Yat Dialect - New Orleans Accent in Popular Conception

New Orleans Accent in Popular Conception

The distinct New Orleans dialect has been depicted in many ways throughout the city and the U.S.

The main character of the cartoon strip Krazy Kat spoke in a slightly exaggerated phonetically-rendered version of early-20th century Yat; friends of the New Orleans-born cartoonist George Herriman recalled that he spoke with many of the same distinctive pronunciations.

Actual New Orleans accents were long seldom heard nationally. New Orleanians who attained national prominence in the media often made an effort to tone down or eliminate the most distinctive local pronunciations. Dan Baum's, Nine Lives, shares the feelings of Ronald Lewis, a native of the Ninth Ward who is embarrassed by his local dialect when speaking in front of a group of white Northerns. After the displacement of Greater New Orleans area residents due to Hurricane Katrina, the United States was introduced to some of the New Orleans yat accents due to the constant news coverage. Stephen Seagal's show Lawman, also exposed some of the Yat accents and dialects to the nation as well.

Ronnie Virgets, a New Orleans writer, commentator, and journalist, employs New Orleans dialects and accents in his written and spoken works, including the locally produced public radio program, Crescent City. WWNO, the local public radio station, broadcasts the program and provides access to past Crescent City programs on its website.

A Midwest Cajun restaurant chain based in Indianapolis, Indiana carries the name Yats. Also, cell phone company Boost Mobile used the phrase "Where Y'At?" in early advertising campaigns.

Who Dat? is a chant commonly tied to the Yat dialect and used in support of the New Orleans Saints football team. The entire chant is "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?" Saints fans are collectively called "Who Dat Nation."

The Yat dialect is seldom heard when New Orleans is depicted in movies and television shows. Traditionally, characters portrayed from New Orleans are heard using a southern or Cajun accent. An example of this is 1986's The Big Easy in which Dennis Quaid speaks an exaggerated Cajun/southern derivation. This trend has been challenged, though, in light of post-Katrina New Orleans representation, like HBO's Treme and Wernor Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, both of which feature actual New Orleans locals either speaking in Yat or one of its variations.