The Durham Historic Association will hold its annual picnic on Tuesday, June 27, at 6 p.m. at the Durham Town Landing. After the picnic, University of New Hampshire linguistics professor Naomi Nagy will give a talk titled “New Hampshire Dialects Remain Distinct.”

The talk will focus on emerging differences in the speech of people from southern New Hampshire as compared to those from northern New Hampshire and Boston. Nagy’s talk draws on a 10-year, UNH-conducted research project on the shifting pronunciations exhibited in southern New Hampshire. She notes that, while for Bostonians and people from the north of the state there is a clear distinction between the words “father” and “bother,” younger people in southern New Hampshire do not make such a distinction. Similarly, “Mary,” “marry” and “merry” all rhyme as far as people from southern New Hampshire are concerned.

“When I first moved to New Hampshire,” said Nagy, who grew up in Montreal and Nebraska, “I noticed a degree of animosity for people from Boston. I think in the south of the state, there’s an awareness of the Boston pattern, and people are trying to separate themselves from that and maintain their speech as unique.”

Those interested in hearing more should attend the picnic and come with their own food and beverages.