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Gradience, allophony, and chain shifts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2017

Aaron J. Dinkin  and
Robin Dodsworth
Aaron J. Dinkin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Robin Dodsworth
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
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Abstract

The monophthongization of /ay/ in the Southern United States is disfavored by following voiceless consonants (price) relative to voiced or word-final environments (prize). If monophthongization is the trigger for the Southern Shift (Labov, 2010) and chain shifts operate as predicted by a modular feedforward phonological theory (cf. Bermúdez-Otero, 2007), this implies price and prize must be two ends of a phonetic continuum, rather than two discrete allophones. We test this hypothesis via distributional analysis of offglide targets and statistical analysis of the effect of vowel duration. As predicted, we find price and prize share a continuous distribution in the Inland South, the region where the Southern Shift probably originated (Labov, Ash, & Boberg, 2006). We use Raleigh, North Carolina, outside the Inland South, as a comparison point; there, the same methodologies indicate price and prize are more discretely separated. Our results thus offer empirical support for the phonological theory that motivated the hypothesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 101 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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