Change and stability ingoose,goatandfoot:back vowel dynamics in Carlisle English

Abstract

In this article, I demonstrate thatgoose-fronting is taking place in Carlisle, a city in the north-west of England, and I provide detailed information about this change. The results show that similarly strong linguistic constraints are found in this variety and other varieties. A second point of discussion is the dynamics betweengooseand other back vowels, i.e.goatandfoot, in this community. I argue that we also need to study the most adjacent back vowels in order to understand the complexity of this vowel change and the influence on nearby vowels. The data stem from interviews conducted in Carlisle between 2007 and 2010 and show that whilegooseis fronting across apparent time, forgoatandfootno change in progress is observable. These dynamics seem to be geographically restricted to the north-west of England. While a parallel shift ofgooseandgoatis very common in US and southern English varieties, the fronting ofgoatis not found in this northern variety. This lack of change is due to the monophthongal realisation of thegoatvowel which prevents a parallel shift. Similarly, the fronting offootseems to be blocked due to the lack of thefoot–strutsplit.