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I think it was very interesting to learn about the different mergers in phonemes that the regions in the United States have gone through over time. An example from the interview was the clear distinction in the way people said their /w/. many regions of the country said words containing /w/ with the voiceless sound and other regions said them with the voiced /w/. With the merger, most of the country says words that contain /w/ with the voiced.

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Why is it that people from the inland north, such as people from northern cities, have such a shift in vowels? How did this come to be and why only in the north and also why only bigger cities?

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I think its so weird how the language changes over time and how dialects are even a thing. I also find it fascinating that even though we have different dialects we are still able to understand what the other person is trying to get across.

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I would like to know more as of why mergers happen they seem to have some theories but I would like to know more on that topic

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The most interesting thing that I learned is about mergers. Which means that two sounds that used to be different now sound the same. I also thought it was interesting that people don't even realize that they changing the sounds

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I have learned that the way we say words have have changed over time. The accents and dialects are becoming more different than they have in the past. Also the great vowel shift is very interesting every place has their own vowles.

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Why does region affect dialect? Why doesn't everyone talk the same everywhere?

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I learned that dialect is more of a regional issue in the US.

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Why do mergers happen?

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Mergers is something that I didn't know prior to listening to this interview.

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Is there a way we can predict these mergers, an is there any signs that another part of the country will have one?

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I didnt know what a  merger was or that difernet  sounds can change over time in differnt  area.

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Why do dialects form in only certain places/areas? And why do they continue to keep changing?

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Have the dialects in this region changed as dramatically as it appeared to change in the Northern regions over the years?

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I learned that the mass media doesn't actually effect the way we speak. I figured that the mass media had a huge impact on the way we spoke. I also learned that in some regions, words with the letter "a" go up which means that the point of the tongue that helps form the vowel is higher up in the mouth.

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How does a merger finish?

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I learned that a merger is a sound that use to be pronounced different, the sound now is now pronounced the same. In the interview they said that in the word "which," the /wh/ was actually voiceless, like you would be blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

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I learned that two words such as black and block sound very different to me but to other people who have a different regional dialect might confuse these words for each other by the way they sound because they pronounce them so differently. I did not realize the dramatic change in words due to regional dialect.

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To me, language seems relatively unchanged (beyond the slang). I would have thought that our language would, for the most part, remain the same, but language is changing and shifting.

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Why would a group of people shift how they pronounce a word? How would a whole region of people shift or change their everyday influence without even noticing?

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In what area do speech sounds change the most?

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I learned that in the 1950's in a Northern City the short vowel sounds began to shift. This occurrence made northern people sound differently than others.

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This interview was very interesting. I loved the experiments and it really showed clearly how different geographical locations pronounce words differently! Loved this!!

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Why do some sounds change more drastically than others?

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Language changes over years which is extremely interesting. Also, I relate to the experiment where people say things differently and can get confused! It is carried on through time and the people that live in that location, very cool!

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I think the shifting of the vowel quad is very interesting for both north and south.

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Language is always changing, especially depending on where you are it is not very stable. Dialect is also more of a regional thing.

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I find it very interesting that language continues to change and that people are speaking more differently now than they ever have before.

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When you don't make a distinction of a certain sound in your own speech then you may not hear it in another person's speech.

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In class, we have discussed how "feel" "fill" and "phil" all sound the same in the south. Is this an example of a merger?

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I learned that regional dialects are becoming more different and that media doesn't have an affect on how we speak.

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I learned that words are merged. This means that words that used to have different sounds now sound the same. For example the words dew and do.

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Why do regional dialects continue to change?

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I know that Dr.Labov talked about the northern city shift, but how did it come to a point where people thought someone was saying the word "black" but they were really saying "block" ?

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I learned that in the inland north every word with the letter "a" goes up (the point of the tongue that creates the vowel is higher up in the mouth.) I also learned about the northern city shift, and how the northern region talks differently than the rest of the country.

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Language overall is very distinct and different across our country. I know I even see it back at home just within a 20 mile radius. I live out in the country, so everyone tends to have more of a twang in their voice. However, when I travel into town just 20 minutes away, everyone talks more "distinguished" and without a twang.

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I learned that with a lot of dialects, people put a social value on certain sounds, and most of the time, they do not even realize how different they sound to others until placed among those who do not speak similarly.

