Great Lakes Vowel Shift

When people hear about others that say something differently than they do, a lot of them think: “Oh, they must be from somewhere else”. Although this is often the case, it doesn’t have to be anymore. It’s the same thing as the pop/soda/coke debate, except this is pronunciation-based. Take the words “caught” and “cot”: some people say them cɔt (cawt) and others say them cɑt (caht). Yet, other people will say “caught” like cɔt while saying “cot” cɑt. The sounds “ɔ” and “ɑ” are becoming melded together because of the “ɔ” is being lowered a bit and the “ɑ” is being raised. This means that the sound being produced in the speaker’s mouth is neither a true “ɔ” nor a true “ɑ”, but somewhere in between the two sounds, which while remaining at the back of the mouth, is not truly either sound. “Caught” and “cot” are not the only words affect by this change, though. Similarly affected words include, but are not limited to: taught and tot, bought and bot, and wrought and rot. This is called either the Great Lakes Vowel Shift or the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.

The list goes on, but you get the idea. Basically, the language is changing. Dialects are altering because people are moving around. TV and radio, along with other audio-based things, have brought the world to our doors. This exposure to other accents along with other languages can affect pronunciation a bit, especially after a long time. For a quick look at accents from a lot of different places, go to www.youtube.com and search for “accent tags”

There is a Wikipedia article that goes a bit more in-depth, and is easy to understand as a non-linguist, so if you want to find out more, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shift

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