1. Dialects of North America
Based on data from the TELSUR Project, University of Pennsylvania

2. TELSUR Project, publishing The Atlas of North American English

3. Dialect Regions: North Central, The Inland North, The Northeast, The Midland (North and South), The South, The West

4. Three 20th/21st Century Shifts in American English
Northern Cities Shift (Inland North)
Southern Shift (South)
Low Back Merger (West)

5. North Central monophthongization ‘boat’
Standard American
[bout]
• North Central
[bot]

6. Northern Cities Shift (1) ‘man’
æ → e → eə
[mæn]
[me:n]
[meən]
NB This shift (æ before m or n) has happened in various regions, not just the Inland North

7. Northern Cities Shift (1) ‘Matt’
æ → e → eə
[mæt]
[me:t]
[meət]
NB This shift (æ before any consonant) happened only in the Inland North

8. Northern Cities Shift (2) ‘rock’
Ɔ → æ
[rɔk]
[ræk]

9. Northern Cities Shift (3) ‘bus’
ʌ → ɑ
[bʌs]
[bɑs]

10. Mergers/Distinctions
‘low back merger’: 50% of country:
hock/hawk
don/dawn
cot/caught
witch/which (2/3 → very few)
NB mergers are one way (merger area expands)

11. ju → iu → u Merger ‘dew’ dju → diu → du ‘news’ nju → niu → nu ‘Jew’
NB This merger happens after:
[d], [g], [ĵ], [č], [š], [l], [n], [r], [s], [t], [w], [j], [z]
It does not happen after:
[b], [k], [f], [h], [m], [p], [v]

12. Incomplete ju → iu → u Merger
I [diu]
I [du]
[diu] on the grass

13. The [du] on the grass

14. NYC vs. Philly cab ham flag NYC: [kiəb] [hiəm] [fliəg]
Philly: [kæb] [hæm] [flæg]
Philly: 3 extraordinary words:
mad [miəd], bad [biəd], glad [gliəd]
Compare [sæd], [dæd], [fæd]

15. Eastern New England [ɑr] → [ɑ] [pɑk] or [æ] [pæk]
[ɔ] → [oɔ] [Roɔbət][boɔb] (to his friends)
‘r-dropping’ [ovə]
‘intrusive r’ [ɑidiər]

16. NYC vs. Boston Boston: ‘r-dropping’ [hæd] NYC: no ‘r-dropping’ [hɑrd]
• ‘old-fashioned’ NYC accent (Archie Bunker, Bugs Bunny):
(‘bird’) [bərd] → [boid]
and vice-versa:
(‘toilet’) [toilət] → [tərlət]

17. NYC speech Raising of [ɑ] to [ɔə] or [ʊə]: ‘talk’ [tɔək], [tʊək]
Raising of [æ] to [eə] or [iə]: ‘mad’ [meəd], [miəd]
Lack of merger of front vowels before r:
marry [mæri]
merry [mɛri]
Mary [meri]

18. The South Southern Shift: • monophthongization of [ɑi] to [ɑ] or [æ]
‘hide’ [hɑid] → [hɑd], [hæd] (less in Dallas & Houston)
• lowering of [ei] to [ɑi]
‘made’ [meid] → [mɑid] (in some areas)
• raising and diphthongization of [æ] to [eə]
‘bad’ [bæd] → [beəd]
• tensing of [ɔ] to [o] or [ou]
‘on’ [ɔn] → [on], [oun]

19. Southern Shift (cont’d)
• fronting and diphthongization of [u] to [iu]
‘food’ [fud] → [fiud]
• raising of [ɑ] to [o] before r
‘bar’ [bɑr] → [bor] (in some areas)
• diphthongization of [i] to [ɛi] or [˄i]
‘feed’ [fid] → [fɛid], [f˄id]

20. The West Almost universal ‘low back merger’
of cot/caught, don/dawn, hock/hawk
to [ɑ]
(applies to about 50% of the country - see map next slide)

21. Low Back Merger (purple dots)

22. Canadian (and Minnesotan) Raising
[ɑi] → [əi], [ɑu] → [əu] before [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [ɵ]
‘house’ [hɑus] → [həus]
‘knife’ [nɑif] → [nəif]
(sometimes misheard by southern listeners as a monophthong)
[ut ən abut]
Also found in Minnesota, some Midland areas, Martha’s Vineyard, South Atlantic US

23. Canadian Rounding
“Sorry, I left my oranges and chocolate in the forest.”
For more on raising and rounding (with sound files), see