PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES OF AMERICAN ENGLISH IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON

ФОНЕТИЧЕСКИЕ И ФОНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО АНГЛИЙСКОГО В ГОРОДЕ ВАШИНГТОН

Научная статья

Сеттарова М.Д.^*

Крымский инженерно-педагогический университет, Симферополь, Россия

* Корреспондирующий автор (maye.settar[at]mail.ru)

Аннотация

В данной статье рассматриваются фонетические и фонологические особенности американского варианта английского языка в городе Вашингтон, Округ Колумбия. Главной целью исследования является выявить и описать особенности произношения в речи жителей города Вашингтон. В статье применяется термин «вариативность» по отношению к произносительным особенностям языковой нормы американского английского. Описываются качественные и количественные модификации гласных, согласных и дифтонгов в речи жителей г. Вашингтон. Также перечисляются факторы, которые повлияли на формирование фонетических особенностей английского данного региона. Новизна данной работы состоит в том, что автором выявлены и описаны особенности произношения в речи жителей г. Вашингтон на основании слухового анализа и экспериментальных исследований.

Ключевые слова: вариативность, вариант, американский вариант английского языка, диалект, социолект, речевая норма.

PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES OF AMERICAN ENGLISH IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON

Research article

Settarova M.D.^*

Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University, Simferopol, Russia

* Corresponding author (maye.settar[at]mail.ru)

Abstract

This article examines the phonetic and phonological features of American English in Washington, DC. The main purpose of the study is to identify and describe the peculiarities of pronunciation in the speech of the city residents. The article uses the term "variability" in relation to the pronunciation characteristics of the linguistic norm of American English. Describes the qualitative and quantitative modifications of vowels, consonants and diphthongs in the speech of residents of Washington. It also lists the factors that influenced the formation of the phonetic features of the English language in the region. The novelty of the work is that the author has identified and described the peculiarities of pronunciation in the speech of people who live in the city of Washington based on auditory analysis and experimental research.

Keywords: variability, variant, American English, dialect, sociolect, speech norm.

English is the national language of the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. People, living in the above-mentioned states, have their own pronunciation as their national language. However, the language differs in dialects. Dialect is a kind of language used by a smaller group of people connected by a territorial, professional or social community [1, P. 25]. It is very difficult to draw a clear line between dialect speech and the variety of the language, since these two concepts are defined as pronunciation peculiarities of a language for a certain group of people [10].

There is a large number of studies on American English variety, but there is relatively little research of the English language in the city of Washington. Variety in speech is not entirely random or chaotic, many specific factors can interfere mechanisms of a language change.

Sociophonetics focuses on the relationship between the phonetic or phonological forms and social factors such as speech style, origin, education and status of a speaker [5],[7],[9]. Any sociophonetic research is definitely an effort to find quantitative relationships between linguistic and social variation. Washington, DC is located in the northeastern United States on the Potomac River and is the capital of the United States of America. Thesociophoneticvariety of the English language in the city of Washington belongs to the northeastern dialect of the North of the United States, and also includes elements of dialects from regions such as the West and the Midwest, and is used in the bordering states of Maryland and Virginia. The study of the sociophonetic variety of the speech in Washington is a particularly difficult task, since the majority of the population keep arriving in the city [6],[4]. A common migration history and general patterns of urban growth unite many US states culturally and linguistically.

The city was largely inhabited by migrants from the Midwestern and eastern regions. The abolition of slavery in the city of Washington and the District of Columbia in 1862 facilitated the migration of the African American population [8,P. 16-29]. Later, migrants started coming from different American dialectal areas, and it gave rise to sociophonetic variations of the English language in the city [6].

Our research was held with the help of different messengers and Zoom platform in 2021. Washington DC residents of different age (from 18-45), gender and social status (college students, different profession workers and unemployed youth) volunteered in the fulfilled survey. 20 speakers were asked to pronounce the set of words and sentences audibly for phonetic and phonological analysis of their speech. Analysis of people's speech who lived in the city of Washington revealed the following pronunciation tendencies in modern English depending on regional and social parameters.

