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North American English regional phonologyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromAmerican accent)
See also: Regional vocabularies of American English
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North American English regional phonology is the study of variations in the pronunciation of
spoken English by the inhabitants of various parts ofNorth America (United States and Canada).
North American Englishcan be divided into several regional dialects based on phonological,
phonetic,lexical, and some syntactic features. North American English includes American English,
which has several highly developed and distinct regional varieties, along with the closely related
Canadian English, which is more homogeneous. American English (especially Western dialects) an
Canadian English have more in common with each other than with the many varieties of English
outside North America.
The most recent work documenting and studying the phonology of North American English dialectsas a whole is theAtlas of North American English by William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles
Boberg, on which much of the description below is based, following on a tradition ofsociolinguistic
dating to the 1960s; earlier large-scale American dialectology focused more on lexical variation tha
on phonology.
Contents [hide]
1 Defining regions of North American speech
2 General American
3 The Midland
3.1 North Midland
3.2 South Midland3.3 St. Louis and vicinity
3.4 Western Pennsylvania
4 The North
4.1 Inland North
4.1.1 The Northern Cities Vowel Shift
4.2 North Central
4.3 Western New England
5 Northeastern dialects
5.1 Eastern New England
5.1.1 Rhode Island
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5.2 New York City
5.3 New J ersey
5.4 Pennsylvania
5.4.1 Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley
5.4.2 Other parts of Pennsylvania
5.5 Baltimore, Maryland
6 Southern American English
6.1 Southern Drawl
6.2 Southern vowel shift
6.3 Charleston, South Carolina
6.4 New Orleans
6.5 Acadiana
6.6 Miami accent
7 Western Dialect
7.1 California English
7.2 Pacific Northwest English
8 Canadian English
8.1 West/Central Canadian English
8.2 Canadian raising
8.3 Canadian Vowel Shift9 References
9.1 Bibliography
9.2 Footnotes
10 See also
11 External links
Regional dialects in North America are most strongly differentiated along the Eastern seaboard. T
distinctive speech of important cultural centers like Boston (see Boston accent); Philadelphia and
New Orleans imposed their marks on the surrounding areas. The Connecticut River is usuallyregarded as the southern/western extent ofNew England speech, while the Potomac River genera
divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect are
(distinguished from the Highland Southern or South Midland dialect treated below, although outside
often mistakenly believe that the speech in these two areas is the same); in between these two riv
several local variations exist, most famous among them the variety that prevails in New York City.
Dialects on the East Coast of the continent are most diverse chiefly because the East Coast has
been populated by English-speaking people longer than any other region. Western speech is muc
more homogeneous because it was settled by English speakers more recently, and so there has
been less time for the West to diversify into a multiplicity of distinctive accents. A reason for the
differences between (on the one hand) Eastern and (on the other hand) Midwestern and Western
accents is that the East Coast areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varietie
of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. The interior of the
country was settled by people who were no longer closely connected to England, as they had no
access to the ocean during a time when journeys to Britain were always by sea, and so Western a
inland speakers did not imitate the changes in speech from England.
African American Vernacular Englishcontains many distinctive forms that are more homogeneous
from region to region than the accents of white speakers, but African-American speakers are subje
to regional variation also.
Defining regions of North American speech [edit]
General American [edit]
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Main article: General American
General American is a notional accent of American English perceived by Americans to be most
"neutral" and free of regional characteristics. A General American accent is not a specific well-
defined standardized accent in the way that Received Pronunciation (RP) has historically been the
standard, prestigious variant of the English language in England; rather, accents with different
features can all be perceived as General American provided they lack certain non-standard featur
One feature that General American is generally agreed to include is rhotic pronunciation, which
maintains the coda [r] in words like pearl, car, and court. Unlike RP, General American ischaracterized by the mergerof the vowels of words like father and bother, flapping, and the reduc
ofvowel contrasts before historic /r/. General American also has yod-droppingafter alveolar
consonants.
The widespread Marymarrymerry merger and the winewhine mergerare complete in most
regions of North America and very common at least in informal and semi-formal varieties of others
however, the most formal varieties tend to be more conservative in preserving these phonemic
distinctions. Other phonemic mergers present in some speakers in certain regions include the cot
caught mergerand the pinpen merger (a conditional merger).
