Hayna Valley English
Hayna Valley English is a regional dialect of the English language spoken in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is highly concentrated in the Wyoming Valley area, which includes Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The word "Hayna" in "Hayna Valley English" is one of the dialect's most prominent and distinctive words. Hayna (variant "heyna") is a linguistic particle meaning "Isn't it so?" Most often, the word "hayna" is coupled with "or no", creating the phrase "Hayna or no?" (variant "Heynit or no?").
The Wyoming Valley has many other differences from standard American English:
- The letter "H", when read aloud as a standalone letter, is not pronounced "aiych" but rather "haiych".
- Because of the large influx of Polish and other Slavic immigrants in the early 1900's, many Hayna Valley speakers omit the "th" sound in words and replace it with a "t" sound. For example, the word "cathedral" would be pronounced "cateedral", "three" becomes "tree", etc.
- Native speakers of Hayna Valley English have a tendency to overpronounce words. "Athlete" becomes "Ath-a-lete".