Begging for bags: BAG-raising and prescriptive ideologies in Spokane Washington

Abstract

Prevelar raising, the raising of /æ/ and /ɛ/ before /g/ and /ŋ/, has been noted during the last decade as a feature of Pacific Northwest English (PNWE). Previous research has focused mainly on gender and age as predictors, revealing a complex interplay that generally points to a decline in usage among younger generations. The present research reveals contradictory findings and identifies a novel category in the debate—speaker attitude towards the variable – which is found to condition itmore robustly than other established predictors.