Eastern New England English

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Eastern New England English, historically known as the Yankee dialect since at least the nineteenth century,[1][2] is a dialect of New England English native to Maine, New Hampshire, and the eastern half of Massachusetts;[3][4] in the mid-twentieth century and before, this also encompassed eastern Vermont.[5] Whether or not the Eastern New England dialect formally encompasses Rhode Island is debated in the academic research.[6]

Eastern New England English (here, including Rhode Island English) is historically associated with sound patterns such as non-rhoticity (or r-dropping after a vowel); both variants of Canadian raising;[7] fairly back starting positions of the vowels /uː/ (as in goose) and /aʊ/ (as in town);[8] and no all-encompassing Mary–marry–merry merger.[9] Some younger Eastern New England speakers have been reported to perceive some of these traditional features as sounding rural or old-fashioned,[10] and, therefore, they may intentionally avoid certain sounds, especially non-rhoticity.[11][12] The New England dialect is based primarily on the East Anglian English, and so the dialects share many features, include the dropping of post-vocalic r sounds.[citation needed]

Overview of phonology

The sound system of traditional Eastern New England English includes:

  • Non-rhoticity: The r sound is variably "dropped" or "silent" whenever not before a vowel; therefore, in words like car, letter, horse, poor, etc.
    • Linking and intrusive r: The non-rhotic r may be pronounced after all if it is followed by a vowel, even a vowel that begins the next word in the sentence. Also, any word that ends in /ə/ (as in Cuba), /ɑː/ (as in spa), or /ɔː/ (as in law) can be followed by an unwritten r sound when followed by a vowel sound in the next word: thus, law and public safety sounds like Lauren public safety.
  • Fronting of /ɑːr/: The vowel of words like car, park, heart, stark, etc. is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than in most other dialects, so that car, for example, is something like [kʰäː~kʰaː]. This, plus non-rhoticity, is often associated with the shibboleth "Park the car in Harvard yard." This fronting is seldom reported in Rhode Island, in which car is more often [kʰɑː].[13]
  • Backing of /uː/: The vowel of goose, rude, coup, etc. remains pronounced relatively far back in the mouth.[14]
  • Horse–hoarse merger in transition: The vowel of words like war versus wore, or morning versus mourning, are mostly produced either very close or the same in Eastern New England; however, as of the early 2000s, such vowels may still be pronounced differently by some Eastern New England speakers, especially in Maine.[15] Conversely, the merger of these vowels is largely complete elsewhere in the United States.
  • Full Canadian raising: The tongue is raised in the first element of the gliding vowel Listeni/aɪ/ as well as Listeni/aʊ/ whenever either appears before a voiceless consonant.[16] Therefore, a word like house /haʊs/ is often [hɜʊs~hɐʊs].
  • Backing of /aʊ/: The vowel of gouge, loud, town, power, etc. has a relatively back-of-mouth starting position: thus, something like [äʊ].[15]
  • Lack of Mary–marry–merry merger: The sounds /ær/, /ɛr/, and /ɛər/, for example, in the words Mary, marry, and merry, are pronounced each with distinct vowels. However, recent studies have shown that there is an emerging tendency in Northeastern New England to merge them to some extent, as is the case in much of the United States. In contrast, Southeastern New England (namely, Rhode Island) continues to keep them all separate, as in the New York City area and Britain.[15]
  • "Short a" nasal system: The "short a" sound /æ/ may be tensed in various environments, though most severely before a nasal consonant; therefore, in words like man, clam, Annie, etc.

Overview of vocabulary

The terms "frappe" to mean "thick milkshake";[17] "bubbler" (also found in Wisconsin) to mean "water fountain";[18] and "tonic" to mean "sweet carbonated soft drink" (called "soda" elsewhere in New England),[19] are largely unique to northeastern (and, to a lesser extent, southeastern) New England English vocabulary. Using "jimmies" to mean "(chocolate) sprinkles" is primarily a phenomenon of the Boston area.[20] In addition to the widespread term "wicked," the word "pisser," often phonetically spelled "pissa(h)," is another Northeastern New England intensifier (plus sometimes an uncountable noun) for something that is very highly regarded by the speaker.

