Tham khảo tài liệu 'american voices how dialects differ from coast to coast_05', ngoại ngữ, anh ngữ phổ thông phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | spreading eastward. A recent survey directed by William Labov of the University of Pennsylvania has shown that the merger can be found today among younger generations roughly people under 40 in Kansas Nebraska and the Dakotas. It is also heard across much of Minnesota Iowa and Missouri. Similarly the merger affects central portions of Illinois Indiana and Ohio though its appearance in these areas may represent a westward expansion of the change from Pennsylvania. Many language changes attract negative attention particularly when they are associated with young people. It is not uncommon for example to hear criticisms of the use of like as a discourse marker a feature common among younger speakers . He like just came out of like the store . The cot caught merger however seems not to attract any such stigmatization. In fact people are largely unaware of it. Nevertheless it does occasionally lead to misunderstandings. One time I confused a native of Michigan where the merger does not occur by directing him to the copy room which he heard as coffee room. A fellow Nebraskan reports a similar experience in which she was speaking to her grandmother about a friend named Dawn. Apparently interpreting Dawn as Don the grandmother wanted to know why Dawn s parents had given her a boy s name. The Northern Cities Shift In other parts of the accentless Midwest another distinctive pronunciation pattern can be heard. This pattern also affects vowel sounds but unlike the cot caught merger it does not involve the loss of any distinctions. Instead the affected vowels come to be pronounced with the tongue positioned in a slightly different place in the mouth. As a result the vowels appear to be shifting around in articulatory space. Since this pattern occurs principally in the large urban centers of the traditional Northern dialect region it is known as the Northern Cities Shift NCS . The NCS involves changes to the six vowels illustrated by the words caught cot cat bit bet and but.
