Northern Cities Shift Canadian Shift The Life History

Northern Cities Shift Canadian Shift The Life History of Linguistic Change Inland North: front /o/ Low back merger Increase phonetic distance Pittsburgh chain shift Back vowel shift Eastern seaboard: raise /oh/ South: add upglide William Labov, University of Pennsylvania Back upglide chain shift /o/ ~ /oh/ ICHL Montreal Skewed opposition depending on length August 2007 1

www. ling. upenn. edu/~labov 2

A sequence of linguistic changes A’ B’ Unidirectional Causally linked A B Bidirectional Triggering event Contingent alternatives Unstable condition 3

Components of a sequence of linguistic changes 1. Triggering events: the first in the chain of causally connected events 2. Governing principles: constraints that determine the unidirectional character of changes 3. Forks in the road: alternate pathways of change that differentiate sister dialects 4. Driving forces: factors that lead to the continued incrementation of the changes 5. Re-analysis: the process that leads to the uniform distribution of the changes across the speech community. 4

Two ways of looking at the problems of language change Weinreich, Labov & Herzog 1968 Accounting for changes This presentation Accounting for sequences of changes 1. The actuation problem Triggering events 2. Constraints problem Governing principles 3. The transition problem Forks in the road 4. The embedding problem Driving forces 5. The evaluation problem Re-analysis 5

ANAE notation for the word classes of North American English 6

ANAE notation aligned with JC Wells’ word classes for American English 7

Triggering events 8

The Canadian Shift in the vowel system of Marsha M. , 24 [1997], Montreal, TS 659 lowering of /e/ merger of /o/ and /oh backing of /æ/ 9

The Canadian Shift in the vowel system of Hubert B. , 17, Toronto, TS 798 lowering of /e/ merger of /o/ and /oh backing of /æ/ 10

The Canadian Shift: mean values of Canadian Telsur subjects [N=25] compared to all others [N=414]. Source: The Atlas of North American English 11

The Canadian Shift nested in the Low Back Merger area (ANAE Map 11. 7) Low back merger isogloss 12

The Canadian Shift 3 2 1 13

The low back merger of /o/ and /oh/ in cot and caught, etc. (ANAE Map 9. 1) Canada E. N. E. The West W. Pa. 14

OE ME thought, bought EME off, cost, cloth, strong vocalization of /x/ water, wash The development of /oh/ ah fought, taught oht av breaking hawk, laundry eah aw �[ ç: ] �[ au ] vocalization of /l/ vocalization of /g/ ag al. C maw, saw, draw talk, call, all wa lengthening vocalization of /v/ rounding thaw, straw, claw o __f, s, T, N au a+u denasalization a. N applaud, brawn, lawn, because pawn spawn OF rounding /oh/ monophthongization 15

Minimal pairs contrasting /o/ and /oh/ cot caught Don dawn hock hawk stock stalk odd awed cod cawed Sol Saul odd ability audibility . . . 16

Contrast of /o/ and /oh/ after tensing of /o/ a p i c a ls /o/ t d s z n l p b c& j g k f T S D z& m N # cot, tot, hot, got, dot odd, hod, god, sod toss, moss, floss, cost Oz, positive don, pond doll, moll, collar hop, pop, top, sop rob, hob Scotch, botch, watch lodge, dodge, Roger log. hog, cog, dog stock, hock, clock {boff} {Goth} gosh, bosh, tosh bother -----bomb, Tom, prom {ping pong} ----- /o/ -> /oh/ caught. bought, taut, fought awed, hawed, gaud, sawed sauce, exhaust, caustic cause, clause, hawser, paws on dawn, yawn, lawn all, tall, maul, caller -----daub, bauble ---------auger, augment, augur, August stalk, hawk, talk off, doff, scoff, cough, cloth, moth, -----------------------strong. song, wrong -----law, saw, flaw, thaw, claw 17

A linguistic sequence Canadian Shift e æ o oh Low back merger /oh/ ~ /o/ Unstable condition EME ç: Mod E. off, lost, song ME ç(: }u ME av OE oht OF an ME a(: }u OE eah OE aw OE au OE ah OF au OF a+u 18

A linguistic sequence 1 Canadian Shift e æ o oh Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Triggering event /oh/ ~ /o/ Unstable condition 19

Governing principles 20

General principles of merger Garde’s Principle: Mergers cannot be reversed by linguistic means Herzog’s Corollary: Mergers expand at the expense of distinctions 21

A linguistic sequence 1 Canadian Shift e æ o oh Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Unidirectional /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ 22

General principles of chain shifting In chain shifts, I. Long vowels rise. II. Short nuclei fall. II. Back nuclei shift to the front. --Labov, Yaeger & Steiner 1972 23

General principles of chain shifting In chain shifts, I. Tense nuclei rise along a peripheral track II. Lax nuclei fall along a non-peripheral track 24

Martinet on maximal dispersion Phonemes co-existing in a language tend naturally to optimize the possibilities that are available from the speech organs; they tend to be as distant from their neighbors as possible while remaining easy to articulate and easy to perceive. . . Martinet 1955: 62 (tr. WL), attributed to de Groot TCLP 1931: 121 25

A stable distribution of English low vowels: an outlier not recognized as a member of the /æ/ distribution mean F 2 1700 Hz /æ/ /oh/ 26

A stable distribution of English low vowels: an outlier not recognized as a member of the /æ/ distribution mean F 2 1700 Hz /æ/ /oh/ 27

