My friend Corey (using her pseudonym, "Corrine McCarthy") gets a shout-out on the Linguist List for this abstract on the decline of /aw/ monophthongization and the Canadian shift in Pittsburgh. I don't read phonological alphabet, so I can't tell exactly what the Canadian shift is--/aw/ monophthongization is apparently what happens in "aht" and "Dahntahn." Anyway, big ups.
Posted by Matt Weiner at March 9, 2005 08:08 AMthe canadian shift involves the lowering/backing of /ae/ as in 'cat'. it is said to be dependent upon the low-back merger of the vowels in 'cot' and 'caught'.
Posted by: corey at March 9, 2005 11:54 AM