Editing Western Pennsylvania English (section)

==Phonology==
{{IPA notice|section}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Vowels of Western Pennsylvania English
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|lax}}
! {{small|tense}}
! {{small|lax}}
! {{small|lax}}
! {{small|tense}}
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|ɪ}}
| {{IPA link|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʊ}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
| {{IPA link|ə}}
|
|
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPA link|æ}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɑ|ʌ}}
| {{IPA link|ɒ}}
|-
! [[Diphthong]]s
| colspan="6" | {{IPA|eɪ &nbsp; aɪ &nbsp; ɔɪ &nbsp; aʊ &nbsp; oʊ}}
|}

A defining feature of Western Pennsylvania English is the [[cot–caught merger]], in which {{IPA|/ɑ/}} (as in ''ah'') and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} (as in ''aw'') merge to a rounded {{IPA|/ɒ/}} (phonetically {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɒ}}~{{IPAplink|ɔ}}]}}). As in most other American dialects, the [[father–bother merger]] also occurs.<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon>{{cite book|last=Gagnon|first=C. L.|title=Language attitudes in Pittsburgh: 'Pittsburghese' vs. standard English. Master's thesis|year=1999|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|location=Pittsburgh}}</ref> Therefore, ''cot'' and ''caught'' are both pronounced {{IPA|/kɒt/}}; ''Don'' and ''dawn'' are both {{IPA|/dɒn/}}. While the merger of the low back vowels is also widespread elsewhere in the United States, the rounded realizations of the merged vowel around {{IPA|[ɒ]}} is less common, except in [[Canadian English#The low-back merger and the Canadian Shift|Canada]], [[California English|California]] and [[Eastern New England English|Northeastern New England]].<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/>

{{IPA|/ɒ/}} has a stylistic variant, which is open central unrounded {{IPAblink|ä}}, as in the sarcastic pronunciation of ''I apologize'' as {{IPA|[aɪ əˈpʰäɫɨdʒaɪz]}}. It may also occur before {{IPA|/r/}}, as in ''start'' {{IPA|[stäɹʔt]}} or ''car'' {{IPA|[kʰäɹ]}}, but a more common pronunciation is back and rounded: {{IPA|[stɒɹʔt]}} etc. The vowel in ''hoarse'' is the same as the one in ''horse'', phonetically {{IPAblink|ɔ}}: {{IPA|[hɔɹs]}} but phonemically {{IPA|/oʊ/}} due to the cot-caught merger: {{IPA|/hoʊrs/}}.{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|pp=71–2}}{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=484}}

{{IPA|/ʌ/}} is backer and more open than {{IPAblink|ɜ}} found in [[Midland American English]], being closer to {{IPAblink|ɑ}}. This makes {{sc2|STRUT}} an unrounded counterpart of {{sc2|LOT}}, with pairs such as ''nut'' {{IPA|[nɑʔt]}} vs. ''not'' {{IPA|[nɒʔt]}} or ''cut'' {{IPA|[kʰɑʔt]}} vs. ''cot'' {{IPA|[kʰɒʔt]}} contrasting mainly by [[roundedness]]. This is also found in contemporary Standard Southern British English, where ''nut'' {{IPA|[nʌʔt]}} also differs from ''not'' {{IPA|[nɔʔt]}} by rounding (though ''nought'' has a contrastive {{sc2|THOUGHT}} vowel instead: {{IPA|[no̞ːʔt]}}, which falls together with {{IPAblink|ɒ}} in Pittsburgh). Earlier reports give {{IPAblink|ɜ}} as the norm for {{sc2|STRUT}} in Pittsburgh. The remaining checked vowels {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, {{IPA|/ʊ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/æ/}} are all within the General American norm.{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|p=70}}{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|pp=88–9}}{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|pp=122, 126–128, 130}}