An unstable distribution of English low vowels: /o/ merged with /oh/ so that the /æ/ outlier affects the central tendency of /æ/, mean F 2 1650 Hz /æ/ /o=oh/ 28

The Canadian Shift across subsystems Long and ingliding vowels Short vowels /oh/ /e/ /æ/ /o/ 29

A linguistic sequence 1 Canadian Shift e æ o oh Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Unidirectional /oh/ ~ /o/ 30

Forks in the road 31

Forks in the road of the Canadian Shift /i/ /u/ /e/ / / /æ/ /oh/ /o/ 32

The Pittsburgh Shift in the vowel system of Ken K. , 35, TS 258 33

The Pittsburgh Shift in a Plotnik display of means of 21 dialects PI = Pittsburgh; WPA = Western Pennsylvania; CA = Canada; IN = Inland North; M = � Midland; MA = Mid-Atlantic; PR = Providence; IS = Inland South no lowering of /^/ , CA no backing of /æ/ low back merger lowering of /^/ 34

A linguistic sequence 2 Canadian Shift e oh o æ Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Bidirectional o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ 35

A linguistic sequence 3 Canadian Shift e oh o æ Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Bidirectional unrounding /o/ o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ 36

Unrounding of /o/ in Western New England Burlington F 2(o) < 1300 Hz Rutland Manchester F 2(o) >= 1300 Hz Boston 37

The merger of /o/ and /ah/ llama pasta taco Scarlatti Rama pajama Obama Bach Iraq …. . off cloth loss lost strong song …. OE oht /oh/ /o/ [A] ME ç: u salve halve ME a: u OE eah OE aw OE au half bath past aunt dance …. . EME A: EME ç: ME çXt ME av /ah/ OE ah OF an OF au a+u pa ma spa bra hah calm palm 38 father

A linguistic sequence 3 Canadian Shift e oh o æ Bidirectional Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ Bidirectional balm = bomb father = bother unrounding /o/ o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ 39

A linguistic sequence 3 Canadian Shift e oh o æ Bidirectional Inland North: fronting of /o, ah/ Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ Bidirectional unrounding /o/ o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ 40

Fronting of /o, ah/ in the Inland North (ANAE Map 14. 5). 41

The Northern Cities Shift Ked cud cawed ah cad cod 42

The Northern Cities Shift desk busses bosses mat head block socks 43

Northern Cities Shift A linguistic sequence Canadian Shift e oh o æ Bidirectional Inland North: fronting of /o, ah/ Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ e oh æh ah Unidirectional Bidirectional unrounding /o/ o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ 44

Raising of /oh/ in the Mid-Atlantic States: Providence to Baltimore Magenta symbols: F 1(oh) < 700 Hz 45

Northern Cities Shift A linguistic sequence 4 Canadian Shift e oh o æ Inland North: front /ah/ Unidirectional e oh æ ah Unidirectional Bidirectional Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ Bidirectional oh(r) Eastern ah(r) Back seaboard: vowel raise /oh/ shift Unidirectional unrounding /o/ o oh Unidirectional Pittsburgh Shift /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ 46

Three areas of resistance to the low back merger (ANAE Map 11. 2) 47

Northern Cities Shift A linguistic sequence 5 Canadian Shift e o æ oh Inland North: front /ah/ Unidirectional e oh æ ah Unidirectional Bidirectional Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ Bidirectional Unidirectional o round-ing /o/ unrounding /o/ oh South: add upglide to /oh/ Pittsburgh Shift Eastern ah(r) Back seaboard: vowel raise /oh/ shift Unidirectional oh [ç: ] Bidirectional [ço] æw Unidirectional /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ oh(r) aw [Ao Back] upglide chain shift 48

Merger of /o/ and /oh/ in cot and caught, Don and dawn, hock and hawk 49

Alternatives to the low back merger NCS Back Vowel Shift Back Upglide Shift 50

Low back merger and alternatives to the low back merger Canadidn Shift � NCS Pittsburgh Shift Back Vowel Shift Back Upglide Shift 51

Driving forces 52

Gender and social category determination of five elements of the Northern City Shift in a Detroit suburban high school æ Source: Eckert 2000 53

Social correlates of four measures of the Northern Cities Shift [N=71] Age * Female Years of 25 yrs Gender Education Raising /æ/ 34* /e/-/æ/ reversal 34* /e/-/o/ alignment 112*** /^/-/o/ reversal 37 8. 6* 26* -16* 54

Three areas of resistance to the low back merger St. Louis corridor 55

The St. Louis corridor along Interstate I-55 Fairbury 56

Fronting of /o, ah/ in the Inland North (ANAE Map 14. 5). 9 Telsur speakers from No. Illinois 9 Telsur speakers from the St. Louis corridor ** ** **** 57

Distribution of NCS measures in No. Illinois and the St. Louis corridor 58

Northern Cities Shift A linguistic sequence 5 Canadian Shift e o æ oh Inland North: front /ah/ Unidirectional e oh æ ah Unidirectional Bidirectional Unidirectional Merge /o/ -> /oh/ Merge /o/ --> /ah/ Bidirectional Unidirectional o round-ing /o/ unrounding /o/ oh /oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/ Eastern ah(r) Back seaboard: vowel raise /oh/ shift Unidirectional oh Bidirectional South: add upglide to /oh/ Pittsburgh Shift oh(r) æw Unidirectional aw Back upglide chain shift 59

The Pittsburgh Shift across subsystems Long and ingliding vowels Short vowels /o, oh/ /e/ /æ/ /o/ 60