1. 20th Century Vowel Variation in Columbus, OH: A New Perspective (or, the Canadian Shift in Columbus?) David Durian Department of Linguistics The Ohio State University The Century of Language Change in Columbus, OH (CLCC) Project

2. Goals of Today’s Study Document patterns of vocalic variation and change over the course of the 20th Century in Columbus, OH Document these patterns in the speech of blue collar and white collar speakers to determine what impact social class has had on the patterns over time Add to the growing body of research involving instrumental analyses of historical patterns of vowel variation and change in North American Midland Cities

3. Previous Studies of Columbus /Central Ohio Vowel Variation Thomas ([1989]/1993); (2001); (2004); (2006) Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006) Hartman-Keiser, et al. (1997) Durian & Smith (2005) Durian, Dodsworth & Schumacher (in press) Durian, Schumacher & Reynard (2007) Frazer (1978)--Impressionistic Analysis Kurath (1930)--Impressionistic Analysis Dodsworth (2005)--Worthington, OH Results Thomas (1996)--Johnstown, OH Results Clopper, Pisoni & de Jong (2005)--Midland speech

4. Three Issues Remaining Unresolved in Previous Studies 1) Lack of sufficient audio recorded data from informants born before 1930 to facilitate robust comparative instrumental analysis of patterns of vowel variation over time  Bulk of previous instrumental studies have focused on speakers born 1930-1985 2) Data have been obtained from speakers of different social class backgrounds in different studies, making systematic comparisons on the impact of class challenging

5. Three Issues Remaining Unresolved in Previous Studies 3) In instrumental analyses, different researchers have used different approaches to obtaining measurements of vowel variation

6. Resolving The Issues Analyze and instrumentally compare patterns of vowel variation obtained from speakers born throughout the 20th Century using audio recorded data Analyze and compare data obtained from speakers of both blue and white collar backgrounds Obtain measurements from similar points in the vowels analyzed to facilitate direct comparisons among speakers

7. Variables to Be Discussed Today Raising and lowering of the nucleus of /ae/ in non-pre-nasal and non-pre-velar environments (BAT) Retraction of the nucleus of /E/ in non-pre-nasal environments (BET) Retraction of the nucleus of /I/ in non-pre-nasal environments (BIT) (Are the three covariantly interrelated in Columbus?)

8. Study Population 22 representative vowel systems obtained from 22 European American informants All native English speaking, lifelong Columbus residents All save 5 raised in the Columbus Central City Area  One informant (born 1896) raised in a non-suburban “periphery” portion of the larger Columbus metropolitan area  Remaining 4 informants (all born 1983-1985) raised in Central City area until later childhood years (ages 8-12), then moved to geographically close surrounding suburbs

9. Central City Columbus and Close Surrounding Suburbs (Definition of Central City Columbus Based on Description Provided in Hunker, 2001) Canal Winchester = Central City = “Periphery Area” = Suburbs

10. Study Population Generation Group Birth Years# of informants Sex/Class Background GEN1 (Pre-WW I)1896-190831 blue collar male [Thomas (2001)] 1 white collar male [LANCS] 1 white collar female [DARE*] GEN2 (Pre-WW II)1925-193741 blue collar male 1 white collar male 1 blue collar female 1 white collar female GEN3 (Post-WW II)1949-196771 blue collar male 2 white collar males 2 blue collar females [1 from DARE*] 2 white collar females GEN4 (Post-Viet Nam Conflict) 1976-198582 blue collar males 2 white collar males 2 blue collar females 2 white collar females *Conversational portions of Dictionary of American Regional English interviews used for the purposes of this analysis.

