Keywords

Pacific Northwest vowel variation, MARY–MERRY–MARRY conditioned merger, pre-/l/ back-vowel mergers (pool–pull–pole set)

Abstract

Recent literature has revealed ongoing variation in Pacific Northwest English. In particular, back vowels (cf. Ward 2003; Becker et al. 2013; McLarty & Kendall 2014) and pre-velar front vowels (cf. Wassink et al. 2009; Riebold 2015; 2015, and others) have received considerable attention. In this paper I present recent data from Cowlitz County, Washington that shed light other mergers involving these vowels.

As explained in the Atlas of North American English (Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006), some form of the conditioned merger of /e, ɛ, æ/ before intervocalic /r/, sometimes known as the Mary-merrymarry merger, is found in most varieties of North American English. While many speakers merge all three, some leave one distinct from the other two. Additionally, ANAE discusses another collection of conditioned mergers involving /u, ʊ, o, ʌ/ before /l/, some of which are known as the pool~pull, bull~bowl, and hull~hole mergers, with the note that further study should be done to better understand them (2006:73). They have been the focus in studies in Ohio (Arnold 2015), Kansas City (Strelluf 2014), Utah (Di Paolo & Faber 1990; Baker & Bowie 2010), and California (Hall-Lew 2010), but they continue to be relatively understudied generally.

Original Publication Citation

Joseph A. Stanley. “The perception and production of two vowel mergers in Cowlitz County, Washington.” The American Dialect Society Annual Meeting. Austin, TX. January 5–8, 2017.