One phenomenon apparently unique to American accents is the irregular behavior of words that in
RP have /rV/ (where V stands for any vowel). Words of this class include, among others: origin,Florida, horrible, quarrel, warren, borrow, tomorrow, sorry, and sorrow. In General American there
a split: the majority of these words have /r/, but the last four words of the list above have /r/. In
New York accent, through New J ersey and Philadelphia, and in the Carolinas, most or all of these
words are pronounced /r/ by many speakers (Shitara 1993). In Canadian English, however, all of
words in this class are pronounced /r/.
Main article: Midland American English
The region of the Midwestern United States west of the Appalachian Mountainsbegins the broad
zone of what is generally called "Midland" speech. In older and traditional dialectological research,this is divided into two discrete subdivisions: the "North Midland" that begins north of the Ohio Riv
valley area and the "South Midland" dialect area. In more recent work such as the Atlas of North
American English, the former is designated simply "Midland" and the latter is reckoned as part of t
South. The (North) Midland is arguably the major region whose dialect most closely approximates
"General American".
The North Midland and South Midland are both characterized by having a distinctly fronter realizat
of the /o/ phoneme (as in boat) than many other American accents, particularly those of the Nort
the phoneme is frequently realized with a central nucleus, approximating []. Likewise, /a/ has a
fronter nucleus than /a/, approaching []. Another feature distinguishing the Midland from the
North is that the word on contains the phoneme // (as in caught) rather than // (as in cot).
(Obviously this only applies to Midland speakers not subject to the cotcaught merger, on which s
below.) For this reason, one of the names for the North-Midland boundary is the "'On' line".
In some areas of the Midland, words like "roof" and "root" (which in many other dialects have the
vowel u) are pronounced with the vowel of "book" and "hoof" .[citation needed]
A common non-phonological feature of the greater Midland area is so-called positive anymore: it h
become possible to use the word anymore with the meaning 'nowadays' in sentences without
negative polarity, such asAir travel is inconvenient anymore.
The Midland [edit]
North Midland [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_rhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_rhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yod-droppinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yod-droppinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine%E2%80%93whine_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine%E2%80%93whine_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin%E2%80%93pen_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carolinashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountainshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountainshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_itemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=3http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=4http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=4http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_itemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountainshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carolinashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin%E2%80%93pen_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine%E2%80%93whine_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yod-droppinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_rhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_rhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American -
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The North Midland region stretches from east to west across central and southern Ohio, central
Indiana, central Illinois, Iowa, and northern Missouri, as well as Nebraska and Kansas where it
begins to blend into the West. Major cities of this dialect area include Omaha, Kansas City, Des
Moines,Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. This area is currently undergoing a vowel merger
the "short o" // (as in cot) and 'aw' // (as in caught) phonemes. Many speakers show transitiona
forms of this so-called cotcaught merger, which is complete in approximately half of the rest of
North America.
The // phoneme (as in cat) shows most commonly a so-called "continuous" distribution: // is
raised and tensed toward [e] before nasal consonants and remains low [] before voicelessstopconsonants, and other allophones of // occupy a continuum of varying degrees of height between
those two extremes.
The South Midland dialect region follows the Ohio River in a generally southwesterly direction,
moving across from Kentucky, southern Indiana, and southern Illinois to southern Missouri, Arkans
southeastern Kansas, and Oklahoma, west of the Mississippi River. Although historically more clos
related to the North Midland speech, this region shows dialectal features that are now more similar
the rest of the South than the Midland, most noticeably the smoothing of the diphthong // to [a]
and the second person plural pronoun "you-all" or "y'all." Unlike the coastal South, however, the
South Midland has always been a rhotic dialect, pronouncing /r/ wherever it has historically occurre
South Indiana is the northernmost extent of the South Midland region, forming what dialectologists
refer to as the "HoosierApex" of the South Midland; the accent is locally known there as the
"Hoosier Twang".
The phonology of the South Midland is discussed in greater detail in the section on the South belo
St. Louis, Missouri is historically one among several (North) Midland cities, but it has developed so
unique features of its own distinguishing it from the rest of the Midland.
A historical feature of the St. Louis dialect is the merger of the phonemes /r/ (as in for) and /
(as in far), while leaving distinct /or/ (as in four). This merger is less frequently found in young
speakers, and leads to jokes referring to "I farty-far" and "Farest Park".[1]
Some speakers, usually older generations, have /e/ instead of Standard English // before //:
thus measure is pronounced /me./. Wash (as well as Washington) gains a /r/, becoming
/wr/ ("warsh").
