Pacific Northwest English
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Pacific Northwest English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest, defined as an area that includes part of the west coast of United States and Canada, is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of the dialect. As is the case of English spoken in any region, not all features are used by all speakers in the region, and not all features are restricted in use only to the region. The dialect is very similar to General American with the cot-caught merger, and some features in common with Prairies and Californian English.
History
Linguists who studied English as spoken in the West before and in the period immediately after World War II tended to find few if any distinct patterns unique to the Western region [#endnote_wolfram]. However, several decades later, with a more settled population and continued immigration from all over the globe, a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of Pacific Northwest English had begun to attract notice by linguists of the late 20th century and on. However, Pacific Northwest English still remains remarkably close to the "standard American accent," with the primary exception being the cot/caught merger (although this even is not universal, especially among non-youths in the Seattle area).[Hear Pacific Northwest English]
Phonology
As a variety of North American English, Pacific Northwest English is similar to most other forms of North American speech in being a rhotic accent, which is historically a significant marker in differentiating different English varieties. Notable is the absence of /ɔ/, which has merged with /ɑ/ through the cot-caught merger.
- Some front vowels are raised before velar nasal [ŋ], so that the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ is raised to a close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] before[ŋ]. This change makes for minimal pairs such as rang and rain, both having the same vowel [e], differing from rang [ræŋ] in other varieties of English.
- The vowels in words such as Mary, marry, merry are merged to the open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ]
- Most speakers do not distinguish between the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] and open back unrounded vowel [ɑ], characteristic of the cot-caught merger. A notable exception occurs with some speakers over the age of 60.
- Traditionally diphthongal vowels such as [oʊ] as in boat and [eɪ], as in bait, have acquired qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers. However, the continuing presence of slight offglides (if less salient than those of, say, British Received Pronunciation) and convention in IPA transcription for English account for continuing use of [oʊ] and [eɪ].
- [ɛ] and sometimes [æ] as [e] before g.: "egg" and "leg" pronounced "ayg" and "layg".
- The Pacific Northwest has some of the features of the California vowel shift and the Canadian vowel shift, but to a lesser extent than other dialects.
- /æ/ is raised and diphthongized to [eə] or [ɪə] before nasal consonants in Portland, and in some areas of Southern Oregon. This feature is virtually absent further North, where /æ/ is tense before /g/ only.
- /æ/ is lowered in the direction of [a], although to a much lesser extent than in neighboring regions, and is more common in male speakers. Female speakers may even raise it slightly. Before /g/, in the Northern PNW it is pronounced tense, and in Portland, before /n/ it is also tense.
- /æ/ before /ŋ/ may be identified with the phoneme /e/.
- the Close central rounded vowel [ʉ] or Close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] for [u], is found in Portland, and some areas of Southern Oregon, but is generally not found further North, where the vowel is [u].
- /ɪŋ/ in words of more than two syllables tends to be pronounced as /in/ or /ɪn/.
- Somes speakers have a tendency to slightly raise /ai/ and /aw/ before voiceless consonants. It is strongest in rural areas in British Columbia, and in older and middle aged speakers in Vancouver. In some rural areas in Washington, /ai/ and /aw/ are raised slightly, and in other areas /ai/ is occasionally raised.
- Some speakers in Eastern Washington and Oregon either perceive or produce the pairs /ɛn/ and /ɪn/ close to each other[#endnote_labov], resulting in a merger between "pen" and "pin."
Lexicon
British Columbia English has several words still in current use which are loanwords from the Chinook Jargon, which was widely spoken throughout the province by all ethnicities well into the middle of the 20th Century. Granted these originally came from the lower Columbia River (for the most part) but the Jargon came to B.C. before the mainland colony was declared and the development of the Jargon in the form it spread to here as is the direct result of British influence (the HBC's activity) in the region. These words tend to be shared with, but are not as common in, the states of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and, to a lesser degree, Idaho and western Montana.- Skookum — The most famous of these words, and probably the most popular still — and the most versatile — is skookum, which was used in the Jargon either as a verb auxiliary for to be able or an adjective for able, strong, big, genuine, reliable - which sums up its use in BC English, although there are a wide range of possible usages: a skookum house is a jail or prison (house in the Jargon could mean anything from a building to a room. "He's a skookum guy" means that the person is solid and reliable while "we need somebody who's skookum" means that a strong and large person is needed. A carpenter, after banging a stud into place, might check it or refer to it as "yeah, that's skookum". Asking for affirmation, someone might say "is that skookum" or "is that skookum with you?" Skookum can also be translated simply as "O.K." but it means something a bit more emphatic.
