1. EXERCISE 3 Northern Cities Vowel Shift (courtesy of William Labov)
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Chapter 9 Dialect Variation by Natalie Schilling-Estes
EXERCISE 3 Northern Cities Vowel Shift (courtesy of William Labov)
The recordings of Chicago speech that are used here were made by Dr. Sharon Ash of the Penn Linguistics Lab, who interviewed young women at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle, and carried out the experiment. For more information on the CDC project, see Labov, William, and Sharon Ash 1997, “Understanding Birmingham,” in C. Bernstein, T. Nunnalaly, and R. Sabino (eds.), Language Variety in the South Revisited. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, pp
© Cambridge University Press

2. These illustrations of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift are taken from a US National Science Foundation-supported research project on “Cross-Dialectal Comprehension,” directed by William Labov. The project tested the ability of listeners in Chicago, IL, Birmingham, AL, and Philadelphia, PA, to recognize advanced forms of sound changes in progress in their own and other cities. Listeners were asked to identify isolated words, then the same words in larger phrases, and finally in complete sentences.
See if you can do the same by clicking on the links in the slides that follow….

3. Word
______________
______________
______________
______________
______________

4. Word Phrase Sentence
______ _____________ ___________________
______ _____________ ___________________
______ _____________ ___________________
______ _____________ ___________________
______ _____________

5. Word Phrase Sentence
black _____________ living on one block
sacks _____________ had to wear socks
dusk _____________ behind the desk
bosses _____________ buses with the antennas
had _____________ shook her head

6. The Northern Cities Shift
Now let’s see how the various pronunciations fit into the Northern Cities Vowel Shift pattern…
desk
busses
bosses
mat
head
block
socks
The Northern Cities Shift