The diphthong // in standard English becomes more like []. For example, words such as "o
and "joint" are commonly pronounced awyul andjawynt, particularly among older speakers with
the city and immediate suburbs.[citation needed]
The phoneme // is often replaced with /d/, especially among the white working-class urban
populace. For instance, Get in that car over there sounds like Get in dat car over dere. This
speech characteristic is common in most large, old cities of the East and Midwest, reinforcing SLouis's cultural evolution alongside other northern industrial urban centers.[citation needed]
Some younger speakers have picked up features of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, which is
discussed in detail below in the section on the Inland North. This vowel shift causes, among ot
changes, raising and tensing of the vowel //, so that words like cat /kt/ to become more like
[kt]. A corridor of communities between Chicago and St. Louis is the only place that feature
of the Inland North have penetrated noticeably into the Midland, despite the long boundary the
two regions share. However, St. Louis remains a Midland city in other respects. For example o
rhymes with dawn rather than don, unlike the North. Indeed, the fact that on rhymes with dawn
more distinctive in St. Louis than in the rest of the Midland, since the cotcaught merger is
South Midland [edit]
St. Louis and vicinity [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Illinoishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraskahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omahahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A#Non-phonemic_.C3.A6-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allophonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentuckyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentuckyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahomahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahomahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoothing_(phonetics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis,_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_44_in_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Park_(St._Louis,_Missouri)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=6http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=6http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Park_(St._Louis,_Missouri)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_44_in_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis,_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoothing_(phonetics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahomahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentuckyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allophonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasalizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A#Non-phonemic_.C3.A6-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omahahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraskahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missourihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Illinoishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio -
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prevented in St. Louis by the presence of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
Another feature typical of St. Louis speech is the ostensibly unique pronunciation ofsundae as
sunda /snd/. This does not carry over to any other words, not even Sunday. Again, this
feature is less common in the speech of younger generations.[citation needed]
The dialect ofWestern Pennsylvania is, for many purposes, an eastern extension of the North
Midland. Like the Midland proper, the Western Pennsylvania accent features fronting of /o/ and /a
as well as positive anymore. The chief distinguishing feature of Western Pennsylvania as a whole
that the cotcaught merger is complete here, whereas it is still in progress in most of the Midland.
The merger has also spread from Western Pennsylvania into adjacent West Virginia, historically in
the South Midland dialect region.
The city ofPittsburgh is considered a dialect of its own often known as Pittsburghese. This region
additionally characterized by a sound change that is unique in North America: the
monophthongization of /a/ to [a]. This is the source of the stereotypical Pittsburgh pronunciation
downtown as "dahntahn". Pittsburgh also features an unusually lowallophone of // (as in cut); it
approaches [] (// itself having moved out of the way and become a rounded vowel in its merger
with //).
The dialect area of the United States north of Pennsylvania and the Midland is distinguished from
Midland by a collection of linguistic features whose isoglossesall largely coincide, despite not bein
directly structurally related to each other. Dialectologists in the first half of the 20th century
distinguished the North from the Midland on the basis of a large collection of lexical isoglosses,
mostly dealing with differences in agricultural terms that are now largely obsolete (such as the use
ko-day in the north versus sheepie in the Midland to call sheep from the pasture). Despite the
obsolescence of these lexical differences, the boundary between the North and Midland is
maintained in the same place by phonological and phonetic isoglosses.
Where the Midland has fronting of /a/ and /o/, in the North the nucleus of /a/ is further bac
than that of /a/ and /o/ remains a back vowel. Similarly, although /u/ is fronted to the point o
being a mid or front vowel in most of the United States and Canada, in the North the allophon
/u / after non-coronal consonantsremains back. Indeed, in part of the north (much ofWiscons
and Minnesota), /u/ remains back in all environments.
Where the Midland has // (as in dawn) in on, the North has //.
Canadian raising of /a/i.e., the use of a raised allophone such as [] for /a/ before voiceles
consonantsis very common in the North but infrequent in most of the Midland.
There is no cotcaught merger in the North (as defined in theAtlas of North American English
although the merger is in progress in the Midland.
