Pittsburgh English - Phonology

Phonology

• /ɑ/~/ɔ/--> merger (Kurath 1961; Layton 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).

Examples: cot and caught are pronounced ; Don and dawn are pronounced .

Further explanation: Speakers who use the instead of the sound round their lips and/or produce the vowel further towards the back of their mouths.

Geographic distribution: While the merger of these low back vowels is widespread in the United States, the phoneme that results from this merger is typically the more fronted and unrounded . In southwestern Pennsylvania, speakers display the less common realization of . Rounded realizations of the merged vowel around are also common in Canada and Northern New England (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006, Evanini 2008).

• extreme fronting of /oʊ/ (Kurath and McDavid 1961; Labov et al. 2001)

Examples: go is pronounced

Further explanation: The diphthong /oʊ/ is produced further towards the front of the mouth than in some other varieties.

Geographic distribution: The fronting of /oʊ/ can be found throughout the South and the Midland, however, it distinguishes Pittsburgh from nearby Erie (Labov et al. 2001).

• fronting of /uː/ (Kurath and McDavid 1961; Labov et al. 2001)

Further explanation: The vowel /uː/ is produced further to the front of the mouth.

Geographic distribution: The fronting of /uː/ can now be found throughout much of the country including the South, the Midland, and the West (Labov et al. 2001).

• /aʊ/ monophthongization (Kurath 1961; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006).

Examples: house is pronounced ; out is pronounced ; found is pronounced ; downtown is pronounced .

Further explanation: The diphthong /aʊ/ becomes the monophthong /a/ in some environments including before nasals (e.g., downtown), liquids (e.g., fowl, hour) and obstruents (e.g., house, out, cloudy). Monophthongization does not occur, however, word finally (e.g., how, now), where the diphthong remains . The /a/ sound is often depicted orthographically as “ah.” The colon after the /a/ indicates that the vowel is lengthened.

Geographic distribution: One of the few features, if not the only one, restricted near-exclusively to southwestern Pennsylvania in North America, although it can be found in other accents of the world such as Cockney and South African English (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006).

Origins: May be the result of contact from Slavic languages during the early twentieth century (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).

• /ɑj/ monophthongization (Kurath 1961; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).

Examples: tile is pronounced ; pile is pronounced ; tire is pronounced ; iron is pronounced .

Further explanation: Before /l/ and /ɹ/, the diphthong /ɑj/ (also transcribed as /ɑi/ or /ɑɪ/) is monophthongized to /ɑː/. The /ɑː/ is often depicted orthographically as “ah.” The colon after the /ɑ/ indicates that the vowel is lengthened.

Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere, including the southern states (see above citations).

• Epenthetic /ɹ/ (Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006).

Example: wash is pronounced .

Further explanation: Occurs after vowels in a small number of words.

Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere (see above citations).

• /i/~/ɪ/ and /u/~/ʊ/ tense-lax mergers (Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006).

Examples: steel and still are pronounced ; pool, pole, and pull are pronounced .

Further explanation: Before the liquids /l/ and /r/, the tense vowels /i/ and /u/ are laxed to /ɪ/ and /ʊ/, respectively. In standard American English, /i/ is the sound in beet, /ɪ/ the sound in bit, /u/ the sound in food, and /ʊ/ the sound in good. Finally, in contrast to the /i/~/ɪ/ merger, the /u/~/ʊ/ merger appears to be more advanced. On the /i/~/ɪ/ merger, Labov, Ash and Boberg (2005) note, "the stereotype of this merger is based only on a close approximation of some forms, and does not represent the underlying norms of the dialect."

Geographic distribution: The /i/~/ɪ/ merger is found in southwestern Pennsylvania (Layton 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006) as well as parts of the southern United States, including Alabama, Texas and the west (McElhinny 1999; Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005). On the other hand, the /u/~/ʊ/ is consistently found only in southwestern Pennsylvania (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005).

• /i/~/ɪ/ merger in eagle (Wisnosky 2003).

Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (see above citations).

• /l/ vocalization (Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006).

Examples: well is pronounced something like ; milk something like or ; role something like ; and color something like .

Further explanation: When it occurs after vowels, /l/ is vocalized, or "labialized", sometimes sounding like a /w/, or a cross between a vowel and a velarized (or "dark") /l/.

Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006) and elsewhere, including many African American varieties (McElhinny 1999).

• /o/~/u/ and /ʊ/ merger (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005).

Examples: Polish is pronounced ; cold is pronounced or .

Further explanation: As the examples suggest, this merger only occurs when /o/ precedes /l/ (and possibly /r/) (McElhinney 1999).

• /ʌ/ lowering into /ɑ/~/ɔ/--> /ɔ/ merger (Thomas 2001).

Example: The words mall and maul are both pronounced /ˈmɔːl/ due to the /ɑ/~/ɔ/--> /ɔ/ merger, and the word mull is almost homophonous with these two, rather than sounding like the usual /mʌl/.

Further explanation: While the /ʌ/ sound may sometimes sound approximately like an /ɑ/ or /ɔ/, a listener could easily distinguish between the two words by noting the length of the vowel. Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2005) explain that the longest lowered /ʌ/ they encountered was shorter than the shortest /ɑ/~/ɔ/ they encountered. So, to speakers and listeners, the sounds are distinct. Actually, they explained that the longest lowered /ʌ/ they encountered was shorter than the shortest monophthongal /aʊ/ they encountered, but that's okay.

Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005).