Bermuda’s unique dialect was laid bare before a packed Bermuda College lecture hall by linguist Britanni Fubler.Her comments at Thursday’s lecture were met with knowing laughs, and a few looks of surprise.“We definitely have our own dialect. It qualifies in terms of accent, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar,” Ms Fubler said.She told an audience of about 130 people that Bermuda’s home-grown speech includes some unique sounds, evidently found nowhere else: many of us use an especially nasal vowel combination for the word ‘home’.And the Bermudian pronunciation of ‘school’ a clipped, ‘skil’-like sound vaguely resembles Southern speech, but is shorter, and lacks the lilting Southern diphthong.Both sounds, which can be rendered in phonetic symbols, appear to be distinctly Bermudian.Other words carry secret pronunciations that have died out elsewhere. The way many Bermudians say ‘taken’ instead of ‘ten’, has an element in common with the UK’s Lancashire accent, she said. But in nearby New England, that version of the accent has faded from use.Ms Fubler’s survey of the Bermuda dialect, which used voice-analysing software to study the pronunciation of 700 people, has so far only targeted vowels. The mystery of words that cross Ws and Vs must therefore await future studies.While the Island’s accent leans toward the British end of the spectrum, word usage is increasingly US-derived, she said.Turning to Bermuda’s stereotypical slang of ‘hot’, meaning intoxicated, Ms Fubler’s studies show use of the word falling by age. Bermudians aged 60 and above favour ‘hot’, and the word commonly appears in tourist guides.But for locals aged 20 and below, the word is ‘tapped’; ‘hot’ is being edged into extinction.“This is interesting,” Ms Fubler said. “It proves that our dialect is alive, and changing.”In another example, older Bermudians would describe a certain piece of furniture as a ‘bureau’, but younger generations would call it a ‘dresser’ a trend seen across the world.Bermuda’s growing preference for US English can be tracked in our choice of word for fizzy drinks.“People almost exclusively called it ‘soda’, which is identifying with the American term,” Ms Fubler said. “But I was really pleased to see ‘mineral’ on the list [although the pronunciation is] more like ‘mineral’.”That word, familiar to older Bermudians, is on its way out: increasingly, ‘soda’ reigns.Despite the contention over what does and does not constitute ‘proper’ English, Ms Fubler reminded her audience that, linguistically speaking, no dialect is ‘better’ than any other.Her studies of Bermudian dialect, which she hinted may soon be linked with an overseas organisation, are expected to continue well into the future. With that in mind, she called on more people to take part, by contacting her at bfubler[AT]gmail.com.“I need all Bermudians but in particular, I need more white Bermudians,” she added.The study leaves behind more than a few mysteries.One phrase, ‘parish bull’ meaning a man known to have several children provoked familiar laughter from older members of the audience.St George’s, however, led the Island in giving the correct answer in Ms Fubler’s study: 22 percent of respondents from the East End knew the meaning of the term.“That’s something we have to look into further,” Ms Fubler said.