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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.

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Dialects of North America

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  1. Dialects of North America Based on data from the TELSUR Project, University of Pennsylvania

  2. TELSUR Project, publishing The Atlas of North American English

  3. Dialect Regions: North Central, The Inland North, The Northeast, The Midland (North and South), The South, The West

  4. Three 20th/21st Century Shifts in American English • Northern Cities Shift (Inland North) • Southern Shift (South) • Low Back Merger (West)

  5. North Central monophthongization‘boat’ • Standard American [bout] • North Central [bot]

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. Northern Cities Shift (2)‘rock’ Ɔ → æ [rɔk] [ræk]

  9. Northern Cities Shift (3)‘bus’ ʌ → ɑ [bʌs] [bɑs]

  10. 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)

  11. 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]

  12. Incompleteju → iu → u Merger I [diu] I [du] [diu] on the grass

  13. The [du] on the grass

  14. 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]

  15. Eastern New England [ɑr] → [ɑ] [pɑk] or [æ] [pæk] [ɔ] → [oɔ] [Roɔbət][boɔb] (to his friends) ‘r-dropping’ [ovə] ‘intrusive r’ [ɑidiər]

  16. 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]

  17. 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]

  18. 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]

  19. 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]

  20. 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)

  21. Low Back Merger (purple dots)

  22. 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

  23. 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

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