Do I Talk Funny? An acoustic analysis of Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver, and Chicagoland English

Abstract

This study examines the variable amounts of raising between urban and rural communities in British Columbia
with the Chicagoland urban community. Through a close look at the distribution of /ae/. /at1/, and /ao/ raising in
different phonetic contents across all three geographic areas, we found differences between Canadian speakers as
well as diversity between different communities in BC. Using acoustic analysis, we found /a1 / and /au/ raising
among speakers from the rural Vancouver Island group, while the Chicago and Metro Vancouver group
exhibited significant raising or only /au /. Regarding /ae/ raising, this appeared to be phoneticall  conditioed to
raise before the velar nasal among speakers of all regions . While this phonetic content is important other factors
appear to be at play given that raising before /g/ only occurred among Canadi ans, illuminating the need for
further studyof the /ae/ variable to examine whetehr it appears to be in stable variation or perhaps part of a larger change process.