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North American accents

North America: along the Atlantic Coast

The sharpest regional, social differences in speech

The earliest European settlements

 the 13 colonies from 1776 came together to form the USA

Isogloss: runs horizontally fromEast→West 

three main speech areas in the north east

•Main differences in vocabulary (to a lesser extent, in morphology, syntax, pronunciation)

• North: New England, NY state (NY city, Boston, Massachussets)

•Midland: from middle Atlantic states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

•South: from Washington DC, Virginia, Carolinas  

North America

•By 1700 AC, most colonies had settled down

•The original settlers: 1) from England

•                                     2) Scots-Irish (Ulster)

•                                     3) Welsh

•                                     4)Germans

•In the South: closer bonds with England

•                         black slave labour

•From 18^th c: expansion: beyond the Appalachians :Ohio, Indiana, Illinois       

classification of American accent

•1)Eastern: non-rhotic; Boston, New England, NY city

•2)Southern: non-rhotic South

•3)Gen Am all areas that are NOT Eastern, NOT South; no marked local Eastern/Southern features  - From Hudson Valley, Upstate NY, Pennsylvania

•20^th c:migration of: 1)  Blacks from South→North  and  2)Hispanics from Mexico, Puerto Rico

canada

•English (2/3 as L1), French, Scottish Gaelic, Eskimo, Amerindian

•To a British, Canadians: just other Americans

But Canadians WANT to be kept distinct from Am E; Canadians remained loyal to the British army when USA broke away..

main characteristics Canadian

•A) full rhoticity, B)flat-Bath accent C) t-voicing

•The most reliable diagnostic for distinguishing  Canadians from Americans:

•The starting point of PRICE, MOUTH wrds

•The absence of THOUGHT vs LOT opposition

‘I saw the White House’: [aɪ ˈsɑ ðə ˈhwəɪtˈhʌʊs] typical Canadian

Canadian E: very homogeneous fromOttawa→Vancouver

Even today: lots of influence from Britain  but American style dominates Canadian media

3 dialect areas- canada

•A) New foundland

•B) Eastern Canada (Ontario)

•C) Western Canada

canadian consonants

•Examples of Canadian t-voicing/tapping:

•Matter-madder, petal – pedal, I hit it-I hid it

•Other features: /l/→[ɬ] in most positions

•wh→hw(in Ontario):whale[hweɪɬ],wale:[weɪɬ]

•Yod dropping: tune: [tun], duke: [duk]

New York City

•New York and London: rivals for world’s most populous English speaking city

•New York: more than  8 million

•Distinct Am accent (in vowels, phonetic realization, some consonants)

•Unique in social stratification bcs of accent

•Unlike other Am accents: serious judgments on pronunciation: two born+bred New Yorkers may have very distinct pronunciation (Hubbel, 1950)   

brooklynese/ny speech prestige

•While it IS natural for a large city’s (London, Liverpool, Birmingham)speech to be disparaged:

•no other Am city’s speech evolves such disapproval

•NY accent: NO OVERT or even COVERT PRESTIGE

•“NY city: a great sink of negative prestige” (Labov, 1966)

•Except old Blacks, NO New Yorker had a positive attitude towards their native accent!    

ny disparaged speech why?

•For most Americans: NY an example to avoid

•No phonological innovations from NY

•Notable features of NY Speech:

•1) (variable) non-rhoticity

•2) quality of TRAP-BATH

•3)CLOTH-THOUGHT

•4)NURSE vowels

•5) phonetic realisation of [t, d, ɵ, ð]

vowels NY

•Diphthongal realisations of the monophthongs: CLOTH, THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE: [ɔə]  and BATH-TRAP: [æə, ɛə]  and:

• LOT-PALM,START: [ɑ, ɑə]

•Other monophthongs: i→ɪi, u→ʊu

•u: close to CV 8 but little lip roundness

•The degree of diphthongization is greater in lower social classes 

•/u/ in ‘duke’, ‘new’, ‘tune’: [ɪʊ]

•In BATH-TRAP wrds; (also) [ɛə]: common ‘bad’:[bɛəd]=‘bared’

•Saw=soar/sore: [ɔə]   *loss of minimal pairs/sets

•God=guard: [gɑə]

•[ɑɪ]: more back starting point in working class

•‘Night-time’:[nɑɪttɑɪm]  like??

