North
American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns
Web-Based Survey now completed A group of linguists has been gathering data on North American English dialects using a web-based survey. They asked for our help, and some of you helped with this survey. This survey is now closed, with 3903 total responses in December 2012. You can see some preliminary results at: pantheon.yale.edu/~clb3/NorthAmericanDialects. However, I find that some of their samples definitely do not represent the local dialect! 26-Dec.-2012 |
This is just a hobby of mine, that I thought might be interesting to a lot of people. Some people collect stamps. Others collect coins. I collect dialects. Please let me know what you think of this page. - Rick Aschmann (Last updated: May 17, 2013.) Please continue to be patient! I had worked through well over half of the e-mails I had received since the huge jump in popularity of this site over the 2010 Christmas break, due to a number of web forums about it, but suddenly it has happened again, with two more huge surges recently, one since late April, 2013, and one the result of this article on May 9, making me doubt if there is any way I can ever keep up! Adj. 15-May-2013 Thanks to all of you who have written expressing appreciation for the page! I don’t promise to respond to every e-mail, but I am still trying to answer all those who sent in a sample or other information, or even a complaint. Unfortunately, my life is always very busy, and I can only dedicate a small portion of my time to this, so I have barely been able to keep up with current correspondence about this page, and now with this new surge of mail I have doubts of ever being able to do so. But I’ll keep trying! Adj. 15-May-2013 There are 8 major
English dialect areas in North America, listed below the map at left. These
are shown in blue, each with its number, on the map and in the Dialect Description Chart below, and are
also outlined with blue lines on the map. The first 6 of these begin at the eastern seaboard and proceed west,
reflecting western settlement patterns. The many subdialects
are shown in red on the map and in the chart, and are outlined with red lines
on the map. All of these are listed in the margins of the map as well.
In the Dialect Description Chart additional features
not shown on the map are provided for distinguishing the dialects. Recent additions • I made some adjustments to the Inland and Lowland Southern and their relationship to the extent of slavery before the Civil War section to make my explanation of the difference between Inland Southern and Lowland Southern easier to understand, after a contributor wrote trying to explain it all over to me, after I already thought I had made it clear! I also added several new subsection titles to make the whole discussion easier to follow. New! 17-Apr.-2013 • Continuing survey: I only discovered in 2011 that many if not most Americans pronounce the “l” in words like “calm” and other words ending in “alm”, which surprised me very much, since I don’t. Some also pronounce the “l” in “folk”, and even a few may pronounce the “l” in “talk”. See The Pronunciation of “alm” and “olk” and “alk” for more details. I would love to know if you do or do not pronounce the “l” in such words, and where you grew up! Yes, I know many of you have sent in data recently, and I am still trying to get it all compiled. Adj. 16-Mar.-2013 • I did major adjustments to the How Many Vowels are there in American English? section, adjusting two of the r-colored vowels in particular, and added the Thats too komplikaytəd! Kant wee yooz just playn letərz? section. New! 8-Feb.-2013
What’s New? All additions or changes within the last two or three months are marked with “ New! ” and the date, or with “ Adj. ” (for “Adjusted”.) To see this new information, simply search for these words.
Map Format I have made a number of adjustments to the map format based on comments and suggestions from people who write in. However, the main complaint, that the map is too complicated and confusing, I can’t really fix: the subject is complicated, and I am well aware that I have tried to include too many features. However, if people have ideas on how to make the map or web page less confusing, I am all ears! Adj. 8-May-2013 |
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The small map below is the same as the Full-Scale Dialect Map that follows, but shows the entire width of the map (on most monitors). 24-Aug.-2010
Click on any part of this map to move to the equivalent part of the Full-Scale Dialect Map. (For now this only moves to the far left or the far right of the Full-Scale Dialect Map, so unfortunately it doesn’t work well for the middle portions, and you will just have to scroll over.) 24-Aug.-2010
Instructions
For many of the cities or towns on this map, you can listen to an audio or video sample of speech of a native (more specifically, someone who was raised there, though not necessarily born there, and whose dialect clearly represents that place). All of the cities or towns with a green center have such an audio or video sample that can be listened to (and a few of the ones with pink centers do also). I will continue adding new audio and video samples, so check back from time to time. So far there are over 800 samples listed, more and more of which are from contributors! Thanks! 20-Mar.-2012
Use the scroll bars to move around on this map, or, even simpler, start at the tiny map above and click the country (U.S. or Canada) that you want to look at. This will take you to the Small-Scale Dialect Map. Click again to zoom in further on your location. (For now this only moves to the far left or the far right of the Full-Scale Dialect Map, so unfortunately it doesn’t work well for the middle portions, and you will just have to scroll over.) 24-Aug.-2010
The entire map is clickable, taking
you to the list of samples for that state or province. Only those locations
with green centers, and a few with pink centers, have a sample so far. If there aren’t
any of these samples yet for a particular state or province, then it will not
be clickable, since there is no data to go to! Place the mouse over a
particular state or province to see if it currently has any samples. (The map guides, showing the meaning of all
the colors, are on the top right and bottom left of the map.) 20-Mar.-2012
Help! For many places I haven’t found an audio sample yet. If you know of an audio or video sample on the Internet that features a speaker who was raised in a particular place, and whose dialect clearly represents that place, please let me know, whether that place is currently listed or not! Although many of the people in these samples are prominent people, I actually prefer ordinary local people, but anyone at all will do, as long as their pronunciation represents the local dialect. (The ones I especially need, and cannot find, are those with an orange-yellow center.) Also, if you think that one of the audio examples does not truly represent the local dialect, please let me know in the same way. (Oh, but please keep the samples clean. I have a policy of not using a sample if it uses a word you can’t say on TV in the U.S.!) I will normally list your name as the contributor, to make this more of a community project, unless you’d rather I didn’t, in which case I will use initials. However, I will not publish anyone’s e-mail address. 10-May-2011
Numbered Locations: Thanks to
enthusiastic contributor Eli K., much of Kentucky and
Tennessee and neighboring areas are about as thoroughly mapped as they
possibly can be. That’s the kind of help needed to really fill out this map! In
fact, I was forced to go to a numbering system
for such areas, since the scale of the map is already big enough! I put the key
to the numbers off the east coast of Canada. 24-Aug.-2010
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$Mapping3 $$width=2717 height=2342$$ |
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Data from the Atlas of North American English (ANAE)
I am grateful to the Atlas of North American English (ANAE) by William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg, for a good part of the data on which this map was based. Specifically, much of the information on the map above and in the Dialect Description Chart below was obtained from ANAE chapter 11 (a draft version available on the Internet), as well as from many other chapters of the same work, with a few ideas from a much older version of the same: ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html. (The Table of Contents of the draft version of the atlas can be seen at: www.ling.upenn.edu/phonoatlas/ANAE_ToC.pdf, but this does not link directly to the chapters.)