- In the combinations -asp, -ass, -ast, teenagers and young people usually pronounce [æ] (grass, fast, cannot (can’t).

- There is also the use of a short sound [a] in the following words: brass , ask, class, fast, grass, dance, last, basket, path, ant.

- Very often you can hear an unrounded sound [ʌ] in box, hot, lot, not, pot.

- Using an extremely wide sound [r] in words such as father, far, park.

- Some vowels in such words as Mary (a widespread female name), to marry (to marry), merry (merry) end up merged with an open-mid unrounded vowel [e].

- Typical English diphthong vowels [ou], [eI] in some speakers’ speech (typical for people with a lower status in society), in the words as boat [but], goat [gut], bait [bet], acquire features of [u], [I] monophthongs.

- The presence of an extra sound [r], which is a marker for distinguishing North American words from English words (example - warsh instead of wash). The extra [r] indicates that the speaker probably comes from a “white family” that has lived in this city for several generations, and this is not typical for African Americans and newcomers.

- The vowel phoneme [e] sometimes sounds like a short [I] (for example - elk sounds very similar to [ilk]).

- In some cases, the sound [t] is pronounced - often [often].

- The presence of a strong sound [r] in the final positions, as in car [ka:r], particular, vernacular [9, P. 123].

Also the study shows that DC natives avoid certain grammatical features (such as double negatives) while changing the pronunciation of final consonants in some words, so that bed is pronounced bet, bag sounds more like back and lob becomes lop. By mixing and matching features like these, researchers say, people can signal several different identities in a single sentence [8, P. 16-29].

After having analyzed the peculiarities of American English in the city of Washington, we can see that the pronunciation tendencies in modern English depend on a number of social and regional factors: level of education; age; gender; race / nationality; social circle; upbringing; geographic migration; financial situation, etc [7, P. 163]. The above given examples show the main distinctions in pronunciation between the standard language and the dialect of the city of Washington. However, two people who are completely unfamiliar from different parts of the same country, who have sociophonetic variations of the English language, could understand each other easily.

Accordingly, the sociophonetic system of contemporary English variations depends directly on its historical development in a particular region, on the mutual connections between dialects, as well as on its influence on dialects of other languages. Several sounds and sound combinations often agree with the literary standard in some regions (primarily the South), but in others there are significant differences with respect to the national language. There are some sounds that are pronounced differently not only from the standard language but also among the different territories.

The main difference between dialects and Standard English involves both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of sounds. It is common for dialects of the same language to pronounce certain sounds that are silent in Standard English. And vice versa, some of them are omitted in dialects but pronounced in the literary language. The use of so-called parasitic speech sounds in words (epenthesis, dissimilation and mobile formatives) is also common for some dialects.

A number of factors determines the degree of deference between dialectal speech and the standard pronunciation: language history, developing of dialects, the social and economic structure of society and many others. In some cases, in dialectal speech, it is possible to identify the norms of the language that have already fallen out of use in the language standard [2]:

• Vowel centralization: The vowel before an “R” gets pronounced in a different part of the mouth, leading words like “carry” to be pronounced like “curry”; “strawberry” like “strawbury,” “Maryland” like “Muriland.”
• R-lessness: The R gets dropped in several words, so “party” will be pronounced “pahty,” or “mother” will sound like “mutha.”
• Monophthongization: A diphthong is where a vowel is made up of two sounds — for instance, the vowel in “time” is “ah” and “ee” put together. “Time” becomes “tahm,” “I” becomes “Ah.” This is a common feature of Southern accents.

It is also worth mentioning that over time, territorial dialects and regional varieties of the same language isreducing; they level with each other, approaching the standard pronunciation of the language. Study shows that speech of residents of Washington DC in comparison with the all-American standard has its distinctive peculiarities, which took place due to the impact of social, territorial and historical-geographical factors.