The North is also separated from the Midland by the presence of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift
(NCVS), on which see below; although the NCVS is not found in all parts of the North, it is presenin the part of the North most closely adjacent to the Midland and thus helps to define the boundar
Main article: Inland Northern American English
The Inland North dialect region was once considered the "standard Midwestern" speech that was
the basis for General American in the mid-20th century. However, it has been recently modified by
the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, which is the main feature of this dialect region. Today the Inland
North proper is regarded as the sub-region of the North where the NCVS predominates.
The Inland North is centered on the area south of the Great Lakes, and consists of two componen
Western Pennsylvania [edit]
The North [edit]
Inland North [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundaehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoglosshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoglosshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raisinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=7http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=7http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=8http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=9http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=9http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=9http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=8http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raisinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoglosshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundae -
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to the east, central and western New York State (including Syracuse, Binghamton, Rochester, and
Buffalo); and to the west, much ofMichigan's Lower Peninsula (Detroit, Grand Rapids),Toledo,
Cleveland,Chicago, Gary, and Southeastern Wisconsin (Milwaukee,Racine, Kenosha).
These two regions are separated by a region of northwestern Pennsylvania, including the city ofE
which is not today part of the linguistic Inland North. Although Erie was historically part of the grea
Northern dialect region, and is on the southern shore of Lake Erie halfway between Buffalo and
Cleveland, it has not undergone the NCVS; instead, as a result of heavy influence from Pittsburgh
the cotcaught merger has taken place in Erie.
The NCVS is not uniform throughout the Inland North; it is
most advanced in Western New York and Michigan, and
less developed in Cleveland. At the eastern fringes are
areas in which most speakers display NCVS features only
in weak forms if at all, including northeastern Pennsylvania
and some communities in northern and eastern New York.
Northern Indiana and part ofMinnesota show the first stage
of the NCVS, tensing of //, without any of the other
stages.
Main article: Northern Cities Vowel Shift
The NCVS is a chain shift involving movements of six
vowel phonemes:
1. The first stage of the shift is the raising, tensing, and diphthongization of // towards []. T
results in words like "cat" being pronounced more like "kyat." This change occurs for the
phoneme // in all contexts, in contrast with other American dialects in which phonetically
similar "-tensing" occurs only before nasal consonants, or as part of a phonemic split of /
into two phonemes, one tensed and the other still lax.
2. The second stage is the fronting of // to [a]. In some speakers this fronting is so extreme
that their // phoneme can be mistaken for // by speakers of other dialects; thus for exam
block approaches the way other dialects pronounce black.
3. In the third stage, // lowers towards [], causing stalk to sound more like other dialects' sto
The lowering of the phoneme // is not unique to this region. However, in other regions whe
such a lowering occurs, it results in the cotcaught merger. The merger does not occur in t
Inland North because NCVS speakers front the // phoneme to [a], thus maintaining the
distinction between // and //.
4. The fourth stage is the backing and sometimes lowering of //, toward either [] or [].
5. In the fifth stage, // is backedtowards [], so that stuck sounds like stalk in dialects that
maintain a [] sound in the word stalk. In this regard, a sound change occurs in the Inland
North that is the reverse of most other American dialects (including the Midland): // is back
than // rather than fronter.6. In the sixth stage, // is lowered and backed. However, it is kept distinct from [] in all
contexts, so, the pinpen merger does not occur.
This shift is in progress across the region, though not necessarily completed. So, any individual
speaker may display some of these six shifts without displaying the others. On the whole, though,
shifts occur in the order listed above, so speakers who display advanced forms of the later change
will generally be advanced in the earlier changes as well.
Main article: North Central American English
This map shows the approximate extent
of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, and th
the approximate area where the Inland
North dialect predominates. Note that the
region surrounding Erie, Pennsylvaniais
excluded.
The Northern Cities Vowel Shift [edit]
North Central [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary,_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racine,_Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosha,_Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Pennsylvania_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_splithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_backnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_backnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_backnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin%E2%80%93pen_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Central_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=10http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=11http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=11http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=11http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inland_North.gifhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Central_American_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin%E2%80%93pen_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_backnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_backnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_splithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Pennsylvania_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosha,_Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racine,_Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary,_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State -
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The North Central dialect region extends from the Upper Peninsula of Michiganwestward across
northern Minnesotaand North Dakota and into eastern Montana. Although theAtlas of North
American English does not include the North Central region as part of the North proper, it shares
of the features listed above as properties of the North as a whole. The North Central is a linguistic
conservative region; it participates in few of the major ongoing sound changes of North American
English.
