New York City English is a regional dialect of American English spoken by many people in New York City and much of its surrounding metropolitan area. Described by sociolinguist William Labov as the most recognizable dialect in North America, the dialect is known through its association in the media with many public figures and fictional characters. Its features are most densely concentrated in New York City proper and its immediate suburbs, but also extend to the wider metropolitan area and the New York City diaspora in other regions. The dialect is widely known for a number of both conservative and innovative pronunciation features, such as a lack of the cot–caught, Mary–marry–merry, and hurry–furry mergers; r-dropping (except before a vowel); a high, gliding vowel (in words like talk and caught); and a pronunciation split of the "short a" vowel into two separate sounds.