Accommodation to the Local Majority Norm by Hmong Americans in the Twin Cities, Minnesota.
Author(s):
Ito, Rika
Format:
Journal article
Citation:
American Speech, Volume 85, Issue 2 (2010). pp. 141-162.
Language:
English
Abstract:
This study investigates selected English sounds spoken by immigrants in a region of the United States undergoing vowel space restructuring. The vowels of Hmong Americans in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are compared to those of local white middle-class speakers. Results of this comparison suggest that young white speakers produce a fronted bat vowel and a lowered and backed bet. Males reduce the mean BOT-BOUGHT spectral distance, leaving the impression of an apparent merger. Younger Hmong Americans who arrived in the United States at a young age accommodate to local norms for bat fronting and raising but not to the apparent low-back merger, regardless of speaker age, sex, generation, or social mobility.