The movie Fargo, which takes place in the North Central region, famously features an exaggerate
version of this accent.[2]
Unlike most of the rest of the North, the cotcaught merger is prevalent in the North Central
region.
The North Central region is stereotypically associated with a "sing-songy" intonation which is s
to derive from the pitch accent pattern of the Scandinavian languages, speakers of which were
among the largest immigrant groups to this area during its early settlement. In urban Minnesota
this variation of NCAE is referred to as "Minnewegian," a portmanteau of Minnesota and
Norwegian.[citation needed]
Older speakers in the region may merge /w/ and /v/, making well sound like "vell".[citation neede
Older and rural speakers may also merge // into /d/ and // into /t/.[citation needed] This feature
and the foregoing one are again associated with the Scandinavian linguistic substratum, in tha
most Scandinavian languages do not possess /w/, //, or // phonemes.
Western New England, encompassing most ofConnecticut, western Massachusetts, and Vermont
has close historical ties to the Inland North: it is from Western New England that the westward
migration began that led to the settlement of most upstate New Yorkand the rest of the Inland No
The linguistic boundary between Western and Eastern New England has been recognized at least
since the 1940s; Western New England differed from Eastern New England then in being rhotic,
possessing the Marymarrymerry merger , and not being subject to the caughtcot merger, amon
other features. Historically, Western New England is distinguished from Eastern New England in th
it consists principally of communities settled from the Connecticutand New Haven colonies, rather
than the Massachusetts Bayand Plymouth colonies.
Today, Western New England shares in the principal linguistic features listed above as characteris
of the North. Connecticut and western Massachusetts in particular show the same general
phonological system as the Inland North, and some speakers show a general tendency in the
direction of the Northern Cities Vowel Shiftfor instance, an // that is somewhat higher and tens
than average, an // that is fronter than //, and so on. The caughtcot merger has taken hold
comparatively recently in Vermont, merging to an unrounded vowel [a] (unlike in Eastern New
England, where the merged cot-caught vowel is back and rounded). In Connecticut // and //
remain distinct, although the merger shows some evidence of being in progress advancing southw
from Vermont.
Most of the major cities of the Northeast Megalopolis have distinctive accents that cover smaller
regions than the broad "North" and "Midland" categories of the Midwest, reflecting the greater dial
diversity of the Northeast. These dialects are not all closely related to each other, but subsets of
them share several unusual features, such as non-rhoticity or a split of // into two separate
phonemes.
One feature shared by all of them is resistance to the Marymarrymerry merger. Similarly, these
dialects retain a distinction between historical short o and long o before intervocalic /r/, so that, for
example, orange, Florida, and horrible have a different stressed vowel than story and chorus.
Western New England [edit]
Northeastern dialects [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Peninsula_of_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Peninsula_of_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_(movie)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_accenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnewegianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnewegianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substratumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substratumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Massachusettshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Massachusettshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermonthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstate_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstate_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caught%E2%80%93cot_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Megalopolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwesthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=12http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=13http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=13http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwesthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Megalopolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caught%E2%80%93cot_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstate_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermonthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Massachusettshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substratumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnewegianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_accenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_(movie)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesotahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan -
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Main article: Boston accent
The Eastern New England dialect area encompasses Maine, New Hampshire, and eastern
Massachusetts (including Greater Boston). The dialect spoken here shares features with the great
North dialect region, including Canadian raising of /a/ and minimal fronting of /a/ and /o/, but it
possesses enough distinctive features of its own to distinguish it from the North as a separate diale
system. Southern New Hampshire has been reported as retreating from some of the more distinctiv
features of the Eastern New England dialect region.
This region of the United States historically had more contact with British varieties of English (bein
nearer to the Atlantic coast) and looked to England as a standard of prestige for their speech. Hen
the Eastern New England dialect has in some respects more similarities with British English than
many other dialects of American English have. Most famously, Eastern New England accents (with
the exception ofMartha's Vineyard) are traditionally non-rhotic.
The Eastern New England accent is seemingly unique in North America for not having undergone
the so-called fatherbother merger: in other words, the stressed vowel phonemes offatherand
botherremain distinct as /a/ and //, so that the two words do not rhyme as they do in most
American accents. Many Eastern New England speakers also have a class of words with "broad A
that is, /a/ as in fatherin words that in most accents contain //, such as bath, half, and can't.Broad A is another feature that Eastern New England shares with southern England. On the other
hand, unlike dialects of England, the Eastern New England dialect is subject to the cotcaught
merger, merging the cot and caught classes to a back rounded vowel, [].
