Regional Variation in Fundamental Frequency of American English Vowels

Phonetica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Jacewicz ◽  
Robert Allen Fox
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
English Vowels

The Gettysburg Corpus: Testing the Proposition that All Tense /æ/s Are Created Equal

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Isaac L. Bleaman ◽  
Daniel Duncan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Gettysburg Address ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Language Data

Corpus studies of regional variation using raw language data from the internet focus predominantly on lexical variables in writing. However, online repositories such as YouTube offer the possibility of investigating regional differences using phonological variables, as well. This paper demonstrates the viability of constructing a naturalistic speech corpus for sociophonetic research by analyzing hundreds of recitations of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” We first replicate a known result of phonetic research, namely that English vowels are longer in duration before voiced obstruents than before voiceless ones. We then compare /æ/-tensing in recitations from the Inland North and New York City dialect regions. Results indicate that there are significant regional differences in the formant trajectory of the vowel, even in identical phonetic environments (e.g., before nasal codas). This calls into question the uniformity of “/æ/-tensing” as a cross-dialectal phenomenon in American English. We contend that the analysis of spoken data from social media can and should supplement traditional methods in dialectology and variationist analysis to generate new hypotheses about socially conditioned speech patterns.

Acoustic characteristics of American English vowels

1995 ◽  
Vol 97 (5) ◽  
pp. 3099-3111 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hillenbrand ◽  
Laura A. Getty ◽  
Michael J. Clark ◽  
Kimberlee Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
English Vowels

scholarly journals The acoustic characteristics of non-native American English vowels

Linguistica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Biljana Čubrović
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Language Background ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Native Speech

This study aims at discussing the phonetic property of vowel quality in English, as exercised by both native speakers of General American English (AE) and non-native speakers of General American English of Serbian language background, all residents of the United States. Ten Serbian male speakers and four native male speakers of AE are recorded in separate experiments and their speech analyzed acoustically for any significant phonetic differences, looking into a set of monosyllabic English words representing nine vowels of AE. The general aim of the experiments is to evaluate the phonetic characteristics of AE vowels, with particular attention to F1 and F2 values, investigate which vowels differ most in the two groups of participants, and provide some explanations for these variations. A single most important observation that is the result of this vowel study is an evident merger of three pairs of vowels in the non-native speech: /i ɪ/, /u ʊ/, and /ɛ æ/.

Perceptual Confusions of American-English Vowels and Consonants by Native Arabic Bilinguals

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeriy Shafiro ◽  
Erika S. Levy ◽  
Reem Khamis-Dakwar ◽  
Anatoliy Kharkhurin
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
English Vowels

scholarly journals An Acoustic Investigation of Pakistani and American English Vowels

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Abdul Malik Abbasi ◽  
Mansoor Ahmed Channa ◽  
Stephen John ◽  
Masood Akhter Memon ◽  
Rabia Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
Computer Laboratory ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
English Vowels

Acoustic analysis tests the hypothesis that the physical properties of Pakistani English (PaKE) vowels differ in terms of acoustic measurements of Native American English speakers. The present paper aims to document the physical behavior of English vowels produced by PaKE learners. The major goal of this paper is to measure the production of sound frequencies coupled with vowel duration. The primary aim of this paper is to explore the different frequencies and duration of the vowels involved in articulation of PaKE. English vowels selected for this purpose are: /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ə/. Total ten samplings were obtained from the department of computer science at Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Karachi. The study was based on the analysis of 500 (10×5×10=500) voice samples. Five vowel minimal pairs were selected and written in a carrier phrase [I say CVC now]. Ten speakers (5 male & five female) recorded their 500 voice samples using Praat speech processing tool and a high-quality microphone on laptop in a computer laboratory with no background sound. Three parameters were considered for the analysis of PaKE vowels i.e., duration of five vowels, fundamental frequency (F1 and F2). It was hypothesized that the properties of PaKE vowels are different from that of English native speakers. The hypothesis was accepted since the acoustic measurements of PaKE and English Native American speakers’ physical properties of sounds were discovered different.

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