The Life History of Linguistic Change

1

/o/ ~ /oh/Skewed opposition depending on length

Low back merger Increase phonetic distance

Northern Cities Shift

Pittsburgh chain shift

Canadian Shift

Back vowel shift

Back upglide chain shift

Inland North: front /o/

Eastern seaboard: raise /oh/

South: add upglide

The Life History of Linguistic Change

William Labov, University of Pennsylvania

ICHL Montreal August 2007

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www.ling.upenn.edu/~labov

3

A sequence of linguistic changes

Unstable condition

A B

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

A’ B’

Causally linked

Contingent alternatives

Triggering event

4

Components of a sequence of linguistic changes

1. Triggering events: the first in the chain of causally connected events

2. Governing principles: constraints that determine the unidirectional character of changes

3. Forks in the road: alternate pathways of change that differentiate sister dialects

4. Driving forces: factors that lead to the continued incrementation of the changes

5. Re-analysis: the process that leads to the uniform distribution of the changes across the speech community.

5

Two ways of looking at the problems of language change

1. The actuation problem

2. Constraints problem

3. The transition problem

4. The embedding problem

5. The evaluation problem

Triggering events

Governing principles

Forks in the road

Driving forces

Re-analysis

Weinreich, Labov & Herzog 1968

Accounting for changes

This presentation

Accounting for sequences of changes

6

ANAE notation for the word classes of North American English

LONG

Upgliding

SHORT

Front upgliding Back upgliding

Ingliding

V Vy Vw Vh

nucleus front back front back front back unrounded rounded

high i u iy iw uw

mid e √ ey oy ow oh

low Q o ay aw ah

7

ANAE notation aligned with JC Wells’ word classes for American English

LONG

Upgliding

SHORT

Front upgliding Back upgliding

Ingliding

V Vy Vw Vh

nucleus front back front back front back unrounded rounded

high i KIT

u FOOT

iy FLEECE

uw GOOSE

mid e

DRESS √

STRUT ey

FACE oy

CHOICE ow

GOAT ´ h

NURSE oh

THOUGHT low æ

TRAP O

LOT ay

PRICE aw

MOUTH ah

PA LM

8

Triggering events

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The Canadian Shift in the vowel system of Marsha M., 24 [1997], Montreal, TS659

backing of /æ/

lowering of /e/

merger of /o/ and /oh

10

The Canadian Shift in the vowel system of Hubert B., 17, Toronto, TS798

backing of /æ/

lowering of /e/

merger of /o/ and /oh

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500

550

600

650

700

750

800

850

1000120014001600180020002200

F2

F1Canadian

All others

/i/

/e/

/æ/ /o/

Source: The Atlas of North American English

The Canadian Shift: mean values of Canadian Telsur subjects [N=25] compared to all others [N=414].

12

The Canadian Shift nested in the Low Back Merger area (ANAE Map 11.7)

Low back merger isogloss

13

The Canadian Shift

12

3

14

The low back merger of /o/ and /oh/ in cot and caught, etc. (ANAE Map 9.1)

The West

Canada

W. Pa.

E.N.E.

15

aw

OE

ag

vocaliza-tion of /g/

ah

eah

breaking

rounding

OF

au

ME

av

vocaliza-tion of /v/

a+u aN

oht

denasal-ization

o __f,s,T,N

length-ening

thaw, straw, claw

maw, saw, draw

fought, taught

thought, bought

brawn, pawn

hawk, laundry

applaud, because

off, cost, cloth, strong

EME

lawn, spawn

/oh/

The development of /oh/

alC

talk, call, all

vocaliza-tion of /l/

vocaliza-tion of /x/

wa

water, wash

round-ing

[ç:]

mono-phthong-ization

[au]

16

/o/ /oh/

cot caught

Don dawn

hock hawk

stock stalk

odd awed

cod cawed

Sol Saul

odd ability audibility

. . . . . .

