Perception and Production of /i: /, /I@/ and /e:/ in Australian English

The progressive offglide reduction of /Iinverted e sign/ and /e:/ or onglide reduction of /i:/ in Australian English is the major focus of this study. This paper examines, using synthetic speech tokens, the patterns of vowel perception of female and male speakers of Australian English in (approximately) 1990 and 2007. The relationship between production and perception in 2007 is also examined. This paper provides evidence that monophthongisation of /e:/ precedes that of /Iinverted e sign/. Females show a stronger pattern, than males, of offglide production for /Iinverted e sign/ and /e:/ (in hV context) and onglide production for /i:/ (in hVd context). Females, but not males, show a significant negative correlation between /e:/ perception and production patterns. Females also show significantly stronger degrees of /Iinverted e sign/ monophthong perception in hVd contexts than males, and there was evidence for a significant change in this pattern between 1990 and 2007.