Keywords

Southern Vowel Shift outcomes, AAVS vs. SVS vowel overlap, front–back vowel divergence by ethnicity, regional (state-level) shift variation

Abstract

Potential outcomes of Southern shifting:

Southern Vowel Shift:

Increased overlap or “swapping” of /i ɪ/, /eɪ ɛ/; overlap of /æ ɛ/
Decreased acoustic distance between /u i/, /oʊ i/

African American Vowel Shift:

Increased overlap of /i ɪ/, /eɪ ɛ/, /æ ɛ/ (swapping less likely)

SVS vs. AAVS

Front vowels positioned differently
Back vowels positioned differently …in European American vs. African American speech

Does shifting strengthen over time? - Age effects

Do European American and African American speakers shift differently? - Race effects

Do women and men shift differently? - Sex effects

Do speakers in different parts of the South shift differently? - Effect of state

Original Publication Citation

Joseph A. Stanley & Margaret E. L. Renwick. “Finding pockets of social variation in the Digital Archive of Southern Speech.” The 5th Annual Linguistics conference at UGA (LCUGA5). Athens, GA. October 12–13, 2018.