11. Operationalization of “Collar Color” 10 blue collar speakers; 12 white collar speakers Social class defined using emergent categorization schema, based on speaker perceptions of “color color” as elicited from speakers during the course of the study Objective quantification of “collar color” in the study determined using the following measures:  Occupation of informant  Occupation of informant’s parents and grandparents (if known)  Highest level of education completed by informant and their parents (if known)  If above information not discussed during an interview Average income level of residents, and property value for homes owned by residents, for the area in which the speaker was raised during their formative years Blue collar occupations (e.g., factory worker, HVAC repair person, food service employee) White collar occupations (e.g., administrative secretary, librarian, lawyer, college dean)

12. Methods All tokens extracted from casual interview style speech Typical interview length 60 minutes, although some were shorter and some longer (Range: 15 minutes to 75 minutes) 10 tokens of each vowel class extracted from each speaker All vowels measured from tokens occurring in environments which:  Did not occur before a nasal or /r/ or /l/  Did not occur following /l/ or /r/  Tokens included in the BAT class also exclude following velars Data first transformed to BARK using the formula provided by Tranmuller (1990) Data then normalized using the z-score technique (Lobanov, 1971) Mean of the 10 tokens’ normalized values used as plot points in all plots

13. Vowel Plots In our plots: Vowels classes presented as diphthongs use:  A point extracted at 25% of the vowel’s duration to represent nuclei targets  A point extracted at 75% of the vowel’s duration to represent glide targets Vowels classes presented as monophthongs use:  A point extracted at 50% of the vowels duration to represent nuclei (equivalent to using measurements taken at steady state) Normalized values are plotted in z-score units (z-score as in standard deviation, not to be confused with “Z” as in BARK units)

14. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Older Younger White Collar Blue Collar 1 2 3 4 Generation Nucleus Color

15. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Female Male Nucleus Shape

16. BAT, BAN, and BAG in Columbus As discussed in previous studies (e.g., Thomas, [1989]/1993, 2001; Hartman-Keiser, et al., 1997; Labov, Ash & Boberg, 2006) /ae/ shows raising pre-nasally (BAN) in Columbus Although not shown in the plots today, all informants (continue to) show some degree of raising for BAN, regardless of generational group With the exception of speakers showing continuous /ae/ systems, BAG typically shows similar raising or lowering behavior to BAT (see Labov, Ash & Boberg, 2006 for more details) As with BAN, BAG is not shown in the following plots

17. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar

18. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 1 Trends: a) “Falling Diphthong*” Higher Nucleus/ Lower and Downward Inglide * [ ɛ æ] in more strongly diphthongal realizations [æ] in more strongly monophthongal realizations

19. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 1 Trends: a) “Falling Diphthong” Higher Nucleus/ Lower and Downward Inglide

20. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar

21. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations

22. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations b) Blue Collar Woman Shows Continuous System

23. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Raising (with Some Breaking) b) Blue Collar Woman Shows Continuous Raising Generation 3 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations

24. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Raising (with Some Breaking) b) Blue Collar Woman Shows Continuous Raising Generation 3 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations b) Retraction of the Nucleus among Some Speakers (towards BOT)

25. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Raising (with Some Breaking) b) Blue Collar Woman Shows Continuous Raising Informant born 1956 Generation 3 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations b) Retraction of the Nucleus among Some Speakers (towards BOT)

26. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 2 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Raising (with Some Breaking) b) Blue Collar Woman Shows Continuous Raising Generation 3 Trends: a) Continued “Falling Diphthong” Realizations b) Retraction of the Nucleus among Some Speakers (towards BOT) c) Mild “Rising Diphthong**” Realizations among White Collar Men (Lower Nucleus/ Higher and Rising Inglide) ** [æ ɛ ] in more strongly diphthongal realizations; [æ] with variable retraction toward BOT in more strongly monophthongal realizations Informants born 1962 and 1967

27. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 4 Trends: a) “Rising Diphthong” Realizations among Almost All Speakers

28. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 4 Trends: a) “Rising Diphthong” Realizations among Almost All Speakers b) Residual “Falling Diphthong” Realizations Found Only among Blue Collar Speakers

29. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Generation 4 Trends: a) “Rising Diphthong” Realizations among Almost All Speakers b) Residual “Falling Diphthong” Realizations Found Only among Blue Collar Speakers c) Some Nucleus Retraction

30. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar

31. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar

32. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar

33. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Lowering and Retraction among Generation 3 Women

34. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Lowering and Retraction among Generation 3 Women

35. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Lowering and Retraction among Generation 3 Women

36. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Lowering and Retraction among Generation 3 Women b) Stronger Retraction among White Collar Women

37. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Mild Nucleus Raising and Fronting among Generation 4 Women

38. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Mild Nucleus Raising and Fronting among Generation 4 Women b) Stronger Raising among White Collar Women

39. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Raising and Fronting among Generation 4 Women b) Stronger Raising among White Collar Women

40. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Raising and Fronting among Generation 4 Women b) Stronger Raising among White Collar Women Trends: a) BET shows very mild retraction for White Collar Generation 2 Male

41. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Nucleus Raising and Fronting among Generation 4 Women b) Stronger Raising among White Collar Women Trends: a) BET shows very mild retraction for White Collar Generation 2 Male

42. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BET remains cardinal for Blue Collar Generation 1, 2, and 3 Males

43. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BET remains cardinal for Blue Collar Generation 1, 2, and 3 Males

44. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BET remains cardinal for Blue Collar Generation 1, 2, and 3 Males

45. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) Retraction among Generation 3 White Collar Men

46. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Further Retraction among Generation 4 White Collar Men

47. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Further Retraction among Generation 4 White Collar Men b) Mild Raising and Some Retraction among Blue Collar Men

48. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Man with raised BAT nucleus Men with “Rising Diphthong” BAT (with retracted nuclei)

49. BET in Relationship to BAT among Generation 4 (b. 1976-1985) BAT (“rising diphthong” with retracted nucleus) BET (raised and mildly fronted nucleus) Women [White Collar Speakers Lead] Men [White Collar Speakers Lead] BAT (“rising diphthong” with retracted nucleus) BET (retracted nucleus)

50. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Trend toward some retraction of BIT across time for White Collar Females through Generation 3

51. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Trend toward some retraction of BIT across time for White Collar Females through Generation 3

52. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Trend toward some retraction of BIT across time for White Collar Females through Generation 3

53. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) Non-retraction of BIT among Generation 2 and 3 Blue Collar Females

54. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) Non-retraction of BIT among Generation 2 and 3 Blue Collar Females

55. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Reversal of retraction among White Collar Generation 4 Females

56. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Reversal of retraction among White Collar Generation 4 Females b) Continued fronting among Blue Collar Generation 4 Females

57. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Reversal of retraction among White Collar Generation 4 Females b) Continued fronting among Blue Collar Generation 4 Females c) Some lowering also found among Blue Collar Generation 4 Females

58. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BIT shows retraction trend for Generation 2 and 3 White Collar Males

59. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BIT shows retraction trend for Generation 2 and 3 White Collar Males

60. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) BIT shows retraction trend for Generation 2 and 3 White Collar Males

61. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) However, no retraction found among Generation 2 and 3 Blue Collar Males

62. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) However, no retraction found among Generation 2 and 3 Blue Collar Males

63. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: b) However, no retraction found among Generation 2 and 3 Blue Collar Males

64. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Raising and some retraction of BIT found for Blue Collar Generation 4 Males

65. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Trends: a) Raising and some retraction of BIT found for Blue Collar Generation 4 Males b) Retraction of BIT continues among some White Collar Generation 4 Males

66. Sex Generation 1 2 3 4 =female white collar = male blue collar Blue Collar Generation 4 Men with “Falling Diphthong” BAT and raised BET nucleus White Collar & Blue Collar Generation 3 & 4 Men with “Rising Diphthong” BAT (with retracted nuclei) and retracted BET nuclei

67. BIT in Relationship to BAT and BET among Generation 4 (b. 1976-1985) BAT (“rising diphthong” with retracted nucleus) BET (raised and mildly fronted nucleus) Women [White Collar Speakers Lead] BIT (mildly fronted nucleus)

