Do You Have a Philly Accent on Twitter?

That Jawn Was Hot. Even if you’re one of those loathsome Philadelphians who insist on saying “wooder,” most people over the age of seven know how to spell it. You’d think this, and other linguistic quirks, wouldn’t be noticeable on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, some people develop social networking accents. From Newsworks:

Muffy Siegel, a linguist at Temple University, says sites such as Twitter have given those who study language a treasure trove of information to sift through and analyze.
“Social media have proved a bonanza to linguists, because it gives us access to people writing and speaking in a very natural way,” Siegel said. “We didn’t have access to people’s social interactions this way before without sneaking up on them with tape recorders.” [Newsworks]