Phonetics and phonology of accent variationAccents and DialectsAccents of EnglishDifferences in phoneme inventoryDifferences in distribution of contrastsDifferences in distribution of contrastsDescribing English AccentsDescribing English accents - an historical approachSome differences between English and US accentsLOT-PALM mergerUS innovation: j-deletionj-deletionAn irregular sound changeRegional Accents in the USALabov et al (1997)The WestThe NorthNorthern Cities ShiftThe NorthThe SouthThe SouthThe MidlandsCross-dialect CommunicationSpeaker normalizationCross-dialect CommunicationCross-dialect speech perceptionCross-dialect speech perceptionNorris, McQueen & Cutler (2003)Norris, McQueen & Cutler (2003)Norris, McQueen & Cutler (2003)Adaptation to a new accentMIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu24.910 Topics in Linguistic Theory: Laboratory PhonologySpring 2007 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.Phonetics and phonology of accent variationAccents and DialectsDialects of English can differ in all aspects of grammar•Lexicon– soda, coke, pop• Syntax– I might do vs. I might– The house needs painted (W. PA, E. Ohio, Scots)– The house needs painting• Phonology• Phonetics• ‘Accent’ refers to phonetics and phonology only.Accents of EnglishAccents can differ in all aspects of phonology/phonetics• Phoneme inventory - differences in the number and arrangement of phonemes.• Phonological rules/phonotactics• Phonetic realization - differences in the detailed realization of phonemes.Differences in phoneme inventory• Contrast /ɑɔ/, e.g. Inland North, Atlantic States• Only /ɑ/, West, NE New England– Homophones: cot-caught, Don-dawn, hock-hawkContrast in production of /o/ and /oh/ before /t/ in COT vs. CAUGHT.The Merger of /o/ and /oh/Same [N=174]Distinct [N=262]Close [N=70]Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare. Adapted from the Linguistics Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania.Differences in distribution of contrasts• All accents contrast /ɪ, ɛ/.• In some accents (e.g. South) this contrast is neutralized beforenasals.pʰɪn ‘pin, pen’hɪm ‘him, hem’mɪni ‘many, mini’lɪŋkθ ‘length’Differences in distribution of contrastsDistinct [N=296]Close [N=69]Contrast in speech production of /l/ and /e/ before nasals in PIN and PEN, HIM and HEM.The PIN/PEN mergerSame [N=116]Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare. Adapted from the Linguistics Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania.2Differences in allophonic rules• California English /æ/ → [ɪæ]/ _ [+nasal]had standTime (s)0.2504220.56010305000Time (s)92.624292.963105000[Audio clip removed due to copyright restrictions]Listen: http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/sounds/stand.wav3• Californian speakers (M open, F closed) (Hagiwara 1997).•/ʉ/•/ʌ/ • N. Midwest speakers (M open, F closed) (Hillenbrand et al 1995).•[ʌ>][Listen: http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/sounds/move.wav][Audio clip removed due to copyright restrictions][Listen: http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/sounds/fund.wav]Differences in realizations of phonemesFigures by MIT OpenCourseWare.iiu200300400500600700800900100011003000 2500 2000 1500 1000eSecond formantFirst formant eu200300400500600700800900100011003000 2500 2000 1500 1000Second formantFirst formant iieeuuHzHzΛΛΛΛΩΩΩΩɑɑɑɑIIIIDescribing English Accents• Northern /u/ and California /ʉ/ are corresponding phonemes in the two accents because they generally occur in the same words.– where Northern has /u/ Californian has /ʉ/.• So a convenient way to refer to vowel phonemes in describing accents is in terms of the words in which they appear.• Wells (1982) proposes a set of keywords for referring to classes of words that (generally) share a vowel phoneme, e.g.– KIT, DRESS, TRAP, LOT, STRUT, etc.Describing English accents - an historical approach• The ‘keyword’ approach works because of the approximate correctness of two assumptions:– All accents of English are descended from the same language via sound change.– Sound change is regular (‘Neogrammarian’) -exceptionless and phonetically conditioned.• Labov takes an explicitly historical approach to description of accents.– accents are described in terms of changes from an ‘initial position’ -‘our best estimation of the common base for American English dialects which resulted from the mixing of various English dialects in the 16th and 17th centuries’11Some differences between English and US accents• To a first approximation, the differences between English and US accents are the result of independent sound changes in one region or the other.• E.g. a Southern English innovation: loss of post-vocalic /ɹ/stɑɹ > stɑ ‘star’fɔɹ > fɔ ‘for’stɑɹɪŋ > stɑɹɪŋ ‘star’– ɹ > Ø/ _ {C, #}12LOT-PALM merger• A US innovation ɒ > ɑːR.P. most USlɒtlɑt ‘lot’pʰɑmpʰɑm ‘palm’bɒðə bɑðə˞ ‘bother’fɑðə bɑðə˞ ‘bother’/ɑ, ɒ//ɑ/US innovation: j-deletionR.P. most US RP/US RP/US RP/UStʰjun tʰun ‘tune’ tʰul ‘tool’ pjuni ‘puny’ kjut ‘cute’dju du ‘dew’ du ‘do’ bjuti ‘beauty’ hju ‘hue’sjut sut ‘suit’ sun ‘soon’ fju ‘few’zjus zus ‘Zeus’ zu ‘zoo’ vju ‘view’njuz nuz ‘news’ nus ‘noose mjuz ‘muse’• j > Ø / [+coronal] _• ˈvɑljəm, ˈʌnjən• synchronic process also.j-deletion• Actually deletion of [j] started earlier, applying in some environments in both English and US accents:– ɪʊ > ju– j > Ø / palato-alveolars, Cl, ɹ _(or ɪʊ > u)17thCMost moderntʃɪuz tʃuz ‘chews’tʃuz tʃuz ‘choose’θɹɪu θɹu ‘threw’θɹu θɹu ‘through’flɪuflu ‘flew’flu flu ‘through’• In many English accents j-deletion has since applied after [l], e.g. lewdAn irregular sound change• Regular sound change applies to all words that contain the relevant sound in the relevant context.• Some sound changes appear to apply to a subset of words giving rise to complicated differences in lexical distribution.• US/UK Englishes both have /æ, ɑ/ but in different words– staff, bath, pass, grasp– dance, answer, demand, grant, example– UK: æ > ɑ/ _ voiceless fricative, NC– but: gas, asp, passage, chaff, (plastic),…– but: romance, hand, band, ant, ample,…Regional Accents in the USA• Traditional dialectology divides the USA into four major dialect areas based primarily on vocabulary (soda