| Western American English | |
|---|---|
| Western U.S. English | |
| Region | Western United States |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | west2920 Western American English |
 States where Western American English and its dialects are spoken | |
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Western American English (also known asWestern U.S. English) is a variety ofAmerican English that largely unites the entireWestern United States as a single dialect region, including the states ofCalifornia,Nevada,Arizona,Utah,New Mexico,Colorado,Wyoming, andMontana. It also generally encompassesWashington,Oregon, andIdaho, some of whose speakers are classified underPacific Northwest English.
TheWest was the last area in theUnited States to be reached during the gradual westward expansion of settlement by English speakers and its history shows considerable mixing andleveling of the linguistic patterns of other regions. Therefore, since the settlement populations are relatively young when compared with other regions, theAmerican West continues to be a dialect region in formation.[1] According to the 2006Atlas of North American English, as a very broad generalization, Western U.S. accents are differentiated from Southern U.S. accents in maintaining/aɪ/ as adiphthong, from Northern U.S. accents by fronting/u/ (theGOOSE vowel), and from both by consistently showing thelow back merger (the merger of the vowel sounds in words likecot andcaught).[2] Furthermore, in speakers born since the 1980s, the relatedlow-back-merger shift has been spreading throughout the Western States.[3] Thestandard Canadian accent also aligns with these defining features, though it typically includes certain additional vowel differences.
The Western regional accent of American English is somewhat variable and not necessarily distinct from "General American" or from the speech of younger or educated Americans nationwide. Western American English is defined primarily by two phonological features: thecot-caught merger (as distinct from most traditionalNorthern andSouthern U.S. English) and thefronting of the/u/ (GOOSE) vowel but not the/oʊ/ (GOAT) vowel. This fronting is distinct from most Southern and Mid-Atlantic American English, in which both of those vowels are fronted, as well as from most Northern U.S. English, in which both of these remain backed.[4]
Like most Canadian dialects and younger General American,/ɑ/ (LOT/PALM)allophones remain back and may be either rounded or unrounded due to thelow back merger: the merger between the sounds/ɑ/ and/ɔ/ (THOUGHT), commonly represented as words likecot andcaught, orpod andpawed, becoming perfecthomophones.[4] Linguists believe this is the cause of, or at least related to, more and more Western speakers in general lowering or retracting theTRAP vowel and theDRESS vowel in achain shift first associated with California and led by young women: thelow-back-merger shift.[5][6] This shift is also documented in mainland Canadian English. However, unlike in Canada, theraising before voiceless consonants of/aʊ/ does not exist in Western American English and of/aɪ/ is not as consistent and pronounced.[7] Like General American, the West is entirelyrhotic, and theMary–marry–merry merger is complete, so that words likeMary,marry, andmerry are all pronounced identically because of themerger of all three of those vowels' sounds when beforer.
Notably, though, there are still regions of the West where some speakers do not have a complete merger, most notably San Francisco, California,[8] where younger speakers exhibit the merger more often than older speakers, but alsoPortland, Oregon[9] andCowlitz County, Washington,[10] where an incomplete merger exists for some speakers and where merging is not any more advanced among younger speakers than among older ones.
Although it occurs at least occasionally nationwide,T-glottalization at word boundaries, as in "right ankle", is more common in Western dialects, particularly among younger speakers and women.[11] The use of a full (orally released) rather than syllabic pronunciation of/ən/ in the sequence/-tən/, in words like "kitten" or "mountain", is a minor but noted variant reported in the West, for example among some Californians and younger, female Utah speakers;[12] thus,kitten as[ˈkʰɪʔən] in addition to more General American[ˈkʰɪʔn̩]; however, this feature has also been reported elsewhere in the country, like New Jersey.[13] Men and teenage girls from Utah are also slightly more likely than average to elide the/t/ altogether in these words, and Utahns as a whole are slightly less likely to glottalize the/t/ in general.[14]
A trend evident particularly in some speakers from theSalt Lake City, Utah, andFlagstaff, Arizona, areas, as well as in someCalifornian and New Mexican English, is the completion of, or transition towards, afull–fool merger.[15] This may be related to scatterings of Western speakers, such as some Utah speakers,[16][17] generally producinglax pronunciations of the tensefront vowels before/l/, such as pronouncing "sale" as "sell"/sɛl/.[18]Southern twang-likemonophthongization of/aɪ/ has been sporadically reported in the Southwest,[19] for example in some speakers before/l/ in southern Arizona and Utah.[20][21] A significant minority of Western speakers have thepin–pen merger or a closeness to the merger, especially aroundBakersfield, California, though it is a sound typically associated with Southern American English, which influenced Bakersfield settlers.[22]
Another recognizable trait, particularly in California and the Pacific Northwest, israising of the shorti/ɪ/ sound to an almost longee[i] sound beforeng, even when theg is dropped, such that the local pronunciation of-ing[iŋ], even with G-dropping ([in]), takes on the same vowel quality as, but remains shorter than, arhyme withbean.[23] The wordcoding, for example, is pronounced[ˈkoʊdin], homophonous withcodeine.[24][25]
Several sub-types of the Western dialect appear to be currently in formation, and the West, being an area of especially recent English-speaking settlement, shows relatively low homogeneity and low internal consistency.[4] Additionally, mostMexican-American English is spoken within, and arguably falls under the regional dialect of, the Western United States.
