Vermont lowering? Raising some questions about /ai/ and /au/ south of the Canadian border

Abstract

This study comprises an exploration of the speech of 19 Vermonters, aged 9 to 90. Tokens of /ai/ and /au/ were analyzed acoustically. Results reveal that although centralized /au/ and /ai/ were reported to be disappearing by Kurath (1939a; 1939b), they were still present in the oldest of the speakers but were differentially undergoing change. Raised /au/ was used by older men, but had all but disappeared in younger speakers and all of the women in the study except the oldest speaker (age 90). Instead, speakers used a front low onset. /ai/ presented a more complex pattern: centralization occurred in all speakers, but a back, somewhat rounded onset was restricted primarily to older men. In addition, men and older speakers demonstrated centralized onsets in all environments, whereas younger speakers showed more of a “Canadian Raising” pattern. Implications, when results and settlement history of Vermont were examined, included the suggestion that, in Vermont, the raised variants are the older, base forms and that the “Canadian Raising” pattern of younger speakers and women may be the result of an overall leveling from changing socioeconomic conditions in the area.The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF # 9975078) for this study. Appreciation is also extended to Rebecca Peabody Amblo, Mieka LeClair, Elisha Huskes, and Danra Kaczinski for assistance with data collection and analysis, and three anonymous reviewers for their very valuable suggestions. Finally, thanks are due to the speakers, who generously shared their voices and stories.

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