I'm interested in the history and spread of the merger. It occurs in Scottish English, which could have been its source in the US, but I'm not sure. It occurs in at least part of New England (though not in Rhode Island?), though that area was not primarily settled by Scots. Did it perhaps occur independently in Scotland, New England, and the Western US? I've read that New England is the source of the merger in Canadian English, but I'm skeptical because Canada has the father-bother merger. I've also read that the merger is spreading in the Southern US.
History and Geography of Cot-Caught Merger
1) Yes, it exists in Scottish English, but it is not because of Scottish English influence. It was an independent change. It is an innovation, and no dialect of North American English had it several decades ago.
2) Yes, it occurs in some parts of New England, but not because of Scottish influence.
3) Yes, it occured independently of all those areas.
4) No, New England is not the source of the merger in Western and Central Canadian English.
5) Yes, it is spreading in the Southern US.
2) Yes, it occurs in some parts of New England, but not because of Scottish influence.
3) Yes, it occured independently of all those areas.
4) No, New England is not the source of the merger in Western and Central Canadian English.
5) Yes, it is spreading in the Southern US.
<<It occurs in at least part of New England (though not in Rhode Island?), though that area was not primarily settled by Scots.>>
Exactly! ;-) In all of Massachusetts - except a) the western areas bordering New York and b) an area in the southeast bordering Rhode Island, basically comprising the cities of Fall River and New Bedford - "cot" and "caught" are merged with [Q], while "father" and "bother" are distinguished with [a] or [A] versus [Q].
In Rhode Island and the Fall River-New Bedford zone of southeastern Massachusetts, "father" and "bother" are merged with [a] or [A], and "cot" and "caught" are distinguished with [Q] or [O].
The "Worcester-Boston" and "Rhode Island-SE Mass." accents share many similarities, like fronted [a], pre-/r/ distinctions, non-rhoticism, and trap-bath splitting among older speakers, but I can tell them apart by their system of open vowels. An excellent exemplar of the "Rhode Island-SE Mass." accent, on a national level, is Emeril Lagasse, who is from Fall River, MA. To most people he'd just sound generically "New England", but with my trained ears, I can tell that he couldn't be from Boston or Worcester. ;-)
I know less about Northern New England. From examining the responses at this site ( http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html ) I can surmise that Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are all cot-caught merged; but from looking at the responses to the "aunt" question, my guess would be that Maine and New Hampshire tend to preserve the father-bother distinction like in Massachusetts; whereas Vermont seems like it might have a total merger of all the word classes.
And Connecticut doesn't even count - half of them are Yankee fans. Connecticut is almost entirely rhotic, f-b merged and c-c unmerged, and to a great extent Mary-merry-marry merged. I think they approximate General American to a greater extent than most parts of the Northeast.
<<It is an innovation, and no dialect of North American English had it several decades ago.>>
I think you may be underestimating its antiquity. In her memoirs from the 1850s, a British woman who moved to Ontario (cited here http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Canadian/canphon2.html and in other places) wrote that the Canadians there pronounced "sauce" like "sarce" - in other words, ["sAs].
Exactly! ;-) In all of Massachusetts - except a) the western areas bordering New York and b) an area in the southeast bordering Rhode Island, basically comprising the cities of Fall River and New Bedford - "cot" and "caught" are merged with [Q], while "father" and "bother" are distinguished with [a] or [A] versus [Q].
In Rhode Island and the Fall River-New Bedford zone of southeastern Massachusetts, "father" and "bother" are merged with [a] or [A], and "cot" and "caught" are distinguished with [Q] or [O].
The "Worcester-Boston" and "Rhode Island-SE Mass." accents share many similarities, like fronted [a], pre-/r/ distinctions, non-rhoticism, and trap-bath splitting among older speakers, but I can tell them apart by their system of open vowels. An excellent exemplar of the "Rhode Island-SE Mass." accent, on a national level, is Emeril Lagasse, who is from Fall River, MA. To most people he'd just sound generically "New England", but with my trained ears, I can tell that he couldn't be from Boston or Worcester. ;-)
I know less about Northern New England. From examining the responses at this site ( http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html ) I can surmise that Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are all cot-caught merged; but from looking at the responses to the "aunt" question, my guess would be that Maine and New Hampshire tend to preserve the father-bother distinction like in Massachusetts; whereas Vermont seems like it might have a total merger of all the word classes.
And Connecticut doesn't even count - half of them are Yankee fans. Connecticut is almost entirely rhotic, f-b merged and c-c unmerged, and to a great extent Mary-merry-marry merged. I think they approximate General American to a greater extent than most parts of the Northeast.
<<It is an innovation, and no dialect of North American English had it several decades ago.>>
I think you may be underestimating its antiquity. In her memoirs from the 1850s, a British woman who moved to Ontario (cited here http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Canadian/canphon2.html and in other places) wrote that the Canadians there pronounced "sauce" like "sarce" - in other words, ["sAs].
Let me correct a sentence:
<<In Rhode Island and the Fall River-New Bedford zone of southeastern Massachusetts, "father" and "bother" are merged with [a] or [A], and "cot" and "caught" are distinguished with [a] or [A] versus [Q] or [O].>>
<<In Rhode Island and the Fall River-New Bedford zone of southeastern Massachusetts, "father" and "bother" are merged with [a] or [A], and "cot" and "caught" are distinguished with [a] or [A] versus [Q] or [O].>>
I remember reading once about Providence having a three-way open vowel distinction (ie. no father-bother or cot-caught merger). Maybe this is an older feature? (or maybe I'm just misremembering)
I have read about that three-way distinction being preserved occasionally in New York; but I get the impression that this is an older feature and that most New Yorkers, even those with what would be considered strong New York accents, are father-bother merged.
Likewise, the same may hold true for Rhode Island. I've heard a lot of people from Rhode Island and SE Mass who use a nice fronted [a] for words like "cot", which indicates that they're probably father-bother merged; so if there are some people that make the distinction (which isn't inconceivable considering how close they are to Boston), I think they'd be in the minority there.
Likewise, the same may hold true for Rhode Island. I've heard a lot of people from Rhode Island and SE Mass who use a nice fronted [a] for words like "cot", which indicates that they're probably father-bother merged; so if there are some people that make the distinction (which isn't inconceivable considering how close they are to Boston), I think they'd be in the minority there.
<<And Connecticut doesn't even count - half of them are Yankee fans.>>
Hee hee hee -- am I the only one who cot -- sorry, caught -- this?
Hee hee hee -- am I the only one who cot -- sorry, caught -- this?