Lexical Classes in Montreal French: The Case of (ε:)

Abstract

A perceptual study of the use of (εe:) in the Montreal French Vernacular (MFV) reveals that there is extreme variation in the vowel color used by different speakers for this phonological unit. Most men born before 1920 use a raised [e:] realization attested to by orthoepists for the last century, as well as by phoneticians in this century. Older working class women, however, often use a lowered [æ:] or [a:] nucleus. Speakers born after World War II use the more open pronunciation whatever their sex or social standing. Most older speakers use a high percentage of diphthongs in their realization of (ε:), especially in stressed syllables and in specific lexical classes, while younger middle class men and women eliminate diphthongization more consistently than older middle class speakers, and certainly more than their working class age mates. Thus, variation in vowel color and diphthongization are found to be related to a speaker's age, sex, and social standing, as well as to specific lexical classes. The results are relevant to the analysis of Canadian French phonology, as well as to the theory of lexical phonology and to sociolinguistic theories of sound change.