15.2898, Sum: Monophthongal Canadian English /e/ and /o/

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LINGUIST List: Vol-15-2898. Thu Oct 14 2004. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 15.2898, Sum: Monophthongal Canadian English /e/ and /o/                                                                                                                                                              

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1)
Date: 08-Oct-2004
From: Juli Cebrian < Juli.Cebrian at uab.es >
Subject: Monophthongal Canadian English /e/ and /o/ 
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 01:35:12
From: Juli Cebrian < Juli.Cebrian at uab.es >
Subject: Monophthongal Canadian English /e/ and /o/ 
 
I recently posted a query (Sept 13, 2004, Linguist 15.2558) about the 
prevalence of a more monophthongal pronunciation of the mid vowels /e/ 
and /o/ (as in 'bay' and 'go') in English in general and in Canadian 
English in particular. I am very grateful to Joaquin Romero, Rob Hagiwara, 
Laura Sabourin, Anthea Fraser Gupta and Rémy Viredaz for their replies. 
Here follows a summary of their contributions. Suggested relevant 
literature is listed below.

English varieties certainly vary with respect to the gliding nature of the 
mid vowels /e/ and /o/. Variation exists among both British and North 
American varieties. Variation goes from clear diphthongs, including 
realizations of /e/ whose starting point is a lower vowel (e.g., in the 
south of England, the southern US and Australia) to more monophthongal 
(and often higher) vowels in northern varieties (northern English 
varieties (e.g., Middlesbrough, Tyneside, among others), Scottish English, 
Irish English (excluding Dublin), Wales and northern US). Monophthongs are 
also common in Singapore English, Jamaican/West Indian English and West 
African English varieties (among others). 

In American English, more monophthongal productions of /e/ and /o/ are 
reported for the northern US, especially. the region of the Great Lakes, 
often preceding a voiceless consonant. This is also more evident with high 
frequency words such as 'way', 'go', 'no', 'so'. There are also 
realizations of a monophthongal /e/ of a lower nature in southern New 
England. Diphthongization is more common in the southern US and the 
Appalachians.

With respect to Canadian English, my data that showed a more monophthongal 
production of /e/ for speakers of southwestern Ontario (west of Toronto) 
and northern Ontario (Thunder Bay) than for speakers from Toronto. There 
seems to be no published work on the pronunciation and distribution of the 
different variants of /e/ and /o/ in Canadian English but experimental 
work is currently being carried out. A study on Manitoba English is 
currently underway and results may be presented at the upcoming conference 
on Canadian English in the Global Context (Toronto, January 2005). In 
addition, on-going research on infants' phonetic discrimination that uses 
stimuli from Western Canada adult speakers reports a fairly monophthongal 
production of /e/, especially as opposed to Eastern Ontario pronunciation. 
There are also observations that some Toronto speakers may produce more 
monophthongal /e/ and /o/ than speakers of other North American and 
British varieties and than speakers from Ottawa (Eastern Ontario).

Historically, pure vowels were common until the 1800s when the addition of 
a closing offglide to the long mid vowels started to develop (see also 
Wells (1982) p210-11). 

Suggested bibliography:
Bronstein, A. J. (1960).The Pronunciation of American English. Englewood 
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Halls Inc.
Dauer, R.M. (1993) Accurate English.A Complete Course in Pronunciation. 
Prentice Hall Regents.
Edwards, H. T. (1992) Applied Phonetics: The Sounds of American English. 
San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group Inc.
Kenyon, J. S. & T. A. Knott. (1953). A Pronouncing Dictionary of American 
English. Merriam Webster.
Van Riper, C. G. & Smith, D. E.. (1979) An Introduction to General 
American Phonetics. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press Inc. 
Wells, J. C. (1983). Accents of English (1, 2, 3). CUP.

Thanks again for your help. Further comments and questions are welcome.

Juli Cebrian
U. Autonoma de Barcelona 

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics 

Subject Language(s): English Language Code: ENG



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