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On the status of low back vowels in Kentucky English: More evidence of merger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2007

Terry Lynn Irons
Terry Lynn Irons
Affiliation:
Morehead State University
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Abstract

In an effort to provide greater understanding of the mechanisms of the diffusion of the low back vowel merger in American English, this study presents a detailed acoustic analysis of low back vowel systems in the speech of 114 native nonurban Kentucky speakers of English. The study reveals unexpected instances of merger in areas of the state that cannot be explained by current theories of merger. In this respect, it argues that these instances of low back vowel merger, while they may be an expansion of an existing merger, result from a distinct mechanism of merger, that is, merger by glide loss. It is predicted that as elements of traditional Southern phonology recede, similar merger will be widespread across the South.This research has been supported by grants from the Kentucky NSF EPSCoR Research Enhancement Grant Program and the Institute for Regional Analysis and Public Policy at Morehead State University. An earlier version of this work was presented at the South Atlantic American Dialect Society session at SECOL 72.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , July 2007 , pp. 137 - 180
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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