The {{sc2|GOAT}} vowel often has an unrounded central or fronted starting point in Pittsburgh: {{IPA|[əʊ]}}. Outside of the city itself, {{IPA|[oʊ]}} is more common. {{sc2|GOOSE}} is sometimes also fronted, to {{IPA|[ɨu]}} (more usual value: {{IPA|[ʊu]}}). As in other American dialects, {{sc2|FLEECE}} and {{sc2|FACE}} are narrow diphthongs {{IPA|[ɪi, ee̝]}}. {{sc2|CHOICE}} is also within GenAm norm: {{IPA|[ɔ̟ɪ]}}.{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|pp=70–2}}

The {{sc2|PRICE}} vowel alone undergoes [[Canadian raising]] to {{IPA|[ɜɪ]}} before voiceless consonants, as in ''ice'' {{IPA|[ɜɪs]}}. In 1971, the [[Journal of the International Phonetic Association]] published a description of the dialect, whose author Bruce Lee Johnson notes that the auxiliary verb ''might'' is typically pronounced with nasalization, as {{IPA|[mɜ̃ɪ̃ʔt]}}.{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|pp=72–3}} Elsewhere in the article, this allophone is transcribed {{angbr IPA|ʌɪ}}, following its usual transcription on Wikipedia.

The {{sc2|MOUTH}} vowel typically begins front in the mouth {{IPA|[æʊ]}}. A less common variant has a central starting point, {{IPA|[äʊ]}}, matching the starting point of {{sc2|PRICE}} ({{IPA|[äɪ]}}).{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|pp=71–2}} It is [[monophthong]]ized to {{IPA|[aː]}} in some environments (sounding instead like ''ah''), namely: before [[nasal stop|nasal consonants]] (''downtown'' {{IPA|[daːnˈtʰaːn]}} and ''found'' {{IPA|[faːnd]}}), [[liquid consonant]]s (''fowl'', ''hour'') and [[obstruent]]s (''house'' {{IPA|[haːs]}}, ''out'', ''cloudy'').<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon/> The monophthongization does not occur, however, in word-final positions (''how'', ''now''), and the diphthong then remains {{IPA|[æʊ]}}.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Kortmann |editor-first=Bernd |editor-first2=Edgar W. |editor-last2=Schneider |year=2004 |title=A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |pages=407–416 |doi=10.1515/9783110175325|isbn=978-3-11-019718-1 }}</ref> That is one of the few features, if not the only one, restricted almost exclusively to western Pennsylvania in North America, but it can sometimes be found in other accents of the English-speaking world, such as [[Cockney]] and [[South African English]].<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/> The sound may be the result of contact from [[Slavic languages]] during the early 20th century.<ref name=johnstone3/> Monophthongization also occurs for the sound {{IPA|/aɪ/}}, as in ''eye'', before liquid consonants,<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon/><ref name=hankey1>{{cite journal|last=Hankey|first=Clyde T.|title=Miscellany: 'tiger,' 'tagger,' and [aɪ] in western Pennsylvania|journal=American Speech|year=1965|volume=40|issue=3|pages=226–229|jstor=454074|doi=10.2307/454074}}</ref>  so that ''tile'' is pronounced {{IPA|[tʰɑːɫ]}}; ''pile'' is pronounced {{IPA|[pʰɑːɫ]}}; and ''iron'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ɑːɹn]}}. That phenomenon allows ''tire'' to merge with the sound of ''tar'': {{IPA|[tʰɑːɹ]}}.

The {{sc2|NURSE}} vowel (phonemically an {{IPA|/ər/}} sequence) is phonetically close-mid {{IPAblink|ɘ|ɘ˞}}.{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|p=72}}

Johnson notes a tendency to diphthongize {{IPA|/æ/}} to {{IPA|[ɛə]}} not only before nasals (as in GenAm) but also before all voiced consonants (as in ''bad'' {{IPA|[bɛəd]}}) and voiceless fricatives (as in ''grass'' {{IPA|[ɡɹɛəs]}}).{{sfnp|Johnson|1971|p=72}} This has since been reversed and now {{IPA|[ɛə]}} is confined to the environment of a following nasal, matching the GenAm allophony.{{sfnp|Duncan|2016|pp=1–2}}