- Chuck, saltchuck — Other Jargon words in BC English include chuck, originally meaning water or any fluid but adapted into English to refer to bodies of water, particularly "the saltchuck" in reference to salt water. In combination with skookum the compound word skookumchuck, meaning a rapids (lit. "strong water"), is found in three placenames although not used with its true meaning in ordinary speech. Chuck and saltchuck, however, remain common, notably in local broadcast English in weather/marine reports).
- Muckamuck, high muckamuck. There's also "high muckamuck" and even its proper form "hyas muckamuck" (pronounced "high-ass", and in English carrying that connotation), and the variant "high mucketymuck"; "high mucketymuck/muckamuck" has spread far beyond the Pacific Northwest, and meaning a big boss, a high poohbah, and while literally meaning "big feed" or "important banquet", potentially meaning even a fullblown potlatch - another very BC word, by the way - in English it has a sense of "the guys at the head table" since "muckamuck" or "a feed" is in the same vein in non-city BC English as "grub" or "a meal/dinner".
- Quiggly, quiggly hole — refers to the remains of an old Indian pit-house, or underground house, from "kickwillie" or "kekuli", which in the Jargon means "down" or "underneath" or "beneath".
- Siwash — (SAI-wash) properly a First Nations man, but sometimes used for women as well. Nowadays considered extremely derogatory but still in use, typically with the connotation of "drunken no-good Indian". Historically it did not necessarily have this connotation and was the generic term for Natives to the point where some writers thought there was a "Siwash tribe" in the region. The origin of the word is from the French sauvage. When pronounced Sa-WASH, with the rhythm of the original French, it is used by modern speakers of the Chinook Jargon in Grand Ronde, Oregon with the context of meaning a Native American, or as an adjective connoting connection to same (the SAI-wash prononciation is considered offensive in Grand Ronde).
- Klootchman — in the Jargon meaning simply "a woman" or the female of something - klootchman kiuatan (mare), klootchman lecosho (sow), tenas klootchman or klootchman tenas (girl, female child). Still in use in English in some areas and with people of an older background to mean a First Nations woman, or to refer to the wives/women attached to a certain group in a joking way e.g. "we sent all the klootchman to the kitchen while we played cards". Unlike its male equivalent siwash, klootchman does not generally have a derisive tone nowadays (when used).
- Masi — In northern BC and the Yukon, and used in broadcast English in those areas, the Chinook Jargon adaption of the French merci remains common, i.e. mahsi or masi, with the accent on the first syllable (unlike in French).
- Tyee — leader, chief, boss. Also "Big Tyee" in the context of "boss" or well-known person. In Campbell River and in the sport-fishing business, a really big chinook salmon (Campbell River) is a Tyee. In the Jargon Tyee meant chief, and could also be an adjective denoting "big", as with "tyee salmon" or tyee lamel (boss mule). A hyas tyee means "important/big ruler/leader", i.e. — king, big boss, important ruler, and is also sometimes used in English in the same way as Big Tyee. e.g. "He was the undisputed hyas tyee of all the country between the Johnstone Strait and Comox" This was also the common title used for the famous chiefs of the early era, such as Maquinna, for whom it was applied by Captain Vancouver and others in the context of "king". The Hyas Klootchman Tyee — "Great Woman Ruler", roughly "Her Majesty", was the historical term for Queen Victoria. The word tyee was commonly used and still occurs in some local English usages meaning "boss" or someone in charge. Business and local political and community figures of a certain stature from some areas are sometimes referred to in the British Columbia papers and histories by the old chiefly name worn by Maquinna and Concomly and Nicola. A man called hyas tyee would have been a senator, a longtime MP or MLA, or a business magnate with a strong local powerbase, long-time connections, and wealth from and because of the area.
- Hiyu — less common nowadays, but still heard in some places to mean a party or gathering. From the Chinook for "many" or "several" or "lots of". The Big Hiyu was a week-long joint celebration of Dominion Day and the Glorious Fourth in the Fraser Canyon town of Lillooet, featuring horse races, gambling, a rodeo and other festivities. A tenas hiyu (small gathering) was on a much smaller scale.
Notes
- ↑
- ↑
Further reading
- Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages. Peter Ladefoged, 2003. Blackwell Publishing.
- Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Suzanne Romaine, 2000. Oxford University Press.
- How We Talk: American Regional English Today. Allan Metcalf, 2000. Houghton Mifflin.
See also
- Chain shift
- California English
- Vowel Shift
- West/Central Canadian English#British Columbia
External links
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