04 Dialects of American English - Part 1 PDF

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Department of Linguistics Stony Brook University LIN 200 Language in the U.S. Prepared by: Dr. Paola Cepeda

Dialects of American English --Part 1

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There are many dialects of American English. https://kids.britannica.com/students/assembly/view/224809

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This week, we’ll study the following three dialects of American English:

Northern English Midland English Southern English Next week, we’ll study the following three dialects of American English:

New York English New England English

Note: Even though North Central and Northern are separated on the map, we’ll consider them both as simply “Northern English”

Western English

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The No rth North 4

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Northern (American) English

• Also called Northern Cities Dialect, Inland Northern Dialect or Great Lakes Dialect • Spoken primarily by White Americans in urban areas like Cedar Rapids, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse (basically, from eastern Iowa, through much of the Great Lakes area, to Upstate New York).

Most salient linguistic feature:

The Northern Cities Vowel Shift

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Phonological feature

Northern Cities Vowel Shift

How do people pronounce “block” in the Northern Cities?

Prof. William Labov (University of Pennsylvania) explains the Northern Cities Vowel Shift 6

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Phonological feature

Northern Cities Vowel Shift Affects short vowels as a system, that is, a change in how one vowel sounds affects all the vowels (domino effect).

Compare this with the Southern (Vowel) Shift!

Some examples: • Ann sounds like Ian • bit sounds like bet/but • bet sounds like bat/but • but sounds like bought • busses sounds like bosses • caught sounds like cot • talk sounds like tuck • cot sounds like cat • block sounds like black

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Phonological feature

Northern Cities Vowel Shift The Atlas of North American English

Additional example: THE “ON” LINE Inside the limits of the line: on rhymes with Don and Ron

[ɑ n]

Outside the limits of the line: on rhymes with dawn and lawn

 [ɔn]

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The Midl an d Midlan and 9

Midland (American) English

• The Midland United States is the area between the very-well defined Northern and Southern states of the country. • Areas for Midland American English are still in revision by linguists. In this course, we will include cities like Oklahoma City, Omaha, Wichita, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.

Most salient linguistic features:

Low back merger Positive anymore Need + participle

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Phonological feature

Low back merger The Atlas of North American English

The low back merger is also known as the cot-caught merger Both words are pronounced [kɑt] Other examples:

• Dawn sounds like Don. • The vowels of sock and talk sound the same. • The first vowels of dollar and taller sound the same.

[ɑ] Use the hot dog test to find out if you have a low back merger!

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Phonological feature

Low back merger Does your English have a low back merger? Find out! Use the hot-dog test! - If your vowel in hot is the same as the one in dog , then you have a low back merger! - If your vowel in hot is different from the one in dog , then you don’t have a low back merger! 12

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Lexical feature

Positive anymore In these cases, anymore means ‘nowadays’

Some examples: • Boy, cars are sure expensive anymore! • It’s real hard to find a good job anymore! • I used to watch football, but anymore I watch baseball! •

Anymore John smokes

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Grammatical feature

Need + past participle Some examples: • The car needs washed. • Our phones need repaired. • So much needs said! Other less extended cases: • The baby likes cuddled. • The dog wants walked.

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The Sou th South 15

Southern (American) English

• Spoken throughout the Southern states of the country, in particular in the rural areas extending from North Carolina southward to central Florida, and eastward to Oklahoma and New Mexico. • Sub-varieties of Southern English are Appalachian English and Texan English.

Most salient linguistic features:

Southern Shift Y’all Multiple modals and negation

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Phonological feature

Southern (Vowel) Shift Affects vowels as a system. Unlike the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, the Southern Shift is rural and less prestigious.

Compare this with the Northern Cities Vowel Shift!

Two exemplary cases:

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Monophthongization (=no gliding) of diphthong /aɪ/

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Pin-pen merger

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Phonological feature

Monophthongization of /aɪ/

Some examples:

• • • • • •

guy sounds gah [gaː] my sounds mah [maː] pie sounds pah [paː] time sounds tahm [taːm] wide sounds wahd [waːd] wise sounds wahs [waːz]

Diff Differ er eren en entt people pronoun pronounce ce word wordss with a monop monophth hth hthong ong ongiza iza ization tion of /aɪ/

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Phonological feature

Pin -pen merger Some words that sound the same:

• • • • • •

pin - pen [pɪn] him - hem [hɪm] tint - tent [tɪnt] lint - lent [lɪnt] hints - hence [hɪnts] Ben - bin [bɪn]

This person has a pin pin--pen merge mergerr in his dialect of English

The Atlas of North American English

/ɪ/ - /ɛ/ merge before nasals: [m], [n], [ŋ] 19

Lexical feature

Y’all

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Grammatical features

Double modals

Multiple Negation

might could, might should, might would…

A: Can you help me clean the room? B: I might could help you out.

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He ain’t never done no work to speak of.

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I can’t hardly make it out.

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Ain’t no chicken that can’t get out of no coop. Compare with Shakespeare’s English: “I cannot goe no further.”

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Always keep in mind We all speak a dialect Our speech is always reflecting where we are from and what social group we belong to.

No dialect is better than other

All languages and dialects satisfy the cognitive and communicative needs of their speakers.

Some dialects are prestigious Some languages or dialects are more socially prestigious than others. This doesn’t mean they’re better.

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Check what you’ve learned!

Answer the following questions:

Dialect(s) of English in which… (1) positive anymore is used (2) multiple negation is allowed (3) there is a vowel shift

Possible answers:

(4) “cot” sounds like “caught”

Northern English Midland English Southern English

You can check your answers on the next slide.

(5) “block” sounds like “black” (6) the vowel shift is rural only

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Check your answers:

Check what you’ve learned!

Dialect(s) of English in which… (1) Midland English (2) Southern English (3) Northern & Southern English (4) Midland English (5) Northern English (6) Southern English

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