Homepage > Katalog > Amerikanistik > Linguistik

A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers

Seminararbeit, 2007, 14 Seiten

Amerikanistik - Linguistik

Textauszug

Kategorie

Seminararbeit

Institution / Hochschule

Universität Wien (Anglistik & Amerikanistik)

Note

1,0

Introductory Seminar Linguistics (204)

Phonetics and Phonology

2006/07

COMPARISON OF

THE

ORTHERN

ITIES

HIFT AND

THE

OUTHERN

HIFT

IN VOWEL PRONUNCIATION

MERICAN

NGLISH SPEAKERS

Olivia Frey

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION ... 1

2. THE BASIC CHAIN-SHIFTING PRINCIPLE... 1

3. THE NORTHERN CITIES SHIFT ... 3

3.1. P

ATTERNS AND EFFECTS ON THE VOWEL SYSTEM

... 3

3.2. R

EGIONAL DISTRIBUTION

... 5

4. THE SOUTHERN SHIFT... 6

4.1. P

ATTERNS AND EFFECTS ON THE VOWEL SYSTEM

... 6

4.2. R

EGIONAL DISTRIBUTION

... 7

5. SYNOPSIS ... 9

6. CONCLUSION ... 10

REFERENCES ... 11

- 1 -

1. Introduction

Like all living languages, English is continually changing as new words,

pronunciations, grammatical structures and word meanings arise and eventually

supplement or replace old ones. This means that every linguistic branch, from

morphology and phonology to syntax and semantics is subject to change. In North

American English, pronunciation is the most active arena for language change. In the

last few decades, researchers have identified various pronunciation changes that are

in progress in different parts of the United States (Gordon 2001: 2-3).

Towards the end of the 20

century, William Labov, an American linguist,

overruled the methods of traditional dialectology depending on lexical variation and

claimed that "regional diversity is increasing as a result of opposing movements

within vowel systems" (Labov, Ash & Boberg 2005: 18). In other words, the divergent

developments in American English dialects are attributable to the operation of chain

shifts moving the phonetic values of vowels in radically different directions. In these

complex rotations, whole sets or subsystems of vowels reverse their relative

positions to each other, whereby phones representing one phoneme in one dialect

represent an entirely different phoneme in another (Labov 1991: 3).

2. The basic chain-shifting principle

Vowels can primarily be differentiated and classified according to the position of the

tongue during the production of a particular vowel. Furthermore, the respective

position of the tongue in the mouth can be represented in a four-sided diagram.

Within this vowel chart, each vowel has its own position, or "phonetic space",

determined by the position of the tongue (Roach 2000: 14-15). The concept of

phonetic space is of great importance in the context of chain shifting, because the

shift of one vowel from one position to another usually

sets off

a change in the

phonetic space of a neighboring vowel (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes 2006: 75).

As regards the general patterns of chain shifting, Labov (1994: 118-119)

distinguishes between "minimal chain shifts" and "extended chain shifts". Minimal

chain shifts only consist of a change in the position of two phonemes: the first, or the

"leaving element", changes its position, thereby leaving behind an empty space.

Consequently, a neighboring member, the "entering element", also changes its

Textauszug: 4 von 14 Seiten - nach oben

Beschreibung

Titel:

A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers

Veranstaltung:

Introductory Seminar / Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology

Autor:

Olivia Frey

Jahr:

2007

Seiten:

Archivnummer:

V93459

ISBN (eBook):

978-3-638-06535-1

ISBN (Buch):

978-3-638-95194-4

DOI:

10.3239/9783638065351

Dateigröße:

176 KB

Sprache:

Englisch

Schlagworte:

Arbeit zitieren:

Olivia Frey, 2007, A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers, München, GRIN Verlag GmbH

Dieser Text kann über folgende URL aufgerufen und zitiert werden:

Einbetten

Kopieren Sie den folgenden Code, um die Flashansicht dieses Textes in Blogs oder Websites einzubetten.

DOI

Ein DOI (Digital Object Identifier) ist eine Art ISBN für Texte im Internet, der garantiert, dass ein Text auch nach einer Änderung der Internet-Adresse immer gefunden werden kann. Unter http://www.doi.org/ können Sie nach DOIs recherchieren.

Kommentare

0 Kommentare

Neuigkeiten

Olivia Frey's Text A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers ist nun auf dem Buchmarkt erhältlich

am Friday, June 20, 2008 - 0 Kommentare -

Olivia Frey hat den Text A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers veröffentlicht

am Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 0 Kommentare -

Olivia Frey hat einen neuen Text hochgeladen

am Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 0 Kommentare -

Alle anzeigen...

So funktioniert's

Facebook

Neuigkeiten

Lade Inhalt...

Alle anzeigen...

A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers

Textauszug

Beschreibung

Ähnliche Arbeiten

Kommentare

Kommentieren

Neuigkeiten

So funktioniert's

Ähnliche Arbeiten

Facebook

Neuigkeiten

In Kooperation mit

A comparison of the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Shift in vowel pronunciation by American English speakers

Autor

Textauszug

Beschreibung

Ähnliche Arbeiten

Kommentare

Kommentieren

Neuigkeiten

So funktioniert's

Ähnliche Arbeiten

Facebook

Neuigkeiten

In Kooperation mit

Registrieren oder anmelden

Jetzt registrieren

Bitte melden Sie sich an

Passwort vergessen?

Neues Passwort anfordern