Today, New York City English is associated particularly with urban New Yorkers of lower and middle socioeconomic status who are descended from 19th- and 20th-century European immigrants.
New York City English, largely with the same major pronunciation system popularly recognized today, was first reproduced in literature and scientifically documented in the 1890s.
Additionally, as a result of social and commercial contact between New Orleans, Louisiana and New York City,[12] the traditional accent of New Orleans, known locally as "Yat", bears distinctive similarities with the New York accent, including the (moribund) coil–curl merger, raising of the /ɔ/ vowel to [ɔə], a similar split in the short-a system, and th-stopping.
Researchers proposed that the motivation behind these recessive trends is the stigmatization of the typical New York City accent since the mid-1900s as being associated with a poorer or working-class background, often also corresponding with particular ethnic identities.
Linguistics professor Deborah Tannen notes in a New York Times article it has "an emphasis to involve the other person, rather than being considerate.
'"[22] The New York City accent has a strong presence in media; pioneer variationist sociolinguist William Labov describes it as the most recognizable variety of North American English.
Many fictional characters in popular films and television shows have used New York City English, whether or not the actors portraying them are native speakers of the dialect.
Specifically, the upper Hudson Valley mixes New York City and Western New England accent features, while Central and Western New York belong to the same dialect region as Great Lakes cities such as Chicago and Detroit, a dialect region known as the Inland North.
[212] The northeastern quarter of New Jersey, prominently Hudson, Bergen, Union, and Essex Counties, including the municipalities of Weehawken, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Newark,[213] plus Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, are all within the New York metropolitan area and thus also home to the major features of New York City English.
[214] The following is a list of notable lifelong native speakers of the New York City English of northeastern New Jersey, regardless of their level of rhoticity: