Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Pacific Northwest | PBS

Dialects in the Mist Contrary to linguistic myth,
people living west of the Mississippi use distinctive dialects, right
down to residents of Portland, Oregon. Pacific Northwest native Jeff
Conn finds himself “cot” in the vowel shifts and rising
intonations of
a coalescing dialect.

Like many people from Portland, Oregon, I grew up thinking that an
accent was something that other people had. It wasn’t until I began
studying linguistics that I realized that my “General American” accent
was, in fact, not. The first shock came in an introductory phonetics
class, where I was determined to produce all the sounds of the world’s
languages. Much to my dismay, I did not have a distinct pronunciation
for the word caught, but
pronounced it the same as cot.
Not only was my
accent deficient of a vowel, but I was also unable to produce or
perceive the difference between this phantom vowel and the vowel of
cot. This merger of the vowels
in cot and caught was the first sign of
my accented speech.

Since then, I have been able to identify other characteristics of my
accent. However, my narcissistic search for a description of my own
dialect has led to the realization that there are practically no
descriptions of this dialect. Furthermore, the reliable Linguistic
Atlas projects, a series of exploratory projects designed to
investigate North American dialects, did not collect data from Oregon
before the project was prematurely abandoned. Like other dialect areas
of the American West, descriptions are lacking, contributing to the
myth that there are no distinctive dialects in the United States west
of the Mississippi River.

Sociolinguistics organizes North American dialects based
on changes in pronunciation of vowel phonemes

There has been a lot of work on various North American dialects, both in traditional dialectology as well as in contemporary sociolinguistics. The traditional dialectology approach uses word choices as a primary way to categorize dialects, while the sociolinguistic approach typically organizes North American dialects based on changes in pronunciation of vowel phonemes. The dialects of the Pacific Northwest, however, have been virtually ignored in both lines of research.

Besides the Linguistic Atlas projects, another traditional dialect
project that investigates North American varieties of English is the
Dictionary of American Regional
English (DARE). The analysis of the
data from DARE suggests that there is a unique dialect region in the
Pacific Northwest, and Portland may be the center of it. Culturally,
Portland and Seattle continue to grow as independent urban centers,
while at the same time, they are bound together, creating a larger
Northwestern identity. Dialect-wise, this may indicate subtle dialect
differences emerging from a common variety of English.

Dialects are grouped by speakers’ participation in a
handful of identified vowel shifts

bucket

vs.

pail

, and characterize dialects by
these
vocabulary differences, modern dialectology and sociolinguistics
organizes North American English dialects by pronunciation of vowels
using a language change approach. Dialects are grouped by speakers’
participation in a handful of identified vowel shifts. These shifts
indicate a change in pronunciation of vowels, using a historical
organization of these vowels as a starting point. This historically
based phonemic inventory represents the pronunciation of Modern English
vowels in North America circa the seventeenth century. From this set of
vowels, historical word classes are established, which group words
together that contained the same vowel.

In a sociolinguistic approach, Portland is considered part of the West. This large dialect area stretches from the Pacific Coast states east, and includes Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. One project adopting this framework is the Atlas of North American English (ANAE), a survey of North American English pronunciation conducted by William Labov, Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg at the University of Pennsylvania. In order to understand this project’s organization of dialects, including Portland as part of the West, it is necessary to briefly outline their approach to describing dialects. While traditional dialect studies examine different words used by different communities for the same thing, i.e.vs., and characterize dialects by these vocabulary differences, modern dialectology and sociolinguistics organizes North American English dialects by pronunciation of vowels using a language change approach. Dialects are grouped by speakers’ participation in a handful of identified vowel shifts. These shifts indicate a change in pronunciation of vowels, using a historical organization of these vowels as a starting point. This historically based phonemic inventory represents the pronunciation of Modern English vowels in North America circa the seventeenth century. From this set of vowels, historical word classes are established, which group words together that contained the same vowel.

For example, the short-a word class includes words such as dad, bat,
pan. This framework was
established in order to preserve original
contrasts in vowel production between two sets of historical word
classes that may have lost the distinction and merged. An example of a
merger for many North Americans is what is known as the horse~hoarse
merger, where the vowels in both word classes are identically produced
for many, but not all, speakers.

Over time, the way a vowel is produced can change, which in turn may
cause a chain reaction of modifications in other vowel pronunciations.
One of the prominent vowel chain shifts is the Northern Cities Shift,
so called because it was first discovered in the inland metropolitan
areas of the United States, i.e., Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo,
etc. The diagram below shows how a change in vowel production of one
vowel can trigger changes in other vowels in order to maintain
distinctions between them and in order to fill voids in phonetic space
– the space located in a speaker’s mouth where the tongue changes
position in order to produce vocalic sounds.

According to the Northern Cities Shift, a speaker from Detroit says
cat like kee-at and cot more like cat. Some advanced speakers of the
Northern Cities Shift produce vowels in bet that sound to many speakers
like but. Dialects follow
different shifts over time and become
distinct, which is why American English differs from British and
Australian English for example. Although different dialects can share
some of the same vowel changes, it is a combination of different
changes that make a dialect unique. For example, Southern British
English, Southern American English, and Australian and New Zealand
English all have front pronunciations of the vowels in boot and boat
(sounding like biwt and bewt), as well as low and more central
pronunciation of the vowels in key
and bay (sounding like Kay and buy),
but the pronunciation of the front short vowels (bit, bet and bat) is
what makes each dialect unique. Therefore, a dialect is defined by its
participation in a combination of vowel changes.

The inland North region and American South follow
different vowel changes

cot

Don

collar

and
the vowel in

caught

Dawn

caller

. This merger is not limited
to the
West, and is a characteristic of many other dialects, such as
Pittsburgh, parts of New England and the Midwest, as well as Canada. In
addition to this merger, Canadian English is participating in the
Canadian Shift, which is the lowering and centralization of the front
short vowels

bit

and

bet

(sounding something like

bet

and

bat

), similar
to the Northern Cities Shift shown above. However, unlike the raising
of the vowel in

bat

in the
Northern Cities Shift (to

bee-at

),
Canadians
are lowering and centralizing (retracting) this vowel (sounding
something like

bot

baht

). This shift is also reported
to be
operating in Californian English, and is stereotyped in the speech of
Valley Girls, as in “

gahg me to the
mahx

.” Another aspect of
Californian English is the fronting of the back vowels in the words

boot,

book

, and

boat,

similar to Southern American
English. This can be
heard in the words

totally

and

dude

(sounding like

teowtally

and

diwd

).
Since Portland, Oregon is located half way between California and
Canada, it is not surprising that a Portland dialect would contain some
of these features.

The inland North region of the United States is following one series of vowel changes, while the American South is following a different one. In addition to these two large dialect areas, there are smaller dialects that can be identified by a combination of vowel changes that may or may not be organized into a comprehensive vowel shift. While ANAE describes in detail much of the English spoken in North America, the dialect area classified as the West is still largely undefined. One characteristic of this area is the cot~caught merger. This merger is the identical production of the vowel in the wordsand the vowel in. This merger is not limited to the West, and is a characteristic of many other dialects, such as Pittsburgh, parts of New England and the Midwest, as well as Canada. In addition to this merger, Canadian English is participating in the Canadian Shift, which is the lowering and centralization of the front short vowelsand(sounding something likeand), similar to the Northern Cities Shift shown above. However, unlike the raising of the vowel inin the Northern Cities Shift (to), Canadians are lowering and centralizing (retracting) this vowel (sounding something likeor). This shift is also reported to be operating in Californian English, and is stereotyped in the speech of Valley Girls, as in “.” Another aspect of Californian English is the fronting of the back vowels in the words, andsimilar to Southern American English. This can be heard in the wordsand(sounding likeand). Since Portland, Oregon is located half way between California and Canada, it is not surprising that a Portland dialect would contain some of these features.

With regard to a Portland dialect, it seems unlikely for two people
to meet and for one of them to say to the other, “You have such a
strong Portland accent.” This may be due to the very young age of the
West in general. The dialect has not had time to unify, emerge and
become recognized as either a unique dialect, or part of a larger
dialect. Similar to findings in California, the Portland dialect is a
rather diffuse dialect in older speakers, but seems to be becoming a
more unified and focused dialect with the younger speakers.
Furthermore, a small group of researchers at Portland State University
have begun to describe characteristics of the dialect and data
collected so far have shown that Portlanders are beginning to
participate in a shift similar to its neighbors to the north and south.

Nội Dung Chính

The cot~caught merger

One of the characteristics that Portland shares with Canada and
other Western cities is the cot~caught
merger discussed above. Nearly
all Portland speakers, especially under the age of 60, have a merged
low back vowel. This merger, however, is not present in some older
speakers (over 80), which indicates the relative young age of this
merger in Portland.

