[citation needed] Today, an especially marked or "heavier" Philadelphia accent is most commonly found in Irish-American and Italian-American working-class neighborhoods, though the accent is prominent and pervasive to varying degrees throughout the entire Delaware Valley among all socioeconomic levels.
The Philadelphia and New York accents presumably shared certain common linguistic inputs in the nineteenth century, since both accents by the twentieth century demonstrated a high /ɔ/ vowel (which helps to maintain a contrast between words like cot and caught) as well as a phonemic split of the short a vowel, /æ/ (causing gas and gap to have different vowels sounds, for example) not found elsewhere in the United States.
[4] Philadelphians then began further developing their own entirely unique phonological features, remaining similar-sounding to New York City's English.
[6] As of today, "the most strongly supported generalization is that Philadelphia has moved away from its Southern heritage in favor of a Northern system, avoiding those forms that are most saliently associated with local phonology.
Films and television shows set in the Philadelphia region generally make the mistake of giving the characters a working-class New York City dialect (specifically heard in Philadelphia-set films such as the Rocky series, Invincible, and A History of Violence).
Contrary examples exist, such as the character Lynn Sear (played by Toni Collette) in The Sixth Sense, who speaks with an accurate Philadelphia dialect.
The use of geographically inaccurate dialects is also true in films and television programs set in Atlantic City or any other region of South Jersey; the characters often use a supposed "Joisey" dialect, when in reality that New York-influenced dialect for New Jersey natives is almost always exclusive to the northern region of the state nearest to New York City, while most South Jersey residents actually speak with a Philadelphia accent.
[95] Reviews of the portrayal of the dialect by British lead actress Kate Winslet and others have been mostly positive.
[96][97] Philadelphia natives who work in media and entertainment often assimilate to the General American broadcast standard.
Speakers with a noticeable local accent include Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money,[98] singer Joe Bonsall, political commentator Chris Matthews,[99] Bam Margera,[98] and several others in the MTV Jackass crew.