1. X beet
2. ✓ step
3. ✓ pat
4. X look
5. ✓ tip
6. ✓ stack
7. ✓ loft
8. ✓ top
9. ✓ cut
10. X rope
Chapter 5 | Exercises
Exercise 5.1
Following are some dialect variants, including pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary items. For each of the items, construct reasonable question frames that would enable a fieldworker to elicit the items without using the item itself in the question. Try your questions on some speakers and evaluate the relative success of your frames.
What kinds of items seem the easiest to elicit, and what items the most difficult?
Pronunciation
Grammar
Lexical
What kinds of items seem the easiest to elicit, and what items the most difficult?
Pronunciation
- The production of the vowel in ten and tin.
- The production of the first vowel in ferry, fairy, and furry.
- The production of the vowel in caught and cot.
Grammar
- The plural form of deer.
- The past tense and participle form (e.g. has______) of creep.
- The use of indefinite forms in a negative sentence (e.g. He didn’t go anywhere/nowhere).
Lexical
- The use of the term frying pan, skillet, spider, etc.
- The use of ATM/bank machine/cash machine/guichet.
- Distinctions between different shades of purple in the color spectrum.
Exercise 5.2
Identify in the following list of words those items that would be involved in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
- beet
- step
- pat
- look
- tip
- stack
- loft
- top
- cut
- rope
5.2 Answers
Exercise 5.3
For each word in the list below, indicate which would be involved in the Southern Vowel Shift. For each word you selected, indicate whether the vowel is involved in (1) the gliding of KIT and dress vowels (e.g. bid, bed), (2) the lowering of FLEECE and FACE vowels (e.g. beet, late), or (3) the back GOOSE and GOAT vowels moving forward (e.g. boat, boot)?
- lid
- rate
- leap
- red
- keep
- loop
- wrote
- bought
- shed
- rid
5.3 Answers
1. ✓ 1
2. ✓ 2
3. ✓ 2
4. ✓ 1
5. ✓ 2
6. ✓ 3
7. ✓ 3
8. X
9. ✓ 1
10. ✓ 1
Exercise 5.4
Identify whether the vowels in the following words are involved in the Northern Cities Shift or the Southern Vowel Shift. In some cases, the same vowel may be involved in both the Northern Cities Shift and the Southern Vowel Shift, but the rotation will be in quite different directions.
There are three types of answer: (1) Northern Cities Shift, (2) Southern Shift, and (3) both the Northern Cities and the Southern Shift, but rotating in different directions. In cases where the same vowel is subject to both the Northern and Southern Shift, identify the direction of the rotation for each shift. You might try producing some of these vowel differences, especially if you know someone who is a good model for the particular shift.
There are three types of answer: (1) Northern Cities Shift, (2) Southern Shift, and (3) both the Northern Cities and the Southern Shift, but rotating in different directions. In cases where the same vowel is subject to both the Northern and Southern Shift, identify the direction of the rotation for each shift. You might try producing some of these vowel differences, especially if you know someone who is a good model for the particular shift.
- bed
- cap
- pop
- lock
- loop
- lost
- give
- leap
- kid
- said
5.4 Answers
1. 3
2. 3
3. 1
4. 1
5. 2
6. 1
7. 3
8. 2
9. 3
10. 3
Exercise 5.5
Some phonological features that help define dialect regions involve single items, such as the pronunciation of greasy with an s in the North and a z in the South (greazy for greasy), or the pronunciation of aunt and ant as distinct (with the lot and TRAP vowels, respectively) or the same (with the TRAP vowel).
Can you think of other examples in which a particular regional pronunciation only seems to affect one word, as with aunt/ant and greasy/greazy? (Hint: Consider the way natives of a particular city or state may pronounce its name). There are some linguists who would say that pronunciation differences in greasy/greazy and aunt/ant are actually lexical rather than phonological, since they affect only one item and are not the result of general phonological processes. Do you agree?
Can you think of other examples in which a particular regional pronunciation only seems to affect one word, as with aunt/ant and greasy/greazy? (Hint: Consider the way natives of a particular city or state may pronounce its name). There are some linguists who would say that pronunciation differences in greasy/greazy and aunt/ant are actually lexical rather than phonological, since they affect only one item and are not the result of general phonological processes. Do you agree?
5.5 Answers
While not an exhaustive list (hopefully you have thought of some of your own), here are a few more examples to get you thinking:
both vs. bolth (Northern Cities)
creak vs. crick (various)
Boise vs. Boize (from Boise vs. not from Boise)
bison vs. bizon (prim. Fargo, ND area)