Pacific Northwest accent

<<>> Its pretty much like GenAm, with the exception that it's COT-CAUGHT merged with a rounded vowel ([Q] or [O]).
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This is not true at all. The merged vowel in Pacific Northwest is unrounded [A].
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Sarcastic Northwesterner definitely used a rounded vowel (and a rather close one at that)
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It's true, though, the Northwestern subjects in the Speech Accent Archive all seemed to use unrounded vowels.

<<

Hmm. Wow. It sounds like it's all over the place. So, exactly which vowel should I use? I couldn't tell which vowel was used in the recording above.>>

I think the confusion has to do with the fact that the COT/CAUGHT phoneme in Pacific Northwest English is realized at a very low-back position, as evidenced from this Labov spectro analysis chart:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pacific_Northwest_English_vowel_space.PNG

The problem here is that it's fairly hard to distinguish between rounded and unrounded variants of a vowel in that position. The mouth itself is rounded, so if the jaw is that open the vowel will have a certain degree of roundedness regardless of whether the speaker is making a conscious effort to do so. That's why most of the articles mentioned here avoid assigning rounded/unrounded vowels to the phoneme. Of all the round/unround pairs of phonemes, /A/ and /Q/ are the least distinguishable.

>> e's [E] should be semi-open: get [gEt], <<

Shouldn't "get" have [I] rather than [E]?

>> That's why most of the articles mentioned here avoid assigning rounded/unrounded vowels to the phoneme. Of all the round/unround pairs of phonemes, /A/ and /Q/ are the least distinguishable. <<

So which sound should one produce that most closely approximates the vowel used in the NW?

It's basically a very low, back vowel--just let your jaw drop all the way, relax your tongue, and that's essentially the sound you're going for.

In other terms, it would basically be the same sound that someone from Chicago or Michigan would use for "caught," except it would extend to "cot words as well.

>> except for bag which has [e(i)] in Pacific Northwest, like
Minnesota, and unlike California <<

I don't agree. It's not exactly that. I don't know how to transcribe it though. The vowel in "bag" is not the same as that in "vague", which has [e(I)]. It's certainly higher before /g/ than say, /d/ or /n/, but "bag" and "vague" don't sound identical--close, yes, but not identical.

<<I don't agree. It's not exactly that. I don't know how to transcribe it though. The vowel in "bag" is not the same as that in "vague", which has [e(I)]. It's certainly higher before /g/ than say, /d/ or /n/, but "bag" and "vague" don't sound identical--close, yes, but not identical.>>

When I've heard Western speakers use it, it's usually sounded something like [bE:\g]. This espeically contrasts with the /{/ phoneme, since in the Northwest that vowel is typically lowered to [a].

In Cali and Oregon [bEg] is beg, [b{g] is bag.
catch and bag both have [{]

>> In Cali and Oregon [bEg] is beg, [b{g] is bag.
catch and bag both have [{] <<

You mean catch sometimes has [{]. /E/ is also an acceptable alternative pronunciation even in CA and OR.

/E/ is also an acceptable alternative pronunciation even in CA and OR.

Only in transplants.

>> /E/ is also an acceptable alternative pronunciation even in CA and OR.

Only in transplants. <<

Not true. Catch can be pronounced either as /kEtS/ or /k{tS/. Although with the California vowel shift, /kEtS/ would sound like it has [{].

-Catch can be pronounced either as /kEtS/ or /k{tS/. -


This is not true. There is regional preference:

/kEtS/ is Inland North and Central Canadian pronunciation
/k{tS/ is used in California.

>>
This is not true. There is regional preference:

/kEtS/ is Inland North and Central Canadian pronunciation
/k{tS/ is used in California. <<

I don't buy that. Do you have any actual studies to back that up? Or did you simply hear 5 speakers from California and 3 from the Inland North and 3 from Central Canada (of course they were originally from New York City, but you didn't know that), and simply concluded that that's how all 36,553,215 people in California must say the word (ok, maybe half that number to represent the California natives). And how did you come up with those particular isoglosses anyway? Perhaps it's only people in Southern California and say, Arizona that pronounce it like you say they do, but people from say, Northern California and southern Oregon say it the other way. Catch is pronounced with either an "a" sound or an "e" sound all over North America. Now, the California vowel shift would cause "e" to sound like "e", so someone with the shift from California would make it sound more like an "a" sound, even if they were saying it as "ketch".

-I don't buy that-

Your problem. Regional preferences do exists, and sorry with /O/
and catch, bag, cap with /E/ are so not SoCal.

-Catch is pronounced with either an "a" sound or an "e" sound all over North America. -


This is not true. There are regional preferences.
It's like saying ''Cot can either rhyme with Caught or not rhyme with Caught'' all over North America.

Dialect maps:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.php