Portlanders pronounce Anne
like Ian

The cat vowel

While Canada and California seem to be a bit more advanced in the
backing of this vowel toward the vowel of cot, the speech of younger
Portlanders suggests that Portland is also changing. Before nasal
consonants, however, this backing does not happen and Portlanders
produce a higher vowel in this environment. So, Anne does not sound
identical to add, but closer
to Ian. Another Portland
pronunciation is
in words with this vowel before g’s, such as bag, tag, gag, etc.
Instead of a simple bat
sound, many speakers produce a vowel with a
y-like glide. In addition, a similar glide quality is produced in bet
words before g, making beg and bag
sound nearly identical, and sounding
like the vowel in bake.
Although this has not quite reached a merged
stage, there is an increase in these productions in younger speakers.
Another Canadian/Californian quality is a more open and lower
realization of the vowel in bet
words, sounding almost like bat.
This
lowering is evident in few Portland speakers, and this may be a change
that Portland will participate in the near future.

Back vowel fronting

In addition to the front short vowels, Portlanders share another
characteristic with Californians. This is the fronting of the back
vowels boot, book and boat. This change, although not
characteristic of
the inland north, is characteristic of many other North American
dialects. The fronting of the boot and
book vowels is more common,
and
Portlanders, like their Californian neighbors, are producing very
fronted boot vowels, where boot and beet differ mostly by the glide
part of the vowel (sounding like bi-wt
and bi-yt). While the book
vowel
is not quite as front, many young speakers can be heard saying gid for
good, and are often
misunderstood when saying look,
sounding to others
like lick. The fronting of
the boat vowel is not as common, and is one
measure that the Atlas of North American English uses to categorize
dialects. Therefore, boat fronting is an important quality to identify
in order to accurately describe and classify a dialect. Younger
Portlanders can be heard saying boat vowels with a fairly central
nucleus, sounding like the vowel in
but. The more extreme examples
sound almost like ge-ow for go, but these extremes are not the
most
common, although Portlanders will probably continue to front this vowel
over time. In addition, research also shows that fronting is strongly
disfavored in the production of the boot and boat vowels before /l/ (as
in pool and pole). Also, there is some evidence
that pool and pole
vowels are moving towards a merger in the future. Another
characteristic of the back vowels is the boat vowel before nasal
sounds, like home and bone, where some speakers produce
words such as
home, with a vowel closer to a
cot/caught vowel than a boat
vowel.

The use of a rising question intonation on a declarative
sentence is known as “up-speak”

Intonation patterns

Another aspect of the Portland dialect that may be noticed is the
use of a particular intonation pattern. This intonation pattern is
known as “up-speak”, or high rising terminal contours. Basically, this
is the use of a rising question intonation on a declarative sentence,
so that a statement like, “Then we went to the store,” may sound like a
question rather than a statement. While this intonation pattern has
been found in many different dialects (Australian English, for
example), it is usually associated with teenage girls. This is the case
in Portland, but research also shows that the use of this intonation
contour is not limited to women, and not limited to teenagers. The
functions behind the use of this intonation contour are still under
investigation, but its use may become more and more a part of the
Portland dialect as it spreads outside the teenage female realm.

Vocabulary

Though there are many other aspects of the Portland dialect that
remain to be investigated, Portlanders show signs that they are
following a similar pattern that is found in Canada and California. The
distinctiveness of a Portland dialect may remain in its way of life,
where granola is more than a
breakfast food, it’s an appropriate
adjective to describe clothing, beliefs and attitudes. Or in lexical
choices, terms such as full on
and rad indicate coolness. As
Portlanders continue to front their back vowels, they will continue to
go to the coast (geow to the ceowst), not the beach or the
shore, as
well as to microbrews, used clothing stores (where the clothes are not
too spendy (expensive),
bookstores (bik-stores) and coffee shops (both
words pronounced with the same vowel). Also, the existence of buckaroos
(Oregonian cowboys) may continue a Southern connection that may play
out linguistically. What lies in store for the Portland dialect is the
emergence of a dialect from the mist, (or the rain, or the drizzle, or
the spitting, or the pouring, etc.). Dialect regions of the Pacific
Northwest may just be emerging, but it is clear that they now are
carving out a unique niche among the varieties of American English.

Jeff Conn is a doctoral student in
linguistics at the University
of Pennsylvania, where he is studying the emergence of the Portland
dialect along with his general study of sociolinguistics.

Reprinted courtesy: Language Magazine