An [[epenthesis|epenthetic]] (intruding) {{IPA|/r/}} sound may occur after vowels in a few words, such as ''water'' pronounced as {{IPA|[ˈwɔɹɾɚ]}}, and ''wash'' as {{IPA|[wɔɹʃ]}}.<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/>

A number of [[vowel merger]]s occur uniquely in Western Pennsylvania English before the consonant {{IPA|/l/}}. The pair of vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}} may merge before the {{IPA|/l/}} consonant,<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon/>{{sfnp|Brown|1982}} cause both ''steel'' and ''still'' to be pronounced as something like {{IPA|[stɪɫ]}}. Similarly, {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/oʊ/}}, and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} may merge before {{IPA|/l/}}, so that  ''pool'', ''pull'', and ''pole'' may merge to something like {{IPA|[pʰʊɫ]}}. On the {{IPA|/il/~/ɪl/}} merger, Labov, Ash and Boberg (2006) note "the stereotype of merger of {{IPA|/ɪl ~ il/}} is based only on a close approximation of some forms, and does not represent the underlying norms of the dialect."{{sfnp|Labov|Ash|Boberg|2006|p=72}} The {{IPA|/i/~/ɪ/}} merger is found in western Pennsylvania,<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon/>{{sfnp|Brown|1982}} as well as parts of the southern United States, including Alabama, Texas and the west (McElhinny 1999). On the other hand, the {{IPA|/u/~/ʊ/}} merger is consistently found only in western Pennsylvania. The {{IPA|/i/~/ɪ/}} merger towards {{IPA|[ɪ]}} may also appear before {{IPA|/ɡ/}}: ''eagle'' then sounds to outsiders like ''iggle''.<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=gagnon/>

[[L-vocalization|''L''-vocalization]] is also common in the Western Pennsylvania dialect; an {{IPA|/l/}} then sounds like a {{IPA|/w/}} or a cross between a vowel and a "dark" {{IPA|/l/}} at the end of a syllable.<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=hankey2>{{cite book|last=Hankey|first=Clyde T.|title=Notes on west Penn-Ohio phonology. In: Studies in Linguistics in Honor of Raven I. McDavid, Jr., ed. by L.M. Davis|year=1972|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-0010-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/studiesinlinguis0000unse/page/49 49–61]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/studiesinlinguis0000unse/page/49}}</ref> For example, ''well'' is pronounced as {{IPA|[wɛw]}}; ''milk'' as {{IPA|[mɪwk]}} or {{IPA|[mɛwk]}}; ''role'' as {{IPA|[ɹʊw]}}; and ''cold'' as {{IPA|[ˈkʰʊwd]}}. The phenomenon is also common in [[African-American English]].

The word ''mirror'' can be pronounced as the single-syllable ''mere''.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Western Pennsylvania English speakers may use falling intonation at the end of questions,<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=fasold>{{cite journal|last=Fasold|first=Ralph W.|title=The conversational function of Pennsylvania Dutch intonation|journal=Paper Presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAVE IX) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI|year=1980}}</ref> for example, in "Are you painting your garage?" {{IPA|[↗ˈɒɹ jə ˈpʰeɪɾ̃ɪŋ jɚ ɡə↘ˈɹɒdʒ]}} (with pitch rising in intonation up to just before the last syllable and then falling precipitously).<ref name=fasold/> Such speakers typically use falling pitch for yes–no questions for which they already are quite sure of the answer. A speaker uttering the above example is simply confirming what is already thought: yes, the person spoken to is painting their garage. It is most common in areas of heavy German settlement, especially southeastern Pennsylvania,<ref name=fasold/> hence its nickname, the "Pennsylvania Dutch question", but it is also found elsewhere in Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh.<ref name=johnstone2/><ref name=johnstone3/><ref name=fasold/>{{sfnp|Maxfield|1931}}{{sfnp|Layton|1999}}{{sfnp|Wisnosky|2003}}{{sfnp|Johnstone|Andrus|Danielson|2006}} It is of German origin.<ref name=fasold/>