse–hoarse merger makes a word like horse have a pure vowel /ɒ/, while hoarse has a centering diphthong or disyllabic /oʊə/. Together with non-rhoticity, this potentially yields a NORTH–LOT–THOUGHT merger (expanding even beyond the cot-caught merger of all Northern New England English), so that tort, tot, and taught are phonemically all /tɒt/, while the FORCE vowel remains distinct. Thus, another two example words that would traditionally be distinguished in Maine are for /fɒ/ versus four /foʊə/.
• NURSE /ɜː/, unlike in modern-day Boston, may be a pure vowel without r-coloring, much like in British Received Pronunciation: [əː]. This makes vowel length marginally phonemic in unstressed (but not stressed) syllables, so the second syllable of password is [wəːd] but of forward is [wəd]. (In rhotic General American English, these two syllables would not be distinguished.)
• NEAR, SQUARE and FORCE are diphthongs or disyllabic sequences, consisting respectively of FLEECE, FACE, GOAT plus the schwa vowel (as in the end of COMMA): here /hiə/^ⓘ, there /ðeɪə/^ⓘ and more /moʊə/^ⓘ, in all cases with a possible glide after the stressed vowel: [ˈhijə, ˈðeɪjə, ˈmoʊwə].^[6]
• Many speakers pronounce polysyllabic words with a dipping tone. The phrase "You can't get there from here," [ju kʰɛənʔ ˈɡɛʔ ˈðéɪə̀ fɹəm ˈhíə̀] coined in an episode of the mid-1900s collection of humorous Maine stories Bert & I, is a quintessential example of that. This resembles one variety of the pitch accent (called the acute accent or Accent 1) found in the Swedish language, as in anden [ˈánːdɛ̀n]^ⓘ 'the wild duck'.^{[citation needed]}

Lexicon

The traditional Maine dialect has a fairly rich vocabulary. Much of this vocabulary is shared with other New England dialects, however some of it is specific to Maine. This vocabulary includes, but is not limited to, the following terms:

In popular culture

• John Neal (1793–1876) was one of the first authors to feature regional American accents and colloquialisms in his writing,^[15] some of which is considered primary source material for studies on the Maine accent.^[16] His 1835 play, Our Ephraim, or The New Englanders, A What-d'ye-call-it?–in three Acts, is considered his most significant work in this regard.^[17]
• Maine humorist Marshall Dodge (1935–1982) based much of his humor from the Maine dialect, beginning first with his involvement with the series Bert & I, a "Down East" collection of humor stories created during the 1950s and 1960s.
• Well-known author, musician, and former television broadcaster Tim Sample is known nationally for his use of Maine vernacular.^{[citation needed]}
• Jud Crandall, main character in Stephen King's 1983 novel Pet Sematary, is written to have a thick Down East accent, his pronunciations often spelled phonetically throughout the novel.