As mentioned above, Eastern New England retains the distinction between the vowel phonemes o
marry, merry, and Mary. Likewise, many Eastern New England speakers preserve the distinctions
between /i/ and // before intervocalic /r/ (as in nearerand mirror), as well as the distinction betwe
// and // before intervocalic /r/ (as in hurry and furry).[citation needed]
The distinction between the vowels ofhorse and hoarse is maintained in traditional non-rhotic New
England accents as [hs] for horse (with the same vowel as cot and caught) vs. [hos] for hoarse
Thus, the horsehoarse mergerdoes not occur. Like some other east-coast accents as well asAAVE, some accents of eastern New England merge /or/ and /ur/, making homophones of pairs lik
pour/poor, more/moor, tore/tour, cores/Coors etc.[citation needed] Eastern New England has a so-
called nasal short-a system. In other words, the // phoneme has highly distinct allophones befor
nasal consonants.
Rhode Islandis traditionally grouped with the Eastern New England dialect region, both by the
dialectologists of the mid20th century and by the Atlas of North American English; it shares Easte
New England's traditional non-rhoticity and nasal short-a system. A key linguistic difference betwe
Rhode Island and the rest of the Eastern New England, however, is that Rhode Island is subject to
the fatherbother merger and not the cotcaught merger. Indeed, Rhode Island shares with New
York and Philadelphia an unusually high and back allophone of // (as in caught), even compared
other communities that do not have the cotcaught merger.
In theAtlas of North American English, the city ofProvidence (the only community in Rhode Island
sampled by theAtlas) is also distinguished by having the backest realizations of /u/, /o/, and /a
North America.
Main article: New York dialect
Eastern New England [edit]
Rhode Island [edit]
New York City [edit]
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As in Eastern New England, the accents ofNew York City and adjoining New Jersey cities are
traditionally non-rhotic. The vowels ofcot [kt] and caught [kt] are distinct; in fact the New York
dialect has the highest realizations of // in North American English, approaching [o] or even []
The vowel ofcart is back and rounded [kt] instead of fronted as it is in Boston.
The accent is well attested in American movies and television shows, especially ones about
American mobsters. It is often referred to more narrowly as the "Bronx" or "Brooklyn accent",
although in fact research has found no variation between the different boroughs of New York per s
Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx both speak with a Brooklyn accent in their films. The accent is oft
exaggerated, but nevertheless still exists to some degree among Brooklyn natives. The English usin the popular television show The Sopranos, set in Essex County, New J ersey, is often more clos
to a Brooklyn accent, than that of New J ersey, mainly regarding the rhotic feature. Furthermore, th
dialect portrayed on this television show does not apply to citizens of the entire state; it is a partic
socio-ethnic accent.
Main article: New Jersey English
Main article: Philadelphia accent
The accent ofPhiladelphia and nearby parts ofPennsylvania, New Jersey,Delaware, and Marylan
is probably the original ancestor of General American. It is one of the few coastal accents that is
rhotic, and one of the first to merge the historical /or/ ofhoarse, mourning with the /r/ ofhorse,
morning. It also maintains the cotcaught contrast, unlike New England and western Pennsylvania
Nevertheless there are differences between modern Philadelphia speech and General American,
some of which, as described in Labov, Ash, & Boberg (2006) and Labov (2001), will be outlined he
"Water" is sometimes pronounced [wr], that is, with the vowel ofwood
As in New York City, but unlike General American, words like orange, horrible, etc., are
pronounced with /r/. See English-language vowel changes before historic r: "Historic 'short o'before intervocalic r".
On is pronounced /n/, so that, as in the South and Midland (and unlike New York and the Nor
it rhymes with dawn rather than don.
The /o/ ofgoat and boat is fronted, so it is pronounced [], as in the Midland and South.
The phoneme // undergoes tensingin some words. Fewer words have the tense variant in
Philadelphia than in New York City; for instance, mad and sad have different vowels, the first
tense and the second lax.
As in New York City and Boston, there is a three-way distinction between Mary,marry, and
merry. A recent development is a merger of the vowel ofmerry with Murray.