Distinction btwn: /i-ɪə/, /eɪ-ɛə/→ø/-l  ‘reel’=‘real’ (ɪə) ‘Bailey’=‘barely (ɛə)

•Caricature for ‘thirty-third’: ‘toity-toid’ in NY

•So, the NURSE vowel /ɜ/→[ɜɪ], [ɜ] or [ɝ]

•CHOICE: [ɜɪ] ‘voice’:[vɜɪs], ‘join’:[dʒɜɪn]

•[ɜɪ]: the most stigmatised NY city trait

•Working/low-class: [ɜɪ], higher class: [ɔɪ]

•BATH:[æ]→NY:[ɛə, ɪə],

‘bad: [bɛəd=bɪəd] low, white  working class

3 way merger possible: ‘bared’-’beard’-’bad’ 

•CLOTH –THOUGHT: [ɔə,o:] lower class

•[ɔ:ə, ɔ:]:upper mid class

•LOT, START:  lengthening: [ɑ:]

inconsistencies of ny speech

•Durham’: [dʊərəm]

•‘donkey’: [dʌŋki]

•‘won’t’: [wʊnt]

•‘forward’: [foʊwəd]

•‘always’: [oʊweɪz]

•Also: variability in r-dropping

•Pressure from Standard/Gen Am to restore /r/

labov’s experiment for rhoticity

•3 department stores checking the /r/ pronunciation in ‘fourth floor’

•Findings: social stratification: different for age groups

•In the lowest class department store: fewer rs

•More rhotic pronunciations in middle, upper social class but in middle class, rhoticity increased with age  

•In highest status: rhoticity decreased with age

•Follow-up experiment: in their evaluation of recorded accents: NYorkers below 40: favorable towards rhoticity

•In careful, deliberate speech (read aloud): more rhoticity appeared but in casual speech: fewer rs

•Linking, intrusive rs DO appear: [nɪə] but [nɪərə], [aɪdɪə] but: ðɪ aɪdɪərɪz…

•Hypercorrections: [aɪdɪər], [lɔər]

/r/: post-alveolar,labialised, and retroflex 

ny consonants

•ALVEOLAR Cs: produced with the tongue blade /t,d/: velarised, pharyngalised

•Heavy aspiration/affrication in syllable initial, final position: ‘tin’, ‘din’: [tʰɪn], [dᶻɪn]

•[ʔ]: lower status[bɑʔļ], only occasionally V-V 

•/ө, ð/: affricates, or stops /өæŋks/→[ṱʰæŋks]

•ð→[d] ‘there’: [dɛə( r )]

*Any NYorker who uses  [t, d or tө, dð] for /ө,ð/ sporadically: a higher class, not manual worker; if used a lot: NOT gone to highschool so: many NYorkers use plosives, affricates for  /ө,ð/ , more men, Italians than women

other features of ny accents

•Glide cluster reduction: ‘white’, ‘when’: [hwaɪt], [hwen]: NOT any more, rather [w]

•‘singer’, ‘long island’[sɪŋgə (r )], [lɔŋgaɪlənd]

•L vocalisation: ‘sell’, ‘sold’ but NOT in ‘people’

In London: wider spectrum of l vocalisation

l→[ɬ] V-V: ‘jelly’, ‘belly’ 

New England main features

•Western part: Connecticut, Vermont: Gen Am

•Eastern part: special features, substandard

•Boston Mass: North Eastern New England: eastern Am pronunciation

•Main pronunciation features of the East:

•1) r-less 2) BATH-broadening

•Nowadays: lots of pressure from Gen Am for homogeneity

•Eastern New England: no more sets the fashion/innovations 

•Rhoticity: more evident nowadays bcs of Gen Am pressure

•In NURSE wrds: r widely retained

•Hypercorrections: ‘law’: [lɒr] Modern Boston

•START : [a(: )]

•BATH: a(: ), or [eə]‘half’ [haf] but now: pressure for /æ/

•Eastern New England: LOT+THOUGHT+CLOTH [ɒ]

ny vs east New England

•in NY                    in New England

•LOT [ɑ]                     [ɒ]

•START [ɑə]               [a]            

•THOUGHT [ɔə]      LOT-THOUGHT [ɒ] 

southern part of America

•Bailey (1969): southern accents: 3 types:

•1) tidewater of East Virginia, East Carolinas

•2)inner South Kentucky

•3) outer South

•Uniformity of southern accent: much exaggerated

•South remained behind industrialization, education, rural nature, little influence from school teachers; speech: quaint(=strange)

•Lots of deviations from Gen Am/RP; traditional dialect

main features of southern pronunciation

•deaf’:[dɪf], ‘wounded’ [waʊndɪd]

•‘southern drawl’: length of stressed, accented syllables

•PRICE : [a]

•Northerners: look down on Southern Am E pronunciation

•Southerners: assume a patriotic attitude or try to extirpate all Southern features 

TRAP æɪ                 

•BATH æ, æɪ            MOUTH æʊ

•ɪ→eɪ /-ŋ ‘sing’ :[seɪŋ]

•Rhoticity varies

•Non-rhoticity: upper class whites, blacks

•Rhoticity: lower class whites

•/l/: quite clear V-V, clear also before [aɪ], [ɔɪ]

•ɬ→ᴓ/ - { +C, +labial, +velar} ‘help’ [hɛəp], ‘bulb’: [bʌəb]

•In old fashioned tidewater /k, g/→front,

[c, ɟ]palatal

Winner= winter: [wɪnər]

Some [ʔ] for /t/ ‘can’t you’: [kænʔjə]

s→∫/- r ‘shrink’:ˈʃrɪŋk

 ‘it’ : [hɪt]

‘isn’t’: [ɪdnt]]