The Northern Cities Shift
A radical rotation of the short vowels in the
Inland North of the United States, which
began in the middle of the 20th century and is
the major factor in the increasing
differentiation of the vowel systems of the
North from the Midland and the South
The Northern Cities Shift
A radical rotation of the short vowels in the
Inland North of the United States, which
began in the middle of the 20th century and is
the major factor in the increasing
differentiation of the vowel systems of the
North from the Midland and the South
The Northern Cities Shift
Word
Phrase
Sentence
1 .
______
_____________
___________________
2.
______
_____________
___________________
3.
______
_____________
___________________
4.
______
_____________
___________________
Misunderstandings from the Northern Cities Shift
Word
Phrase
Sentence
1 .
black
_____________
living on one block
2.
sacks
_____________
had to wear socks
3.
dusk
_____________
behind the desk
4.
bosses
_____________
buses with the antennas
The Northern Cities Shift
Æ1
EQ
UD
ED
The Northern Cities Shift O2 measure: fronting of /o/ beyond 1450 Hz/
Isoglosses defining the progress of the Northern
Cities Shift
Isoglosses defining the progress of the Northern
Cities Shift
Speakers who show all six elements of the NCS
ANAE Map 11.14: Isoglosses defining the
Inland North
The Northern Cities Shift: Mean values of low vowels for
21 dialects.
IN
PI = Pittsburgh
IS = Inland South
WPA = Western Pennsylvania
M = Midland;
CA = Canada
N = Inland North.
PR = Providence;
The Erie Canal
Raised short-a system of Simon Z., 47 [1995], Syracuse NY TS331
Raised /æ/ system of Randall R., 24 [1993], Chicago IL TS67
Nasal short-a system of Tom K., 45 [1996], Middletown CT, TS 476
Nasal short-a system of Natalie M., 43 [1998], Portland ME, TS724
Split short-a system of Nina B., 62 [1996], New York City, TS 495
Short-a systems in the formation of the Inland North
The Northern Cities Shift
desk
busses
bosses
mat
head
block
socks
The Northern Cities Shift
desk
busses
bosses
mat
head
block
socks
The UD measure of the Northern Cities Shift
The ED measure of the Northern Cities Shift
The EQ measure of the Northern Cities Shift,
Figure 11.3. Presence and absence of the Northern Cities Shift as measured by
F2(e) - F2(o) [=EOD]
(a) Rita O., 42, Muncie IN TS 225.
EOD = 849
(b) Leslie R., 42, Detroit MI TS 125.
EOD = 230
(c) Sherry K.,35, Rochester NY TS 173.
EOD = -7.
Settlement patterns shown by diffusion of building methods from seaboard nuclei
--Kniffen & Glassie
1966. Fig. 27
The canal era: 1825-50
--A. Wexler. Atlas of Westward Expansion. NY: Facts on File, 1995. p. 64
Extended sample of speech from Sharon K., 35, Rochester, TS 359
Sharon K. is an advanced speaker of the Northern Cities Shift. Listen
for the raising and fronting of short a in bad, have, that
fronting of short o in gotta, job, Xerox, lot
backing of short e in rest, education
backing of short u in country
Well. . . I-I--basically we’re just like the rest of the country, but
uh-- . . it’s not too bad, y’know, y’gotta have . . education t’get a job
in these days. It’s gotten a little tougher that way. Y’know, Xerox , or
Xerox here, and IBM, and I guess they’re doin’ pretty good, y’know.
Uhm--yeh, everybody I know does. Now I know there’s people. .
Y’know most people I know have jobs. Y’know I don’t really know
too many people that don’t . .or have-- own their own businesses.
Y’know, me and my husband both have our own business--and I see a
lot of that, I know a lot of people that have their own business.
Y’know, compared to the way it used to be. . . Y’know, you go work
for somebody now. . . I think that’s changed a lot.
Extended sample of speech from Sharon K., 35, Rochester, TS 359
Sharon K. is an advanced speaker of the Northern Cities Shift. Listen
for the raising and fronting of short a in Catholic, adding, taxes, fact
fronting of short /o/ in modeling, lot
backing of short /e/ in send, went, sending
fronting of /ay/ in nine
backing of /i/ in tuition
Yeah, well I send my kids to private school, but--across the street
from me is a Catholic school, y’know I send ‘em there. I went there,
in fact I live in the house that I grew up in. We’re re-modeling right
now, uh adding on to the family room, and doing the work. We-we
like the neighborhood, and we feel very comfortable here. We like all
the neighbors, y’know, neighbors I’ve known since I was nine.
Bishop Parity behind us, but I don’t know if we’re gonna be sending
him there. The tuition could be very expensive. As it is now, we’re
paying a lot for public. . .Y’know we pay a lot of--taxes are very high
here.
The progress of the Northern Cities Shift in the Inland North
[N=71] by the EOD measure, city size and age
< 40
40-59
60+
Kenosha Buffalo
Detroit
Chicago
Fig. 12.3. The backing of wedge in the Northern Cities Shift
Map 11.3. The discontinuous character of the Inland North with re-assignment of Erie, PA
NCS Correlations
North
.35
.42
e
^
æ
oh
o
.45
NonNorth
.24
.15
.36
e
^
æ
oh
o
.06
.25
Regression coefficients of the NCS for the Inland North
speakers of the Atlas of North American English [N=68].
F2(æ)
F2(o)
F1(oh)
F2(e)
Age:
* 25 years
24
-18
-25
74
Gender:
female
91
-18
14
-48
Education:
< 13 yrs
65
F2(^)
-33
-27
red coefficients = favoring the change in progress
blue coefficients = disfavoring the change in progress
Gender and social category determination of five elements of
the Northern City Shift in a Detroit suburban high school
æ
^
Source: Eckert 2000
ANAE notation for the word classes of North American English
kid
could
keyed
Ked
cud
cade
cad
cod
suit
cooed
coy
code
hide
cowed
cawed
father
0