Minimal pairs contrasting /o/ and /oh/

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/o/ /o/ -> /oh/ /oh/t cot, tot, hot, got, dot caught. bought, taut, foughtd odd, hod, god, sod awed, hawed, gaud, saweds toss, moss, floss, cost sauce, exhaust, causticz Oz, positive cause, clause, hawser, pawsn don, don, pond on dawn, awn, yawn, lawn l doll, moll, collar all, tall, maul, callerp hop, pop, top, sop ----------b rob, hob daub, baublec& Scotch, botch, watch ----------j lodge, dodge, Roger ----------g log. hog, cog, dog auger, augment, augur, Augustk stock, hock, clock stalk, hawk, talkf {boff} off, doff, scoff, cough, T {Goth} cloth, moth, ----------S gosh, bosh, tosh ----------D bother ----------z& ---------- ----------m bomb, Tom, prom ----------N {ping pong} strong. song, wrong ----------# ---------- law, saw, flaw, thaw, claw

Contrast of /o/ and /oh/ after tensing of /o/

apicals

18

A linguistic sequence

/oh/

Low back merger

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

OE aw OE au OE ah

OE eahOF au

OF an

OF a+uME av

OE ohtME a(:}u

EME ç:

ME

ç(:}u

~ /o/

Mod E. off, lost, song

Unstable condition

19

A linguistic sequence 1

/oh/ ~ /o/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

Triggering event

Unstable condition

20

Governing principles

21

Garde’s Principle:

Mergers cannot be reversed by linguistic means

Herzog’s Corollary:

Mergers expand at the expense of distinctions

General principles of merger

22


/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

Unidirectional

23

In chain shifts,

I. Long vowels rise.

II. Short nuclei fall.

II. Back nuclei shift to the front.

--Labov, Yaeger & Steiner 1972

General principles of chain shifting

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In chain shifts,

I. Tense nuclei rise along a peripheral track

II. Lax nuclei fall along a non-peripheral track

General principles of chain shifting

25

Phonemes co-existing in a language tend naturally to optimize

the possibilities that are available from the speech organs; they

tend to be as distant from their neighbors as possible while

remaining easy to articulate and easy to perceive. . .

Martinet 1955:62 (tr. WL), attributed to de Groot TCLP 1931:121

Martinet on maximal dispersion

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/æ/ /o/ /oh/

A stable distribution of English low vowels: an outlier not recognized as a member of the /æ/ distribution

mean F2 1700 Hz

27

/æ/ /o/ /oh/

A stable distribution of English low vowels: an outlier not recognized as a member of the /æ/ distribution

mean F2 1700 Hz

28

An unstable distribution of English low vowels: /o/ merged with /oh/ so that the /æ/ outlier affects the central tendency of /æ/,

/æ/ /o=oh/

mean F2 1650 Hz

29

The Canadian Shift across subsystems

/e/

/æ/ /o/

/oh/

Short vowels

Long and ingliding vowels

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/oh/ ~ /o/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

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Forks in the road

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Forks in the road of the Canadian Shift

/e/

/æ/ /o/

/oh// /

/i/ /u/

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The Pittsburgh Shift in the vowel system of Ken K., 35, TS 258

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The Pittsburgh Shift in a Plotnik display of means of 21 dialectsPI = Pittsburgh; WPA = Western Pennsylvania; CA = Canada; IN = Inland North; M =

Midland; MA = Mid-Atlantic; PR = Providence; IS = Inland South

low back merger

lowering of /^/

no backing of /æ/

backing of /æ/

no lowering of /^/

,CA

35


/oh/ ~ /o/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

oho

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

36


/oh/ ~ /o/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

oho

unround-ing /o/

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

37

Unrounding of /o/ in Western New England

Boston

Burlington

Rutland Manchester

F2(o) < 1300 Hz

F2(o) >= 1300 Hz

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The merger of /o/ and /ah/

/oh/

OE aw

OE au OE ah

OE eahOF au a+u

OF an

ME avOE oht

ME a:u

EME ç:

ME ç:u

off cloth loss lost strong song ….

father

pa ma spa bra hah

calm palm

llama pasta taco Scarlatti Rama pajama Obama Bach Iraq …..

half bath past aunt dance …..