However, the names of a number of the dialects are my own, and I have made many adjustments to their borders (especially Inland and Lowland South, West Midland, and Allegheny Midland). Also, a lot of the data is from my own research and analysis. - Rick Aschmann
I discovered in late 2011 that much or all of the audio data upon which the atlas was based is now available on the Internet, on this website (select North American English Dialects). (Replaced bad link.) I will be adding samples from this site as I have time, marked as “ANAE info and audio”. Adj. 26-Jan.-2013
The following notes refer to numbers on the map, and show the corresponding section of the ANAE:
1: Pin-pen merger: See Map 9.5 in ANAE chapter 9 and www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map3.html. This is the only feature in which I find myself in significant disagreement with the ANAE: I have found that the pin-pen merger area is much larger than they show, especially in the west.[1] (See The Pin-Pen Merger, The Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Texas Cattle Drives below.) 6-Aug.-2011
2: Long /ō/ [oʊ] fronting: See Map 20.2 in ANAE chapter 20. 2: The boundary between central-back and central-front (the yellow dots) was used by the ANAE to define the boundary between North and Midland, but this line then extends into the West. The deep dip that it takes southwards in Utah and Nevada would seem to indicate settlement of these areas by Northerners, probably represented by the Mormon settlement. Thus this dip corresponds to a large degree to the “Mormon Corridor”. Many of these settlers were originally from the Palmyra, New York, area and from Kirtland, Ohio. Another northern contribution may have been the early northeastern organized crime influence in Las Vegas. Now I’m not saying that people in these areas sound like northeasterners: they don’t, they sound like westerners, with this one feature being dragged south because of this origin. 20-Jan.-2010
3: R-dropping: See Map 7.1 in ANAE chapter 7. R-droppers are also called non-rhotic English speakers, though I find this term rather obscure and academic. There are two types of r-droppers, which I call Systematic R-droppers and Simple R-droppers. 2-Jan.-2012
Systematic R-droppers are found in the northeastern U. S., in much of England, and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, much of the Caribbean, and other places. Systematic R-droppers have linking and intrusive r’s. John F. Kennedy is an excellent example of a Systematic r-dropper. In a speech he gave prior to being elected, he says “The hungry children I sawr in West Vaginia.” This quote has one intrusive r, and one dropped r, both highlighted in red. In another speech during the Cuban missile crisis he says, starting at 4:55: “...Soviet foreign minister Gromyko told me in my office that he was instructed to make it cleah once again, as he said his govament had already done, Soviet assistance to Cubar, and I quote, ...”, which again has one intrusive r, and two dropped r’s, again highlighted in red. 2-Apr.-2011
Simple R-droppers are found in parts of the Lowland South. As a general rule, they do not have linking and intrusive r’s. All of the areas in the South marked as r-droppers on my map are Simple R-dropper areas. (It turns out that Hawai’i Creole English is also of this type.) 1-Aug.-2012
Numerous examples of both kinds of r-droppers are given in the audio samples below. This pattern is receding, so occasionally only much older speakers retain the r-dropping in a given location. These are surrounded on the map by a dotted green circle, and in the chart below will be indicated with the phrase “Older r-dropper:”. 3-Apr.-2010
4: Canadian and Tidewater raising: See Map 15.5 in ANAE chapter 15, noting only the info for the /ou/ [aʊ] vowel (which he writes /aw/), not the /ī/ [aɪ] vowel (which he writes /ay/). For Tidewater I have gleaned the info from various sources, including stray comments in ANAE. 3-July-2010
5: Bite-bout line: See Map 14.1 in ANAE chapter 14.
6: “On” line: See Map 14.2 in ANAE chapter 14. This is the only lexical item included in this analysis, but it seems to correlate with the phonological data. Why it turns north at its western end in the Dakotas and does some contortions is unclear. (The ANAE did not have Mitchell, SD or Ashley, ND, which are the surprises. Actually, Mitchell is not a surprise, or even borderline, but one speaker seems to be anomalous.) Miles City, Montana, an outlier of Western North, is also below the line. In San Francisco the pattern seems to be reversed, with the “Don” group possibly representing a later influx of some type. 22-Sep.-2010
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vowel of “lot” almost as much as vowel of “let” |
vowel of “cot” more fronted than vowel of “cut” |
vowel of “too” much more fronted than vowel of “toe” |
Vowel of “far” fronted |
Vowel of “caught” strongly raised |
“hoarse” =“horse”, “mourning” = “morning”, “four”= “for” |
Unique Features |
Chapter and map in ANAE |
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Chapter and map in ANAE |
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yes |
Like Western North, but “cot”=“caught” |
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yes |
Subtle differences from the rest of the North Central, particularly /ŧħ/ [đ] becomes /d/ [d]. |
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Mat-Su Valley, Alaska * |
yes |
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yes |
Strongly like North Central, but with some admixture from the main Alaska dialect. (See Sarah Palin.) |
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yes |
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yes |
Vowel of “too” significantly more fronted than vowel of “toe”, “cot”=“caught” |
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Alaska |
yes |
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yes |
Same as West (ANAE chapter 11 says there are significant differences, but does not make clear what they are.) |
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Silver City, NM |
yes |
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yes |
Same as West, but “cot”≠“caught” |
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yes |
very little |
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yes |
Same as West, plus Canadian vowel shift, vowel of “cat” central, raising of “bite”, “bout” |
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Atlantic Provinces |
mixed? |
yes |
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yes |
vowel of “far” fronted (but not “father”) |
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yes |
yes |
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yes |
like the Atlantic Provinces, but with a strong Irish component |
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yes |
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no |
“far” & “father” fronted, systematic r-dropping, “cot”=“caught”, “father” & “bother” don’t rhyme |
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NW New England |
very little |
very little |
yes |
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yes |
vowel of “far” fronted (but not “father”) , “cot”=“caught” |
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mixed |
mixed |
mostly |
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almost all |
Back vowels strongly backed, defined as the “cot”≠“caught” area north of the line of yellow dots, except for the St. Louis Corridor.[2] |
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Western North |
mixed |
mixed |
mostly |
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yes |
Least distinctive dialect of the North, some sections are “General American” |
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Inland North |
yes |
yes |
mostly |
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almost all |
Northern Cities Shift: “bat” strongly raised, most short vowels shifted |
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St. Louis Corridor |
yes |
yes |
Mixed |
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mixed |
Northern Cities Shift: “bat” strongly raised, most short vowels shifted, but many other vowels like Midland |
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Indiana North[3] |
no |
no |
yes |
Very similar to Western North, but separated from it geographically[4]. |
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Eastern North |
yes |
yes |
very little |
mixed |
yes |
Mostly like Western North, but some similarities to New York City |
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Albany |
yes |
yes |
very little |
yes |
yes |
Many vowels like New York City, but no r-dropping |
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Providence |
yes |
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no |
vowel of “cat” central, systematic r-dropping, “cart”=“cot”, which is not seen anywhere else in the world! |
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yes |
yes |
Various unusual vowels, systematic r-dropping, “bad” & “had” don’t rhyme, “father” & “bother” don’t rhyme |
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The Hamptons |
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yes |
A lot like New York City, but more research needed! |
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Downtown New Orleans |
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no? |
More like New York City than anything else, although “bad” & “had” probably rhyme, and “on” rhymes with “Dawn”. 24-Nov.-2012 |
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almost all |
In many ways is intermediate between Northern and Southern[5] |
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Central Midland |
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almost all |
Least distinctive dialect in the U.S., many sections are “General American” |
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Canton, Ohio |
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yes |
“bat” strongly raised, “on” rhymes with “Don”, not “Dawn” |
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yes |
Many vowels are pronounced like New York City, “pin”≠“pen”, unlike the surrounding area[6] |
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West Midland * |
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yes |
“cot”=“caught” |
(19) |
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Allegheny Midland[7] |
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yes |
“cot”=“caught” |
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Pittsburgh |
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yes |
Pittsburgh vowel shift: “out” is pronounced [ˈat], with no diphthong, the way a Bostonian says “art”. |
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Oklahoma City * [8] |
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yes |
Like the parts of the Central Midland south of the pin-pen line |
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East Midland * |
yes |
yes |
Like the Central Midland, with influences from Atlantic Midland |
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Atlantic Midland[9] |
yes |
yes |
“bad” does not rhyme with “had”, like New York City |
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North Florida |
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yes |
Like the Central Midland, “pin”=“pen” |
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South Florida |
