In a North American short-
a phonemic split system (or, simply, a short-
a split), the terms "raising" and "tensing" can be used interchangeably. Phonemic tensing occurs in the dialects of New York City and the Mid-Atlantic States (centering on the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore).
John C. Wells has called this raising. It is similar in its word patterns, but not in its resulting pronunciation, to the
split of certain British English accents, notably
London and other Southeast England dialects, which assigns "
broad a" of the non-rhotic class to words that elsewhere retain a "short
a" sound. The environment of "broad
a" overlaps with that of tensing in that it occurs before voiceless fricatives in the same syllable and before nasals in certain environments, and both phenomena involve replacement of the short lax vowel with a longer and tenser vowel. However, the "broad
a" is lower and backer than , and the result of tensing is higher and fronter. In some types of
West Country English, the result is a distinct phoneme separate from both and . It is also related to the
bad–lad split of Australian English and some Southern British dialects in which a short flat is lengthened to in some conditions. The most significant differences from the Philadelphia system described here are that dialects that split
bad–lad have the
"broad a" phenomenon, which then prevents the split; 'sad' is long; and lengthening can occur before and .
New York City In the traditional
New York accent, the tense is traditionally an entirely separate
phoneme from as a result of a phonemic split. The distribution between /æ/ and /ɛə/ is largely predictable. In New York City, tensing occurs uniformly in closed
syllables before , ,
voiceless fricatives (), and
voiced stops (). Tensing occurs much more variably before and , in both closed and open syllables, such as in
magic and
jazz. In other open syllables, /æ/ tends to stay lax, regardless of the following consonant. (Contrasting that with the distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔ/, Labov et al. reported that, in New York City, /sæd/ and /sɛəd/ were heard as the same word, but /sɒd/ and /sɔd/ were heard as two different words, suggesting minimal pairs of /æ/ and /ɛə/ to be not as likely in New York City as in Philadelphia.) Exceptions include the following: •
Function words with simple
codas are usually lax • :
can (simple coda) with vs. ''can't'' (complex coda) with • Learned words (often including
loanwords) are usually lax • :
alas and
carafe with • Abbreviated personal names are usually lax • :
Cass and
Babs with • When a
vowel-initial word-level
suffix is added to a word with tense , the vowel remains tense even though it now stands in an open syllable • :
mannish has like
man, not like
manage • :
classy has like
class, not like
classic • :
passing has like
pass, not like
Pasadena • Words with initial /æ/ are usually lax, except for the most common words • :
aspirin and
asterisk with vs.
ask and
after (more common words) with • Certain one-off exceptions (The word
avenue usually has tense , unlike any other case of before . The word
family is quite variable.) The New York City split system has also diffused, often with slightly different conditioning, into Albany, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and nearby parts of New Jersey.
Northern New Jersey In
Northern New Jersey, Labov finds the New York City split system, though with some variability. East of the
Hackensack River—by
Hoboken,
Weehawken, and
Jersey City—and also in
Newark, Labov finds the split to occur with no more variation than in New York City itself. Between the Hackensack and
Passaic Rivers, Labov finds that speakers typically lose the city's function word constraint before nasal consonants. Thus,
am,
can (the verb),
an, and
and all typically take on tense , while
had ordinarily retains lax . Labov also reports variable tensing in open syllables, resulting in potential tensing of words like
planet and
fashionable. West of the Passaic River, tensing only occurs before nasal consonants.
Albany Like in Northern New Jersey, Labov finds that the New York split system has also diffused in Albany with some alterations. Although the function is lost in Northern New Jersey, Labov reports that the function constraint is weakened only in Albany. Thus,
can,
an, and
has may be tensed while
have and
had may be lax. Also, the open syllable constraint is variable in Northern New Jersey, but Labov reports that in Albany, that constraint is absent altogether. Thus,
national,
cashew,
family,
camera,
planet, and
manner are all tense.
Older Cincinnati Labov finds the remnants of the New York split system present in the now-declining traditional dialect of Cincinnati, with variations similar to those of Northern New Jersey and Albany. Like in Albany, the open-syllable constraint is completely absent. However, the function word
and is reported as being lax. Labov further reports consistently laxing before /g/. In New York, tensing before voiced fricatives is variable, but it is reported as consistent in Cincinnati.
New Orleans Labov finds the New York split system in New Orleans with similar variations. As in older Cincinnati, tensing may also occur before voiced fricatives. As in Northern New Jersey, the function constraint is virtually absent. However, closer to the split of New York City proper, the open syllable constraint is still retained. Also, the tense variant appears to always be present before
voiced fricatives like and .
Philadelphia and Baltimore Philadelphia and Baltimore use a different short-
a system than New York City, but it is similar in that it is also a split system. Tensing does not occur before voiced
stops and , with the only exceptions being
mad,
bad, and
glad. Here are further examples that are true for Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as for New York City: Philadelphia/Baltimore exceptions include the New York exceptions listed above, as well as the following: • When a polysyllabic word with in an open syllable gets truncated to a single closed syllable, the vowel remains lax: • :
caf (truncation of
cafeteria) has , not like
calf • :
path (truncation of
pathology) has , not like
path 'way, road' • :
Mass (truncation of
Massachusetts) has , not like
mass •
Function words and
irregular verb tenses have lax , even in an environment which would usually cause tensing: • :
and (a function word) has , not like
sand • :
ran (a strong verb tense) has , not like
man == Non-phonemic raising systems ==