1.4 Some phonological features of english in the southern u.S.A.

It would be impossible to definitively and concisely list all features of Southeastern American English. First, the features used by speakers in the Southeastern U.S. are not always exclusive to one or even a few dialects of English. Second, the features may not be interpreted the same way by all researchers of language. That is, complete consensus may not be reached as to what defines a particular feature or what constitutes a “legitimate” occurrence. Third, all features of language that could potentially be categorized as Southern features are by no means used by every speaker labeled as using a Southern style or accent.

Because of these facts, it is fortunate that an extremely large body of linguistic literature exists on the general topic. In fact, McMillan and Montgomery (1989) published an entire book filled with references to research on Southern American English. This book, with references “in excess of 2,800 items” (back cover) was an update from the 1971 edition. It could be argued that so much work on Southern English has been conducted in the interim that another volume could serve as an addendum to the 1989 edition. From this expansive body of literature on Southern American English, one may extract some of the most common features occurring in the Southeastern U.S. Though a study investigating a dozen or more Southern features would be interesting, practicality necessitated narrowing the features to a number that would be feasible to use in this study.

As a result, the following features were identified as having the greatest potential for a study such as this: the monophthongization of the diphthong /ɑⁱ/³ as in bide, the velar fronting of the suffix –ING such that it becomes –IN, the tendency of southerners to elongate and add acoustic trajectories to vowels, commonly referred to as “drawl”, and the phenomenon of systematic vowel change referred to as the Southern Vowel Shift.

Chapter 2. The shift

2.1 Diphthong /ɑɪ/ → Monophthongal [a:]

Without doubt, monophthongization of the diphthong /ɑ^ɪ/ is an extremely pervasive and well-known feature of Southern American English. Monophthongization of /ɑ^ɪ/ occurs when a speaker utters a word containing /ɑ^ɪ/, such as side, and the glide of the diphthong is omitted, shortened, or otherwise weakened. Although it is sometimes assumed that this would create a merger for minimal pairs containing /ɑ^ɪ/ and /ɑ/, such as side and sod, this is not the case, at least not in North Alabama. In fact, when the vowel becomes a monophthong, the nucleus almost always moves forward in acoustic space, resulting in the low central vowel [a]. This is mentioned as a side note in some literature. For example, Labov describes the Southern realization of /ɑ^ɪ/ as “monophthongized and slightly fronted.” In addition, the research has also indicated that the sound of the monophthong is located further forward in acoustic space, and stressed the existence of minimal triplets such as sad, side, and sod (where side is completely monophthongized). Therefore, the default transcription symbol for the vowel in the monophthong should be [a], which is consistent with the transcription practices of Pullum and Ladusaw (1996) in referring to a low, central unrounded vowel. IPA transcription of a diphthongal pronunciation will be [ɑ^ɪ]. However, for orthographic simplicity, a shorthand version is the variable representation (ay), as in “monophthongal (ay)”, when IPA transcription is not a necessity.

As stated by Wolfram and Schilling-Estes (2006, 84), “Southerners are more readily identified by their /ai/ vowels than by any other single dialect feature…” Thomas (2003) indicates agreement, stating that “…this trait has long been regarded as a hallmark of Southern speech” (150). Anderson (2003) also considered (ay) a vital feature to include in her investigations of the language contact developments of Southeastern African-American and White migrants to the Detroit area. She claims that the variable is “a crucial site for the expression and negotiation of language ideologies” (7).

There is another study with regard to the aspect. In a perceptual survey using synthetically manipulated variants, Plichta and Preston (2004) demonstrated that listeners are able to assign a more Southern or less Southern label to this feature, depending on degree of monophthongization. Their study involved manipulation of (ay) to sound more or less monophthongal. Listeners were asked to associate the token with one of nine U.S. cities which ran along a north-south continuum. Listeners generally associated a higher degree of monophthongal vowel quality with a more Southern city. This speaks to the robust nature of this feature’s association with the “Southernness” of a particular speaker.

The abovementioned studies are only a few of the plethora mentioning the relationship between Southeastern American speech and (ay) monophthongization.