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yes |
Like the Central Midland, “pin”≠“pen” |
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El Paso |
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yes |
“cot”≠“caught”, “pin”=“pen” |
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Galveston * |
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yes |
Very similar to East Midland, or even to Atlantic Midland, except that “bad” rhymes with “had” |
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yes |
yes |
Very similar to East Midland, or even to Atlantic Midland, except that “bad” rhymes with “had” |
(11) |
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mixed |
Partial to full Southern shift: vowels of “ride” and “buy” have no diphthong: long /ī/ is [a]. |
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Lowland South |
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mixed |
Partial Southern shift: vowels of “ride” and “buy” have [a], with no diphthong, but “right” does ([aɪ]), “pin”=“pen”. |
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mixed |
Outlined in dark green rather than red, a catch-all for all R-dropping dialects in the South, includes or cuts across some of the dialects below. |
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mixed |
Outlined in pink rather than red, a catch-all for those parts of the coastal south that have the Tidewater raising, as explained on the map. It actually includes two areas that lack the Southern shift, Down East & Outer Banks and Charleston. |
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Savannah |
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yes |
R-dropping, “pin”≠“pen” |
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yes |
East is R-dropping, west apparently not, “pin”=“pen”, French influence, th > t,d. |
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New Orleans, Mid City |
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no? |
See New Orleans inset on map and the New Orleans section below |
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New Orleans, Irish Channel |
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no? |
See New Orleans inset on map and the New Orleans section below |
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Inland South |
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almost all |
Full Southern shift: vowels of “ride”, “buy”, and “right” all have [a], with no diphthong, “pin”=“pen” |
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Anomalous peripheral areas in the southeast that resisted the Southern shift: |
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Charleston |
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yes |
No Southern shift, R-dropping, vowels of “bait” and “boat” are not diphthongs, but simple [e] and [o]. |
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Down East & Outer Banks * |
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yes |
No Southern shift, long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel often almost like /oi/ [ɔɪ], “pin”=“pen”[11] 11-July-2011 |
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Chesapeake Islands * |
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yes |
No Southern shift, long /ī/ [aɪ] vowel less like /oi/ [ɔɪ] than Down East & Outer Banks, “pin”≠“pen” |
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* Those dialects marked with an asterisk are not in the Atlas of North American English (ANAE).
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Colors: |
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Transitional areas within
main dialects |
Distinctive or innovative features of a given dialect |
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Transitional areas
outside main dialects |
Intermediate or partial features |
I have added and adjusted a lot of the information on the
map based on the following audio and non-audio data. - Rick Aschmann
Regional non-audio data
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Location |
Source |
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English, French, and indigenous mother-tongue areas of
Canada |
atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peopleandsociety/lang/languages2001/mt |
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French mother-tongue areas of Maine |
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Indigenous languages |
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the eastern boundary of Inland North |
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Greater New York City |
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Eastern boundary between Eastern New England and Providence |
ling.upenn.edu/~johnson4/pwpl_draft.pdf 30-Mar.-2010 |
Multiple-region audio samples found on the Internet
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Location |
Source |
Comment |
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Samples from almost all U. S. states |
Few indications are given as to whether the speakers are
natives of the area in which they were interviewed, or if they represent well
the local dialect. Also, locations are often limited, and often only urban
locations are given. Even so, in many cases the data is useful, and I have
used it (see the next chart), especially when clearer indications are given
of “nativeness”. If anyone finds any of these that I have left out and
shouldn’t have, please let me know!
25-Feb.-2011 |
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Samples only from north-central U. S. |
Again, not always clear if the speakers are natives of the
area in which they were interviewed, or if they represent well the local
dialect. However, includes rural speakers, which can help fill in holes. Used
occasionally. If anyone finds any of these that I have left out and shouldn’t
have, please let me know! 25-Feb.-2011 |
Guide to the Sounds of North American English
In many places on this web page the pronunciation of a name or other word will be given after it. These pronunciation guides will have two forms: a phonemic guide between slashes / /, based on the Traditional Dictionary Pronunciation System (TDPS) that is found in many dictionaries, and a phonetic guide (providing the phonetic details) between square brackets [ ], based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). (Thanks, Maria Mikkonen![12])
The advantage of the phonemic guide is that it allows different dialects to use the same pronunciation key and get the right result for each dialect. For this guide I have used the system used in the American Heritage Dictionary[13] (also here), rather than the one used by Merriam-Webster, since it is more complete and applies to more dialects. Adj. 4-Jan.-2013
However, I have included the phonetic guide as well, partly to give a more precise phonetic pronunciation of local variants, and partly because many have complained that they prefer the IPA or are familiar only with it. (I recently realized that to do this consistently, I also needed to include aspiration on voiceless consonants, which is conditioned by stress and word position. I have now added these, though I may have missed a few! I also realized that I had left off primary stress on many monosyllabic words, and have added these also, as well as making other adjustments to the phonetic spellings, in particular the phonetic realization of /r/. However, it would be impractical to represent all the fine detail, such as the rounding that many English consonants have, or the differences between “clear l” [l] and “dark l” [ɫ].) Adj. 14-Feb.-2013
In the phonemic guide I have followed the American Heritage Dictionary system to the letter, except for a few minor adjustments in the vowel system, and the following differences:
1. I write the syllable with primary stress using bold and underline, and syllables with secondary stress with just bold, rather than using an apostrophe after it like the AHD. In other words, I show the pronunciation of “underneath” as /ŭndərnēth/, whereas the AHD does it as /ŭn'dər-nēth'/.
2. I do not separate syllables with a hyphen except when absolutely necessary, as in “cartridge” /kärtrij/ versus “cartwright” /kärt-rīt/, or “mission” /mĭshən/ versus “mishap” /mĭs-hăp/; although technically in these two cases the underlining of the primary-stressed syllable gives enough information, even so the hyphens help to clarify.
3.
I show the pronunciation of words like “needle”
and “sudden” as /nēdəl/
and /sǔdən/,
rather than treating them as having syllabic /l/ or /n/, which they clearly have phonetically: [ˈniɾl̩, ˈsʌdn̩].
2-Jan.-2012
The ANAE does not use either the TDPS or the IPA, but instead uses a completely different transcription
system, described in ANAE chapter 2. This system is phonemic, like
the TDPS.[14] 3-July-2010
How Many Vowels are there in American English?
No, the answer is not: “Five: a, e, i, o u.” Granted, in traditional English spelling those are the vowel letters, yes, but I’m talking about our spoken language: How many significant vowel sounds are there? Well, if you consult any popular American English dictionary, and study the Pronunciation Key, there will be a long list of vowels. In the Pronunciation Key to the American Heritage Dictionary, 19 different vowel symbols are listed (not counting the ones only used in foreign words)! However, some of these are special vowels that only occur before the /r/ sound, which are “colored” by the /r/, so these can be separated out as special cases. And one of these vowels, /ə/, only occurs in weak syllables (completely unstressed syllables), never in stressed syllables, so it also can be separated out as a special case. This leaves us with 15 vowels that can occur in stressed syllables. Very few North American English speakers have all of these vowels: Many have 14 (lacking the /ä/ vowel), and many have only 13 (lacking both /ä/ and /ô/). New York City has 16 vowels, the 15 in the American Heritage list plus one that is not usually listed in dictionary pronunciation guides, which I have chosen to spell /ăə/! Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
These 16 vowels are listed below in the second column, with sample words shown in the first column. Those with a breve ˘ over them, ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, and ŏŏ, are those vowels that historically were short vowels in English (and still are in British English), while those with a macron ˉ over them, ā, ē, ī, ō, and ōō, are those vowels that historically were long vowels in English (and still are in British English). In American English these vowels are no longer phonetically long or short, though the “short” ones tend to be phonetically lax, and the long ones tense. As a general rule the short/lax ones do not occur at the end of a word or syllable, only before a consonant; this rule has no exceptions in British English, though it does seem to have a few in American English. (The remaining Ordinary Stressed Vowels ä, ăə, ô, oi, and ou fit in more with the long/tense group in terms of their pronunciation, history, and distribution.) (See also the section How I Use the IPA (and how I don’t) for more discussion about this.) New! 4-Jan.-2013
The remaining columns show what happens to vowels before final r, showing the “R-colored” vowels used in most of North America, and showing the Southern System in the final column, representing the system used in much of the South, which does not have “R-colored” vowels.
