Transcript Dialects of North America

Dialects of North America
Based on data from the TELSUR
Project, University of
Pennsylvania
TELSUR Project, publishing
The Atlas of North American
English
Dialect Regions: North Central, The Inland North, The Northeast, The
Midland (North and South), The South, The West
Three 20th/21st Century Shifts
in American English
• Northern Cities Shift (Inland North)
• Southern Shift (South)
• Low Back Merger (West)
North Central
monophthongization
‘boat’
• Standard American
[bout]
• North Central
[bot]
Northern Cities Shift (1)
‘man’
æ → e → eə
[mæn]
[me:n]
[meən]
NB This shift (æ before m
or n) has happened in
various regions, not just
the Inland North
Northern Cities Shift (1)
‘Matt’
æ → e → eə
[mæt]
[me:t]
[meət]
NB This shift (æ before
any consonant)
happened only in the
Inland North
Northern Cities Shift (2)
‘rock’
Ɔ→æ
[rɔk]
[ræk]
Northern Cities Shift (3)
‘bus’
ʌ→ɑ
[bʌs]
[bɑs]
Mergers/Distinctions
• ‘low back merger’: 50% of country:
hock/hawk
don/dawn
cot/caught
• witch/which (2/3 → very few)
NB mergers are one way (merger area
expands)
ju → iu → u Merger
‘dew’
dju → diu → du
‘news’
nju → niu → nu
‘Jew’
ĵju → ĵiu → ĵu
NB This merger happens after:
[d], [g], [ĵ], [č], [š], [l], [n], [r], [s], [t], [w], [j], [z]
It does not happen after:
[b], [k], [f], [h], [m], [p], [v]
Incomplete ju → iu → u Merger
I [diu]
I [du]
[diu] on the grass
The [du] on the grass
NYC vs. Philly
NYC:
Philly:
cab
[kiəb]
[kæb]
ham
[hiəm]
[hæm]
flag
[fliəg]
[flæg]
Philly: 3 extraordinary words:
mad [miəd], bad [biəd], glad [gliəd]
Compare [sæd], [dæd], [fæd]
Eastern New England
[ɑr] → [ɑ] [pɑk] or [æ] [pæk]
[ɔ] → [oɔ] [Roɔbət][boɔb] (to his friends)
‘r-dropping’ [ovə]
‘intrusive r’ [ɑidiər]
NYC vs. Boston
• Boston: ‘r-dropping’ [hæd]
• NYC: no ‘r-dropping’ [hɑrd]
• ‘old-fashioned’ NYC accent (Archie
Bunker, Bugs Bunny):
(‘bird’) [bərd] → [boid]
and vice-versa:
(‘toilet’) [toilət] → [tərlət]
NYC speech
• Raising of [ɑ] to [ɔə] or [ʊə]: ‘talk’ [tɔək], [tʊək]
• Raising of [æ] to [eə] or [iə]: ‘mad’ [meəd],
[miəd]
• Lack of merger of front vowels before r:
marry [mæri]
merry [mɛri]
Mary [meri]
The South
Southern Shift:
• monophthongization of [ɑi] to [ɑ] or [æ]
‘hide’ [hɑid] → [hɑd], [hæd] (less in Dallas & Houston)
• lowering of [ei] to [ɑi]
‘made’ [meid] → [mɑid] (in some areas)
• raising and diphthongization of [æ] to [eə]
‘bad’ [bæd] → [beəd]
• tensing of [ɔ] to [o] or [ou]
‘on’ [ɔn] → [on], [oun]
Southern Shift (cont’d)
• fronting and diphthongization of [u] to
[iu]
‘food’ [fud] → [fiud]
• raising of [ɑ] to [o] before r
‘bar’ [bɑr] → [bor] (in some areas)
• diphthongization of [i] to [ɛi] or [˄i]
‘feed’ [fid] → [fɛid], [f˄id]
The West
• Almost universal ‘low back merger’
of cot/caught, don/dawn, hock/hawk
to [ɑ]
(applies to about 50% of the country see map next slide)
Low Back Merger (purple dots)
Canadian (and Minnesotan)
Raising
• [ɑi] → [əi], [ɑu] → [əu] before [p], [t],
[k], [f], [s], [ɵ]
‘house’ [hɑus] → [həus]
‘knife’ [nɑif] → [nəif]
(sometimes misheard by southern
listeners as a monophthong)
[ut ən abut]
Also found in Minnesota, some
Midland areas, Martha’s Vineyard,
South Atlantic US
Canadian Rounding
“Sorry, I left my oranges and
chocolate in the forest.”
For more on raising and
rounding (with sound files),
see
http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/
troberts/raising.html