In a survey of North American English (Labov, et al., 2006), Boston speakers reported that they use the word ‘tonic’. However, in areas surrounding Boston, speakers tend to use the word ‘soda’. Notably, African American speakers' usage has been observed to differentiate from the majority of speakers in various regions. In the Harvard Dialect Survey, 75.6% of Massachusetts speakers reported that they use the word ‘soda’. The word ‘tonic’ is the next most commonly used name to refer to a carbonated beverage, followed by words like ‘soft drink’, ‘coke’ and ‘pop’.

According to our findings, 77.5% of respondents refer to a cold, dark carbonated beverage as ‘soda’ and nearly 8.75% call it ‘coke’. Our research suggests that Black Boston area natives predominantly refer to cold, dark carbonated beverages as ‘soda’.

- (Labov et al, 2006:289)
- (Harvard Dialect Survey, 2003: Massachusetts Dialect Survey Results).