Northern American English
Northern American English | |
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Northern U.S. English | |
Region | Northern United States |
Indo-European
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Early forms | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | nort3316 |
21st-century research unites the whole grey-brown region of this map as a Northern U.S. super-dialect region. Notice that the Northwest and much of New England are not included. | |
Northern American English or Northern U.S. English (also, Northern AmE) is a class of historically related
The ANAE argues that, though geographically located in the Northern United States, current-day Northwestern U.S.,[nb 1] New York City, Eastern New England and some Upper Midwestern accents do not fit under the Northern U.S. accent spectrum, or only marginally. Each has one or more phonological characteristics that disqualifies them. Meanwhile, Central and Western Canadian English is presumed to have originated but branched off from Northern U.S. English within the past two or three centuries.[4][5]
Northern U.S. accents are often distinguished from
In the very early 20th century, a generic Northern U.S. accent was the basis for the term "
Phonology
The ANAE defines a Northern linguistic super-region of American English dialects as having:
- /oʊ/ (as in goat, toe, show, etc.) and traditionally /u/ (as in goose, too, shoe, etc.) pronounced conservativelyfar in the back of the mouth.
- "r-fulness" or rhoticity (though r-dropping is possible in Rhode Island and some areas that are geographically though not linguistically Northern: New York City and eastern coastal New England).
- A common lack of the cot–caught merger, meaning that words like pond and pawned, or bot and bought, are not pronounced identically (with the second of this class of words being pronounced usually farther back in the mouth and with more rounded lips); however, the merger is common in northern New England and spreading among younger Northerners generally.
-
- This type of raising also appears to be spreading beyond the North, appearing also in Upper Midwest.
- This type of raising also appears to be spreading beyond the North, appearing also in
The
Phonemic distribution
The following pronunciation variants used more strongly in this region than anywhere else in the country:[13]
- apricot as /ˈæprɪkɑt/ (rather than /ˈeɪprɪkɑt/)
- been as /bɛn/ (a homophone with the name Ben)
- crayon as the single-syllable /kræn/ (phonetically [kɹɛən])
- pajamas as /pəˈdʒæməz/ (in addition to /pəˈdʒɑməz/ more widely common around Boston, New York City, and the South)
- handkerchief rhyming with beef
- poem as the single-syllable /poʊm/, rhyming with dome
- root and roof using the FOOT vowel [ʊ] as a somewhat common alternative to the typical GOOSE vowel [u] [14]
Declining characteristics
The North has historically been one of the last U.S. regions to maintain the
Vocabulary
The North is reported as uniquely or most strongly using certain words:[13]
- babushka (a woman's headscarf, tied under the chin)[17]
- bare-naked (synonym for naked)[18]
- crayfish (a freshwater lobster-like crustacean)
- crust (the end of a bread loaf)
- diagonal or kitty-corner (situated slanted across a street or intersection)
- doing cookies (rare synonym, scattered throughout the North, for doing doughnuts)
- frosting (synonym for icing)
- futz or futz around (/fʌts/; to fool around or waste time)[19]
- garbage (synonym for trash)[20]
- on the fritz (out of order, or into a state of disrepair)[21]
- pit (the seed or stone of a fruit)[22]
- you guys (the usual plural form of you)
- woodchuck (synonym for groundhog)
Northeastern American English
A Northeastern Corridor of the United States follows the Atlantic coast, comprising all the
Phonemic distribution
These phonemic variants in certain words are particularly correlated with the American Northeast (with the more common variants nationwide given in parentheses):[13]
- cauliflower with the "i" pronounced with the FLEECE vowel /i/ (in addition to the KIT vowel /ɪ/)
- centaur rhyming with four (in addition to the variant rhyming with far)
- miracle as /ˈmɛrəkəl/ or /ˈmirəkəl/ (in addition to /ˈmɪrəkəl/)
- route rhyming with shoot (in addition to shout)
- syrup as /ˈsirəp/ or /ˈsɪrəp/ (in addition to /ˈsɜrəp/)
- tour and tournament with /tɔr/ (like tore)
- vase as /veɪz/ or /vɑz/ (rhyming with stays or spas, in addition to the more General American/veɪs/, rhyming with space)
The Northeast tends to retain a contrastive /ɔ/ vowel (in words like all, caught, flaw, loss, thought, etc.): specifically, this is realized as [ɒ~ɔə]. Northern New England and many younger speakers do not retain this vowel, however. Non-rhoticity or "r"-dropping is variable in Eastern New England and New York City, though gradually declining.