(I have included the IPA equivalents of these vowels in brackets [ ] as well. However, keep in mind that the actual pronunciation of a given phonemic vowel may vary greatly from region to region. For example, the /ŏ/ vowel is pronounced as [a], an open front unrounded vowel, in much of the Inland North, but is pronounced as [ɔ], an open-mid back rounded vowel, in England. A whole gamut of vowel sounds in between these two occurs somewhere in North America: in much of Canada and in some other “cot”=“caught” areas the pronunciation is [ɒ], whereas most others use [ɑ] or [a] or something in between. Many other vowels have similar variants. The most distinctive Southern pronunciation is shown in a separate column. However, keep in mind that I have not listed all possible variants for any region.) 3-July-2010
If anyone finds that any of the symbols in the chart do not display properly on their web browsers, please let me know. Most of them are standard Unicode characters. 25-Feb.-2011
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Ordinary Stressed Vowels |
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“R-colored” Stressed Vowels |
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phonemic |
IPA |
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IPA South |
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keepers |
droppers |
Southern System |
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beat, bee, fleece |
ē |
[i] |
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[ɪi] |
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fear, pier, |
îr |
[ɪɹ] |
[ɪə] |
intermediate between ē and ĭ |
/ēər/ [ɪiə(ɹ)], rhymes with “skier” |
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bit, fill, kit |
ĭ |
[ɪ] |
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[iə] |
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bait, bay, face |
ā |
[eɪ/e] |
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[æɪ] |
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fair, bear, |
âr |
[eɹ] |
[eə] (British [ɛə]) |
For most speakers, intermediate between /ā/ and /ĕ/, but /ăər/ [eə(ɹ)] in areas with /ăə/. |
/ăr/ [æɹ/æə]: “hairy”=“Harry” /hărĭ/ [ˈhæɹɪ] which rhyme with “marry” /mărĭ/ [ˈmæɹɪ], but “merry” /mĕrĭ/ [ˈmeɹɪ] and “Mary” /mārĭ/ [ˈmæɪɹɪ] are different. |
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bet, help, dress |
ĕ |
[ɛ] |
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[e] |
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bat, had, trap |
ă |
[æ] |
┐ |
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[æiə] |
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bad, man |
ăə |
[eə] |
┘ |
(NYC, Atlantic Midland) |
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father, Bach’s, palm |
ä |
[a/ɑə] |
┐ |
(E. New England, NYC) |
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far, farther, |
är |
[aɹ/ɑɹ/ɒɹ] |
[a/ɑ/ɒə] |
Everyone has this![15] |
/är/ [ɒ(ɹ)/ɔɹ] |
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cot, lot, bother, box, |
Not |
[a/ɑ/ɒ] |
┤ |
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[ɑ] |
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caught, thought,
balks, |
ô |
[ɒ/ɔ/oə] |
┘ |
(Eastern U.S. See map.) |
[ɒʊ] |
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for, horse, |
(ôr)
** |
[ɔɹ] |
[ɔə/oə] |
See ANAE map 8.2 |
[ɒ(ɹ)/ɔɹ/ɒʊ]; /är/ for many speakers, /ôr/ for others |
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1 |
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boat, goat, toe |
ō |
[oʊ/o] |
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[əʊ] |
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four, hoarse, |
ȯr
** |
[oɹ] |
[oə] |
For most speakers, intermediate between /ô/ and /ō/ |
/ôər/ [ɒʊə(ɹ)], rhymes with “rawer” |
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1 |
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cut, strut, rush, love, rough |
ŭ |
[ʌ] |
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[ə] |
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fur, urge, nurse, |
ûr |
[ɝ] |
[ɝ/ɜ/ɜɪ] |
Varies. |
/ûr/ [ɝ] or /ŭr/ [ʌɹ] or /ŏŏy/ [ɜɪ] |
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1 |
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foot, took, put, bush |
ŏŏ * |
[ʊ] |
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[ʏ] |
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poor, tour cure, pure |
ŏŏr (yŏŏr)
† |
[ʊɹ], etc. ([jʊɹ]) |
[ʊə], etc. ([jʊə]) |
Many lack this, using /ōōər/, /ōr/, or /ûr/ instead |
/ōōər/ [ “poor” often /pôər/ [ˈpʰɒʊə(ɹ)] |
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boot, goose, true, through |
ōō * |
[u] |
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cue, beauty, you |
(yōō) † |
[ju] |
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[ɪʊ] |
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bite, by, price |
ī |
[aɪ/ɑɪ] |
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[a] |
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bout, mouth, now |
ou |
[æʊ/aʊ/ɑʊ] |
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[æə] |
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Hoyt, noise, choice, boy |
oi |
[ɔɪ] |
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[ɒʊɪ/ɔə] |
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Vowel that Only Occurs in Weak (Completely Unstressed) Syllables |
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“R-colored” Vowel that Only Occurs in Weak (Completely Unstressed) Syllables |
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about, item, civil, gallop, circus |
ə |
[ə] |
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[ə] |
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butter, motor, solar |
ər |
[ɚ] |
[ə] |
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Same |
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Other Vowels that Can Occur in Weak (Completely Unstressed) Syllables |
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1 |
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permit, colic, impose |
ĭ |
[ɪ] |
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[ɪ] |
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funny, linear |
ē (ĭ) ºº |
[i] |
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[ɪ] |
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situate, fruition, issue |
ōō º |
[u/ʊ] |
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[u/ʊ/əw/ə] |
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billowing, pillow, potato |
ō º |
[o/ʊ] |
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[o/ʊ/əw/ə] |
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Table totally redone: Adj. 7-Feb.-2013, additional Adj.
22-Mar.-2013
Black: The black vowels are those which all Americans have as distinct vowels.
Red: The red vowels are those which many but not all Americans have, as distinguished from the other vowels. I decided to make /ŏ/ the default vowel of the /ä/ŏ/ô/ group, since for those who make the distinction it is by far the most common. 5-Oct.-2010
Green: The green vowels are those which a small minority of Americans have, as distinguished from the other vowels, in particular regions or dialects.
