I am from the Pittsburgh area and I pronounce "milk" roughly as /mɛwk/ or /mɛɫk/ (but only when enunciating more), and people from other areas have said that the former sounds strange. How do you say "milk"?
milk
There is variation between ["mIM_^?k] and ["m3_+M_^?k] for "milk" here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with neither form really being dominant over the other here in everyday speech (but particular individuals will generally use one form or the other rather than both most of the time).
I'm from Central Massachusetts and I pronounce it [ˈmɪɫk]: as far as I know, this pronunciation is universal here in New England. I'm familiar with the pronunciations that use [ɛ], but they do sound a bit strange to me.
We used to have a poster from Southern California, named Kirk, who pronounced "milk" with [ɛ]. This pronunciation definitely seems to have a wide distribution in North America.
We used to have a poster from Southern California, named Kirk, who pronounced "milk" with [ɛ]. This pronunciation definitely seems to have a wide distribution in North America.
I myself have [vɨ̃ːˈnɪːɰəː] for "vanilla", [mɨ̃ːˈnɪːɰəː] for "Manila", [ˈpʰɪːɰoː] for "pillow", but [ˈɜ̟ːɰɨ̃ːnɔːɪ̯] for "Illinois".
In the Yinzer dialect (I do not if that's the derogatory term... that's what my friend from Homer City calls it), post-vocalic /l/ often becomes more like /w/.
<<In the Yinzer dialect (I do not if that's the derogatory term... that's what my friend from Homer City calls it), post-vocalic /l/ often becomes more like /w/.>>
Yeah. My friends from California had a laugh about how we were going to go to the "maw" (mall).
And Yinzer isn't derogatory at all. Pittsburghers proudly call themselves Yinzers.
People from this area aren't the only people who vocalize L like that. Apparently Cockney people often say it as [mɪok], and it's also a common part of AAVE.
Yeah. My friends from California had a laugh about how we were going to go to the "maw" (mall).
And Yinzer isn't derogatory at all. Pittsburghers proudly call themselves Yinzers.
People from this area aren't the only people who vocalize L like that. Apparently Cockney people often say it as [mɪok], and it's also a common part of AAVE.
L-vocalization actually seems to be far more common in English than that. Aside from the cases where it is already widely known as existing, such as Cockney, the Pittsburgh dialect, and AAVE, it seems to actually be quite widespread in North America today. For instance, both me and Josh have L-vocalization, and I live in Wisconsin while he lives in Ontario, and from listening to NAE-speakers it seems that a *lot* of NAE-speakers actually have L-vocalization today (even though most transcriptions of NAE dialects do not mark L-vocalization). I do not frequently hear NAE-speakers today with even an unambiguous [5] in coda positions, which sticks out to me as sounding very "careful", and rather I generally hear NAE-speakers having something more open than [5] in such positions, thus indicating some degree of vocalization having taken place.
This happens to me sometimes too, depending on the scripto-graphs used, where it shows up as a bracketed square [ <square> ]. My machine replaces the unknown symbol with a generic square shape.
<<For instance, both me and Josh have L-vocalization, and I live in Wisconsin while he lives in Ontario, and from listening to NAE-speakers it seems that a *lot* of NAE-speakers actually have L-vocalization today>>
What do you think might be the cause of this? COuld it be the immigrant (Scandinavian, German) influence in the Midwest or something to this effect?
What do you think might be the cause of this? COuld it be the immigrant (Scandinavian, German) influence in the Midwest or something to this effect?
>>What do you think might be the cause of this? COuld it be the immigrant (Scandinavian, German) influence in the Midwest or something to this effect?<<
My guess is that such is more just an internal sound change within North American English dialects rather than any kind of substratum influence. Such is not documented as a substratum change here in the Upper MIdwest at all, even though High German dialects and Polish *could* have influenced L-vocalization. Rather, the documentation I have seen on such seems to indicate that L-vocalization in non-AAVE NAE dialects arose in the Pittsburgh area and just spread to other NAE dialects from there.
My guess is that such is more just an internal sound change within North American English dialects rather than any kind of substratum influence. Such is not documented as a substratum change here in the Upper MIdwest at all, even though High German dialects and Polish *could* have influenced L-vocalization. Rather, the documentation I have seen on such seems to indicate that L-vocalization in non-AAVE NAE dialects arose in the Pittsburgh area and just spread to other NAE dialects from there.
>>What do you think might be the cause of this? COuld it be the immigrant (Scandinavian, German) influence in the Midwest or something to this effect?<<
My guess is that such is more just an internal sound change within North American English dialects rather than any kind of substratum influence. Such is not documented as a substratum change here in the Upper MIdwest at all, even though High German dialects and Polish *could* have influenced L-vocalization. Rather, the documentation I have seen on such seems to indicate that L-vocalization in non-AAVE NAE dialects arose in the Pittsburgh area and just spread to other NAE dialects from there.
My guess is that such is more just an internal sound change within North American English dialects rather than any kind of substratum influence. Such is not documented as a substratum change here in the Upper MIdwest at all, even though High German dialects and Polish *could* have influenced L-vocalization. Rather, the documentation I have seen on such seems to indicate that L-vocalization in non-AAVE NAE dialects arose in the Pittsburgh area and just spread to other NAE dialects from there.
In Scotland it comes out something more like "mulk" than "milk".
When I was in London many people pronounced it something like "mew'k"....the "l" simply vanishes. "Oil 'ave 'a cappa tea, mi(t)e, pleeze - loadsa mew'k inni' - naw sugah, ta!"
When I was in London many people pronounced it something like "mew'k"....the "l" simply vanishes. "Oil 'ave 'a cappa tea, mi(t)e, pleeze - loadsa mew'k inni' - naw sugah, ta!"