Inland Northern American English: Difference between revisions

'''Inland Northern''' ('''American''') '''English''',<ref>{{cite book sfnp|editor-last1=Kortmann Gordon|editor-first1=Bernd |editor-first2=Kate |editor-last2=Burridge |editor-first3=Rajend |editor-last3=Mesthrie |editor-first4=Edgar W. |editor-last4=Schneider |editor-first5=Clive |editor-last5=Upton |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtd3a-56ysUC& |title=A Handbook of Varieties of English |volume=1: Phonology, Vol 2: Morphology and Syntax |location=Berlin / New York |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |pagep=xvi}}</ref> also known in [[American linguistics]] as the '''Inland North''' or '''Great Lakes dialect''',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garn-Nunn |first1=Pamela G. |last2=Lynn |first2=James M. |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjp3MWFuGSoC |title=Calvert's Descriptive Phonetics |publisher=Thieme |page=136|isbn=978-1-60406-617-3 }}</ref> is an [[American English]] dialect spoken primarily by [[White Americans]] in a geographic band reaching from the major urban areas of [[Upstate New York]] westward along the [[Erie Canal]] and through much of the U.S. [[Great Lakes region]]. The most distinctive Inland Northern accents are spoken in [[Chicago]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Detroit]], [[Cleveland]], [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], and [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]].{{sfnp|Gordon|2004|p=297}} The dialect can be heard as far west as eastern [[Iowa]] and even among certain demographics in the [[Twin Cities, Minnesota]].<ref name="Chapman">{{cite thesis | last=Chapman | first=Kaila | title=The Northern Cities Shift: Minnesota’sMinnesota's Ever-Changing Vowel Space | publisher=Macalester College | date=2017-10-25 | url=https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/ling_honors/12/ |quote=The satisfaction of the three NCS measures was found only in the 35-55 year old male speakers. The three male speakers fully participating in the NCS had high levels of education and strong ties to the city |page=41}}</ref> Some of its features have also infiltrated a [[St. Louis dialect|geographic corridor]] from Chicago southwest along [[U.S. Route 66 in Illinois|historic Route 66]] into [[St. Louis, Missouri]]; today, the corridor shows a mixture of both Inland North and [[Midland American English|Midland American accents]].{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|loc=Chapter 19|p=276}} Linguists often characterize the western Great Lakes region's dialect separately as [[North-Central American English]].

The early 20th-century accent of the Inland North was the basis for the term "[[General American English|General American]]",{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=190}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Talking the Tawk |magazine=The New Yorker |date=7 November 2005 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/11/14/051114ta_talk_seabrook |access-date=2018-04-09}}</ref> though the regional accent has since altered, due to the '''Northern Cities Vowel Shift''': its now-defining [[chain shift]] of vowels that began in the 1930s or possibly earlier.<ref>{{cite web | title=Do You Speak American? - Language Change - Vowel Shifting |year=2005| website=PBS | url=http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/changin/}}</ref> A 1969 study first formally showed lower-middle-class women leading the regional population in the first two stages ([[Raising (phoneticssound change)|raising]] of the {{sc2|TRAP}} vowel and [[Fronting (phonetics)|fronting]] of the {{sc2|LOT/PALM}} vowel) of this shift, documented since the 1970s as comprising five distinct stages.{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=190}} ButHowever, evidence since the mid-2010s suggests a retreat away from the Northern Cities Shift's features in many Inland Northern cities and toward a less [[markedness|marked]] American accent.<ref name="lansing"/><ref name="syracuse"/><ref name="Cooperstown">{{cite journal | last=Dinkin | first=Aaron J. | title=Generational Phases: Toward the Low-Back Merger in Cooperstown, New York | journal=Journal of English Linguistics | volume=50 | issue=3 | date=2022 | issn=0075-4242 | doi=10.1177/00754242221108411 | pages=219–246| s2cid=251892218 }}</ref> Various common names for the Inland Northern accent exist, often based on city, for example: '''Chicago accent''', '''Detroit accent''', '''Milwaukee accent''', etc.

