Entire phonology section from my handbook I’m making on Appalachian English
§ 1.0 Phonology
§ 1.1 Merged Sounds
❖In Appalachian English, /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ merge before /n/ and /m/. This occurs in Southern American English and Lowland Scots as well. This sound change is called the pin-pen merger.
❖In Appalachian English, tense and lax vowels merge before /l/. This makes 'full' sound like /fɜl/, 'fill' like /fi:l/, and 'fell' like /feɪl./
§ 1.2 Lenition and Suppletion
❖Lenition often occurs in Appalachian English. /ð/ disappears often, as in /æt/ 'that.' /w/ also disappears, although this is more dialectal, producing /ɜmɚn/ for 'woman.' I say /leɪŋgidʒ/ for 'language'.
❖In some dialects a /j/ is placed before <ear>, so that ear, earth, and earn become /ji:ɹ/, /jɚθ/ and /jɚn/. I believe I've heard this some in Eastern Kentucky, though my Grandmother hasn't.
❖/ŋ/ becomes /n/ at the end of words, producing /si:lɪn/ for <ceiling>, /sɛɪŋgɪn/ for <singing>.
❖/aʊ/ collapses into /ɑ:w/ before /l/ and /ɹ/, as in /flɑ:r/ <flower>, /tɑ:wl/ <towel>.
❖/d/ sometimes disappears after /t/ as changed into it, so that <bottle> becomes /bɑḷ/, <butter> becomes /bɜɚ/.
§ 1.3 Exagerration
❖Many sound changes in this category are a result of the southern drawl, I've heard a few Appalachians deny its existence but it is most strong here and in west Texan English.
❖'Cat' becomes pronounced like 'cayit,' /kejɪt/. 'Pit' becomes pronounced like 'piyut,' /piɪt/. 'Catch' becomes pronounced like 'cayutch,' /keɪətʃ/.
❖'Thing' becomes pronounced like 'thang,' /θeɪŋ/. This type of sound change is more extreme before /ŋ/, and it sounds more like /ɛɪ/ in 'green' /gɹɛɪn/.
❖/ʊ/ becomes more fronted than in General American, so 'took' becomes much like its Scots equivalent.
❖/u:/ is also more fronted, being pronounced in my ears like /øu/.
❖The first part of /aɪ/, as in /paɪ/ <pie>, becomes drawn out to /a:/. This is found in AAVE, but it seems the tongue is at a higher point in the mouth for AAVE.
❖The first part of /ɔɪ/, as in /bɔɪ/ <boy>, becomes drawn out to /ɔ:/. This is also found in some dialects of AAVE.
§ 1.4 Retention
❖Appalachian English retains the /ʍ/ sound, like in Lowland Scots. So <what> sounds like /ʍɜt/, <where> is /ʍɑɹ/ or /ʍeɪɹ/, <why> like /ʍa:/.
❖Appalachian English retains the /h/ where in English it is silent, this can either be a result of people reading the words and then saying them, or true retention from the original Old French.
❖'sure' is pronounced like /ʃɔɹ/, 'shore', I do not know if this is retention or mutation.
§ 1.5 General Mutation
❖/eɪɹ/ becomes pronounced like /i:ɹ/, as in 'keer' /ki:ɹ/. /ɑ/ becomes /ɑɹ/ before /ʃ/, as in 'warsh' /wɑɹʃ/.
❖/ɔɹ/ can become /ɔ/, it depends on dialect, and social situation, and this vowel can vary in rhoticization (mine is never a completely clear /ɔ/ sound.) My grandmother pronounces /ɔɹ/ like /oʊ/ sometimes, saying fo’ sho’ for ‘for sure,’ I don’t know if she’s picked this up from AAVE, but she’s pretty conservative so I find it unlikely. My idiolect is mostly rhotic.
❖/ʌ/, as in California English, becomes more like /ɜ/, which is the RP pronunciation of <ur> in <further>.
❖/ə/ may become /i/ at the end of words, especially when written as <a>, as in /oʊkɹi/ 'okra', /oʊpɹi/ 'opera.' Occassionally it becomes /ɪ/, as in circus /sɚkɪs/.
❖/oʊ/ at the end of words becomes /ɚ/ or /ə/, in my Grandmother's dialect it is mainly /ə/, in mine /ɚ/, but this varies. Tornader, holler, and mader can be heard because of this.
❖/ɹə/ collapses into /ɚ/ in unstressed positions, so <microphone> becomes pronounced like /ma:kɚfoʊn/.
❖/s/ becomes /z/ intervocalically, so <greasy> becomes /gɹi:zi/.
§ 1.6 A New Orthography
❖Seeing as Appalachian English has a multitude of sound differences from English, it seems fit to write it in a different way. So I created a new orthography, one based off of spelling phonetically.
/ɪ/ <i> /i:/ <ee> <e_e> /iɪ/ <iu> /i/ <y>
/a:/ <à> /eɪ/ <ai> <a_e> /ejɜ/ <ae> /æ/ <a>
/ɑ:ɹ/ <àur>/ɜ/ <u> /ɑɹ/ <ar> /ɚ/ <er> /ə/ <a, o, e>
/eɪə/ <eu> /ʊ/ <ui> /øu/ <ue> /ɔ(ɹ)/ <aù>
/ɑ:/ <a> /oʊ/ <oa> <o_e> /ɛ/ <e> /aʊ/ <ou> <ow>
/b/ <b> /d/ <d> /f/ <f> /g/ <g> /h/ <h>
/dʒ/ <j> /k/ <k> /l/ <l> /m/ <m> /n/ <n>
/p/ <p> /ɹ/ <r> /s/ <s> /t/ <t> /v/ <v>
/w/ <w> /ʍ/ <hw> /j/ <y> /z/ <z> /tʃ/ <ch>
/ʃ/ <sh> /θ/ <th> /ð/ <th> /ŋ/ <ng> /ʒ/ <zh>
So, the post’s title would be:
All the fernoloji from mà hanbuik o Appalatchin Einglish at À’m a-maikin.