another Tom Kun x-post from Linguist List

[Laurence Horn]

Actually there were two dialectological queries in this one, although
the "fields" are identified as phonetics/phonology/sociolinguistics.
One is from Kun (whose earlier query I cross-posted a couple of days
ago), the other from someone else.  As usual, any replies should go
to the originators as well as the list.

larry

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-669. Mon Mar 07 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.669, Qs: Australian A-Lengthening;Pittsburgh/Dallas Accents


1)
Date: 07-Mar-2005
From: Tonio Green < toniogreen at web.de >
Subject: Australian A-Lengthening

2)
Date: 07-Mar-2005
From: Tom Kun < tpk0005 at unt.edu >
Subject: Pittsburgh and Dallas Accents


-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:05:49
From: Tonio Green < toniogreen at web.de >
Subject: Australian A-Lengthening


Hello,

Can anyone confirm or deny the existence of a "lengthened short a" in
Australian English, in particular an apparent phonemic split between short
[ae] in 'lad', 'can' (modal verb) and [ae:] in 'bad', 'can' (noun)? If
real, this is of course strongly reminiscent of the distinction between lax
and tense [ae] in New York City. J. C. Wells' "Accents of English" only
mentions lengthening of [ae] in monosyllables in Australian, which can be
maintained when class 2 suffixes are added, allowing for pairs like
h[ae]mmer 'mallet-like tool' vs. h[ae:]mmer 'one who hams', but says
nothing about a c[ae]n/c[ae:n] contrast. Are there any Australians here who
have contrasts like c[ae]n/c[ae:n] or l[ae]d/b[ae:d]? Has anything been
published about this?

Thanks in advance!
-- Tonio Green

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
                      Phonology




-------------------------Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:05:53
From: Tom Kun < tpk0005 at unt.edu >
Subject: Pittsburgh and Dallas Accents



I'm not a ''linguist'' as such, that is, I don't have a degree, but I'm a
bit of an accent enthusiast who reads lots of linguistic research papers
and listens to how people pronounce words.  I also run a website about
regional accents at:

http://students.csci.unt.edu/~kun

I actually have two questions.  The first is about some seemingly
conflicting data about a city I've never been in: Pittsburgh.  The Atlas of
North American English (ANAE) shows that, as in Canada, /o/ and /oh/ (cot
and caught) are merged in low-back-rounded position.  Unlike in the
Canadian Shift, their subjects in Pittsburgh also had /^/ lowered into
low-central position, and this is supposed to be blocking /ae/ from
lowering.  However, I also read a recent paper abstract by Corrine McCarthy
( http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ling/nwav33/files/162.pdf ) which claims that the
glide deletion of /aw/ (as in ''dahntahn'') was blocking the
/ae/-retraction.  She did a study of Pittsburgh and found that as
/aw/-monophthongization recedes, /ae/-retraction was occuring.  So, does
this have any effect on /^/-lowering?

My second question is about the city where I live, Dallas.  Like I said
before, I like to listen to people and notice how they pronounce vowels,
and I think I'm hearing the beginnings of the Canadian Shift down here.
Pronouncing /o/ as a low back rounded vowel was a traditional Southern
feature, and younger speakers here still do this.  A few weeks ago this
girl was saying ''pond'' and I thought she was saying ''pawn.'' (I'm from
Ohio).  Well, I am also noticing some /ae/-retraction here.  I have a
theory about this, but since I don't have any degrees in linguistics, I
don't want to put it on my website until someone with some credentials
tells me I'm on the right track.  My theory is that glide deletion of /ay/,
the first stage of the Southern Shift, was blocking the /ae/ retraction,
since it was pronounced in low central position.  As the salient Southern
accent features recede in this city, /ay/ is becoming diphthongal again,
thus providing a space for /ae/ to fall into--just like in Canada.  So am I
on the right track here?

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology
                      Sociolinguistics
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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-669



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