Конфликт интересов Не указан.

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Список литературы / References

1. Аракин В. Д. История английского языка: учеб. пособие для пед. ин-тов по специальности ин. яз. / В. Д. Аракин. М.: Просвещение, 1987. - 310 с.
2. Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка / И.В. Арнольд. М.: Высшая школа, 1988. - 268 с.
3. Швейцер А. Д. Социальная дифференциация языка в США. / А. Д. Швейцер. М.: 1985. - 278 с.
4. Language, Structure and Agency: What Can Realist Social Theory Offer to Sociolinguistics? / B. Carter, A. Sealey // Journal of Sociolinguistics. -2000. - Vol. 4 No 1. -P. 3-20.
5. Foulkes P. Sociophonetics // Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics / P. Foulkes // Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006. - No 2. - Р. 495-500.
6. Johnson S. Who's Misunderstanding Whom? Sociolinguistics, Public Debate and the Media // Journal of Sociolinguistics. / S. Johnson // Lancaster University, 2001. - Vol. 5. No 4. -Р. 592-610.
7. Labov W. The Study of Language in its Social Context / W. Labov // Advances in the Sociology of Language. The Hague: Mouton, 1971. Vol. 1. - P. 154-210.
8. Labov W. Unendangered Dialect, Endangered People: The Case of African American Vernacular English / W. Labow // Transforming Anthropology. The Hague: Mouton, 2010. - Vol. 18 No 1. - P. 16-29.
9. Nancy A. D. American Diversity / A. D. Nancy, E.T. Stewart. N. Y.: Penguin Books, 1995. - 157 p.
10. Hudson R., Sociolinguistics. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.) / R. Hudson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. – 256 p.
11. Stuart B. F. I Hear America Talking an Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases: A Touchstone Book/ F. Stuart.N. Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1977. - 390 p.

Список литературы на английском языке / References

1. Arakin V. D. Istoriya anglijskogo yazyka: ucheb. posobie dlya ped. in-tov po special'nosti in. yaz. [History of the English language: a manual for pedagogical universities majoring in foreign language] / V. D. Arakin. M.: Prosveshchenie, 1987. - 310 p. [in Russian]

2. Arnol'd I. V. Leksikologiya sovremennogo anglijskogo yazyka [Lexicology of contemporary English] / I. V. Arnol'd. M.: Vysshaya shkola, 1988. - 268 p. [in Russian]

3. Shveytser A. D. Social'naya differenciaciya yazyka v S.SH.A[Social differentiation in USA] / A. D. Shveytser. M.: 1985. - 278 p. [in Russian]

4. Language, Structure and Agency: What Can Realist Social Theory Offer to Sociolinguistics? / B. Carter, A. Sealey // Journal of Sociolinguistics. -2000. - Vol. 4 No 1. -P. 3-20.

5. Foulkes P. Sociophonetics // Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics / P. Foulkes // Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006. - No 2. - Р. 495-500.

6. Johnson S. Who's Misunderstanding Whom? Sociolinguistics, Public Debate and the Media // Journal of Sociolinguistics. / S. Johnson // Lancaster University, 2001. - Vol. 5. No 4. -Р. 592-610.

7. Labov W. The Study of Language in its Social Context / W. Labov // Advances in the Sociology of Language. The Hague: Mouton, 1971. Vol. 1. - P. 154-210.

8. Labov W. Unendangered Dialect, Endangered People: The Case of African American Vernacular English / W. Labow // Transforming Anthropology. The Hague: Mouton, 2010. - Vol. 18 No 1. - P. 16-29.

9. Nancy A. D. American Diversity / A. D. Nancy, E.T. Stewart. N. Y.: Penguin Books, 1995. - 157 p.

10. Hudson R., Sociolinguistics. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.) / R. Hudson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. – 256 p.

11. Stuart B. F. I Hear America Talking an Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases: A Touchstone Book/F. Stuart.N. Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1977. - 390 p.