The dialect's progression across the Midwest has stopped at a general boundary line traveling through central Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and then western Wisconsin, on the other sides of which speakers have continued to maintain their [[Midland American English|Midland]] and [[North Central American English|North Central]] accents. Sociolinguist [[William Labov]] theorizes that this separation reflects a political divide and a controlled study of his shows that Inland Northern speakers tend to be more associated with [[liberal politics]] than those of the other dialects, especially as Americans continue to self-segregate in residence based on ideological concerns.<ref name="discover"/> Former President [[Barack Obama]], for example, has a mild Inland Northern accent despite not having lived in the dialect region until early adulthood.<ref name="discover"/>

[[File:Southern Michigan English monophthongs chart.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[monophthong]]s of [[Southern Michigan]] on a [[vowel chart]], typical of the Northern citiesCities vowelVowel shiftShift, though not to the extreme. Adapted from Hillenbrand (2003).<ref name="jipa">{{cite journal|last=Hillenbrand|first=James M.|year=2003|title=American English: Southern Michigan|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|volume=33|issue=1|page=122|doi=10.1017/S0025100303001221|doi-access=free}}</ref>]]

| {{IPA link|a|ɑ}}

A '''Midwestern accent''' (which may refer to [[Midwestern American English (disambiguation)|other dialectal accents]] as well), '''Chicago accent''', or '''Great Lakes accent''' are all common names in the United States for the sound quality produced by speakers of this dialect. Many of the characteristics listed here are not necessarily unique to the region and are oftentimes found elsewhere in the [[Midwest]].

===Northern Cities vowelVowel shiftShift===

The Northern Cities vowelVowel shiftShift or simply Northern Cities shiftShift is a [[chain shift]] of vowels and the defining accent feature of the Inland North dialect region, though it can also be found, variably, in the neighboring [[Upper Midwest American English|Upper Midwest]] and [[Western New England English|Western New England accent regions]].

The first two sound changes in the shift, with some debate about which one led to the other or came first,<ref name="McCarthy"/> are the general [[:/æ/ raising|raising and lengthening]] (tensing) of the "short a" (the vowel sound of {{sc2|TRAP}}, typically rendered {{IPA|/æ/}} in American transcriptions), as well as the [[fronting (phonetics)|fronting]] of the sound of [[father-bother merger|{{sc2|LOT}} or {{sc2|PALM}}]] in this accent (typically transcribed {{IPA|/ɑ/}}) towardstoward {{IPAblink|ä}} or {{IPAblink|a}}. Inland Northern {{sc2|TRAP}} raising was first identified in the 1960s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Fasold|first=Ralph|title=A Sociolinguistic Study of the Pronunciation of Three Vowels in Detroit Speech|location=Washington|publisher=Center for Applied Linguistics|year=1969}}</ref> with that vowel becoming articulated with the tongue beginning [[close vowel|higherraised]] than before, and then gliding back toward the center of the mouth, thus producing a [[Diphthong#Closing, opening, and centering|centering diphthong]] of the type {{IPA|[ɛə]}}, {{IPA|[eə]}}, or at its most extreme {{IPA|[ɪə]}}; e.g. ''naturally'' {{Audio-IPA|en-us-inlandnorth-naturally.ogg|[ˈneətʃɹəli]|help=no}}. As for {{sc2|LOT/PALM}} fronting, it can go beyond {{IPAblink|ä}} to the front {{IPAblink|a}}, and may, for the most advanced speakers, even be close to {{IPAblink|æ}}—so that ''pot'' or ''sod'' come to be pronounced how a [[General American|mainstream American]] speaker would say ''pat'' or ''sad''; e.g. ''coupon'' {{Audio-IPA|en-us-inlandnorth-coupon.ogg|[ˈkʰupan]|help=no}}.

