Where is Southern English heading? Pressures from North, East, West, South William Labov, University of Pennsylvania Duke University October 9, 2008

Where did Southern English come from?

Figure Settlement patterns of the Eastern U.S. (Kniffen and Glassie 1966)

New light on the expatriate Southern community in Brazil Shana Poplack, William Labov, Maciej Baranowski

Older forms of Southern English retained in Americana speech The /j/ glide with /uw/ after coronals in new, tune, news, knew, student, etc. The contrast of /ohr/ vs. / O hr/ in more, four, before, important vs. born, for, north, short, etc. The contrast of /hw/ and /w/ in which, where, vs. witch, wear, etc. The presence of a palatal upglide with the mid-central vowel of first, church, work, etc. The presence of a palatal upglide with the low front vowel in plan, last, can’t.

/j/ glides for the McFadden family Lance McFadden Leslie McFadden Charles McFadden stupid stupid2 knew1knew2 knew3 news due1 due2

/juw/ vs. /iw/ knew3 knew1

Back vowels before /r/ for Leslie McFadden

Back vowels before /r/ for Charles McFadden

Map Relics of vanishing distinctions in the South

Garde’s Principle: Mergers cannot be reversed by linguistic means Herzog’s Corollary: Mergers expand at the expense of distinctions General principles of merger:

Map 9.1 The low back merger of /o/ and /oh/

Map Three areas of resistance to the low back merger

The Southern Shift

Project on Cross-Dialectal Comprehension: Gating Experiment 2 Word Phrase Sentence 1. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 2. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 3. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 4. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 5. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 6. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 7. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 8. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 9. _________ ________________ ___________________________ 10. ________ ________________ ___________________________ CDC South

The Southern Shift hit kids set bed Danny grade beatin’ Guy wipin’

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

NCS & Southern Shift

The Southern Shift The Canadian Shift Southern Shift & Canadian Shift

Figure Means of Vy vowels for 21 dialects. IS = Inland South; TS = Texas South; SE = Southeastern; FL = Florida

Percent correct in Gating Experiments by city in Cross Dialectal Comprehension study: I knew the GUY

Percent correct in Gating Experiments by city and educational level in Cross Dialectal Comprehension study: I knew the GUY

Percent correct in Gating Experiments by race and educational level in Cross Dialectal Comprehension study: I knew the GUY

Fig Percent monophthongization of /ay/

M18.5. Spread of monophthongization of /ay/ beyond areas shown in PEAS

Map Second stage of the Southern Shift

Map Third stage of the Southern Shift

The Southern Shift in vowel system of Thelma M., 31, Birmingham, TS 341

Southern Shift in the vowel system of Lance R., 45 [1997], Durham NC, TS627 wide

“eye” of Lance R.,. Durham

“wide” of Lance R., Durham

“bike” of Lance R., Durham

Where is Southern English going?

Map 7.1 Residual r-lessness in the Eastern U.S.

T18.3 Regression on SS

Map 9.5. Merger of /i/ and /e/ before nasals

Map 9.5. Merger of /i/ and /e/ before nasals (South)

/i/ and /e/ before /n/ for L. McFadden (highlighted = prenasal)

Map 9.1 The low back merger of /o/ and /oh/

Map Back upglide with /oh/

Map 9.1 The low back merger of /o/ and /oh/

Map The Southeastern Super-region

F12.6. Fronting of /ow/ and /uw/ after coronals for North American regions

Figure Fronting of /Tuw/ and /ow/ for North American dialects

Figure Fronting of /uw/ after coronals and before /l/

Table Regression analysis of /uw/ before /l/ in the South

Back upgliding vowels of Lance R., Durham

What are the forces that drive or slow the development of Southern English?

1. Structural

NCS & Southern Shift

What are the forces that drive or slow the development of Southern English? 2. Ideological

Red States and Blue States in U.S Presidential election

States for Kerry in 2000 and dialect areas: solid line = Northern dialect region: dashed line = Inland North and Northern Cities Shift

Presidential elections in which the North [NY, MI, WI, IA, MN] has been opposed to the South [TX, AK, LA, MI, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, KY,TN, VA]

Conversation between John F. Kennedy and Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana, 1960 JFK: But this isn’t Because what happens is it will become the most publicized thing... everybody’s looking, now what is this president promising this group and pretty soon you’ve got the Goddamndest mayhem. Long:... the Negro vote might be the key vote... JFK: At least I could count it... I think it’s crazy for the South because this way I’m concerned about Georgia and Louisiana and these places, here’s where we got a chance to carry them, but if I end up with no chance to carry them then I gotta go up north and try to do my business.

Valerie Fridland on the similar treatment of (ay) by Blacks and Whites in Memphis Tennessee These similarities are serving as markers of local regional, not ethnic affiliation in the sense of Eckert’s (2000) community of practice where social entities co-construct symbolic identity in so far as they participate in shared practices that come to characterize that group’s identity. While social unity was a part of the communities of practice explored by Eckert, I would expand her framework to suggest that these shared practices do not necessarily require individuals’ social cohesion, but merely require historical experience and a strongly circumscribing environment that places speakers in a similar social position relative to the external social world.... The modern South thus stands as a contradiction in terms of race relations with very little ethnic mixing beyond that forced by daily interaction but with a very strong sense of shared historical and cultural heritage uniting Black and White Southerners. --Fridland, Valerie Tie, tied and tight: The expansion of /ay/ monophthongization in African-American and European-American speech in Memphis, Tennessee. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7:

/i/ and /e/ before nasals for Allison Jones (bold = vowels before nasals)

/iw/ in knew1 of Leslie McFadden

/juw/ in knew3 of Charles McFadden

Survival of the /Ohr/ ~ /ohr/ distinction in the Atlas of North American English at the end of the 20th century

Survival of the /iw/~/uw/ distinction in the American South in the Atlas of North American English at the end of the 20th century

Back vowels before /r/ for Lance McFadden

Figure The Southern Shift of /ay/, /ey/ and /iy/ highlighted in the normalized means of 402 Telsur speakers displayed by Plotnik Major

The Southern Shift in vowel system of Lucy C., 35, Chattanooga TN, TS 612

/i/ and /e/ before /n/ for Lance McFadden