Slang poster

Gordon, Matthew J. GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU
Fri Oct 27 01:22:38 UTC 2006


Christine Zeller published an article in Journal of English Linguistics in 1997 that studied short-a before /g/ in Milwaukee. I pasted the abstract from LLBA below. Notice she suggests it's also found in Minnesota.

My sense is that this raising is not historically related to the Northern Cities Shift. In addition to the obvious distinction that NCS raising is not phonologically restricted, I think this pre-/g/ raising tends to be phonetically different from the NCS raising which frequently spawns diphthongal variants. I also suspect the pre-/g/ raising is actually older than the NCS despite Zeller's apparent-time evidence.


Abstract: Realizations of /ae/ before voiced velars (orthographic , , ) are considered. Subjects (N = 10 adults from around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 8 related by blood or marriage to the investigator) were tape-recorded on semantic differential, word list, & rhyming tasks. Data were digitized & spectrograms were generated. Formant measurements taken at midpoint were plotted on F1-F2 vowel charts. Younger speakers (aged (less than or equal to) 40) show considerable overlap in allophones of /ae/ & /e/, whereas older speakers (aged (greater than or equal to) 40) show either no significant overlap (males) or what seems to be an intermediate stage in the change (females). Interviews of additional subjects (N = 17 natives of Wisconsin & Minnesota) suggest that the sound change pervades the region. Analogues & possible sources of the sound change are discussed. 


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Beverly Flanigan
Sent: Thu 10/26/2006 7:27 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:      Re: Slang poster
 
Interesting!  I'm from SW Minnesota, but I now have a niece in Alexandria;
I'll listen to her closely next summer (she also has a pronounced "Canadian
raised" 'aboot', more than anyone else in the family).  This may be new
since I left the state.  Your blog page is also interesting; some of the
changes sound like the Northern Cities Shift, but not only raised but also
tensed.  But are "baggel" and "vague" really lowered to /ae/ or laxed to
/E/?  I wonder what Matt thinks?

The IPA is difficult to reproduce in e-mail--unless someone has a good
suggestion?

Beverly

At 05:01 PM 10/26/2006, you wrote:
>Quoting Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Slang poster
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Where in Minnesota is your wife from?  My entire family lives in Minnesota
> > (as I did for 25 years), and I've never heard [e] for [ae] before a voiced
> > velar stop.
> >
>
>She grew up in St Cloud.
>
>I have found it from the Twin Cities up to the ND border but most reliably
>in a
>central to north-western strip.  In North Dakota in the northern/eastern
>quarter. I mentioned it in a post a little bit ago. (Sorry about the title.)
>
><http://wishydig.blogspot.com/2006/09/oyah-good-fox-up-dare.html>
>
>Several residents from these areas attest the difference in the vowel and just
>recently a Wisconsin resident agreed with the alternation.  The most common
>words in which I've heard it -- and on which the speakers report they get the
>most reaction -- are "flag" and "bag."  Very different from "flack" and
>"back."
>
>I have heard a very slight diphthongization in Michigan but never the complete
>raising of the vowel.
>
>Question: any suggestions for using IPA symbols in these pure-text
>messages?  I
>hate to see my posts coming back to me with the bracketed html code instead of
>the phonetic symbols I was trying to use.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Are the vowels in "slang" and "slant" pronounced the same in m-w.com?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
> > > > See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.
> > >
> > >
> > >Although the pronunciation key uses the same symbol for both, in the
> > >recording I
> > >hear either a slight diphthongization or a raising in "slang".
> > >
> > >This is similar to the [e] for [æ] alternation I heard in North Dakota and
> > >Minnesota.
> > >
> > >When I ask my wife to say "wagon" she says [weg?n] and when I ask her
> > to
> > >syllabify it she says [wej - g?n]. She claims the first vowel is
> > >identical to
> > >the vowel in "ray gun." And it's a true rhyme with "Reagan" she offers.
> > >
> > >I recently posted the claim:
> > >"[A]pparently before a voiced velar stop or nasal (either [g] or [?])
> > >she raises
> > >/æ/ to /e/. Adding the [i]/[j] diphthongisation is probably just a natural
> > >effect when a coda is lost and the following onset is noticeably
> > suspended."
> > >
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>     Michael Covarrubias
>     Purdue University
>     mcovarru at purdue.edu
>     wishydig.blogspot.com
>
>USA - MI4, OH3, MD3, MI13, ND5, MI3, IN1+
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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