Article published In:
English World-WideVol. 26:2 (2005) ► pp.199–221
Mergers in the mountains
West Virginia division and unification
This paper examines the status of two vowel mergers in a rural area of the United States. The front-lax merger has traditionally been a southern US merger, and the low-back merger has traditionally been a northern or western US merger. In areas of West Virginia, the same speakers demonstrate both. This geographic overlap of both mergers reinforces the idea that West Virginia is a transitional dialect region. In addition, the traditionally distinct dialect regions of West Virginia are finding increased unity in this overlap of mergers.
Keywords: merger, Midland English, variation, vowel, American English, dialectology
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