Accent Analyzing

Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 Next page

The phenomenon that you yourself mentioned, that you say "aw" [O] for both the "cot"-words and the "caught"-words. As far as I know, that's typical only in two areas: Western PA and Northern New England. However, there's nothing like New England in your speech. And your "oh"-vowel sounds Midland, too.

Hrmm. I think I've confused everyone!

Nope, I'm not from California, in fact, I've never even been there, or in any of the surrounding area.

Any other ideas? ;)

Hmmm.
Well, then you must be somewhere from the South, but I don't know exactly where...Florida maybe? Or Charleson?

Not the south either, and haven't been to either of those places.

Let's see.. I have the cot-caught merger, the father-bother merger. My cot-caught takes on the "ah", more than the "aw", however, many of my "aw" words are also merged, such as "lawn/dawn", but not "lawyer" or "laundry". Palm-bomb rhyme to me, and take on that "ah" as well, at least as far as I can tell. I do have the CVS, and I also have the rising intonation on statements and falling on questions, though I'm not sure if that's obvious in my sample. (Though, since this is "valley girl" speech, this is probably why California was guessed, and I'm always told that I sound like a valley girl, but only from people not from where I am.)

I bet you would know, if I told some of the common phrases I use in everyday speech, in about ten seconds. (*hint)

When dinner is finished, my plate is all. I'll leave you use my phone so you can let him a message. Come here, once. Will you be coming over, then?

I think my speech is actually consistent with where I am from, however, this particular area is always a fun place for linguists because of the various linguistic areas in such small area. You probably know by now, though. ;)

I didn't hear your sample. When I read "Leave you" that reminded me of Pittsburghese. I don't understand "my plate is all."

''The phenomenon that you yourself mentioned, that you say "aw" [O] for both the "cot"-words and the "caught"-words. As far as I know, that's typical only in two areas: Western PA and Northern New England.''

Boston, Pittsburgh and Canada have [Q] in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don'' (but [A] is possible too, especially in male (?) speakers'').

Vermont, Erie (PA), Atlantic Canada have [A] in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don'' just like the American West (excluding some Valley Girls). Merged speakers of North (Minnesota) and Midland (Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus) have a more central version of [A], ''low central merger''(?), and, according to prof. Labov's atlas some areas of the West (like Tuscan, AZ) also have a central unrounded vowel in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don''

so, a merged vowel can be:
1. low back, rounded (some Canadians, an occasional Valley Girl, Bostonians, Pittsburgh)
2. low back, unrounded (some USWesterners, Vermont, Eire (PA); some Canadians - especially those from Nova Scotia/New Brunswick/Windsor)
3. low central, unrounded (some USWesterners, USMidland/North)

''The phenomenon that you yourself mentioned, that you say "aw" [O] for both the "cot"-words and the "caught"-words. As far as I know, that's typical only in two areas: Western PA and Northern New England.''

Boston, Pittsburgh and Canada have [Q] in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don'' (but [A] is possible too, especially in male (?) speakers'').

Vermont, Erie (PA), Atlantic Canada have [A] in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don'' just like the American West (excluding some Valley Girls). Merged speakers of North (Minnesota) and Midland (Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus) have a more central version of [A], ''low central merger''(?), and, according to prof. Labov's atlas some areas of the West (like Tucson, AZ) also have a central unrounded vowel in ''cot, caught, dawn, Don''

so, a merged vowel can be:
1. low back, rounded (some Canadians, an occasional Valley Girl, Bostonians, Pittsburgh)
2. low back, unrounded (some USWesterners, Vermont, Eire (PA); some Canadians - especially those from Nova Scotia/New Brunswick/Windsor)
3. low central, unrounded (some USWesterners, USMidland/North)

''however, many of my "aw" words are also merged, such as "lawn/dawn", but not "lawyer" or "laundry" ''

I guess your AW stands for the low back rounded vowel [Q], while
AH stands for low central to back unrounded vowel [A].

The traditional, merged Western dialect does not have /Q/ (either phonologically or phonetically), so call is [kAl], and it rhymes with doll [dAl], and collar [kAl@r] rhymes with dollar [dAl@r], and ''song, wrong, long, King Kong'' all have [A] and not [Q].

I've noticed that some Westerners have a rounding of /A/ in final syllables:
so they pronounce: call, doll, long with /Q/, but caller, dollar, longer with /A/; nevertheless, most of these people consider their /Q/ in those words /A/...

Do you have /A/ or /Q/ in these words: call, caller,collar, doll, dollar, golf, song, wrong, long, longer?

If you have /Q/ in these words, you are likely to be a Canadian. :)

I just read the article on Wikipedia about Pittsburghese. Amazing! yeah, that's where you're from, Lauren! ;-)

Just for a clarification... When I said "''however, many of my "aw" words are also merged, such as "lawn/dawn", but not "lawyer" or "laundry" '' I meant that they're merged with the other words I had already mentioned, so that my dawn sounds the same as don, and the same as palm/bomb, however my lawyer/laundry do not have that same sound. I think I confused some in this statement

I'm starting to get confused myself, but this is how I was interpretting it originally, I could definitely be wrong, as most of this is new to me:

AH= low back rounded (my lips are definitely rounded)= call, collar, doll, dollar, golf, dawn, don, palm, bomb, thought.

AW = low central to back unrounded (lips are almost completely shut and sounds very much like they're said in the back of my throat) = caller, song, wrong, long, longer, lawyer, laundry, on.

I should do a second recording, but not right now, because these words are all starting to sound the same to me, now. lol

Anyway, I'm from south central Pennsylvania, in particular, York County, and I lived there almost my entire life. I went to school in Dillsburg, near Harrisburg, which takes on a South Central Pennsylvania dialect/accent and has a very strong Amish/PA Dutch influence. I also went to college in this area. This is where my dialect examples came from, and you can see them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Dutch_English. We definitely have our language.

This is one of my very favorite articles: http://www.centralpa.org/archives/03march3talk.html (The "the dinner is all" is explained here.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Pennsylvania_accent

I also regularly visited my dad in York, as well as lived there until I was seven, and then again for the past two years, prior to moving where I am. York city itself takes on a more traditional mid-atlantic accent, and I believe, the AW/AH/O sound here is very different from the PA Dutch areas. There is also some Pittsburghese influence here. (My dad is actually originally from Pittsburgh!)

I currently live in southwest Missouri, but I have not been here very long. My husband is from here, and he says all these words quite differently. The biggest difference is our vowel shift. To me, it sounds like he says his "a" like "e" and "e" like "i" and "i" like "ai", so bag sounds like beg, beg sounds like big, and big sounds like baig. To him, I go the other direction; so bag sounds like baig, beg sounds like bag, and big sounds like beg.

Oh, and for Rob, I am 25 years old, though I am often mistaken for being 18 or even younger, both in appearance and voice.

Just on the edge of my prediction then :p

Fascinating reading, those links. Shame there seems to be few on this forum familiar with British English accents as to pinpoint me! 'Generic southern' is all I got for now!

I've already made the guess that you were probably born in the North.

Ah yes, sorry Levee - no, never lived in the north in my life.

"That area was much..." - this sounds incredibly Northern to my ears :)
I have no other guess :)

You know what, you're right. The vowel in 'much' is VERY northern and I've clearly picked that up from someone!

Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 Next page