One thing I noticed, which isn't really to do with accents per se, is that on The Sopranos a lot of the Italian Americans in New York speak with a slight lisp, with the bottom lip protruding. Could you explain why that is? Is it to do with the idiolect or pronunciation requirements of native Italian or what?
I've never been cognizant of that.
New York Italianese is closely related to a Brooklyn/Bronx accent (a "th" gets replaced by a "d" - like "them" becomes "dem")... an "oy" sound becomes an "er" sound ... like "oil" becomes "earl".... similarly in Italian a "c" comes out like a "g" ("cappicola" - a ham - becomes "gabagool")...
