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User:Frrurtu/Sandbox3: Difference between revisions
→Phonology
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==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||
[[File:Whitsoot english vowels.png|thumb|right|Averaged vowel formants for speakers from Whitsoot. Note the heavily fronted /oʊ/ in words like ''sew'', ''rowed'', '' | [[File:Whitsoot english vowels.png|thumb|right|Averaged vowel formants for speakers from Whitsoot. Note the heavily fronted /oʊ/ in words like ''sew'', ''rowed'', ''mown'', and ''bow'' (for a violin), and the backed /o/ in words like ''so'', ''road'', ''moan'', and ''beau''.]] | ||
Whitsoot English is distinguished by the following phonological features: | Whitsoot English is distinguished by the following phonological features: | ||
* Like most American English, Whitsoot English is firmly rhotic; /r/ is realized as the typical Western American [ɻ~ɻʷ]. | * Like most American English, Whitsoot English is firmly rhotic; /r/ is realized as the typical Western American [ɻ~ɻʷ]. | ||
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* /uː/, however, stays fairly backed in the mouth, around [u] or [ʊu] at the furthest front. Within the United States, this feature is mostly reserved to the Upper Midwest and Northeast and to certain ethnicity-specific dialects such as [[w:African-American Vernacular English|African-American Vernacular English]] and [[w:Chicano English|Chicano English]]. | * /uː/, however, stays fairly backed in the mouth, around [u] or [ʊu] at the furthest front. Within the United States, this feature is mostly reserved to the Upper Midwest and Northeast and to certain ethnicity-specific dialects such as [[w:African-American Vernacular English|African-American Vernacular English]] and [[w:Chicano English|Chicano English]]. | ||
* The sew-so split, a feature unique to Whitsoot English, which involves /oʊ/ splitting into two phonemes: | * The sew-so split, a feature unique to Whitsoot English, which involves /oʊ/ splitting into two phonemes: | ||
:* A fronted vowel whose quality can range from [ɜʊ~əʊ] to [øː~øʉ]. This is used after [[w:coronal consonant|coronal consonants]] except before /l/ and labial consonants (''soak'', ''note'', ''stoat'', ''dose'', ''joke'' - but not ''soul'', ''dope'', ''Toby''), in open syllables (''sew'', '' | :* A fronted vowel whose quality can range from [ɜʊ~əʊ] to [øː~øʉ]. This is used after [[w:coronal consonant|coronal consonants]] except before /l/ and labial consonants (''soak'', ''note'', ''stoat'', ''dose'', ''joke'' - but not ''soul'', ''dope'', ''Toby''), in open syllables (''sew'', ''mow'', ''row''), and in conjugations of these morphologically open syllables (''sewed'', ''mown'', ''rows'' - but not ''soda'', ''moan'', or ''rose''). | ||
:* A backed, monophthongized vowel [oː]. This is used in all other phonetic environments (''boast'', ''loan'', ''roach'', '' | :* A backed, monophthongized vowel [oː]. This is used in all other phonetic environments (''boast'', ''loan'', ''roach'', ''cone''), in some [[w:function word|function word]]s where the fronted vowel would be expected (''so'', ''though'', ''ago''), and in many foreign or novel words (''Osaka'', ''lo mein'', ''Kodak''). | ||
* Some raising of /æ/ before nasals and /g/, but unlike most of the Western United States, it only raises to about [æə] or [ɛ̞ə] at the highest. | * Some raising of /æ/ before nasals and /g/, but unlike most of the Western United States, it only raises to about [æə] or [ɛ̞ə] at the highest. | ||
* Limited to nonexistent raising of front vowels before /ŋ/ - for example, ''sing'' is just [sɛ̝ŋ] instead of [siŋ]. | * Limited to nonexistent raising of front vowels before /ŋ/ - for example, ''sing'' is just [sɛ̝ŋ] instead of [siŋ]. | ||