Phonologisation of vowel duration and nasalised /æ/ in Australian English

Felicity Cox; Sallyanne Palethorpe

Phonologisation of vowel duration and nasalised /æ/ in Australian English

Centre for Language Sciences (CLaS)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference paper › peer-review

Abstract

An allophonic split in height between oral and nasalised /æ/ is an ongoing sound change in Australian English. Speakers participating in this change produce phonetically raised [ã] that overlaps the F1/F2 /e/ space, achieving [ã]/[ẽ] contrast through duration. We tested listeners’ sensitivity to this production change using forced-choice identification. Listeners responded to long and short synthetic /bVn/ and /bVd/ tokens constructed to simulate variation from /æ/ to /e/. Oral vowels were primarily identified according to F1 whereas listeners relied on length for nasalised vowels. This finding confirms the primacy of duration in cueing [ã]/[ẽ] contrast and indicates phonologisation of length.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	33-36
Number of pages	4
Journal	Proceedings of the 15th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology
Publication status	Published - 2014
Event	Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (15th : 2014) - Christchurch Duration: 2 Dec 2014 → 5 Dec 2014

Keywords

Australian English
vowels
duration
speech perception
sound change

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@article{a7b061848c2842e48c1bb811e32cfdca,

title = "Phonologisation of vowel duration and nasalised /{\ae}/ in Australian English",

abstract = "An allophonic split in height between oral and nasalised /{\ae}/ is an ongoing sound change in Australian English. Speakers participating in this change produce phonetically raised [{\~a}] that overlaps the F1/F2 /e/ space, achieving [{\~a}]/[ẽ] contrast through duration. We tested listeners{\textquoteright} sensitivity to this production change using forced-choice identification. Listeners responded to long and short synthetic /bVn/ and /bVd/ tokens constructed to simulate variation from /{\ae}/ to /e/. Oral vowels were primarily identified according to F1 whereas listeners relied on length for nasalised vowels. This finding confirms the primacy of duration in cueing [{\~a}]/[ẽ] contrast and indicates phonologisation of length.",

keywords = "Australian English, vowels, duration, speech perception, sound change",

author = "Felicity Cox and Sallyanne Palethorpe",

year = "2014",

language = "English",

pages = "33--36",

journal = "Proceedings of the 15th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology",

issn = "1039-0227",

publisher = "Australian Speech Science and Technology Association (ASSTA)",

note = "Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (15th : 2014) ; Conference date: 02-12-2014 Through 05-12-2014",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Phonologisation of vowel duration and nasalised /æ/ in Australian English

AU - Cox, Felicity

AU - Palethorpe, Sallyanne

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - An allophonic split in height between oral and nasalised /æ/ is an ongoing sound change in Australian English. Speakers participating in this change produce phonetically raised [ã] that overlaps the F1/F2 /e/ space, achieving [ã]/[ẽ] contrast through duration. We tested listeners’ sensitivity to this production change using forced-choice identification. Listeners responded to long and short synthetic /bVn/ and /bVd/ tokens constructed to simulate variation from /æ/ to /e/. Oral vowels were primarily identified according to F1 whereas listeners relied on length for nasalised vowels. This finding confirms the primacy of duration in cueing [ã]/[ẽ] contrast and indicates phonologisation of length.

AB - An allophonic split in height between oral and nasalised /æ/ is an ongoing sound change in Australian English. Speakers participating in this change produce phonetically raised [ã] that overlaps the F1/F2 /e/ space, achieving [ã]/[ẽ] contrast through duration. We tested listeners’ sensitivity to this production change using forced-choice identification. Listeners responded to long and short synthetic /bVn/ and /bVd/ tokens constructed to simulate variation from /æ/ to /e/. Oral vowels were primarily identified according to F1 whereas listeners relied on length for nasalised vowels. This finding confirms the primacy of duration in cueing [ã]/[ẽ] contrast and indicates phonologisation of length.

KW - Australian English

KW - vowels

KW - duration

KW - speech perception

KW - sound change

M3 - Conference paper

SP - 33

EP - 36

JO - Proceedings of the 15th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology

JF - Proceedings of the 15th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology

SN - 1039-0227

T2 - Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (15th : 2014)

Y2 - 2 December 2014 through 5 December 2014

ER -