Canadian raising occurs for /a/ (price) but not for /a/ (mouth)
There is a split of /e/ (face) so at the end of a word (for example, day) it is a wide diphthong
similar to that ofAustralian English, while in any other position (for example, date) it is very
narrow and resembles /i/. Commonly confused words include eight and eat, snake and sneak,
slave and sleeve.[citation needed]
See also: Pittsburgh dialect, Central Pennsylvania accent, Northeast Pennsylvania English, and
Pennsylvania Dutch English
New Jersey [edit]
Pennsylvania [edit]
Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley [edit]
Other parts of Pennsylvania [edit]
Baltimore, Maryland [edit]
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Main article: Baltimore dialect
Main article: Southern American English
Few generalizations can be made about Southern pronunciation as a whole, as there is great
variation between regions in the South (see different southern American English dialectsfor more
information) and between older and younger people. Upheavals such as the Great Depression, the
Dust Bowl and World War II have caused mass migrations throughout the United States. Southern
American English as we know it today began to take its current shape only after World War II. Som
generalizations include:
The conditional merger of [] and [] before nasal consonants, the pinpen merger.
The diphthong /a/ becomes monophthongized to /a/.
Lax and tense vowels often merge before /l/
The South Midland dialect follows the Ohio River in a generally southwesterly direction, moves
across Arkansas and Oklahoma west of the Mississippi, and peters out in West Texas. It is a vers
of the Midland speech that has assimilated some coastal Southern forms, most noticeably the loss
the diphthong [], which becomes [], and the second person plural pronoun "you-all" or "y'all."
South Midlands speech is characterized by:monophthongizationof [ai] as [a], for example, most dialects' "I" "Ah" in the South.
raising of initial vowel of [au] to [u]; the initial vowel is often lengthened and prolonged, yieldin
[w].
nasalization of vowels, esp. diphthongs, before [n].
raising of [] to [e]; can'tcain't, etc.
Unlike most American English, but like British English, glides ([j], the y sound) are inserted bef
[u] after the consonants [t], [d], [], [s], [z], [n], and [l]; that is to say, yod-droppingdoes not
occur.
South Midlands speech is rhotic. This is the principal feature that distinguishes South Midland
speech from the non-rhotic coastal Southern varieties.
The Southern Drawl, or the diphthongization/triphthongization of the traditional short front vowels a
in the words pat, pet, and pit: these develop a glide up from their original starting position to [j], an
then in some cases back down to schwa.
// [j]
// [j]
// [j]
[] moves to become a high front vowel, and [] to become a mid front unrounded vowel. In aparallel shift, the /i/ and /e/ relax and become less front.
The back vowels /u/ in "boon" and /o/ in "code" shift considerably forward.
The open back unrounded vowel /r/ "card" shifts upward towards // "board", which in turn
moves up towards the old location of /u/ in "boon". This particular shift probably does not occur
for speakers with the cotcaught merger.
Charleston, South Carolinahas a very distinctive southern accent that encompasses elements of
standard British English and American Southern English, with additional French-Huguenot influenc
Southern American English [edit]
Southern Drawl [edit]
Southern vowel shift [edit]
Charleston, South Carolina [edit]
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However, given Charleston's high concentration of African-Americans that spoke the Gullah
language, the speech patterns were more influenced by the dialect of the Gullah African-American
community. The most distinguishing feature of this accent is the way speakers pronounce the nam
of the city, to which a standard listener would hear "Chahls-ton", with a silent r. Alone among the
various regional Southern dialects, Charlestonian speakers inglide long mid vowels, such as the
raising for /aj/ and /aw/. Some attribute these unique features of Charleston's speech to its early
settlement by the French Huguenots and Sephardi J ews, both of which played influential parts in
Charleston's development and history.
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please
help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November
2006)
Parallels include the split of the historic short-a class into tense [e] and lax [] versions, as well
pronunciation ofcot and caught as [kt] and [kt]. The stereotypical New York curlcoil merger of
"toity-toid street" (33rd Street) used to be a common New Orleans feature, though it has mostly
receded today.
Perhaps the most distinctive New Orleans accent is locally nicknamed "yat", from a traditionalgreeting "Where y'at" ("Where are you at?", meaning "How are you?"). One of the most detailed
phonetic depictions of an extreme "yat" accent of the early 20th century is found in the speech of t
character Krazy Katin the comic strip of the same name by George Herriman. While such extrem
"yat" accents are no longer so common in the city, they can still be found in parts of Mid-City and
9th ward,J efferson Parish, as well as in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans.
