Hudson Valley English
| Hudson Valley English | |
|---|---|
| Region | Hudson Valley |
Native speakers | (no estimate available) |
|
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
A spectrum of American English varieties is spoken in the Hudson Valley region of New York State, which, closer to New York City, borrows features of the New York City dialect and, closer to the Great Lakes region, borrows features from the Inland North dialect.[1] The Hudson Valley varieties, otherwise very similar to General American, center around the cities of Albany, Amsterdam, Oneonta, Poughkeepsie, Schenectady and Troy.[1]
Overview
Generally, all consonants and most vowels in the Hudson Valley varieties align to those of the General American accent. However, there are a few notable vowel sounds similar to those found in the New York City and Inland North dialects.
Like in New York City, the caught vowel of the maintained cot-caught distinction often undergoes raising and diphthongization to [ɔə] or [oə].[2] There are two main /æ/ (or "short-a") systems documented in the Hudson Valley. The more distinct of the two is a simplified version of the New York City split-/æ/ system found in the core of the Hudson Valley dialect area spanning from New York's northern suburbs to the Capital District. This system splits /æ/ into tense and lax allophones without producing any new phonemes (as is the case in New York City). The tense allophone is used before non-velar voiced stops, voiceless fricatives, and nasals and the lax allophone is used elsewhere. Unlike in New York City, the tense allophone is always used before tensing consonants even in function words and regardless of syllable structure and morpheme boundaries.[3] The other short-a system is a nasal system in which /æ/ is raised to a value approximating [ɛə] or [eə] before nasal consonants. This is more common in the parts of Hudson Valley dialect region further from the core. The raised allophone before nasals in the "Hudson Valley fringe" has been used to explain the inability of the first stage of the Northern Cities Shift (whereby /æ/ is raised universally) to expand into the Hudson Valley.[4]
The Hudson Valley dialect has not undergone the Inland North's Northern Cities Vowel Shift, but two features of the shift have diffused into the dialect: /ɑ/ is fronter than /ʌ/ (as, also, in New York City) and /ɛ/ is typically less than 375 Hz fronter than /ɑ/.[4]
Unreferenced material
Phonological characteristics
General American influence
Just like the General American accent, the typical Hudson Valley accents exhibit the hurry-furry merger, mirror-nearer merger, lot-cloth split, and father-bother merger but does not exhibit the cot-caught merger. Hudson Valley follows General American in: being rhotic (with the phoneme /ʊɚ/ falling out of use among most younger speakers in favor of /oɚ/ or /ɝ/ when after /j/); realizing the Canadian raising that creates a new phoneme [ʌɪ] as distinct from [ɑɪ] (due to minimal pairs such as rider [ˈɹɑɪɾɚ] and writer [ˈɹʌɪɾɚ] or sided [ˈsɑɪɾɨd] and sighted [ˈsʌɪɾɨd]); and somewhat or fully lacking the Mary-marry-merry merger. The Mary-marry-merry merger is especially less common among older speakers who are closer to New York City.
New York City influence
Like in New York City, the rounded back vowels /uː/ and /oʊ/ generally remain relatively back compared to most varieties of American English, and the caught vowel of the maintained cot-caught distinction often undergoes raising and diphthongization to [ɔə] or [oə].[2] Also, The nucleus of the diphthong /aɪ/ tends to be backer than that of /aʊ/. This contrasts with the realizations of most of the Northern dialect range, where these diphthongs are [aɪ] and [ɑʊ] respectively. The second and much more common of the two Hudson Valley /æ/ (or "short-a") systems documented is a simplified version of the New York City split-/æ/ system found in the core of the Hudson Valley dialect area spanning from New York's northern suburbs to the Capital District. This system splits /æ/ into tense and lax allophones without producing any new phonemes (as is the case in New York City). The tense allophone is used before non-velar voiced stops, voiceless fricatives, and nasals and the lax allophone is used elsewhere. Unlike in New York City, the tense allophone is always used before tensing consonants even in function words and regardless of syllable structure and morpheme boundaries.[3] Finally, the realization of the sequence /ɒɹV/ as [ɑɹV] (where "V" equal any vowel sound) similar to the pattern in New York City, is most common in the Lower Hudson Valley.
Inland North influence
The Hudson Valley dialects have not undergone the Inland North's Northern Cities Vowel Shift except for two minimal features: /ɑ/ is fronter than /ʌ/ (as, also, in New York City) and /ɛ/ is typically less than 375 Hz fronter than /ɑ/.[4] Also, one of the Hudson Valley's two documented "short a" systems is a nasal system in which /æ/ is raised to a value approximating [ɛə] or [eə] before nasal consonants that is more common on the Inland North fringe of the Hudson Valley dialectal region. The raised allophone before nasals in the Hudson Valley has been used to explain the inability of the first stage of the Northern Cities Shift (whereby /æ/ is raised universally) to expand into the Hudson Valley.
Distinct characteristics
Among many speakers from the region, the traditionally diphthongal mid-vowels /oʊ/ and /eɪ/ have monophthongal allophones when followed by a consonant. At the end of a word or when followed by another vowel, the vowels remain diphthongs and are often slightly opener, giving the realizations /o̞ʊ/ and /e̞ɪ/. However, these realizations are not perceived as distinct by speakers of the dialect. Some speakers may replace /æ/ with [e], and sequences of a stressed high front vowel followed by a schwa and a nasal are often confused for the tense allophone of short a and then hypercorrected to [eə]. Thus, mayonnaise, Graham, and sometimes even museum may become [ˈmeənez], [ˈɡɹeəm], and [mjuˈzeəm]. This is not an exclusively Hudson Valley feature. Approximately 42% of Americans pronounce mayonnaise in this way.
Lexical characteristics
A very small number of the phrases that the people there use are derived from the Dutch language, but these are mostly limited to toponyms. Some original Hudson Valley words are stoop (small porch) and teeter-totter (see-saw).
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dinkin, Aaron, J. (2009). "Dialect Boundaries and Phonological Change in Upstate New York (Dissertation Defense Handout)" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania (self-published online).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dinkin, Aaron, J. (2010). "The Present-Day Dialectological Status of the Hudson Valley" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania (self-published online).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dinkin, Aaron; Friesner, Michael (2009). "Transmission or Diffusion? NYC-like short a in Southeast Florida and the Hudson Valley" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania (self-published online).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=edissertations