* These two
sounds are actually spelled as 
and
instead of ŏŏ
and ōō in the AHD and most other dictionary pronunciation systems, but
since there is not a practical way to display such a combination in Unicode,
I have followed the example of this web site. (Technically there is actually a way to do and in Unicode, as contributor
Brian Ewins showed me[16],
but I have tried them in various browsers, and they will not display
consistently.) 25-Feb.-2011
** Which of these two vowels occurs before /r/ is highly variable among North American speakers, and falls into three groups: New! 7-Feb.-2013
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1) Most speakers in North America only have /ȯr/ [oɹ], not /ôr/ [ɔɹ], including me! |
You fall into this group if the pairs “for” / “four”, “horse” / “hoarse”, and “morning” / “mourning” are pronounced the same, but the vowel before the r is quite different from the vowel sound in “caught” or “lawn” or “saw”. |
This includes both speakers who distinguish “cot” and “caught” and those who don’t. |
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2) Others have only /ôr/ [ɔɹ], not /ȯr/ [oɹ]. |
You fall into this group if the pairs “for” / “four”, “horse” / “hoarse”, and “morning” / “mourning” are pronounced the same, and the vowel before the r is the same vowel sound as in “caught” or “lawn” or “saw”. |
This includes only speakers who distinguish “cot” and “caught”, and includes New York City, Atlantic Midland, probably some surrounding areas, and perhaps parts of South. |
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3) Others have both /ôr/ [ɔɹ] and /ȯr/ [oɹ]. |
You fall into this group if the pairs “for” / “four”, “horse” / “hoarse”, and “morning” / “mourning” are all pronounced differently, and the vowel before the r in the first item in each pair is the same vowel sound as in “caught” or “lawn”. |
This includes only speakers who distinguish “cot” and “caught”, and according to ANAE map 8.2, only occurs in Eastern New England, parts of the South, and in a band running from St. Louis, Missouri across to Louisville, Kentucky. If any of you fall outside the areas on this map, I would love to know that! |
For some Southerners, especially those in third group, “four” may rhyme with “rawer”, in which case “four” would be /fôər/ [fɒʊəɹ], and they would not actually have the /ȯr/ [oɹ] vowel.
† The /yōō/ sound is not a single sound, but is simply /y/ followed by /ōō/.[17] Thus, there really is no “long /ū/” vowel. Similarly, /yŏŏr/ is simply /y/ followed by /ŏŏr/.
ºº This vowel is often pronounced as /ĭ/ [ɪ] by Southern Americans and Britishers. New! 8-Feb.-2013
º According to Merriam-Webster, these two vowels are actually pronounced the same, and are more properly represented as a neutral weak diphthong /əw/. They may be right for many speakers, and are probably right for me in many cases, but no other dictionary that I have found agrees with them. They are probably right for most Southerners, and possibly for most Britishers. New! 8-Feb.-2013
How Many Consonants are there?
(1-Aug.-2012)
The answer to this one is a bit less complicated, but again the answer is not based on the traditional English alphabet. Most English speakers have 24. (The /hw/ [ʍ] sound, which is usually spelled “wh” in English, and which most English speakers no longer have, though I and many other older speakers do, and in certain regions nearly all speakers do, is really just a combination of /h/ followed by /w/, and was originally spelled this way in Old English.) 21-Dec.-2012
The AHD uses /th/, in italics, for the voiced “th” sound, as in “this” (which is different from the voiceless “th” sound, as in “thin”), and for a long time I did the same on this page, but I am now using /ŧħ/ for this sound, for several reasons, one of which is that using a formatting feature like italics limits the places this writing system can be used, and anyway I would prefer to keep italics for their usual purpose. Adj. 9-Feb.-2013
Note that the letters c, q, and x are not listed. This is because they are simply different ways of spelling sounds already listed: /k/ or /s/, /kw/, and /ks/ or /gz/. I show the comparison below:
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1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
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b |
ch |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
m |
n |
ng |
p |
r |
s |
sh |
t |
th |
ŧħ |
v |
w |
y |
z |
zh |
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(hw) |
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IPA |
b |
tʃ* |
d |
f |
ɡ |
h |
dʒ |
k* |
l |
m |
n |
ŋ |
p* |
ɹ |
s |
ʃ |
t* |
θ |
đ |
v |
w |
j |
z |
ʒ |
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(ʍ) |
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“church”, “nature” |
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“judge” |
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“shush”, “nation” |
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“thin”, “bath” |
“this”, “bathe” |
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“pleasure”, “vision”, “genre”, “rouge” |
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(“which”) |
*These often have an aspirated allophone, which I have represented in the phonetic guide for many names, though not in the phonemic guide.
(Adj. 14-Feb.-2013)
The Stress Pattern of English, and How it Messes with the
Pronunciation
(New! 8-Feb.-2013)
American English (and most other varieties of English) has three levels of stress on each syllable of a word, primary stress, secondary stress, or no stress. Only one syllable in the word can have primary stress, and this is the syllable that is pronounced with the greatest intensity or loudness. The other syllables can have either secondary stress or no stress. An example is the word “counterrevolutionary”, pronounced /kountərrĕvəlŏŏshənârē/ [ˌkʰaʊɾ̃ɚˌɹɛvəˈluʃəˌneɹi]. This word has 8 syllables, divided with hyphens as /koun-tər-rĕv-ə-lŏŏ-shə-nâr-ē/ [ˌkʰaʊ-ɾ̃ɚ-ˌɹɛv-ə-ˈlu-ʃə-ˌneɹ-i]. It has one syllable with primary stress, /lŏŏ/ [ˈlu], marked with bold and underline in the dictionary spelling and with [ˈ] before it in the IPA. It has three syllables with secondary stress, syllables 1, 3, and 7, marked with bold in the dictionary spelling and with [ˌ] before them in the IPA, and four with no stress, syllables 2, 4, 6, and 8. As is true with many words in English, especially long ones, every other syllable is weak (unstressed). Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
In stressed syllables (whether primary or secondary) all of the Stressed Vowels in the chart above can occur, but in completely unstressed syllables (weak syllables) in English a phenomenon called vowel weakening or neutralization occurs. As a result, most of the vowels in these syllables are weakened or neutralized to the vowel /ə/, and the rest of the vowels are weakened or neutralized to a very small group, listed under “Other Vowels that Can Occur in Weak (Completely Unstressed) Syllables” above. This vowel weakening is a characteristic of English in particular (though it does occur in other languages as well), but it does not occur at all in some languages, like Spanish, which makes it especially hard for English speakers to speak good Spanish or vice versa, since they are each always subconsciously trying to apply their own pattern to the other language. Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
We can see this weakening process in action in many groups of words in English. For example, “melody”, “melodious”, and “melodic” are spelled as if they should have the same vowel sounds, but in fact they do not, being /mĕlədē/ [ˈmɛlədi], /məlōdēəs/ [məˈloʊdiəs], and /məlŏdĭk/ [məˈlɑdɪk]. The vowel in the second syllable has three pronunciations, two stressed and one unstressed (weak), and the vowel in the first syllable has two. Spanish has equivalents of these three words, “melodía, melodioso, melódico”, but unlike English, the vowels are pronounced exactly as they are spelled in IPA, with no changes at all in the vowel quality, even though the stress falls on a different syllable in each word. Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
So, just to see if you’ve got the idea, take the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, invented for the Walt Disney movie Mary Poppins. How many syllables does it have? Which syllables are completely unstressed (weak)? Which syllable has the primary stress? The answers can be found in the endnote.[18] Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
Sō kŏŏd wē rīt
ŧħə wā wē spēk?
(21-Dec.-2012)
Wē
sûrtənlē kŏŏd, ăz ī ăm dōōĭng
nou! Ĭn kənĕktəd tĕkst ŧħâr ĭz nō
nēd tōō ĭndəkāt hwĭch sĭləbəl
ĭz strĕst, sĭns ŧħĭs wĭl yōōzhəlē
bē ŏbvēəs. Ăz yōō kən sē, Ĭngglĭsh
hăz ə lŏt əv soundz, bŭt ĕvrē wŭn əv
ŧħəm ĭz nēdəd!
Ĭt wŏŏd
shûr bē ēzēər tə rīt līk ŧħĭs
ĭf ŧħâr wûrnt sō mĕnē spĕshəl kârəktərz!
