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The New York City–New Orleans connection: Evidence from constraint ranking comparison

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2019

Katie Carmichael  and
Kara Becker
Katie Carmichael
Affiliation:
Virginia Tech
Kara Becker
Affiliation:
Reed College
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Abstract

New York City English (NYCE) and New Orleans English (NOE) demonstrate remarkable similarity for cities located 1300 miles apart. Though the question of whether these dialects feature a shared history has fueled papers on the subject (Berger, 1980; Labov, 2007), there remain a number of issues with the historical record that prevent researchers from arriving at a consensus (Eble, 2016). This article presents linguistic evidence from constraint ranking comparisons of variable nonrhoticity and bought-raising in comparable contemporary samples of NYCE and NOE speakers. Findings demonstrate strikingly similar systems for (r), but dissimilar systems for bought-raising. We examine the results of our analyses in the context of evidence from previous comparisons of NYCE and NOE, concluding that the resemblance between the two dialects is likely due to diffusion from New York City to New Orleans, occurring in the 19th century before bought-raising emerged in either variety.

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Type
Research Article
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Language Variation and Change , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , October 2018 , pp. 287 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

We would like to acknowledge Nathalie Dajko, Connie Eble, and Richard Campanella for fruitful conversations about this paper. Any remaining mistakes in this paper are our own.

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