Currently, there is not enough data on the English of Alaska to either include it within Western American English or assign it its own "separate status".[33] Of twodocumented speakers inAnchorage, theircot-caught merger is completed or transitional,/aʊ/ is not fronted,/oʊ/ is centralized, the placement of/u/ is inconsistent, andag approaches the sound ofegg.[34] Not far from Anchorage, in Alaska'sMatanuska-Susitna Valley, is a distinctlyMinnesota-like accent due to immigration of Minnesotans to the valley in the 1930s.[35]
A noticeableCalifornia Vowel Shift has been observed in the English of (largely younger) speakers scattered throughout California,[36] though especially strong among coastal speakers. This shift involves multiple elements, including that the vowel in words liketoe,rose, andgo (though remaining back vowels elsewhere in the Western dialect), and the vowel in words likespoon,move, andrude are both pronouncedfarther forward in the mouth than most other English dialects; at the same time, a loweringchain movement of thefront vowels is occurring (identical to theCanadian Vowel Shift), so that, to listeners of other English dialects,sit may approach the sound ofset,set may approachsat, andsat may approachsot. This front-vowel lowering is also reported aroundPortland, Oregon, the hub of a uniqueNorthwestern variety of American English that demonstrates other similarities withCanadian English.[37]
Studies demonstrate that gender, age, and ability to speakHawaiian Creole (a language locally called "Pidgin" and spoken by about two-fifths of Hawaii residents) correlate with the recent emergence of different Hawaiian English accents. In a 2013 study of twentyOʻahu-raised native English speakers, non-Pidgin and male speakers were shown to lower/ɪ/ and/ɛ/; younger speakers of the first group also lowered/æ/, and younger participants in general backed/æ/.[38] Though this movement of these vowels is superficially similar to theCalifornia Vowel Shift, it is not believed to be due to achain shift, though Hawaii residents do have acot–caught merger, at least among younger speakers.[38] Unlike most Americans, Hawaii residents may not demonstrate any form of/æ/ tensing (even beforenasal consonants, as with most Western Americans).[39]
In New Mexico, the state with the largest Hispanic population by percentage and no Anglo majority population, studies have distinguished the English of English-Spanish bilinguals versus (Anglo) English monolinguals.[40] Research showed the former more likely to participate inmonophthongization of/eɪ/ and a recently developingHispanic Englishvowel shift.[41][42]However, this same shift failed to appear in a later study, in which Anglo New Mexicans (and particularly young women) were the ones more likely to engage in an innovativeCalifornia-like vowel shift,[5] whereas Hispanic speakers raised/æ/ before nasals significantly less, while pronouncing/u/ higher and further back.[43] Many New Mexicans, both Anglo and Hispanic, pronounce the cluster/nj/ in the wordnew (not theyod-dropping after/n/ of most other Americans).[43]Aside from noting a possible full–fool merger regardless of ethnicity,[44] New Mexican English research has tended to focus on vocabulary: particularly loanwords fromNew Mexican Spanish, such as the wordacequia[ɑˈseɪkjɑ] for aditch;[45]canales[kɑˈnɑleɪs] for a type ofrain andstreet gutter;[46]corazón[ˌkʰɔɹɑˈsoʊn] for sweetheart, darling, courage, or spirit;[47]nana for one's grandmother (more widely heard than elsewhere in the U.S.);[48] andvigas forrafters.[46] TheNew Mexican chile pepper has had such a large cultural impact that it has even been entered into theCongressional Record spelled aschile, notchili.[49][50]
The states of Oregon and Washington show a mixture of features that vary widely among the local speakers themselves. Overall, these features are strongly similar to both Californian as well asCanadian English. Studies are therefore inconclusive about whether this region constitutes a distinct dialect or not. One feature of many Pacific Northwest dialects is the pre-velar merger, where, before /g/,/ɛ/ and/æ/ are raised, and /eɪ/ is lowered, causingbeg andvague to rhyme, and sometimes causingbag to sound similar to or rhyme with both of them.[51] Younger speakers may also show signs of the aforementionedCalifornia Vowel Shift.[37]
The English of Utah shows great variation, though little overall consistency,[52] making it difficult to classify as either a sub-dialect of Western American English or a full dialect of its own.[52][16][12][20] Members of theLDS Church may use thepropredicate "do" or "done", as in the sentence "I would have done", unlike other Americans, suggesting a more recent British influence within the Church.[53] Some speakers may realize the/ɹ/ as aflap[ɾ] after/θ/.[54] One prominent older, declining feature of Utah English is thecord-card merger without ahorse-hoarse merger, particularly along the Wasatch Front, which merges/ɑɹ/ (as infar) and/ɔɹ/ (as infor), while keeping/oʊɹ/ distinct (as infour).[12][17] Utahns may use slightly distinct vowel placement and vowel space area duringarticulation, particularly with young, female speakers documented as pronouncing/æ/ as lower than/ɑ/, unlike other Western dialects.[12] Throughout theMormon corridor beyond Utah, practicing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tend to lag behind regional dialect changes while maintaining characteristic Utah features.[55]
Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is 'een' for -ing, as in 'I'm thinkeen of go-een campeen.'
Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is 'een' for -ing, as in 'I'm think-een of go-een camp-een.'
Regional Accents ... A distinguishing characteristic of the Upper Midwestern accent is the tendency to turn the 'ing' sound into 'een,' with a cheerful 'Good morneen!'