Vowel Shifts in California and the Detroit Suburbs
California Vowels
/i/ The vowel in him, sit, and bid is moving in two
directions.
Before ng, it shifts towards the vowel
in beam, bean Example: think sounds
like theenk Before other consonants, it shifts towards the vowel
in hem, set, and bed . Example: did
sounds more like dead
/e/ The vowel in bed, set, send is shifting towards the vowels in
bad, sat, sand . Example: friend
sounds more like frand
/uh/ The vowel in but, rust, bun is shifting towards the vowels in
bet, rest, Ben . Example: fun
sounds more like fen
/ae/ The vowel in hat, hand, pass is splitting into two varants.
Before nasal consonants (n, m, ng) it becomes a diphthong, and
the first part of the diphthong is shifting towards /iy/
Example: stand sounds
more like stee-and Before other consonants, as in hat, rack, cast, it shifts in the other direction, towards the
vowel in hot, rock, cost Example: that sounds
more like thot
/o/ The distinction between the vowels in cot and caught,
Don and Dawn has been lost. The merged vowel is pronounced
between the two.
Example: mom sounds
more like mawm
/uw/ The vowel in boot, soon, dude is shifting towards the vowel in
bit, sin, did. Usually, it takes the form of a diphthong [iw]
Example: move sounds
more like mi-oov
/U/ The vowel in look, put, could is shifting towards the vowels in
luck (sometimes lick), putt (sometimes pit),
cud (sometimes kid ). Example: brook sounds more
like bruck
/ow/ The vowel in boat, tone, ghost becomes a diphthong, and the
first part of the diphthong is shifting towards the
vowel in bet, ten, guest.
Example: goes sounds
more like ge-oz
Spectrograms for the vowels in stand and that.
Note that there are three dark bands, or formants. (These are clearest in the spectrogram on
the right.) One can characterize vowels on the basis of the frequencies of
the lower two formants.
The horizontal line in the spectrogram to the left shows the first
(lowest) formant,
since it is less distinct. The red
vertical lines show the area of the vowel where one would measure the
formants. (The measurements for these two vowels are shown in the
second vowel plot below).
***These spectrograms were made with Praat
software developed by Paul Boersma and David Weeninck of the Institute of
Phonetic Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
Plotting the frequency (in hertz, or cycles per second) of each of the first
two formants, as below, yields a picture very much like vowel space in the
mouth - what is commonly referred to as the vowel triangle).
Below are two vowel plots, showing the splitting of /ae/. Both plots show
the position of /ae/ before nasals (stand, ham,
hang) as empty squares, and /ae/ elsewhere (laugh, that, had)
as black squares. /iy/ (feet, me, mean) is also shown (black
circles) to show the relation of pre-nasal
occurrences to it.
The two plots are of the same girl in two different situations. In the
first, she is talking to me in an interview situation. In the second, she
is engaged in "drama" - an intense conversation with her friends about
friendship intrigue.
Interview Speech. Note that the empty squares
are higher than the black squares:
Drama Speech. Note how the empty squares and the black squares have drawn
apart, so that the empty squares are up by /iy/ and the black squares have
moved down:
Below is a vowel plot showing the shifting of /uw/ (new,
food). This vowel is represented as black circles with arrows. When /uw/ is followed
by /l/ as in school, it does not shift, but remains where we expect
it to be. This plot shows that other occurrences of /uw/, however,
overlap with the vowel in mister (empty circles) and approach the
vowel in me
(empty circles with arrows).
***These plots were made withPlotnik software, developed
by William Labov of the Department of Linguistics at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Detroit Area Vowels
The Northern Cities Shift is a rotation of the low and mid vowels:
/ae/ The vowel in bad, laugh diphthongizes, and the first part of
the diphthong approaches the vowel in made Example:
laughs at sounds
more
like lafes ate
/o/ The vowel in top, bottle shifts towards the vowel in
laugh Example:
on sounds
more
like Ann
/oh/ The vowel in caught, dog shifts towards the vowel in top,
bottle Example:
all sounds
more
like doll
/uh/ The vowel in lunch, tough shifts towards the vowel in all,
caught Example:
fun sounds
more
like fawn
/e/ The vowel in flesh, ten shifts towards the vowel in flush,
ton Example:
seventeen sounds
more
like suventeen
/ay/ The first part of the diphthong in right shifts towards the
vowel in all, caught Example:
typing sounds
more
like toyping