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Has this shift happen in other countries?

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People from certain regions speech in certain ways and this can make a feeling of family. If people hear others that speak like them they feel a connection to them.

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I learned that some vowels change more than others. long vowels tend to shift but short vowels do not. they are in the same "kind"
of sounds but only some change.

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Is there a southern city shift too?

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The more you pay attention to dialectical differences the more you realize how different they are. I have family from Buffalo and will be visiting them over Thanksgiving break, so I am looking forward to examining the difference in their vowel sounds.
Lauren Cartwright

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I learned about the Northern city shift in the 1950's, and how the northern region talks differently than the rest of the country.

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Why is language not stable?

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Why do mergers occur? The speaker said that they gradually occur over time, but I still do not understand how we transition from one pronunciation to another.

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I had not heard of the concept mergers before. It is interesting that some pronunciations are 'phasing out' and being replaced by other pronunciations. The example that the speaker used is the pronunciation of the word 'which.' The 'wh' used to be pronounced as if one were blowing out a candle, whereas now it is just pronounced as a /w/.

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I would love to study the history behind all of the different accents and why they are where they are and why some people pronounce things a certain way. Where did it all start? I always wanted to learn more about that in history class in high school.

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I found interesting that mergers are being combined with others to where there isn't much of a difference between voiceless and voiced sounds in some words. An example would be when could be voiceless or voiced.

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I have always found dialects very interesting. I love to hear the different way people pronounce words and compare them to how I pronounce them. It is crazy how there can be a dialectal difference within states but they still can be located close to each other.

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What starts a local dialect?

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Grace Shetler                               I did not know there was a northern city shift. I could obviously tell northern people have a different accent, but I did not know it was called something.

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Grace Shetler                               I did not know there was a northern city shift. I could obviously tell northern people have a different accent, but I did not know it was called something.

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As someone who is working toward a major in Spanish, I am wondering, is there evidence of merger sounds in other languages besides English?

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I found it very interesting that at one point in time words such as "when" and "which" began without initial voicing. This is due to the merger sound which has nearly eliminated the voiceless pronunciation.

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What is the main difference between a "merge" and a "shift"

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I found this entire interview very interesting. I never stopped to think about how slang and dialects have changed over time. I am also interested in knowing more about words such as "boo" and "dew" and how they used to be pronounced differently than how most people pronounce them today!

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I learned through this clip that every region has a very distinct dialect. That because everyone talks differently dose not necessarily mean they are talking wrong. And that we can mistake the meaning someone is trying to convey because of the dialect.

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What does Dr. Labov mean by "word mergers"?

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I love learning about dialects and the history of how they came about for each region. It's crazy how we can speak so differently yet still be so close geographically.

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I found his comment, "Language isn't very stable" interesting because I had never really thought about it but he's right. Looking back in time, language and slang changes so quickly without us realizing it.

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I found it really fascinating that there are so many different ways that a word is pronounced depending on where a person is from. A shift in the vowel quadrilateral is evident in many of the words that were given as examples in this interview. Like the example of "black" and "block". It may sound like "black" to someone in the south or elsewhere, but in other states, it may be understood to be "block".

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I find the whole topic of dialects to be very interesting.

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Why are dialects different in the North and South?

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After listening to this interview I am left to wonder about the role dialects play in how people from one region perceive people from another? Some perceptions have evolved into stereotypes while others are made subconsciously and I would be interested in finding out if dialect and the way words are pronounced impact how others receive and process verbal information.

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I didn't know that "man" was pronounced so differently across the country. I have never noticed people saying it different from the way I say it.

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How long does the local dialect typically take, to merge into the regional dialect?

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I learned how sentence structure really defines how we perceive a sound. An example he used was how people said "bus" when I heard it alone I heard "boss", but when I heard it in the sentence I heard "bus".

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What is the most common merger?

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I think it is so interesting to learn about these mergers and hear the dialectal differences all around the United States. I would also be interested to see how these shifts first occurred.

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It was interesting to learn just how unstable language really is and the fact that when it changes or "merges" we rarely recognize the change.

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Are vowels more likely to change than consonants? Why?

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Language is so diverse. It varies everywhere you go, that's what makes our jobs so special, we can always count on finding new cases. I enjoy the excitement of that fact.

