Dialects of North America Based on data from the TELSUR Project, University of Pennsylvania.
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Transcript of Dialects of North America Based on data from the TELSUR Project, University of Pennsylvania.
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/hawkdon/dawncot/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
cab ham flag
NYC: [kiəb] [hiəm] [fliəg]
Philly: [kæb] [hæm] [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