Английская Википедия:Cot–caught merger

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Шаблон:Listen Шаблон:IPA notice The cot–caught merger, also known as the Шаблон:Sc2 merger or low back merger, is a sound change present in some dialects of English where speakers do not distinguish the vowel phonemes in words like cot versus caught. Cot and caught (along with bot and bought, pond and pawned, etc.) is an example of a minimal pair that is lost as a result of this sound change. The phonemes involved in the cot–caught merger, the low back vowels, are typically represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as Шаблон:IPA and Шаблон:IPA, respectively (or, in North America, co-occurring with the father–bother merger, as Шаблон:Nowrap and Шаблон:Nowrap). The merger is typical of most Canadian and Scottish English dialects as well as some Irish and U.S. English dialects.

An additional vowel merger, the father–bother merger, which spread through North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, has resulted today in a three-way merger in which most Canadian and many U.S. accents have no vowel difference in words like Шаблон:Sc2 Шаблон:IPA, Шаблон:Sc2 Шаблон:IPA, and Шаблон:Sc2 Шаблон:IPA. However, Шаблон:IPA as in Шаблон:Sc2 participates in a separate phenomenon in most North American English: the [[north-force merger|Шаблон:Sc2 merger]], in which this vowel before Шаблон:IPA can be phonemicized as the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel,Шаблон:Sfnp transcribed variously thus as Шаблон:IPA or Шаблон:IPA.

Overview

Шаблон:IPA vowels The shift causes the vowel sound in words like cot, nod and stock and the vowel sound in words like caught, gnawed and stalk to merge into a single phoneme; therefore the pairs cot and caught, stock and stalk, nod and gnawed become perfect homophones, and shock and talk, for example, become perfect rhymes. The cot–caught merger is completed in the following dialects:

• Some English of the British Isles, outside of England:
  • Most Scottish English, towards Шаблон:IPAblink
  • Broad and traditional Irish EnglishШаблон:Citation needed
  • Some northern Ulster English including in conservative mid Ulster English towards Шаблон:IPAblink and in Ulster Scots English towards Шаблон:IPAblink
• Much of the English of North America:
  • Certain varieties of American English, including:
    • Pittsburgh English, towards Шаблон:IPA (with the father–bother merger)
    • Much of New England English towards Шаблон:IPA (in Boston, particularly towards Шаблон:IPAblink), and Northern New England generally, but traditionally not Southern New England
    • Western American English (with the father–bother merger) towards Шаблон:IPAblink
    • Cajun English, Upper Midwestern English, Chicano English, and some Western New England English (with the father–bother merger) towards Шаблон:IPAblink
  • Nearly all Canadian English, including:
    • Standard Canadian English towards Шаблон:IPAblink (with the father–bother merger)
    • Maritimer and Newfoundland English, towards Шаблон:IPA (with the father–bother merger)
• Much Indian English towards Шаблон:IPAblink or Шаблон:IPAblink
• Some Singaporean English

Examples of homophonous pairs

Шаблон:IPA or Шаблон:IPA (written a, o, ol)	Шаблон:IPA (written au, aw, al, ough)	IPA (using Шаблон:Angbr IPA for the merged vowel)
bobble	bauble	Шаблон:IPA
body	bawdy	Шаблон:IPA
bot	bought	Шаблон:IPA
box	balks	Шаблон:IPA
chock	chalk	Шаблон:IPA
clod	clawed	Шаблон:IPA
cock	caulk	Шаблон:IPA
cod	cawed	Шаблон:IPA
collar	caller	Шаблон:IPA
cot	caught	Шаблон:IPA
don	dawn	Шаблон:IPA
fond	fawned	Шаблон:IPA
hock	hawk	Шаблон:IPA
holler	hauler	Шаблон:IPA
hottie	haughty	Шаблон:IPA
knot	nought	Шаблон:IPA
knotty	naughty	Шаблон:IPA
nod	gnawed	Шаблон:IPA
not	nought	Шаблон:IPA
odd	awed	Шаблон:IPA
pod	pawed	Шаблон:IPA
pond	pawned	Шаблон:IPA
rot	wrought	Шаблон:IPA
sod	sawed	Шаблон:IPA
sot	sought	Шаблон:IPA
stock	stalk	Шаблон:IPA
tot	taught	Шаблон:IPA
wok	walk	Шаблон:IPA