/ah/

EME A:

ME

çXtsalve halve

/o/ [A]

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/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/

Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

oho

unround-ing /o/

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

UnidirectionalUnidirectional

Bidirectional

balm = bomb father = bother

40


/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/

Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

e

æoh

o

oho

unround-ing /o/

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional


Bidirectional

Inland North: fronting of /o, ah/

41

Fronting of /o,ah/ in the Inland North (ANAE Map 14.5).

42

Ked

cud

ahcodcad

cawed

The Northern Cities Shift

43

The Northern Cities Shift

head

desk

bosses

busses

block

socks

mat

44

A linguistic sequence

/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/


Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift Inland

North: fronting of /o, ah/

e

æoh

o

oho

e

æh

oh

ah

unround-ing /o/

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional


Unidirectional

Bidirectional

45

Raising of /oh/ in the Mid-Atlantic States: Providence to Baltimore

Magenta symbols: F1(oh) < 700 Hz

46


/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/


Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

Back vowel shift

Inland North: front /ah/


e

æoh

o

oho

e

æ

oh

ah

ah(r)

oh(r)

unround-ing /o/

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional


Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

Bidirectional

47

Three areas of resistance to the low back merger (ANAE Map 11.2)

48


/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/


Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

Back vowel shift




South: add upglide to /oh/

e

æoh

o

oho

e

æ

oh

ah

ah(r)

oh(r)

oh [ç:]

awæw

unround-ing /o/Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional


Bidirectional

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

Bidirectional

round-ing /o/

[ço]

[Ao]

49

Merger of /o/ and /oh/ in cot and caught, Don and dawn, hock and hawk

50

NCS

Back Vowel Shift

Back Upglide Shift

NCS

Alternatives to the low back merger

51

NCS

Back Vowel Shift

Back Upglide Shift

Pitts-burgh Shift

NCS

Low back merger and alternatives to the low back merger

Canadidn Shift

52

Driving forces

53

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

œ o oh e U

Percent advanced tokens

Male Jocks

Male Burnouts

Female Jocks

Female Burnouts

Source: Eckert 2000

Gender and social category determination of five elements of the Northern City Shift in a Detroit suburban high school

æ

54

Age * Female Years of 25 yrs Gender Education

Raising /æ/ 34* 8.6*

/e/-/æ/ reversal 34* 26*

/e/-/o/ alignment 112***

/^/-/o/ reversal 37 -16*

Social correlates of four measures of the Northern Cities Shift [N=71]

55

Three areas of resistance to the low back merger

St. Louis corridor

56

The St. Louis corridor along Interstate I-55

Fairbury

57

Fronting of /o,ah/ in the Inland North (ANAE Map 14.5).

9 Telsur speakers from No. Illinois

9 Telsur speakers from the St. Louis corridor

*** ***** ***

*******

58

Distribution of NCS measures in No. Illinois and the St. Louis corridor

Northern Illinois AE1 O2 EAQ EOD UD Age RankSterling IL 34 1Elgin IL SS 19 1Elign IL RS 42 1Joliet IL 30 1Rockford JG 37 2Belvidere IL 33 2

Hammond IN 45 3Rockford IL VS 65 4Lena IL 47 5St. Louis Corridor Corr 0.738St. Louis MH 48 1St. Louis JH2 57 2Fairbury IL 25 3Springfield AK 60 4Bloomington 27 5Springfield KR 32 6Springfield WK 67 6St. Louis JH 53 6St. Louis RM 38 6

Corr -0.05

59


/oh/ ~ /o/ ~ /ah/

Merge /o/ --> /oh/

Merge /o/ --> /ah/


Pittsburgh Shift

Canadian Shift

Back vowel shift




South: add upglide to /oh/

e

æoh

o

oho

e

æ

oh

ah

ah(r)

oh(r)

oh

awæw

unround-ing /o/Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional


Bidirectional

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Unidirectional

Bidirectional

Bidirectional

round-ing /o/

60

The Pittsburgh Shift across subsystems

/e/

/æ/ /o/

/oh/

Short vowels

Long and ingliding vowels

/o,oh/

Documents

The Life History of Linguistic Change