68. BIT in Relationship to BAT and BET among Generation 4 (b. 1976-1985) BAT (“rising diphthong” with retracted nucleus) Men [White Collar Speakers Lead] BIT (mild retraction of the nucleus) BET (retracted nucleus)

69. Some Final Thoughts Also taking into consideration that these same men also show either “close” realization or merger of BOT and BOUGHT (not shown today, but see Ash (2006) for more details)

72. Some Final Thoughts Also taking into consideration that these same men also show either “close” realization or merger of BOT and BOUGHT (not shown today, but see Ash (2006) for more details) And that speakers in Columbus show the historical merger of BOTHER (/a:/) and BOT…

73. The Canadian Shift in Columbus? We conclude that Generation 3 and 4 men may be showing evidence of the Canadian Shift in Columbus The Canadian Shift (Clarke, et al., 1995; Boberg, 2005, 2008; Labov, et al. 2006) involves:  Retraction of the nucleus of BAT  Retraction of the nucleus of BET  Retraction of the nucleus of BIT  Historical merger of BOTHER and BOT  Merger or near-merger of BOT and BOUGHT

74. The Canadian Shift in Columbus? If this is the case, movement toward the Canadian Shift in Columbus appears to be led by White Collar men  Some Generation 4 Blue Collar men do show more robust Canadian Shifting than Generation 4 White Collar men  But White Collar Men show stronger patterns of Canadian Shifting over time (across generational groups)

75. The Canadian Shift in Columbus? Assuming this is the case, at least three questions remain: 1) Are the White Collar men in this pilot study representative of the larger population of White Collar Generation 3 and 4 men?  Given the small n of the speaker groups in this study, this trend requires further confirmation with a larger data set (This will be addressed for Columbus in Durian (forthcoming))  However, note also the results of Bigham (2009) in cites located in Southern Illinois, where essentially the same pattern of shift was also found to be occurring in another part of the U.S. Midland (Columbus is a U.S. Midland city)

76. The Canadian Shift in Columbus? 2) Why do men show stronger movement toward Canadian Shift, but not women? 3) Is Canadian Shift the “Northern Cities Shift” of the U.S. Midland, U.S. West, and Canada?  (California Shift (e.g., Eckert, 2004; Hall-Lew,2009)=Canadian Shift, as suggested by Boberg’s (2009) Canadian data?)

77. Additional Results Results for variables not discussed today, as well as individual speaker raw Hz plots, will be posted online at: http://www.ling.osu.edu/~ddurian/CLCC/ with further discussion to be made available in my dissertation (Durian, forthcoming) These include fronting of the nuclei of /uw/ (SHOES /BOOT), /ow/ (BOAT), and /aw/ (BOUT)

78. Thanks For the sharing of data: Erik Thomas, Joan Hall and the folks at DARE, Bill Kretzschmar on behalf of LANCS, Mark Pitt and the Buckeye Corpus folks, and all the Columbusites willing to do interviews with me during 2004-2008 For general advice and/or helpful comments: Cynthia Clopper, Don Winford, Mary Beckman, Charles Boberg, Erik Thomas, Brian Joseph, Beth Hume, Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, Julie McGory, Changelings, and Phonies For assistance in locating 1920-1930s born Columbusites: Emily Dorrian, Don Winford, and the folks at the Lennox Station and Fifth Ave Starbucks For general assistance in battling the pink robots: Jenn Schumacher, Missy Reynard, Andrew Smith, Daniel Durian, Malcah Yeager-Dror, David Dowty, Chris Brew, Mary Rose, Bridget Smith, Ila Nagar, Julia Papke, Salena Sampson, Angelo Costanzo, Hope Dawson, Abby Walker, Patrick Reidy, Teresa Pratt, Victoria Cook, Robin Dodsworth, Sonya Fix, and Toni Keys