North American English

Файл:Cot-caught merger.png

On this map of English-speaking North America, the green dots represent speakers who have completely merged the vowels of cot and caught. The dark blue dots represent speakers who have completely resisted the merger. The medium blue dots represent speakers with a partial merger (either production or perception but not both), and the yellow dots represent speakers with the merger in transition. Based on the work of Labov, Ash and Boberg.

Nowhere is the shift more complex than in North American English. The presence of the merger and its absence are both found in many different regions of the North American continent, where it has been studied in greatest depth, and in both urban and rural environments. The symbols traditionally used to transcribe the vowels in the words cot and caught as spoken in American English are Шаблон:Angbr IPA and Шаблон:Angbr IPA, respectively, although their precise phonetic values may vary, as does the phonetic value of the merged vowel in the regions where the merger occurs.

Even without taking into account the mobility of the American population, the distribution of the merger is still complex; there are pockets of speakers with the merger in areas that lack it, and vice versa. There are areas where the merger has only partially occurred, or is in a state of transition. For example, based on research directed by William Labov (using telephone surveys) in the 1990s, younger speakers in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas exhibited the merger while speakers older than 40 typically did not. The 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey, in which subjects did not necessarily grow up in the place they identified as the source of their dialect features, indicates that there are speakers of both merging and contrast-preserving accents throughout the country, though the basic isoglosses are almost identical to those revealed by Labov's 1996 telephone survey. Both surveys indicate that, as of the 1990s, approximately 60% of American English speakers preserved the contrast, while approximately 40% merged the phonemes. Further complicating matters are speakers who merge the phonemes in some contexts but not others, or merge them when the words are spoken unstressed or casually but not when they're stressed.

Speakers with the merger in northeastern New England still maintain a phonemic distinction between a fronted and unrounded Шаблон:IPA (phonetically Шаблон:IPAblink) and a back and usually rounded Шаблон:IPA (phonetically Шаблон:IPAblink), because in northeastern New England (unlike in Canada and the Western United States), the cot–caught merger occurred without the father–bother merger. Thus, although northeastern New Englanders pronounce both cot and caught as Шаблон:IPA, they pronounce cart as Шаблон:IPA.

Labov et al. also reveal that, for about 15% of respondents, a specific Шаблон:IPA–Шаблон:IPA merger before Шаблон:IPA but not before Шаблон:IPA (or other consonants) is in effect, so that Don and dawn are homophonous, but cot and caught are not. In this case, a distinct vowel shift (which overlaps with the cot–caught merger for all speakers who have indeed completed the cot–caught merger) is taking place, identified as the Don–dawn merger.

Resistance

According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg, the merger in North America is most strongly resisted in three regions:

• The "South", somewhat excluding Texas and Florida.
• The "Inland North", encompassing the eastern and central Great Lakes region (on the U.S. side of the border)
• The "Northeast Corridor" along the Atlantic coast, ranging from Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City to Providence. However, the merger is common in Boston and further northern New England.