Fȏrchənətlē ŧħâr ĭz ə wĕbsīt ŧħət prəvīdz ə
kēbȯrd fər är pûrpəsəz, ăz yōō wĭl
sē ĭf yōō klĭk ĭn ŧħə bŏks bəlō
ănd trī tīpĭng.
Adj. 6-Feb.-2013
Ăz ŧħə
kēbȯrd chärt shōz, shȯrt voulz är prəsēdəd
bī ə *, ănd lông voulz bī ə -. Tə gĕt “ə”
yōō tīp “=e”, ănd tə gĕt “ŧħ”
yōō tīp “-t-h”. Tə pŏŏt ə ˆ ōvər ə
voul, simplē tīp “^” bəfȯr ĭt, ănd tə pŏŏt
ə ¨ ōvər ə voul, tīp “:” bəfȯr ĭt.
Ĭf ĭt jŭst sēmz tōō kŭmbərsəm tōō ăd ĕvrē sĭnggəl wŭn əv ŧħēz märks, yōō kŏŏd ăkshəlē lēv ôf ŧħə brĕv märks ( ˘ ) ŏn ŧħə shȯrt voulz, ăz sŭm dĭkshənârēz dōō! Adj. 6-Feb.-2013
Sŭm əv
yōō mā thĭngk “Ī sûrtənlē dōnt sā
sŭm əv ŧħōz wûrdz ŧħə wā hē dŭz!”
Əv kȯrs yōō dōnt: ŧħâr wĭl bē lŏts
əv vârēāshən, ăz ŧħĭs wĕb pāj
ănd măp shō! Nō prŏbləm, yōō spĕl thĭngz ŧħə wā yōō sā ŧħəm,
ănd īl spēl ŧħəm
ŧħə wā ī
sā ŧħəm! Adj.
4-Feb.-2013
Ŧħē
ōnlē bĭg prŏbləm mĕnē əv yōō
wĭl ikspîrēəns wĭl bē ŧħē ĭntərfîrəns
əv ŧħə stăndərd spĕlĭng, ŧħō
sĭmplē lûrnĭng ôl əv ŧħə spĕlĭngz
wĭl ôlsō tāk səm tīm. New! 14-Jan.-2013
Click in the box below and try typing,
using the spelling system explained above:
(Move the pop-up keyboard around if it gets in your way. You can also resize the box.) Adj. 11-Jan.-2013
|
This text entry tool (KeymanWeb) is provided by Tavultesoft (www.tavultesoft.com). You can type any of these characters or any of over 1,000 languages in any Windows application with Keyman Desktop and any web page with KeymanWeb. Visit www.tavultesoft.com/eurolatin/ for more details. |
|
You may notice in
the above phonemic writing sample that I write several very common words in
more than one way. I do this because I pronounce them more than one way,
according to some fairly clear rules, and so do most English speakers. All of
these are what linguists call function
words rather than content words. New!
14-Jan.-2013 The simplest group
of these is shown in the chart on the right. The unstressed form always has
the weak vowel /ə/, whereas the stressed form can have
various vowels. This is not an exhaustive list, though such words are quite a
small group. Adj. 22-Mar.-2013 |
|
A second group of
these words has a special pattern when unstressed (weak), depending on whether
the following word starts with a vowel or a consonant. In one case the
traditional spelling represents this pattern, that of “a” before a consonant,
and “an” before a vowel. But at least two other words have a similar pattern,
but because the standard spelling does not represent it, we are usually unaware
of it. These are listed in the following chart. Examples of most are found in
the sample above, or in the footnotes. The following list is probably complete. Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
|
Standard Spelling |
when pronounced as usual, without any stress, before a word beginning with a consonant |
when pronounced as usual, without any stress, before a word beginning with a vowel |
when pronounced with special emphasis |
Comments |
|
“the” |
ŧħə |
ŧħē |
ŧħē * |
For most Britishers and many Southern Americans the second one would usually be /ŧħĭ/. I assume that the third one will generally be /ŧħē/ in British English. However, in the preface to A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh he says “Winnie ther Pooh”, where “ther” would rhyme with “fur”, but only the way an r-dropper would say it, but with no actual r-sound! Britishers, please let me know which would be normal for you. Compare also the Bill Murray line quoted in the previous footnote, and consider how an r-dropping Britisher would be likely to say it. |
|
“to” |
tə |
tōō |
tōō |
The third case would be like when a taxi driver says, “Where to?” The words “do” and “you” also sometimes follow this pattern, though not as consistently as “to”. Compounds ending in “to” also work like “to”, e.g. “into”, “onto”. |
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“a” |
ə |
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ā * |
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“an” |
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ən |
ăn |
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* Like when Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day says, “I’m a god. I’m not the God.” /Īm ā gŏd. Īm nŏt ŧħē Gŏd./
Thats too komplikaytəd! Kant wee just yooz playn
letərz?
(New! 7-Feb.-2013)
Akshəlee, wee kuud, and this
tekst shohz how tə doo it.
Awl əv thə sowndz wee hav
awlredee diskust aar shohn in thə chaarts bəloh. Thee ohnlee speshəl kairəktər
yoo stil haf tə mes withh iz “ə” and thats not too haard tə kopee intə yər tekst. Thee ohnlee thhing not
in theez chaarts thət iy səjest yoo doo iz tə riyt thə fiynəl
“s” sownd az “ss” tə keep peepəl frəm thhingking its a “z”
sownd. Thair aar too igzampəlz əv this in thə nekst pairəgraf.
Adj. 14-Feb.-2013
Now pleez undərstand mee, iym
not səjesting thət wee chaynj the speling əv Ingglish. Menee hav
prəpoezd this thhroo thə yihrz, but in enee kayss it aynt gənə
hapən, and wee rilee wuudənt wont it too, sinss it wuud mayk awl thee
Ingglish buuks in thə wurld obsəleet. But its fun tə mes ərownd
with!
And if Ingglish wur ən unritən
langgwij, liyk soh menee thhowzəndz əv langgwijəz spohkən ərownd
thə wurld təday, then this iz thə kiynd əv speling sistəm
thət wuud bee needəd tə riyt it, wun in which eech sownd iz
awlwayz speld thə saym way. Thə reezən Ingglish iz not speld in ə kənsistənt
way iz bəkuz it haz ə lawng histəree, and haz baarohd ə lot
əv wurdz frəm uthər langgwijəz, withowt əjusting thair
spelingz!
Iym surtənlee not thə furst
tə triy it. It turnz owt thət menee ətempts tə reespel
Ingglish fəneemiklee yoozing just thə twunteesiks letərz uv thə
standərd alfəbet (withh ə vairee fyoo ədishənz liyk “ə”)
hav bin triyd and yoozd, biy dikshənaireez, nooz ayjənseez, and uthər
oargənəzayshənz. Ə laarj numbər əv theez aar listəd
on this web siyt. Miy sistəm izənt igzaktlee liyk
enee əv thəm, but iz kwiyt simələr too ə lot əv
thəm, ispeshəlee tə thə koləmz laybəld “Wikipedia²”, “MECD”, “WPRK”, “BBC”, and “POD”. Adj. 14-Feb.-2013
Iy yooz a few spelingz thət
aarnt fownd eneehwair in thə kəmpairətiv chaart, in pərtikyələr
“iy”, “oar”, “ur”, “uur”, “th”, and “thh”, bəkuz iy thhingk thay aar
simplee eezeeər tə reed thən thee awlturnətivz səjestəd.
(Iy akshəlee kiynd əv liykt “igh” for /ī/, but in akshooəl yoosəj it looks klunkee.)
