Regional Dialects

Linguist 159 – American Dialects October 14, 2014

Canada

North Central

North Northeast Inland North (many) The West Midlands

Inland South

Texas South South Charleston

Florida Quick Review

• Isogloss = boundary between predominant linguisc features on a dialect map What disnguishes U.S. regional dialects? • Vowels • /r/ • Lexical items • Morphosyntax American English Vowel System HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BUT BAT BOT

LOW Quick Review

• Movement/Shi

• Fronng/backing • Raising/lowering Back vowel fronng HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BUT BAT BOT

LOW Back vowel fronng

Fronng No Fronng • Mid-Atlanc • NYC • Western PA • Providence • Midlands • New England • South • North • California • Canada Back vowel fronng HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BUT BAT BOT

LOW Quick Review

Mergers Low-back merger HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BUT BAT BOT

LOW Low-back merger Quick Review

Chain Shi (Paral) California Vowel Shi HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BUT BAT BOT

LOW Quick Review

• Monophthongs • Diphthongs – Nucleus – Glide • Monophthongizaon Word Phrase Sentence 1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______6. ______

(From Labov 2008) The North

Canada

North Central

North Northeast Inland North (many) The West Midlands

Inland South

Texas South South Charleston

Florida The Inland North The Inland North

desk busses that head

boss block socks (From Labov, 2008) The North

• Marked by conservave features • No / o/-fronng • (some) low-back disncon North Central

•Lile/no parcipaon in neighboring chain shis •Low-back merger •/ o/ monophthongizaon The Northeast

Northeast (many)

Atlanc Provinces

E. New W. New England England

Providence Western Mid- PA Atlanc NYC /r/ in the Northeast

• Why are some /r/-ful and some /r/-less? • In what environments are /r/-less areas /r/- less? • Which areas /r/-ful? Which areas /r/-less? Split short-a system

• Split condioned by phonological environment (with some excepons) • “Tense” variant and “lax” variant • NYC and Mid-Atlanc Split short-a system HIGH BEET BOOT BIT BOOK FRONT BAIT BOAT BACK

BET BOUGHT BAD BUT “tense” BAT BOT

LOW “lax” Northeast

E. New England Dialect NYC Mid- Western E. New Feature Atlanc PA England Split short- Yes Yes No No Western Mid- a PA Atlanc NYC /r/- Yes No No Yes vocalizaon Back vowel No Yes Yes No fronng Low-back No No Yes Yes merger Other /r/- /aw/ & /ay/ /aw/ /a/- inseron raising monopth; fronng (Philly) FEEL-FILL Which word do you hear?

BED BEATING

SET PEN The South

Canada

North Central

North Northeast Inland North (many) The West Midlands

Inland South

Texas South South Charleston

Florida Southern Vowel Shi

hit kids beatin’ set bed

Danny grade

Guy wipin’ The South - Morphosyntax

South

• Y’all • Auxiliary done • Double modals • Reflexive daves The South

• Southern Vowel Shi • /ay/-monopth. • Back vowel fronng • Back upglide shi Back Upglide Shi HIGH BEET BOOT

FRONT BOAT BACK FOIL BAIT FALL FOUL BAT BOT

LOW The South - Mergers

South

• PIN-PEN • FAIL-FELL • FEEL-FILL • PULL-POOL /ay/ monophthongizaon

South

• Before voiced obstruents (wide, size, five) • Word-finally (high, my) /ay/ monophthongizaon

Inland South Texas South

• Before voiced obstruents (wide, size, five) • Word-finally (high, my) • Before voiceless obstruents (night, rice, life) Inland South (Appalachia) Phonology • Inland Intrusive /r/ (“warsh”) South Morphosyntax • a-prefixing • Was-leveling The Midlands

Canada

North Central

North Northeast Inland North (many) The West Midlands

Inland South

Texas South South Charleston

Florida Midlands - Phonology

• Back vowel fronng • Some transional SVS and southern mergers, no /ay/-monophthongizaon Midlands - Morphosyntax

• Posive “anymore” • Needs X-ed The West

Canada

North Central

North Northeast Inland North (many) The West Midlands

Inland South

Texas South South Charleston

Florida The West

• According to ANAE, the West, Canada, and some of the Midlands = “Third Dialect” • Most disncve feature is low-back merger • What’s wrong with this picture?

The West California Vowel Shi

BEET BOOT

BIT BOOK

BAIT BOAT

BET BUT BOUGHT

BAT BOT Major Migraon Paerns

1930s: ‘Dust Bowl’ migraon

200,000 migrants from Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Arkansas The Southwest

• Some CVS features • Some SVS features • Posive “anymore”

Hall-Lew 2004 The Pacific Northwest

• Some features of CVS • Some features similar to North Central – Pre-velar BAT and BET raising (egg, bag)

Oregon: Becker et al. 2013; McLarty & Kendall 2014

Wassink et al. 2009 Washington: Wassink et al. 2009