The fronting of the {{sc2|LOT/PALM}} vowel leaves a blank space in Inland North speakers' pronunciation that is filled by lowering the "aw" vowel in {{sc2|THOUGHT}} ({{IPAblink|ɔ}} in General American varieties that resist the [[Cot–caught merger|''cot''–''caught'' merger]]), which itself comes to be pronounced with the tongue in a lower position, closer to {{IPA|[ɑ]}} or {{IPA|[ɒ]}}. As a result, for example, people affected bywith the shift may pronounce ''caught'' the way speakers without the shift say ''cot''; thus, withshifted bothspeakers usingpronounce the vowel {{IPA|[ɑ]}}. However, a ''cot''–''caught'' merger is robustly avoided in many parts of Inland North, due to the prior fronting ofas {{IPA|/ɑ/[kʰɑt]}}. In other words,(and ''cot'' isas {{IPA|[kʰat]}}, andas ''caught''explained is {{IPA|[kʰɒt]}}above).{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|loc=Chapter 14|p=189}} EvenIn sodefiance of the shift, however, there is a definitewell-documented scattering of Inland North speakers who are in a state of transition towardstoward a ''[[cot''–''-caught'' merger]]; this is particularly evident in northeastern Pennsylvania.{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=61}}<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Herold |first=Ruth |year=1990 |title=Mechanisms of Merger: The Implementation and Distribution of the Low Back Merger in Eastern Pennsylvania |degree=Ph.D. diss. |publisher=Univ. of Pennsylvania}}</ref> Younger speakers reversing the fronting of {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, for example in [[Lansing, Michigan]], also approach a merger.<ref name="lansing"/>

The movement of {{IPA|/æ/}} to {{IPA|[ɛə]}}, in order to avoid overlap, presumablywith initiatesthe furthernow-fronted backing,{{IPA|/ɑ/}} loweringvowel, orpresumably ainitiates combinationthe ofconsequent both,shifting with regard to the originalof {{IPA|/ɛ/}} vowel (the "short e" in {{Sc2|DRESS}}, {{IPAblink|ɛ}} in General American) towardaway eitherfrom its original position. Thus, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} demonstrates backing, lowering, or a combination of both toward {{IPA|[ɐ]}}, the [[near-open central vowel]], or almost {{IPA|[æ]}}.<ref name="lansing"/>

The next change is the movement of {{IPA|/ʌ/}} (the {{sc2|STRUT}} vowel) from {{IPAblink|ɜ}} a central or back position toward a very far back position {{IPA|[ɔ]}}. People with the shift pronounce ''bus'' so that it sounds more like ''boss'' to people without the shift.

Before {{IPA|/r/}}, only {{IPA|/ɑ/}} undergoes the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, so that the vowel in ''start'' {{IPA|/startstɑrt/}} varies much like the one in ''lot'' {{IPA|/latlɑt/}} described above. The remaining {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}} retain GenAm-like values similar to General American (GA) in this position, so that ''north'' {{IPA|/nɒrθnɔrθ/}}, ''merry'' {{IPA|/ˈmɛri/}} and ''near'' {{IPA|/nɪr/}} are pronounced {{IPA|[noɹθ, ˈmɛɹi, niɹ]}}, with unshifted {{sc2|THOUGHT}} (though somewhat closer than in GenAmGA), {{sc2|DRESS}} and {{sc2|KIT}} (as close as in GenAmGA). Inland Northern American English features the [[north-force merger]], the [[Mary-marry-merry merger]], the [[Mirror–nearer and /ʊr/–/uːr/ mergers|mirror–nearer and {{IPA|/ʊr/|cat=no}}–{{IPA|/ur/|cat=no}} mergers]], the [[hurry-furry merger]], and the nurse-letter merger, all of which are also typical of mostGA General American Englishvarieties.{{sfnp|Gordon|2004|pp=294–295}}