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I learned a lot about the dialects around us everyday that we tend to not pay attention too. I found it interesting that as he gave examples I reflected on them and realized I hear similar things on a daily basis then I realize.

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Why do short vowels change less often than long vowels?

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Small cities tend to use "local" dialects. The "local" dialect is usually least widely used, and will most likely diminish over time.

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Why would sounds change so much over the years? Could it be because culture always changing?

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If one doesn't make a distinction in ones own speech, one may not hear it in another person speech.
Which just goes to show that not everyone speaks the same way, or grew up in the same environments.

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I am curious to know if there is research on the factors that have played a role in the ways we have changed the pronunciation of two different words to sound more like the same word. Does technology play a factor? Are we, as a society, just becoming more lazy when speaking? I am also curious to see what changes are made in language over the next 50 years if the current pattern of language changes continues.

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I have experienced a word confusion similar to the ones he described in the video. This summer a lady was trying to explain that we had booked a hotel in a part of town that wasn't very safe. When explaining, she mentioned that there were homeless people who are known to try to take your belongings. In her explanation she used the word "bums" but to me it sounded like "bombs". Of course my response was, " There are BOMBS down there?!?" At first she just replied with a confirmation that there were in fact "bombs" there. She did not hear the difference in the two words when I repeated them back to her at first. I had to ask for further clarification before understanding what she actually meant. It is very interesting to experience language differences between two states that border each other. Most people don't realize how much language can change in a short distance.

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I think learning more about sound change in general English should be mandatory.

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When you go to different places around the world we think we hear one word "black", but in reality the word was "block" (this also happens with a lot of different words, not just these two). So, we misinterpret a lot of things in different parts of the world.

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After listening to the video, it was interesting to learn that regions very closely located can have very different dialects. An example of this in the interview was the difference in the dialects
of New York and Philadelphia.

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Does immigration have an impact on the increasing diversity of the regional dialects? If not, what are the causes of this growing diversity?

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I found it very interesting when they were explaining the Northern City Shift. The explained that when they were experimenting with people in Chicago and Atlanta and heard the world "block" but they were actually thought they were hearing the word "black. I just found this super interesting and how people actually say words like this.

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I learned that the regional dialects are becoming more different, so the people of Los Angeles and St. Louis are speaking way more different than they ever did.

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Is there research about other English speaking countries? For example, in England like the US they have different accents based on geographical location. Would this be because of a merger or something different?

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This makes me wonder why it changed the way that it did and how the regions became separated. Also, could we predict how dialects will change in the future. Do you think the internet and being connected to the entire world will change how we speak in the future? And do you think that as technology advances that it may play a role in how we pronounce certain things?

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Sonya Collins

I happen to find regional dialects and cultural dialects endearing and interesting. What I really hear him saying is that the English language is fluid within the United States; I would be interested to understand why shifts occur within our dialects.

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Sonya Collins

What would be the underlying cause of the Northern City Shift of some cities in the 1950’s?  Could it possibly be an influx of immigrants into a specific area or was there something within the cultures of those regions that provided new words or ways of pronouncing them?  For instance maybe a popular Hollywood star or someone with great influence that spoke differently?

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Sonya Collins

I learned that our regional differences in dialect are not being eroded by mass media, that in fact, our regional dialects are getting more and more different. I would have believed that the opposite is true, and that through the use of the internet and social media that we would become more interconnected, therefore, causing us to use more of the same language and qualities of language.

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Why do mergers finish, and how does a merger truly finish if language is always changing?

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Language is not stable. It is always changing, with mergers being a great example of that.

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Is Dr. Labov a Speech Pathologist, or is he just a researcher?

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Some mergers are almost finished such as the word "which". There is now almost only one pronunciation of this word.

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Why hasn't the rest of the country had a shift like the northern city shift?

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Why hasn't the rest of the country had a shift like the northern city shift?

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The Northern city shift began in the 1950's because the short vowels began to move, making people in the north speak different than the rest of the country. 

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The Northern city shift began in the 1950's because the short vowels began to move, making people in the north speak different than the rest of the country. 

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Why did long vowels do the "great vowel shift"?

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If one doesn't make a distinction of a sound in their own speech, they may not hear it in another person's speech.