Vowels:
|
ē |
ĭ |
ā |
ĕ |
ă |
ăə |
ä |
ŏ |
ô |
ō |
ŭ |
ŏŏ * |
ōō * |
(yōō) |
ī |
ou |
oi |
|
ə |
|
îr |
âr |
är |
(ôr) |
ȯr |
ûr |
ŏŏr |
(yŏŏr) |
ər |
|
|
Respelling: |
ee |
i |
ay |
e |
a |
ae |
aa |
o |
aw |
oh |
u |
uu |
oo |
yoo |
iy |
ow |
oy |
|
ə |
|
ihr |
air |
ahr |
awr |
oar |
ur |
uur |
yuur |
ər |
|
b |
ch |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
m |
n |
ng |
p |
r |
s |
sh |
t |
th |
ŧħ |
v |
w |
y |
z |
zh |
|
(hw) |
|
|
Respelling: |
b |
ch |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
m |
n |
ng |
p |
r |
s |
sh |
t |
thh |
th |
v |
w |
y |
z |
zh |
|
hw |
|
|
|
“church”, “nature” |
|
|
|
|
“judge” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“shush”, “nation” |
|
“thin”, “bath” |
“this”, “bathe” |
|
|
|
|
“pleasure”, “vision”, “genre”, “rouge” |
|
(“which”) |
How I Use the IPA (and how I don’t) 2-Feb.-2011
When I show the pronunciation of a place, I try to always show how someone from that place would actually pronounce it. However, occasionally even the natives can’t agree. For instance, apparently most Chicagoans say /shĭkôgō/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒˌɡo] or even /shĭkôgə/ [ʃɪˈkʰɒɡə], but there are also many who say /shĭkŏgō/ [ʃɪˈkʰaˌɡo], and the latter group may be growing. Keep in mind that all of these definitely have “cot”≠“caught”. I have always called it /shĭkŏgō/ [ʃɪˈkʰɑˌɡoʊ], with a couple of slight vowel differences, since I don’t have an Inland North accent!
I have noticed that many people who use the IPA to show the pronunciation of place names on Wikipedia do several things that I have chosen not to do.
For one thing, they often write both [ə] and [ɨ] in showing the pronunciation of the weak vowel /ə/ in American English. Now this is not incorrect, since for me the word “sofa” /sōfə/ would usually be phonetically [ˈsoʊfə], whereas the word “broken” /brōkən/ would be phonetically [ˈbɹoʊkɨn]. However, in actual practice I find I have a lot of variation: for instance, “sofa bed” /sōfə bĕd/ would usually come out [ˈsoʊfɨˌbɛd], and “sofas” /sōfəz/ could come out [ˈsoʊfəz] or [ˈsoʊfɨz] depending on how deliberately I am speaking, or its position in the sentence. And I find that others have the same problem: in the Appalachian Mountains article the pronunciation is given as “/ˌæpəˈleɪʃɨn/ or /ˌæpəˈlætʃɨn/”; for me the vowels shown as [ə] and [ɨ] in these pronunciations are exactly the same for me, probably both [ɨ]. So for strictly practical purposes I am writing both [ə] and [ɨ] as [ə].
Another thing I find people doing is using British phonetic transcription to show the pronunciation of American place names. For instance, in the Lafayette, Indiana article the pronunciation is given as “/ˌlɑːfiːˈɛt/”. Now, in British English there truly are phonetically long and short vowels: “beat” is phonetically [ˈbiːt], where the vowel [iː] is phonetically long, whereas “bit” is phonetically [ˈbɪt], where the vowel [ɪ] is phonetically short. However, in nearly all North American English dialects, this is not the case: both “beat” [ˈbit] and “bit” [ˈbɪt] have vowels which are phonetically the same length, in spite of the fact that the first has what is traditionally called a “long e”, while the second has what is traditionally called a “short i”. Scottish English is like American English in this respect. In fact, the “/ˌlɑːfiːˈɛt/” pronunciation is wrong for both British and American English: in British it would usually be [ˌlɑːfɪˈɛt] or [ˌlɑːfiˈɛt], the [ɪ] or [i] being short because it is unstressed (weak), whereas in American English (at least in West Lafayette, Indiana) it would be [ˌlɑfiˈɛt]. Adj. 22-Mar.-2013
John Wells’s Lexical Sets
Words in pink in the chart above are from John Wells’s Standard Lexical Sets. Note that he has a sample word for each of the 15 stressed vowel sounds and the 7 stressed r-colored vowel sounds in the American Heritage Dictionary’s list, but not for the more localized /ăə/ vowel. I have included all of the words in John Wells’s list except for the following two words, which we could call Skew Words, since they have different vowels in different regions: 17-July-2010
|
Skew Word |
Most Americans |
|
Southern England |
|
|
bath |
băth [ˈbæθ] |
|
bäth [ˈbɑ:θ] |
(also Eastern New England [baθ]) |
|
cloth |
klôth [ˈkʰlɒθ] |
(for those who distinguish cot, caught) |
klŏth [ˈkʰlɔθ] |
(also possibly New York City??, other places in northeast??) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Compare the above with: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
math |
măth [ˈmæθ] |
|
măth [ˈmæθ] |
|
|
Goth |
gŏth [ˈɡaθ/ɡɑθ/ɡɒθ] |
|
gŏth [ˈɡɔθ] |
|
1-Oct.-2010
This skewing of the /ŏ/ and /ô/ vowels between the British and American systems is typically seen only before the consonant phonemes /f/, /th/, and /g/ ([f], [θ], and [ɡ]), as can be seen in the chart of Other Examples in The Cot-Caught Merger article, comparing the blue items with those in preceding column. 17-Aug.-2010
However, it seems to me that John Wells’s list above was not well selected to show contrasts in a similar environment. Instead, I would draw your attention to all of the words in blue below, all of which end in /t/, and most of which begin with /b/, and also to the words in dark red, which similarly show contrasts in other environments. Thus, my lexical sets would be the following: 1-Oct.-2010
|
Main set: |
beat, bit, bait, bet, bat, cot, caught, boat, cut, foot, boot, bite, bout, Hoyt |
This list lacks only two of the Ordinary Stressed Vowels, /ăə/ and /ä/, which do not occur in native words before /t/ (except where an /r/ has been dropped, as in “part” /pät/ (ENE [ˈpʰat], NYC [ˈpʰɑət]). These two vowels are also lacking in most North American English dialects. I could have used “quoits” in place of “Hoyt”, which is a surname, but I suspect that many more people are familiar with Hoyt than with quoits! |
|
R‑Colored set: |
fear, fair, far, for, four, poor, tour, fur |
For determining how many R-colored vowels a speaker has. (No one has more than 7, though I have listed 8 here. Those who have /ŏŏr/ usually say /tŏŏr, pŏŏr/, but others often do not rhyme these words, many saying them as /tōōər, pōr/ [ˈtʰuɚ, ˈpʰoɹ].) 2-Jan.-2012 |
|
Skew sets: |
bath, math; Goth, cloth |
For checking for what I call “skewing”. |
|
Other sets: |
had, bad; father, bother; Bach’s, box, balks |
For determining if various pairs of Ordinary Stressed Vowels are distinguished by a given speaker. |
Record Your Own Voice! 26-Mar.-2011
If you want to help me complete this map, or even to provide more sound samples for locations that already have them, there is an easy way: record your own voice and post it on YouTube. Nora Young, host of the program Spark on CBC radio, and a native of Toronto, Ontario, has done a sample recording of her own voice, and has set up a YouTube page where others can do the same.
She did this after interviewing me on her program in March of 2011, where I explained the need for more samples of this kind. To listen to the interview, go to www.cbc.ca/spark/2011/03/spark-142-march-27-30-2011, then scroll down till you see “YouTube Dialects Map”, or search for “YouTube Dialects Map” or “Rick Aschmann”. The interview can be heard by clicking the link below the paragraph.