Migrants from all over the Northeastern U.S. traveled west to the rapidly industrializing Great Lakes area in the decades after the [[Erie Canal]] opened in 1825, and Labov suggests that the Inland North's general {{IPA|/æ/}} raising originated from the diverse and incompatible [[/æ/ raising]] patterns of these various migrants mixing into a new, simpler pattern.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Labov |first=William |year=2007 |title=Transmission and Diffusion |journal=Language |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=344-387344–387 |doi=10.1353/lan.2007.0082 |s2cid=6255506 |url=http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/Papers/TD.pdf}}</ref> He posits that this hypothetical dialect-mixing event, which initiated the larger Northern Cities Shift (NCS), occurred by about 1860 in upstate New York,{{sfnp|Castro Calle|2017|pp=34, 48}} and the later stages of the NCS are merely those that logically followed (a "[[Chain shift|pull chain]]"). More recent evidence suggests that German-accented English helped to greatly influence the Shift, because German speakers tend to pronounce the English {{sc2|TRAP}} vowel as {{IPA|[ɛ]}} and the {{sc2|LOT/PALM}} vowel as {{IPA|[ä~a]}}, both of which resemble NCS vowels, and there were more speakers of German in the Erie Canal region of upstate New York in 1850 than there were of any single variety of English.{{sfnp|Castro Calle|2017|p=49}} There is also evidence for an alternative theory, according to which the Great Lakes area—settled primarily by western New Englanders—simply inherited [[Western New England English]] and developed that dialect's vowel shifts further. 20th-century Western New England English variably showed NCS-like {{sc2|TRAP}} and {{sc2|LOT/PALM}} pronunciations, which may have already existed among 19th-century New England settlers, though this has been contested.{{sfnp|Castro Calle|2017|p=49}} Another theory, not mutually exclusive with the others, is that the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration of African Americans]] intensified White Northerners' participation in the NCS in order to differentiate their accents from Black ones.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Van Herk |first=Gerard |year=2008 |title=Fear of a Black Phonology: The Northern Cities Shift as Linguistic White Flight |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=14 |issue=2 |at=Article 19 |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol14/iss2/19}}</ref>

Recent evidence suggests that the Shift has largely begun to reverse in many cities of the Inland North,<ref name="lansing"/><ref name="syracuse"/> such as [[Lansing, Michigan|Lansing]],<ref name="lansing">{{cite journal |first1=S. E. |last1=Wagner |first2=A.| last2=Mason |first3=M. |last3=Nesbitt |first4=E. |last4=Pevan |first5=M. |last5=Savage |year=2016 |title=Reversal and re-organization of the Northern Cities Shift in Michigan |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |url=http://msusociolinguistics.weebly.com/uploads/9/3/1/9/9319621/reversalandreorganization_nwav44.pdf |volume=22 |issue=2 |at=Article 19 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623223821/http://msusociolinguistics.weebly.com/uploads/9/3/1/9/9319621/reversalandreorganization_nwav44.pdf}}</ref> [[Ogdensburg, New York|Ogdensburg]], [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]],<ref name="syracuse">{{cite journal |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol21/iss2/6/ |title=Reversal of the Northern Cities Shift in Syracuse, New York |first1=Anna |last1=Driscoll |first2=Emma |last2=Lape |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=21 |number=2 |year=2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-variation-and-change/article/abs/escaping-the-trap-losing-the-northern-cities-shift-in-real-time/C62D519D813560095D0EB9936A96F77C |last1=Thiel |first1=Anja |last2=Dinkin |first2=Aaron |year=2020 |title=Escaping the TRAP: Losing the Northern Cities Shift in Real Time |journal=Language Variation and Change |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=373–393 |doi=10.1017/S0954394520000137|s2cid=187646349 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kapner |first=J. |date=October 12, 2019 |title=Snowy Days and Nasal A’sA's: the Retreat of the Northern Cities Shift in Rochester, New York |type=Poster presentation |journal=New Ways of Analyzing Variation |volume=48 |location=Eugene, OR}}</ref> Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, and [[Eau Claire, Wisconsin|Eau Claire]].<ref name="Cooperstown"/> In particular, {{IPA|/ɑ/}} fronting and {{IPA|/æ/}} raising (though raising is persisting before nasal consonants, as is the [[General American]] norm) have now reversed among younger speakers in these areas. Several possible reasons have been proposed for the reversal, including growing stigma connected with the accent and the working-class identity it represents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nesbitt |first=Monica |date=2021-08-01 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Northern Cities Shift: Social and Linguistic Reorganization of TRAP in Twentieth-Century Lansing, Michigan |journal=American Speech |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=332–370 |doi=10.1215/00031283-8791754 |s2cid=228971560 |issn=0003-1283}}</ref>