In the three American regions above, sociolinguists have studied three phonetic shifts that can explain their resistance to the merger. The first is the fronting of Шаблон:IPA found in the Inland North; speakers advance the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel Шаблон:IPA as far as the cardinal Шаблон:IPA (the open front unrounded vowel), thus allowing the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel Шаблон:IPA to lower into the phonetic environment of Шаблон:IPA without any merger taking place. The second situation is the raising of the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel Шаблон:IPA found in the New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore accents, in which the vowel is raised and diphthongized to Шаблон:IPA, or, less commonly, Шаблон:IPA, thus keeping that vowel notably distinct from the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel Шаблон:IPA. The third situation occurs in the South, in which vowel breaking results in Шаблон:IPA being pronounced as upgliding Шаблон:IPA, keeping it distinct from Шаблон:IPA. None of these three phonetic shifts, however, is certain to preserve the contrast for all speakers in these regions. Some speakers in all three regions, particularly younger ones, are beginning to exhibit the merger despite the fact that each region's phonetics should theoretically block it.

African American Vernacular English accents have traditionally resisted the cot–caught merger, with Шаблон:Sc pronounced Шаблон:IPA and Шаблон:Sc traditionally pronounced Шаблон:IPA, though now often Шаблон:IPA. Early 2000s research has shown that this resistance may continue to be reinforced by the fronting of Шаблон:Sc, linked through a chain shift of vowels to the raising of the Шаблон:Sc, Шаблон:Sc, and perhaps Шаблон:Sc vowels. This chain shift is called the "African American Shift". However, there is still evidence of AAVE speakers picking up the cot–caught merger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,Шаблон:Sfnp in Charleston, South Carolina,Шаблон:Sfnp Florida and Georgia,Шаблон:Sfnp and in parts of California.Шаблон:Sfnp

Origin

In North America, the first evidence of the merger (or its initial conditions) comes from western Pennsylvania as far back as the data show. From there, it entered Upper Canada (what is now Ontario). In the mid-19th century, the merger also independently began in eastern New England, possibly influencing the Canadian Maritimes, though the merger is in evidence as early as the 1830s in both regions of Canada: Ontario and the Maritimes. Fifty years later, the merger "was already more established in Canada" than in its two U.S. places of origin. In Canadian English, further westward spread was completed more quickly than in English of the United States.

Two traditional theories of the merger's origins have been longstanding in linguistics: one group of scholars argues for an independent North American development, while others argue for contact-induced language change via Scots-Irish or Scottish immigrants to North America. In fact, both theories may be true but for different regions. The merger's appearance in western Pennsylvania is better explained as an effect of Scots-Irish settlement, but in eastern New England, and perhaps the American West, as an internal structural development. Canadian linguist Charles Boberg considers the issue unresolved. A third theory has been used to explain the merger's appearance specifically in northeastern Pennsylvania: an influx of Polish- and other Slavic-language speakers whose learner English failed to maintain the distinction.

Scotland

Шаблон:Expand section Outside North America, another dialect featuring the merger is Scottish English, where the merged vowel has a quality around [ɔ̞]. Like in New England English, the cot–caught merger occurred without the father–bother merger. Therefore, speakers still retain the distinction between Шаблон:IPA in Шаблон:Sc2 and Шаблон:IPA in Шаблон:Sc2-Шаблон:Sc2.Шаблон:Sfnp

India

The merger is also quite prevalent in Indian English, possibly due to contact with Scottish English. In particular, the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel may be lengthened to merge with the Шаблон:Sc2 vowel Шаблон:IPA. However, there are also speakers who maintain a distinction in length and/or quality. Like in Scottish English, this vowel is not usually merged with Шаблон:Sc2 Шаблон:IPA in General Indian English.

See also

• Phonological history of English open back vowels

Bibliography

• Шаблон:Citation
• Шаблон:Citation
• Шаблон:Citation
• Шаблон:Cite thesis
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Accents of English

Further reading

• Шаблон:Cite book

External links

• Map of the cot–caught merger from the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey
• Map of the cot–caught merger from Labov's 1996 telephone survey
• Description of the cot–caught merger in the Phonological Atlas
• Map of the cot–caught merger before Шаблон:IPA and Шаблон:IPA
• Chapter 13 of the Atlas of North American English, which discusses the "short-o" configuration of various American accents