If you grew up in one particular place in Canada or the U.S., then I would very much like a sample from you. In particular, if you lived in one town for most of your childhood, in particular between the ages of 5 and 15, and speak like people from that place, then you should be a great sample. (That is, unless you tried to consciously change your accent after that: I know a gal who moved from the South to the Midland before her senior year of high school, and she was subjected to so much ridicule that she completely changed her way of speaking.) And obviously, if you moved around a lot throughout your childhood, then you won’t really work for my map.
You can do just a simple recording, like Nora did, as short or as long as you like, just telling a bit about yourself and where you grew up. Or, if you want to be quite thorough about it, or just don’t know what to say, I have prepared a version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (slightly expanded to include certain key words) that you can read. This way if I need to check a particular word to nail down the dialect of your hometown I will be able to. Either way, please be sure to say where you grew up, and if only for part of your childhood, from what age to what age.
All of your clips sent in like this will be labeled “(Self-recording for this site. Thanks!)” in the table below, so that will make them easy to find. 30-Mar.-2011
Note to Canadians: Nora points out that Canadians are currently underrepresented on the map. So, this is your chance to change that! Send in your samples!
Audio Samples of Local Dialects
Here you can hear audio
samples of different local dialects. These are all found on the Internet:
As far as possible these have been restricted to people who were raised in the location, and in many cases have lived there nearly all their lives, and have presumably retained the local dialect, except where indicated. (For most of these people, their birthplace and life history can be found on en.wikipedia.org, or at the links provided.) Items in pink are doubtful as to whether they represent accurately the dialect indicated, or, in the case of the rejected samples at the bottom of the chart, definitely do not represent their local dialect. 1-July-2010
DISCLAIMER: I do not necessarily agree with all of the people speaking here: I have simply selected them as good examples of their dialect! Nor does the fact that many of them are politicians indicate that I particularly like politicians: The fact is that politicians tend to retain their local dialect more than other public professions (actors, artists), to maintain their identity with the locals. Also, they talk in public a lot, so the data is readily available. Country singers and southern gospel singers also tend to be reliable,[19] and I like them better than politicians. Somewhat surprisingly to me, NASCAR racers seem to be very reliable, also: even though they travel a lot for the races, they tend to raise their families in their old home town, from generation to generation, and don’t care in the least how they talk! 4-Aug.-2010
You may also notice that I prefer older people to younger people. This is simply because there has been a lot more dialect mixing among the younger generation than in previous generations.
As mentioned above, the pronunciation
of some of the names is given after the name. If anyone thinks I have the
pronunciation of a place wrong, please let me
know! 3-July-2010
Some of these links may not be current. Please let me know about any bad links. - Rick Aschmann
|
|
Person(s) |
Location |
State or Province |
Source |
|
1
|
Unnamed woman, tornado survivor |
Albertville |
Alabama |
YouTube video Extremely pure example of Inland Southern! 19-Mar.-2012 |
|
2
|
Bobby Edwards, country singer |
Anniston |
Alabama |
YouTube video (Clearly Lowland, occasional “northern” long /ī/ [aɪ] vowels) 16-Mar.-2010 |
|
3
|
White male, student, born 1988 |
Auburn |
Alabama |
|
|
4
|
U.S. representative Spencer Bachus |
Birmingham |
Alabama |
YouTube video (Replaced bad link.) 31-Dec.-2011 |
|
5
|
Bobby Bowden, football coach |
Birmingham |
Alabama |
|
|
6
|
U.S. senator Richard Shelby |
Birmingham |
Alabama |
YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009 |
|
7
|
White male, student, born 1980 |
Brewton |
Alabama |
IDEA audio (source) This speaker does not drop r’s, suggesting that the younger generation no longer speaks Classical Southern. However, I visited Brewton in February of 2012, and spent quite a bit of time with an older gentleman who was born and raised there, and who does speak Classical Southern, and talked briefly with others who also do, making it clear that this is part of the Classical Southern area. 28-Mar.-2012 |
|
8
|
Governor Robert Bentley |
Columbiana |
Alabama |
YouTube video 11-July-2011 |
|
9
|
Charlie Hodge, Elvis associate |
Decatur |
Alabama |
YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010 |
|
10
|
William Bradford Huie, journalist & writer |
Decatur (Hartselle) |
Alabama |
YouTube video (Older speaker retaining Lowland Southern and r-dropping, although younger ones have apparently completely lost it!) 12-Dec.-2011 |
|
11
|
Governor Jim Folsom, Sr. |
Elba |
Alabama |
audio links 30-Jan.-2010 |
|
12
|
White male, student, born 1981 |
Elberta |
Alabama |
|
|
13
|
Sam Phillips, record producer |
Florence |
Alabama |
YouTube video 30-Jan.-2010 |
|
14
|
Ron Sparks, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries |
Fort Payne |
Alabama |
|
|
15
|
Randy Owen, country singer |
Fort Payne |
Alabama |
YouTube video I could obviously have picked any of 100 other songs, but besides being a cool song this one clearly demonstrates his Inland Southern, also heard in this interview: YouTube video (His clip starts at 3:10.) 12-July-2011 |
|
16
|
Steve Grissom, NASCAR driver |
Gadsden |
Alabama |
YouTube video (clip at 9:30) (more info) 19-Mar.-2012 |
|
17
|
Sonny James Loden, country singer |
Hackleburg |
Alabama |
YouTube video 7-Nov.-2009 |
|
18
|
City council meeting |
Hamilton |
Alabama |
YouTube video All speakers clearly Inland North! 7-Nov.-2009 |
|
19
|
Charlie Louvin, country singer |
Henagar |
Alabama |
YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010 |
|
20
|
U.S. representative Bud Cramer |
Huntsville |
Alabama |
YouTube
video 1-June-2009 |
|
21
|
Butch Foster, salesman at the Carl Cannon auto dealership |
Jasper |
Alabama |
YouTube video 19-Mar.-2012 |
|
22
|
Larry, salesman at the Carl Cannon auto dealership |
Jasper |
Alabama |
YouTube video 19-Mar.-2012 |
|
23
|
White female, born and raised in Lanett |
Lanett |
Alabama |
IDEA audio (source) 4-Sep.-2010 |
|
24
|
Eugene Walter, writer |
Mobile |
Alabama |
YouTube video 7-Dec.-2009 |
|
25
|
Robert Lightfoot, Marshall Space Flight Center director |
Montevallo |
Alabama |
YouTube video 10-Mar.-2010 |
|
26
|
Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Jr. |
Montgomery |
Alabama |
|
|
27
|
Robby Franklin, tornado survivor |
Odenville |
Alabama |
YouTube video Short, but clearly Inland. 19-Mar.-2012 |
|
28
|
Steve Patton, football coach |
Oneonta |
Alabama |
|
|
29
|
Tammy Wynette, country singer |
Redbay |
Alabama |
YouTube video (Clearly Inland, though with some inconsistencies, which is not surprising, given that she grew up right on the border) 23-Feb.-2010 |
|
30
|
Charlie Louvin, country singer |
Section |
Alabama |
|
|
31
|
Jay Barker, football player |
Trussville |
Alabama |
|
|
32
|
William Christenberry, artist |
Tuscaloosa |
Alabama |
YouTube video (Classical Southern, occasional “northern” long /ī/ [aɪ] vowels) 16-Mar.-2010 |
|
33
|
Winton Blount, politician |
Union Springs |
Alabama |
YouTube video 16-Mar.-2010 |
|
34
|