Vocabulary
Terms common or even usual to the whole Northeast include:[13]
- brook (synonym for stream)[23]
- bureau (synonym for chest of drawers or dresser)
- cellar (synonym for basement)
- cruller (a twisted, often stick-like doughnut)
- goose pimples (synonym for goose bumps),
- elastic, hair elastic, or hair thing (synonyms for hair tie)
- papering or TP'ing (synonym for toilet papering)
- rotary (synonym for traffic circle)
- sneakers (any athletic shoes)
- soda (any sweet, carbonated soft drink)
- stoop (small outdoor staircase to a building's front door, particularly in the NYC area)
- sunshower (a sunny rainshower)
- tractor trailer (a semi-trailer truck)
Inland Northern American English
The recent
Miscellaneous Northern American English
North-Central American or Upper Midwestern English, based around Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and North Dakota, may show some elements of the Northern cities vowel shift and the ANAE classifies it as a transitional dialect between the Inland North, Canada, and the West. Many Upper Midwesterners have a full cot-caught merger, however, which disqualifies this dialect from the ANAE's traditional definition for a "Northern" dialect region in the United States.
Northwestern American English similarly does not qualify under the ANAE definition, instead falling broadly under Western American English, not Northern. Also a transitional dialect, its speakers share major commonalities with Californians and Canadians.
See also
- New England English
- Upper Midwest American English
Notes
- ^ It is arguable whether or not the Pacific Northwest dialect region falls under the Northern super-dialect region. In American linguistics, "North" typically only refers to the "traditional North": the Northeastern and North Central States, while excluding the Northwestern States.
References
- ^ Purnell, Thomas; Eric Raimy; and Joseph Salmons (eds.) (2013). Wisconsin talk: Linguistic diversity in the Badger State. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 109.
- ^ Labov, William; Sharon Ash, Charles Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 134.
- ^ Labov, William; Sharon Ash, Charles Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 148.
- ISBN 0-521-26479-0, 978-0-521-26479-2. On p. 422: "It is now generally agreed that Canadian English originated as a variant of northern American English (the speech of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania)".
- ISBN 0-19-280637-8. On p. 97: "Because CanE and AmE are so alike, some scholars have argued that in linguistic terms Canadian English is no more or less than a variety of (Northern) American English".
- ^ Labov, William; Sharon Ash, Charles Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 133.
- ^ Labov et al., p. 190.
- ^ "Talking the Tawk", The New Yorker
- ^ Schneider (2008:81)
- ^ Schneider (2008:389)
- Walter de Gruyter, 2004, p. 359.
- ^ McCarthy, Natalie (2004). THE NORTHERN CITIES SHIFT AND LOCAL IDENTITY IN A SUBURBAN CLEVELAND GROUP (PDF). p. 7.
- ^ a b c d Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
- ^ Schneider (2008:80)
- ^ Schneider (2008:81)
- ^ Schneider (2008:80)
- ^ "Babushka". Dictionary of American Regional English. 2017.
- ^ "Bare-naked". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2017. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
- ^ "Futz". Dictionary of American Regional English. 2017.
- ^ Grive, Jack; Asnaghi Costanza (2013). "A lexical dialect survey of American English using site-restricted web searches". ADS Annual Meeting, Boston. Ashton University and University of Leuven.
- ^ "On the fritz". Dictionary of American Regional English. 2017.
- ^ "Pit". Word Reference. Word Reference. 2017.
- ^ "Brook" and "Runs". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2017. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
- ^ Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (1997). "Dialects of the United States." A National Map of The Regional Dialects of American English. University of Pennsylvania.
Further reading
- Schneider, Edgar (2008). Varieties of English: The Americas and the Caribbean. ISBN 978-3-110-20840-5.