Chapter 1.1 A Multi-Dimensional analysis of regional variation in American English

2014 ◽  
pp. 3-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Grieve
Keyword(s):  
Dimensional Analysis ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English

“Since when does the Midwest have an accent?”

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
Social Judgments ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Folk ideologies about regional variation often depend on the consideration of certain varieties in contrast with the idea of a linguistically unmarked, standard way of speaking (Preston 1996; Lippi-Green 2012). This study analyzes the relationship between those abstract ideologies and in-the-moment reactions to linguistic input. Examining this question with respect to American English, a listening task manipulated where speakers were said to be from and whether the speakers used regional speech varieties linked to those places. Listeners were asked to make social judgments about speakers with varying degrees of local accentedness said to be from Southern, Northeastern, and Midwestern locales in the U.S.; these locations were selected to target highly enregistered nonstandard dialect areas versus more linguistically “unmarked” regions. Results indicate that while pre-existing sociolinguistic stereotypes about these three locations in some cases trumped the actual linguistic input that listeners encountered, effects of accentedness also varied in place-specific ways related to expectations for each locale.

The Gettysburg Corpus: Testing the Proposition that All Tense /æ/s Are Created Equal

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Isaac L. Bleaman ◽  
Daniel Duncan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Gettysburg Address ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Language Data

Corpus studies of regional variation using raw language data from the internet focus predominantly on lexical variables in writing. However, online repositories such as YouTube offer the possibility of investigating regional differences using phonological variables, as well. This paper demonstrates the viability of constructing a naturalistic speech corpus for sociophonetic research by analyzing hundreds of recitations of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” We first replicate a known result of phonetic research, namely that English vowels are longer in duration before voiced obstruents than before voiceless ones. We then compare /æ/-tensing in recitations from the Inland North and New York City dialect regions. Results indicate that there are significant regional differences in the formant trajectory of the vowel, even in identical phonetic environments (e.g., before nasal codas). This calls into question the uniformity of “/æ/-tensing” as a cross-dialectal phenomenon in American English. We contend that the analysis of spoken data from social media can and should supplement traditional methods in dialectology and variationist analysis to generate new hypotheses about socially conditioned speech patterns.

Regional variation in temporal organization in American English

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia G. Clopper ◽  
Rajka Smiljanic
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
Temporal Organization

Regional Variation in Fundamental Frequency of American English Vowels

Phonetica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Jacewicz ◽  
Robert Allen Fox
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
English Vowels

The emergence of a new phoneme: Foreign (a) in Canadian English

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Boberg
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
British English ◽  
Intermediate Outcome ◽  
Vowel Phoneme

AbstractThe nativization or phonological adaptation of words transferred from other languages can have structural-phonological consequences for the recipient language. In English, nativization of words in which the stressed vowel is spelled with the letter <a>, here called “foreign (a)” words, leads to variable outcomes, because English <a> represents not one but three phonemes. The most common outcomes historically have been /ey/ (as inpotato), /æ/ (tobacco), and /ah/ (spa), but vowel choice shows diachronic, social, and regional variation, including systematic differences between major national dialects. British English uses /ah/ for long vowels and /æ/ elsewhere, American English prefers /ah/ everywhere, whereas Canadian English traditionally prefers /æ/. The Canadian pattern is now changing, with younger speakers adopting American /ah/-variants. This article presents new data on foreign (a) in Canadian English, confirming the use of /ah/ among younger speakers, but finds that some outcomes cannot be classified as either /æ/ or /ah/. A third, phonetically intermediate outcome is often observed. Acoustic analysis confirms the extraphonemic status of these outcomes, which may constitute a new low-central vowel phoneme in Canadian English.

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