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Have you ever wondered why foreign languages are so different from your own? Or what sounds their speakers produce? Or how they say "the big book"? Then the Language Index is for you.
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General Information
The American English of this speaker from Arizona represents the West, a dialect region in formation, without the sharply defined features and boundaries of other sections in the U.S. It may be defined as the area with fronting of /uw/ but not fronting of /ow/, along with the low back merger of /o/ and /oh/.
It is distinguished from Canada by the absence of Canadian raising of /aw/, from the North by the low back merger, from the Midland by the absence of fronting of /ow/, and from the South by the absence of glide deletion of /ay/.
Typological Details
Family Membership
- Indo-European
- Germanic
- West-Germanic
- Germanic
Parameters
| Syntactic: | SVO, Prepositions, Noun - Adjective, Adjective - Noun, Noun - Genitive, Genitive - Noun |
| Morphological: | Ablaut Concatenative, Little Affixation, Weakly Suffixing, Weakly Prefixing |
| Miscellaneous: | Decimal System |
Speaker
| Name: | Annette H. |
| Age: | 38 |
| Community: | Flagstaff |
| Occupation: | Lecturer |
| National Ancestry: | American |
| Year Interviewed: | 2005 |
Play a welcome message spoken by Annette H.:
Morphology and Syntax
A Complex Passage
The speaker tells the story 'The Northwind and the Sun'.
The North Wind and the Sun were dispute-ing which was the strong-er,
ðə 'nɔɻθ wɪnd ənd ðə 'sʌn wəɻ dɪs'pj̊u̟dɪŋ wɪtʃ wəz ðə 'stɻ̊ɔŋgəɻ,
be.PST dispute-PRES.PTCP be.3.SG.PST strong-COMPR
when a travel-er came along wrap-ed in a warm cloak. They agree-ed
wɛn ə 'tɻævlɚ kʰeɪm ə'lɔŋ 'ɻæpt ɪn ə 'wɔɻm 'kloʊk. ðeɪ ə'gɻi:d
travel-NMLZ come.PST wrap-PST.PTCP agree-PST
that the one who first succeed-ed in make-ing the travel-er take his
ðət ðə 'wʌn hu: 'fɜ:ɻst sək'si:dɪd ɪn meɪkɪŋ ðə 'tɻævlɚ tʰeɪk hɪz
succeed-PST make-PRES.PTCP travel-NMLZ he.POSS
cloak off should be consider-ed strong-er than the other. Then the North Wind
kl̥oʊk 'ɔf ʃʊd bi kʰənsɪdəɻd 'stɽɔŋgəɻ ðən ði: 'ʌðəɻ. 'ðɛn ðə 'nɔɻθ wɪnd
consider-PST strong-COMPR
blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more close-ly
'blu: əz 'hɑɻd əz hi 'kʰʊd, bət ðə mɔɻ hi 'blu: ðə mɔɻ 'kl̥oʊsli
blow.PST he.NOM he.NOM blow.PST close-ADVZ
did the travel-er fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind
dɪd ðə 'tɻævlɚ foʊɫd hɪz 'kloʊk ə'ɻaʊnd hɪm; ənd ət 'last ðə 'nɔɻθ wɪnd
do.PST travel-NMLZ he.POSS he.IO
gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shine-ed out warm-ly, and immediate-ly
geɪv 'ʌp ði ə'tʰɛmpt. 'ðɛn ðə sʌn 'ʃaɪnd aʊt 'wɔɻmli, ənd ɪ'mi:dɪətli
give.PST shine-PST warm-ADVZ immediate-ADVZ
the travel-er took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was
ðə 'tɻævlɚ tʰʊk 'ɒf hɪz 'kl̥oʊk. ənd 'soʊ ðə ' nɔɻθ wɪnd wəz
travel-NMLZ take.PST he.POSS be.3.SG.PST
oblige-ed to confess that the Sun was the strong-er of the two.
əb'laɪdʒad tə kʰən'fɛs ðət ðə 'sʌn wəz ðə 'stɻɔŋgəɻ əv ðə tʰu̟:.
oblige-PST be.3.SG.PST strong-COMPR .
The Numbers
Numbering rules
- Digits from zero to nine are specific words, as well as numbers from ten to twelve, namely zero [0], one [1], two [2], three [3], four [4], five [5], six [6], seven [7], eight [8], nine [9], ten [10], eleven [11], and twelve [12].
- From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the digits three to nine, adding the -teen suffix at the end: thirteen [13], fourteen [14], fifteen [15], sixteen [16], seventeen [17], eighteen [18], and nineteen [19].
- The tens are formed by adding the -(t)y suffix at the end of the multiplier digit root, with the exception of ten: ten [10], twenty [20], thirty [30], forty [40] (and not fourty), fifty [50], sixty [60], seventy [70], eighty [80], and ninety [90].
- From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with a hyphen.
- All the three-digit numbers are constructed by stating the hundreds, then adding the and word, then the tens and the digits (e.g.: two hundred and sixty-five [265]).
- Hundred (100), thousand (1,000) and million (1,000,000) are always singular (e.g.: six hundred and thirty-five [635]).
- When directly added to hundred and thousand, and is added before tens and units (e.g.: seven hundred and three [703], or five thousand and two [5,002]).
Monophthongs
Special Features (auditory judgements by J. Handke, University of Marburg):
| Property | Examples | Audio Samples |
| Low Back Merger | caught, cot | |
| lowering of short-a | bat |
Diphthongs
This is the standard set of AmE diphthongs. The offglides (short-i/e and short-o/u) are lower than in BrE. Due to the high degree of rhoticity of this phonological dialect orthographic "r" is realized as vowel plus /r/:
| Example | Audio Sample |
| near | |
| square | |
| pure |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Post- Alveolar |
Retro- flex |
Alveolo-Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal |
Glottal | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Trill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tap or Flap | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affrikate | ʧ | ʤ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | ʝ | h | ||||||||||||||
| Lateral Fricative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | ɻ | ɰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant | l | |||||||||||||||||||||||
This is the standard consonantal system of AmE.
In initial position all voiceless plosives are aspirated, and, the post-vocalic "r" is realized in most contexts (rhoticity).
Writing System
- Phonographic
- Alphabetic
- Latin/Roman
- Alphabetic
Contributors
Developmental Aspects of this VLC Language Index Entry:
- Native Language Assistance:
- Annette Hornung (Flagstaff, AZ)
- Auditory Judgements:
- Jürgen Handke (VLC Project Manager)
- Phonetic Transcription:
- Jürgen Handke (VLC Project Manager)
- Cornelius Reiser (VLC Student Assistant)
- Speaker: Annette Hornung (Flagstaff, AZ)
- recorded in October 2005 (VLC Studio)
- References:
- Labov, William. 2005. Atlas of North American English. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Of Languages and Numbers (http://www.languagesandnumbers.com)