The Short `a' Pattern of Philadelphia among African-American Speakers

Abstract

There is a great deal known about the distribution of lax and tense short .aamong White Philadelphians, and below are points summarized from Labov (1989).It is the most complex feature of the Philadelphia dialect.In the Middle Atlantic region of the U.S., there is a two-way opposition of tense and lax short .awhich this study is concerned with: the difference between lax short .a[e:] and the raising and ingliding of tense short .a[e:9].The phonetic raising is due to regular sound change.The distribution of tense and lax forms shows lexical and grammatical conditioning.The phonological pattern of short .a in Philadelphia is unique and uniform across social classes and ethnic groups except for African-Americans.It is the last point which was the impetus for this study.Does the short .apattern of Philadelphia exclude all of its African-Americans?What about the large, Black middle class community in Philadelphia?! From a social standpoint, there are many Blacks in Philadelphia who appear to live their lives fully integrated in every aspect of mainstream Philadelphia life: in schools, neighborhoods, social networks, and work.If the Philadelphia short .apattern is part of the system which defines the Philadelphia speech

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