The novel A Confederacy of Dunces byJ ohn Kennedy Tooleis generally considered the best
depiction of New Orleans accents in literature.
English speakers in this specific region of southwest Louisiana (also referred to as Cajun country)have carried over many words and phrases from the colonial French (i.e. Canada, Acadia) becaus
of the eviction of early French colonials by the British and their voluntary resettlement in Louisiana
number of people in this area speak a variety ofCajun French, although the number has been
declining in recent years.
In Miami, a unique accent, commonly called the "Miami accent", is widely spoken. It developed
among second- or third-generation Hispanics, mostly Cuban-Americans, whose first language was
English. It is based on a fairly standard American accent but with some changes very similar to
accents in the Northeast, and it also incorporates a rhythm and pronunciation heavily influenced by
Spanish.[3]
The Western United States is the largest dialect region in the United States, and the one with the
fewest distinctive phonological features. These facts can both be attributed to the fact that the We
is the region most recently settled by English speakers, and so there has not been sufficient time
the region either to develop highly distinctive innovations or to split into strongly distinct
dialectological subregions. There is some evidence, though, that some regions of the West are
beginning to diverge from each other linguistically.[citation needed]
New Orleans [edit]
Acadiana [edit]
Miami accent [edit]
Western Dialect [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi_Jewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing/1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_diphthongs#Coil.E2.80.93curl_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_striphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herrimanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herrimanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_wardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Parishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_Parishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_Parishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toolehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toolehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_Frenchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miamihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban-Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban-Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=26http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=27http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=28http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=28http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=27http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban-Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miamihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_Frenchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toolehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_Parishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Parishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_wardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herrimanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_striphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_diphthongs#Coil.E2.80.93curl_mergerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86-tensinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing/1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi_Jewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah -
7/28/2019 North American English Regional Phonology
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h American English regional phonology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_accent[30/05/2013 14:24:02]
Main article: California English
There are several phonological processes which have been identified as being particular to Califor
English. However, these shifts are by no means universal in Californian speech, and any single
Californian's speech may have only some of the changes identified below, or even none of them.
Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon often demonstrate this Californian shift. California English possesse
new chain vowel shift known as the California vowel shift:
Before //, // is raised to [i], so "king" has the same
vowel of "keen" rather than "kin".[4]
// is raised and diphthongizedto [e] or [] before
nasal consonants. So "ban" is pronounced /ben/.before // it may be identified with the phoneme /e/, so
"thank" is pronounced "thaynk".
Elsewhere // is loweredin the direction of [a], so "cat" sounds closer to "caht".
// is moving towards [], so "put" sounds more like "putt".
// towards [], so "putt" can sound slightly similar to "pet".
// toward [], so "kettle" sounds like "cattle".
// toward []: "cot" and "caught" are moving closer to General American "caught".
The vowels /u/ ("blue") and /o/ ("mope") are pronounced closer to the front of the mouth.
California English also possesses the following features:
Traditionally diphthongal vowels such as [o] as in boat and [e], as in bait, have acquired
qualities much closer to monophthongs.
A notable exception to the cotcaught merger may be found within the city limits of San
Francisco, especially by older speakers.
The pinpen merger is complete in Bakersfield, and speakers in Sacramento either perceive o
produce the pairs /n/ and /n/ close to each other.[5]
Main article: Pacific Northwest English
Pacific Northwest English is fairly similar to other areas of the West. It possesses features shared
common with California English and West/Central Canadian English, depending on the region. Theaccent of Southern Oregon shares several features of California English (such as the California vo
shift), and Northern Washington has some features similar to West/Central Canadian English such
the Canadian Shift.[citation needed]
[] as [e] before //, and [] as [e] before // and //: "leg" and "lag" pronounced [le]; "tang
pronounced [te].
Further diphthongization of [] as []: "egg" and "leg" are pronounced "ayg" and "layg".
The Pacific Northwest also has some of the features of the California vowel shift and the
Canadian vowel shift:
// is raised and diphthongized to [e] before nasals by some speakers.
California English [edit]
The California vowel shift, based on a
diagram by Penelope Eckert
Pacific Northwest English [edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monophthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Franciscohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Franciscohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Franciscohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramentohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=30http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=30http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=31http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=31http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=31http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:California_vowel_shift.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_American_English_regional_phonology&action=edit§ion=30http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_vowel_shifthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramentohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Franciscohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Franciscohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monophthonghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_heighthttp://en.wikipedia.