Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T23:28:27.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Canadian Shift in Toronto

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Rebecca Roeder  and
Lidia-Gabriela Jarmasz
Rebecca Roeder
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Lidia-Gabriela Jarmasz
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study provides the first wide-scale, apparent time, instrumental description of the Canadian Shift in mainstream Toronto English. In contrast with some previous findings, the Toronto data suggest that for the last 70 years or more the shift has not affected the high front lax vowel (i). We observe that the movement of the nonhigh front lax vowels (ε) and (æ) involves both lowering and retraction in Toronto English, although retraction is the primary direction of more recent change and the shift appears to be slowing down. Our findings also suggest that continued retraction of the vowel resulting from the low back merger is involved in the final stage of the shift. We do not find evidence of a chain shift but instead propose that a parallel shift is occurring and make reference to Vowel Dispersion Theory in our discussion.

Résumé

Résumé

Cette étude présente la première description instrumentale en temps apparent de grande envergure du Canadian Shift dans l’anglais courant de Toronto. En contraste avec certains résultats antérieurs, les données de Toronto suggèrent qu’au cours des 70 dernières années ou plus, cette mutation n’a pas touché la voyelle haute antérieure relâchée (i). Nous observons que le mouvement des voyelles antérieures relâchées non hautes (ε) et (æ) implique à la fois abaissement et postériorisation, bien que cette dernière représente la direction principale du changement plus récent; de plus, nous observons que la mutation semble ralentir. Nos résultats suggèrent également que la postériorisation continue de la voyelle qui provient de la fusion des voyelles postérieures basses est impliquée dans la dernière étape de la mutation. Ne trouvant aucune preuve de mutation en chaîne, nous proposons plutôt que le Canadian Shift est une mutation en parallèle. Nous invoquons la théorie de la dispersion des voyelles dans notre discussion.

Keywords

Canadian ShiftTorontovowelssociophoneticsvowel dispersionCanadian ShiftTorontovoyellessociophonétiquedispersion des voyelles
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 387 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2010 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, Charles-James. 1973. Variation and linguistic theory. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Boberg, Charles. 2000. Geolinguistic diffusion and the U.S.-Canada border. Language Variation and Change 12:1–24.Google Scholar
Boberg, Charles. 2005. The Canadian Shift in Montreal. Language Variation and Change 17:133–154.Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul and Weenink, David. 2009. Praat: doing phonetics by computer (v. 5.1.17) [computer program]. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from www.praat.org/.Google Scholar
Chambers, J.K. 1973. Canadian Raising. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 18:113–135.Google Scholar
Chambers, J.K. and Hardwick, Margaret. 1986. Comparative sociolinguistics of a sound change in Canadian English. English World-Wide 7:23–46.Google Scholar
Chambers, J.K. 2006. Canadian Raising retrospect and prospect. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 51:105–118.Google Scholar
Clarke, Sandra, Elms, Ford, and Youssef, Amani. 1995. The third dialect of English: Some Canadian evidence. Language Variation and Change 7:209–228.Google Scholar
Davison, John. 1987. On saying /aw/ in Victoria. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 7:109–122.Google Scholar
D’Arcy, Alexandra. 2005. The development of linguistic constraints: Phonological innovations in St. John’s English. Language Variation and Change 17:327–355.Google Scholar
De Jong, Kenneth. 1995. The supraglottal articulation of prominence in English: Linguistic stress as localized hyperarticulation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 91:491–504.Google Scholar
Esling, John and Warkentyne, Henry. 1993. Retracting of /æ/ in Vancouver English. In Focus on Canada, ed. Clarke, Sandra, 229–246. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hagiwara, Robert. 2006. Vowel production in Winnipeg. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 51:127–141.Google Scholar
Harrington, Jonathan and Cassidy, Stephen. 1999. Techniques in speech acoustics. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Michol. 1998. Looking for a theng: The progress of lax vowel lowering. Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 27, University of Georgia.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Michol. 1999. Really expansive: The progress of lax vowel lowering in a chain shift. Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 28, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Michol and Walker, James A.. 2010. Ethnolects and the city: Ethnic orientation and linguistic variation in Toronto English. Language Variation and Change 22 (1):37–67.Google Scholar
Hollett, Pauline. 2006. Investigating St. John’s English: Real- and apparent-time perspectives. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 51:143–160.Google Scholar
Jenkins, James J., Strange, Winifred, and Edman, T.R.. 1983. Identification of vowels in ‘vowelless’ syllables. Perception and Psychophysics 34:441–450.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of linguistic change: Internal factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of linguistic change: Social factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Labov, William, Ash, Sharon, and Boberg, Charles. 2006. The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Langstrof, Christian. 2006. Acoustic evidence for a push-chain shift in the Intermediate Period of New Zealand English. Language Variation and Change 18:141–164.Google Scholar
Lehiste, Use. 1964. Acoustical characteristics of selected English consonants. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Liljencrants, J. and Lindblom, Björn. 1972. Numerical simulation of vowel quality systems: The role of perceptual contrast. Language 48:839–862.Google Scholar
Lindblom, Björn. 1986. Phonetic universals in vowel systems. In Experimental phonology, ed. Ohala, John and Jaeger, Jeri, 13–44. Orlando: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lindblom, Björn and Maddieson, Ian. 1988. Phonetic universals in consonant systems. In Language, speech and mind, ed. Hyman, Larry and Li, Charles, 62–79. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Morrison, Geoff and Nearey, Terrance. 2007. Testing theories of vowel inherent spectral change. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 122:EL15–EL22.Google Scholar
Nearey, Terrance. 1977. Phonetic feature systems for vowels. Doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta. Reprint Indiana University Linguistics Club. [1978.]Google Scholar
Nearey, Terrance and Assmann, Peter. 1986. Modeling the role of inherent spectral change in vowel identification. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 80:1297–1308.Google Scholar
Peterson, Gordon and Barney, Harold. 1952. Control methods used in a study of the vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 24:175–184.Google Scholar
Scargill, M.H. and Warkentyne, Henry. 1972. The survey of Canadian English: A report. English Quarterly 5:47–104.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Jean-Luc, Boë, Louis-Jean, Vallée, Natalie, and Abry, Christian. 1997. The Dispersion-Focalization Theory of vowel systems. Journal of Phonetics 25:255–286.Google Scholar
Summers, W.V. 1987. Effects of stress and final-consonant voicing on vowel production: Articulatory and acoustic analyses. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 82:847–863.Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2006. “So cool, right?”: Canadian English entering the 21st century. In Canadian Journal of Linguistics 51: Canadian English in a global context, ed. Avery, Peter, Chambers, J.K., D’Arcy, Alexandra, Gold, Elaine, and Rice, Keren, 309–331.Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. 2001. An acoustical analysis of vowel variation in New World English. Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS) 85. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. and Kendall, Tyler. 2009. NORM: The vowel normalization and plotting suite (v. 1.0) [computer program]. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from ncslaap.lib.ncsu.edu/tools/norm/.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 1974. Linguistic change and diffusion: Description and explanation in socio-linguistic dialect geography. Language in Society 3:215–246.Google Scholar