English 312/History of English
North American English Dialectology
Notable features of the major North American Dialects:
1. New England
cot-caught merger widespread (in most areas
of New England)
Eastern New England (most notably Boston)
is a non-rhotic dialect (/r/ is not pronounced
after a vowel)
Various distinctive lexical items (e.g, cabinet
for milkshake, etc.)
2. The North
Northern Cities Chain Shift
No cot-caught merger
Limited fronting of back vowels (when
compared to most other American English
dialects)
3. Appalachia
a-prefixation prefix /a/ added to gerunds, e.g.,
He is a-runnin
multiple negation (e.g., I dont see nothing)
the vowels in words like fish and push are
pronounced more like feesh and poosh
various distinctive lexical items, poke for
bag, dopes for soda/pop, etc. 8. Atlantic Provinces
Where do these different dialects come from?
4. The South
pin-pen merger widespread
diphthong / / (as in buy) is pronounced as
a monophthong (buy sounds more like baa)
double modals (I might could..., I might
should..., etc.)
5. Midland
needs + VERBed constructions widespread
positive anymore
l-vocalization (the l sound in words like ball
and bolt is pronounced more like a w)
6. West
/u/ fronting
-ing sounds more like -eeng
cot/caught merger widespread
7. Canada
Canadian raising
cot-caught merger widespread
monophthongization of /o / and /e /
limited flapping of /t,d/
th/dh stopping
diphthong / / a