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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 905

Part of General Poster Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Active Homogeneity: The Canadian Shift in Ontario

Authors: Roeder, Rebecca
Submitted by: Roeder, Rebecca (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States of America)

Combining quantitative and qualitative information, this study sheds light on language change across generations in situ as well as the social networks through which language may move across regions. The Canadian Shift, a sound change in progress that is affecting the front lax vowels of Canadian English, was initially characterized as a chain shift. However, recent studies have observed a different pattern of movement over apparent time, requiring an alternative theoretical model to explain the change. Relying on instrumental analysis of data from nearly 100 speakers across 5 Ontario cities and towns, this paper provides additional observations of parallel shifting across apparent time in these vowels and adopts Vowel Dispersion Theory as a theoretical framework for positing phonetic movement towards a system that is balanced both phonetically and phonologically. This phonetically-based model has primarily been used to explain the relationship between phonological inventories and acoustic space, but the generalizations and principles that are emerging through such research are also useful in the interpretation of observations regarding sound change in progress. The scope of this research allows for both diachronic and synchronic comparison of the Canadian Shift in several Ontario cities.