Acoustic analysis and languages attitudes in Detroit and Windsor

Nancy Niedzielski

Fri. 4:25-5:40 A

Preliminary research on the vowel spaces of speakers from Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, show that while there is little difference acoustically between many of the vowels of Detroit and Windsor, speakers from these two areas believe that there is a difference. Specifically, neither group realizes that Canadian Raising in words such as light and house has spread to Detroit (as well as several other Northern Cities), and it continues to be a stereotype of "Canadian" speech for both groups of speakers.

Furthermore, strong gender differences are found in the perception of this stereotype. Women are much more likely to comment on Canadian Raising (in the speech of Canadians, but not Detroiters) than men, despite the fact that both men and women from Detroit are using the raised variant.

This paper thus examines languages attitudes research in light of acoustic analysis of white middle class speakers in Detroit and Windsor. Vowel spaces of several speakers from each area will be presented, as well results of a language attitudes survey conducted in both areas.