*The nucleus of {{IPA|/aʊ/}} may be more backed than in other common North American accents (towardstoward {{IPA|[ɐʊ]}} or {{IPA|[ɑʊ]}}).

*The vowel in {{IPA|/ɛg/}} can raise toward {{IPA|[e]}} in words like ''beg'', ''negative'', or ''segment'', except in Michigan.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Stanley | first=Joseph A. | title=Regional Patterns in Prevelar Raising | journal=American Speech | publisher=Duke University Press | volume=97 | issue=3 | date=2022-08-01 | issn=0003-1283 | doi=10.1215/00031283-9308384 | pages=374–411| s2cid=237766388 }}</ref>

*''treelawn'', in [[Cleveland]] and [[Michigan]]; ''devilstrip'' or ''devil's strip'' in [[Akron, Ohio]];<ref>{{cite book | last=Metcalf | first=A.A. | title=How We Talk: American Regional English Today | publisher=Houghton Mifflin | series=How We Talk: American Regional English Today | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-618-04362-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsMUCl5j8X4C&pg=PA97 | page=97}}</ref> and ''right-of-way'' in Wisconsin and ''parkway'' in Chicago for the [[road verge|grass between the sidewalk and the street]]

*''yous(e)'' or ''youz'', in [[northeastern Pennsylvania]] around its urban center of Scranton, for ''you guys''; in this sub-region, there is notable self-awareness of the Inland Northern dialect (locally called by various names, including "Coalspeak").<ref>{{cite web|last1=Feather|first1=Kasey|title=NEPAisms overlooked in new dictionary entries|url=http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/nepaisms-overlooked-in-new-dictionary-entries-1.1688884|website=The Times-Tribune|date=May 19, 2014 |publisher=Times-Shamrock Communications|access-date=27 November 2016}}</ref> ''Youse'' is also found in Chicago and its hinterland, utilized as a second-person plural pronoun (similar to "[[y'all]]").

* [[Jimmy Dore]] – "I think that Chicago comics like Jimmy Dore bring my Wisconsin/Chicago accent back with a vengence."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kashian |first1=Jackie |title=TDF Ep 6 - Jimmy Dore and Matt Knudsen |url=https://tdf.libsyn.com/jimmy-dore-and-matt-knudsen |website=Uncut |access-date=27 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127022859/https://tdf.libsyn.com/jimmy-dore-and-matt-knudsen |archive-date=27 November 2022}}</ref>

* [[Rahm Emanuel]] – "more refined (if still very Chicago)"<ref>{{cite web|last=Moser|first=Whet |url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/March-2012/Where-the-Chicago-Accent-Comes-From-and-How-Politics-is-Changing-It/|publisher=Chicago Mag|date=March 29, 2012|title=Where the Chicago Accent Comes From and How Politics is Changing It|access-date=December 27, 2015|archive-date=2016-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105122111/http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/March-2012/Where-the-Chicago-Accent-Comes-From-and-How-Politics-is-Changing-It/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* [[Bill Lipinski]] – "I could live only 100 miles from the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) and he would have an accent and I do not"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCR3Vw0pUJkC&q=dan+lipinski+accent&pg=PA23867 |title=Congressional Record, V. 150, Pt. 17, October 9 to November 17, 2004 |date= November 2009|isbn=9780160844164 |access-date=2018-04-09|last1=Congress |first1=U. S. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office }}</ref>

[[Category:Culture of theAllentown, Midwestern United StatesPennsylvania]]