Western New England English

Overview of phonology

Some Western New England speakers show the "generating conditions" for the Northern Cities Vowel Shift (or NCVS: the defining feature of the Great Lakes region's modern dialect) in backing of (to ), possible fronting of to , and tensing all instances of to something like . Though actually variable, these features occur among Western New England speakers just enough to suggest that they may be the "pivot conditions" that influenced the NCVS in the Inland North, likely beginning in the early twentieth century.

The English of Western New England in fact shows many sharp differences throughout rather than one uniform accent. In 2001, Charles Boberg, discussing that Western New England English was a likely direct influence on the Inland Northern English of the Great Lakes region, still identified as many as four or five English sub-regional accents within Western New England itself, based on data from the late 1990s:

• Northwestern Vermont (centered on Burlington) shows no raising of (except before nasal consonants), and therefore stays back in the mouth, leading to a cot–caught merger to [ɑ]; this whole process consistently follows the logic of the Canadian Shift of Standard Canadian English.
• Southwestern Vermont (centered on Rutland) shows a universal raising to and fronting to , but then oversteps and defies the logical direction of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift by producing a cot–caught merger to [ɑ̈].
• Western Massachusetts (centered on Springfield) shows a universal raising to and fronting to , following the logic of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, except that it tends towards a cot–caught merger to , which is especially completed among younger speakers.
• Central Connecticut (centered on Hartford) shows a universal raising to and fronting to , and thus avoiding the cot–caught merger; this whole process consistently follows the logic of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
• Coastal Connecticut (centered on New Haven), in the above respects, appears to have more in common with New York City English, including a clear absence of the cot–caught merger.

Charles Boberg argues that Northwestern New England (Vermont) English, due to its cot–caught merger but failure to demonstrate other features of the Eastern New England dialect, must be considered as its own separate dialect. On the other hand, in discussing Southwestern New England English as its own unique dialect, he instead proposed that it be regarded as a "subtype" of the Inland North dialect, based on the aforementioned commonalities, even if variable, such as the universal raising of the short a and no cot–caught merger. However, some younger Southwestern New England speakers have diverged away from both of these features, which Boberg at least partly foresaw; such variables are discussed in greater detail below.

Northwestern New England English

Northwestern New England English, sometimes labeled as a Vermont accent, is the most complete or advanced Western New England English variety in terms of the cot–caught merger, occurring largely everywhere north of Northampton, Massachusetts, towards . Today, speakers documented in Burlington (northwestern Vermont) and Rutland (southwestern Vermont) show consistent fronting of before , therefore towards , in words like car or barn. The first element of (e.g. in "goat") is similar to with a low and lax first element, and sometimes with no glide as monophthongal .

Burlington

Northwestern Vermont (centered on Burlington) shows no raising of (except before nasal consonants), and therefore stays back in the mouth, leading to a cot–caught merger to [ɑ]; this whole process follows the logic of the Canadian Shift of Standard Canadian English.

Rural Vermont

Since the mid-twentieth century, Vermont speakers have largely avoided stigmatized local features, and now follow the rhotic r of the rest of Western New England. However, before this time, the eastern edge of Vermont spoke Eastern New England English, even dropping the r sound everywhere except before vowels, just like in traditional Boston or Maine accents. These speakers may retain vestigial elements of Eastern New England's trap-bath split, backing and lowering in certain environments. Today, a dwindling, generally rural, older, and male segment of the northern Vermont population, best studied in the Northeast Kingdom, uniquely pronounces with a raised starting point as (e.g. in "cows"; ) and (e.g. in "lie") with a backer, raised, or somewhat more rounded starting point as . A deep retroflex approximant for "r" may be noted among rural northern speakers, perhaps inherited from West Country or Scots-Irish ancestors, due to such immigrants largely settling in western New England (though not as much in eastern New England). One notable lifelong native speaker of the rural Vermont accent was Fred Tuttle.

Rutland

Southwestern Vermont (centered on Rutland) shows a universal raising to and fronting to , but then oversteps and defies the logical direction of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift by producing a cot–caught merger to . The universal raising is most consistently recorded in speakers born before 1950; those born since 1960 show somewhat less raising.

Southwestern New England English

Southwestern New England English is centered primarily around Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA. Its older speakers show more instances of universal tensing of the short a , while younger speakers show the more General American feature of tensing this vowel only before nasal consonants. The Atlas of North American English confirms that this raising phenomenon is highly variable in the region, though studies agree that raising always occurs strongest before nasal consonants.

Regarding the cot–caught merger, Southwestern New England speech has historically lacked the merger, before entering a transitional state of the merger in the mid-1900s. A "cot–caught approximation" now prevails especially in Springfield and western Massachusetts, but is variable from one speaker to the next with no apparent age-based correlation, except that the youngest speakers now are tending to demonstrate a full merger. Local, especially working-class speakers of southwestern Connecticut (especially Greater Bridgeport and New Haven) and the Albany area of New York State, strongly influenced by nearby New York City dialect, continue to resist the cot–caught merger.

Hudson Valley

Though not belonging geographically to New England, New York State's Hudson Valley speaks a sub-type of Southwestern New England English (best studied in Albany, New York), demonstrating additional influence from New York City English. Albany English shows Southwestern New England English's slight backing of (to ) and possible fronting of to , but New York City's caught vowel and, though having a continuous short-a system, still shows influence from New York City's short-a split system. Also, Albany starts fairly back and somewhat forward in the mouth .