What makes the Philly accent "the gold standard of sociolinguistics"

From "wooder" to "jawn," it's a sound that is instantly recognizable, but the Philadelphia accent is more than just a few famous words. It's a piece of the city's identity.

"As soon as you hear it," Raquel Johnson of North Philly said, "you just know where they're from."

One of the most studied accents in America is right here in Philadelphia, and language experts can't get enough of it.

"It's the gold standard of sociolinguistics, basically," said Brian McHugh, a professor in Temple University's department of communication sciences.

McHugh says Philly's accent can be traced back across the "wooder" to the northern part of England, but it's about how our vowels hit.

"The way we pronounce the short 'A' vowel, where we have 'aah' and where we 'ehh' is what is unique to Philadelphia," McHugh said.

But most people who call Philly home don't even think they have an accent.

"People think that we have an accent, but I think that everybody else has an accent," South Philly's Prudence Scott said. "This is just us. This is how we walk."

"It's ours," said Tom Lerro, another South Philly resident. "I mean, nobody can match it. And when people say you have an accent, we look at them like they're crazy. I mean, we just, you know, that's normal talk for us."

Whether you grew up in South Philly, North Philly or the Northeast, people say you can hear home the second someone opens their mouth.

"It can be from South Philly," Johnson said. "It can be what we call uptown. It could be North. Like I said, Northeast. If I'm out of town and I hear jawn, I know exactly like, 'Oh, somebody from home is here.'"

So, the next time someone tries to mock the way you ask for a glass of "wooder," remind them you're not saying it wrong. You're just speaking Philly.