Friday, June 1, 2007

Well I'll Be Damned

Alright, or aw-reet, or ah-ight, or however you may put it, it is only Wikipedia, but no one would bother making this stuff up. Vowels are on the loose, shifting as we speak (& apparently shifting our speech)! Let's look at the local aspect:
One topic that has begun to receive much attention among scholars in recent years has been the emergence of a vowel shift unique to California. Much like other vowel shifts occurring in North America such as the Southern Vowel Shift, Northern Cities Vowel Shift, and the Canadian Shift the California Vowel Shift is noted for a systematic chain shift of several vowels.
Key quote:
The pin-pen merger is complete in Bakersfield, and speakers in Sacramento either perceive or produce the pairs /ɛn/ and /ɪn/ close to each other[3].
Damn! All of this is going on right next to our ears, but there are none so deaf as those who will not listen.

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