Editing Vowel shift (section)

=== California English Vowel Shift ===
California Vowel Shift (CVS) has several identifying features. These include the low back vowel mergers of words such as bought and bot, fronting of back vowels /oʊ/ as in coat and /ʊ/ in nook or look, as well as that which is found in words such as loot or hoot. Another identifying feature of CVS is the raising or backing of the vowel /æ/ such as that found in cat, depending on its linguistic environment and whether it is pre-nasal or not.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Podesva|first1=Robert J.|last2=D'Onofrio|first2=Annette|last3=Van Hofwegen|first3=Janneke|last4=Kim|first4=Seung Kyung|date=July 2015|title=Country ideology and the California Vowel Shift|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S095439451500006X/type/journal_article|journal=Language Variation and Change|language=en|volume=27|issue=2|pages=157–186|doi=10.1017/S095439451500006X|s2cid=146204072|issn=0954-3945|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Since California is such a large state, and home to millions of people from diverse ethnic origins and backgrounds, California has seen vowel shifts within its own borders, allowing linguists to see phonological differences between Northern, Southern and Bay Area regions of California. While linguists recognize that not all native Californians have shifted their vowels to these placements within their speech acts, it is prevalent enough to recognize the chain shift that is occurring in the largest Western state.

==== Northern California Vowel Shift ====
In Northern California, there is a chain vowel shift occurring. Short front vowels that used to be higher are shifting to lower vowel spaces in native Northern California speech acts involving the vowels /i/, /ɛ/ and /æ/. Additionally, Northern California speech acts are centralizing the sound that occurs in words such as boat (/oʊ/).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kennedy|first1=R.|last2=Grama|first2=J.|date=2012-03-01|title=Chain Shifting and Centralization in California Vowels: An Acoustic Analysis|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/87/1/39-56/5933|journal=American Speech|language=en|volume=87|issue=1|pages=39–56|doi=10.1215/00031283-1599950|issn=0003-1283|url-access=subscription}}</ref> These shifts in vowel shortening and centralization, while not entirely unique to the region of Northern California natives, does represent the most obvious changes that are occurring within the area in regards to native speech acts.

==== Bay Area Vowel Shift ====
The region of California that includes the Silicon Valley and the populous cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose utilizes the same speech vowel shifts as their native Northern California neighbors in regards to vowel shortening and centralization of the diphthong in words such as boat or coat. However, this area is uniquely influenced by the acoustic accouterments associated with the gay identity which include fronting of back vowels and merging vowel sounds found in words such as cot and caught.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Podesva|first=R. J.|title=The California Vowel Shift and Gay Identity|date=2011-03-01|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/86/1/32-51/5898|journal=American Speech|language=en|volume=86|issue=1|pages=32–51|doi=10.1215/00031283-1277501|citeseerx=10.1.1.558.7296|issn=0003-1283}}</ref> Native Bay Area residents tend to have a more intensive vowel shift  in regards to the components that comprise CVS. These shifts include changes in voice and intonation.