Files
Abstract
In this dissertation, I analyze the acoustic data of vowel formant values of 20 American-born professional hockey players to establish if they have been influenced by Standard Canadian English (SCE). Specifically, I test for the presence of the Low-Back-Merger Shift (LBMS), the lowering and retraction of BIT, BET, and BAT, triggered by the Low-Back Merger of BOT and BOUGHT, Canadian raising (CR) of the nuclei in TIGHT and HOUSE before voiceless obstruents creating allophonic distinctions between TIE/TIGHT and COW/HOUSE, and monophthongal and more peripheral FACE and GOAT. The purpose of this study is to document the presence of any of these variables and provide a rationale for this presence.
Based on data from sociolinguistic interviews, I used three variable-specific metrics to quantify the presence of each variable. The LBMS was measured using the LBMS Index score which captures the Euclidean distances of BIT, BET, and BAT from BEET. The degree of CR was established by calculating the differential in formant values between unraised and raised variants. Monophthongization of FACE and GOAT was measured by the trajectory length between formant values throughout the vowel's duration.
The results demonstrate that American-born hockey players have adopted two of the variables but to differing degrees. The LBMS was largely absent from players outside of the West region where this shift has been well-documented. CR was found to be commonly occurring, but only TIGHT raising was uniformly present. HOUSE raising was far more common across the players when pre-nasal DOWN was the vowel which HOUSE was measured against. FACE was largely monophthongal but did not reach the peripheral state. GOAT was neither monophthongal or peripheral but was non-upgliding a variant pronunciation unique to the players.
The players’ CR was distinct from what has been attested in SCE but could not be accounted for based on the players’ regional dialect. Furthermore, the placement of TIE and COW showed further differentiation from SCE. Additionally, FACE and GOAT were uniform across players and inexplicable by regional dialect. I argue these variables have gained indexical value linked with hockey and their usage constitutes a hockey-based linguistic persona.
Based on data from sociolinguistic interviews, I used three variable-specific metrics to quantify the presence of each variable. The LBMS was measured using the LBMS Index score which captures the Euclidean distances of BIT, BET, and BAT from BEET. The degree of CR was established by calculating the differential in formant values between unraised and raised variants. Monophthongization of FACE and GOAT was measured by the trajectory length between formant values throughout the vowel's duration.
The results demonstrate that American-born hockey players have adopted two of the variables but to differing degrees. The LBMS was largely absent from players outside of the West region where this shift has been well-documented. CR was found to be commonly occurring, but only TIGHT raising was uniformly present. HOUSE raising was far more common across the players when pre-nasal DOWN was the vowel which HOUSE was measured against. FACE was largely monophthongal but did not reach the peripheral state. GOAT was neither monophthongal or peripheral but was non-upgliding a variant pronunciation unique to the players.
The players’ CR was distinct from what has been attested in SCE but could not be accounted for based on the players’ regional dialect. Furthermore, the placement of TIE and COW showed further differentiation from SCE. Additionally, FACE and GOAT were uniform across players and inexplicable by regional dialect. I argue these variables have gained indexical value linked with hockey and their usage constitutes a hockey-based linguistic persona.