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