Northeastern New England

Northeastern New England English, popularly recognized as a Boston or Maine accent, in addition to all the above phonological features, further includes the merger of the vowel in cot and caught to [ɒː~ɑː], often with a slightly rounded quality. Also, for speakers born before 1950, the words half and pass (and, before World War II, also ask and can't) are pronounced with a "broad a," like in spa: [häːf] and [pʰäːs].

Boston

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Main article: Boston accent

Boston, Massachusetts is the birthplace and most famous site of Eastern New England English. Historically, a Northeastern type of New England English spread from metropolitan Boston into metropolitan Worcester, the bulk of New Hampshire, and central and coastal Maine.[21] Boston speech also originated many slang and uniquely local terms that have since spread throughout Massachusetts and Eastern New England.[22] Although mostly non-rhotic, the modern Boston accent does pronounce the r sound in /ɜːr/, as in bird, learn, turkey, world, etc.

Maine

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Main article: Maine accent

The Maine accent, the closest one today to an old Yankee dialect, includes the phonology mentioned above, plus the breaking of /ɛər/ (as in there), /ɪər/ (as in here), and /ɔər/ each into two syllables: they-uh, hee-yuh, and moh-uh; some distinct vocabulary is also used in this accent.[23] Especially in Maine, the horse–hoarse merger is still strongly resisted,[15] meaning that words like war and wore may sound different: war rhyming with law, and wore rhyming with boa. Unlike the Boston accent, the traditional Maine accent is non-rhotic entirely: even in the pronunciation of /ɜːr/.

Notable lifelong native speakers

Southeastern New England

Southeastern New England English, popularly recognized as a Rhode Island accent, in addition to all of the features mentioned under the phonology section above, further includes a sharp distinction in the vowels of Mary, marry, and merry, as well as in the vowels in cot [ɑ] versus caught [oə],[34] plus the pronunciation of /ɑːr/, as in car, far back in the mouth as [ɑː~ɑə], all of which makes this New England accent noticeably similar to New York City English.[35][36] A few word are unique only to this area, such as the older word cabinet to mean milkshake.[17]

Notable lifelong native speakers

French-American Manchester

An ethnic local accent has been documented among self-identifying French Americans in Manchester, New Hampshire.[40] The accent's most prominent pronunciation features are th-stopping (pronouncing thin like tin and there like dare) and, variably, word-initial h-dropping (so that hair may sound like air).[41]

References

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  • Nagy, Naomi; Roberts, Julie (2004), "New England phonology", in E. Schneider, K. Burridge, B. Kortmann, R.Mesthrie, and C. Upton (Eds.), Handbook of Varieties of English, Volume 1, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 270–281.
  • Stanford, James N.; Leddy-Cecere, Thomas A.; Baclawski Jr., Kenneth P. "Farewell To The Founders: Major Dialect Changes Along The East-West New England Border." American Speech 87.2 (2012): pp. 126–169. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
  • Stanford, James N.; Severance, Nathan A.; Baclawski Jr., Kenneth P. "Multiple vectors of unidirectional dialect change in eastern New England." Language Variation and Change (2014) Vol.26(1), pp. 103–140.
  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Sletcher, Michael (2004). New England. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 264
  3. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:137)
  4. ↑ Stanford et al. (2012: 130)
  5. ↑ Stanford et al. (2012: 161)
  6. ↑ See, for example, that Labov's 2006 Atlas of North American English frequently includes Providence/Rhode Island under this general dialect, yet his 1997 Regional Telsur Map does not.
  7. ↑ Nagy & Roberts (2004:276)
  8. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:154, 227)
  9. ↑ Stanford et al. (2012: 154)
  10. ↑ Stanford et al. (2012: 160-1)
  11. ↑ Stanford et al. (2014: 120)
  12. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:226)
  13. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:111)
  14. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:154)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006:227)
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. "What do you call the drink made with milk and ice cream?." The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
  18. ↑ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. "What do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school?." The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
  19. ↑ Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. "What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?." The Harvard Dialect Survey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Labov & Ash (Boberg2006:225)
  22. ↑ http://www.universalhub.com/glossary/
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ "This phonemic and phonetic arrangement of the low back vowels makes Rhode Island more similar to New York City than to the rest of New England".Labov, Ash & Ash (2006:226)
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Nagy & Roberts (2004:278)
  41. ↑ Nagy & Roberts (2004:296)

See also

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