The /el/-/æl/ Sound Change in Australian English: A Preliminary Perception Experiment (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
The /el/-/ael/ sound change in Australian English involves the loss of contrast between prelateral /e/ and /ae/ for some speakers, so that both vowels are realised as [ae]. In Australia, this sound change is popularly and frequently identified as being typical of only speakers from Melbourne and Victoria. However, aside from a small number of production studies, very little research has been carried out into the phenomenon. In this paper, we report on three preliminary perception experiments to determine how Australian English listeners respond to /el/ and /ael/ tokens. Listeners were 386 highschool students and their teachers, with 89% classified as Victorian listeners (from Melbourne and Victoria) and 11% non-Victorian (from elsewhere in Australia). Across all experiments, Victorian listeners consistently performed worse than non-Victorian listeners when presented with /el/-/ael/ stimuli, and also reported more difficulty with all tasks. As well as discussing patterns in listener responses, we address reasons that the /el/-/ael/ sound change may be regionally defined. We conclude with a discussion of how this preliminary perceptual investigation, along with previous production work, accords with Ohala's (1993) model of why sound changes occur.
(Mis)perceiving /el/ ~ /æl/ in Melbourne English: a micro-analysis of sound perception and change
In Tabain, M., J. Fletcher, D. Grayden, J. HAJEK and A. Butcher (eds) Proceedings of the 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 14-16 December 2010, Melbourne: ASSTA, 179-182., 2010
A sound change is underway in Australian English in which/el/ is realised as [æl] by some speakers. We present a micro-level analysis of responses to a perception experiment, in which 345 listeners from Melbourne took part in a forced-choice experiment containing /el/-/æl/ stimuli (word-pairs). Results show patterns of misperception, with listeners tending to confuse /el/-/el/ stimuli more than /el/-/æl/ and /æl/-/el/. Results are explained using an exemplar approach.
A sound change is underway in Australian English in which /el/ sequences are realised as [ael] by some speakers. In this study, we focus on a micro-level analysis of responses to a perception experiment, in which 345 listeners from Melbourne took part in a forced-choice experiment containing /el/-/ael/ and /ed/-/aed/ stimuli. This experiment is part of a larger investigation, and was the second of three experiments presented to listeners. Results show that listeners made more errors in perception for /el/-/ael/ stimuli, and that lexical frequency and acoustic structure of the experimental items also appear to affect responses.
The /el-/ael/ merger in Australian English: Acoustic and articulatory insights
Proceedings of the International Congress for the Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, 2019
This paper investigates a merger-in-progress of /e/-/ae/ in prelateral contexts for speakers of Australian English in Victoria. Twelve participants (7F, 5M) were recorded producing a wordlist resulting in acoustic and concurrent articulatory data via stabilised mid-sagittal ultrasound tongue imaging. Focusing on a subset of the data comprising short front vowels /ɪ, e, ae/ in /hVt/ and /hVl/ contexts, findings show that there are robust acoustic differences between /e/ and /ae/ preceding /t/, as anticipated. However, individual differences emerge for /e/ and /ae/ preceding /l/, with highly gradient production patterns across the speakers, ranging from speakers who exhibit merger behaviour to those who maintain categorical distinctions. The evidence for merging behaviour across speakers is similar, but does not map directly, across both the acoustic and articulatory data, and illustrates the value of incorporating a range of data types in investigating a merger-in-progress.
The /el/-/æl/ merger in Australian English: Acoustic and articulatory insights
2019
This paper investigates a merger-in-progress of /e//æ/ in prelateral contexts for speakers of Australian English in Victoria. Twelve participants (7F, 5M) were recorded producing a wordlist resulting in acoustic and concurrent articulatory data via stabilised mid-sagittal ultrasound tongue imaging. Focusing on a subset of the data comprising short front vowels /ɪ, e, æ/ in /hVt/ and /hVl/ contexts, findings show that there are robust acoustic differences between /e/ and /æ/ preceding /t/, as anticipated. However, individual differences emerge for /e/ and /æ/ preceding /l/, with highly gradient production patterns across the speakers, ranging from speakers who exhibit merger behaviour to those who maintain categorical distinctions. The evidence for merging behaviour across speakers is similar, but does not map directly, across both the acoustic and articulatory data, and illustrates the value of incorporating a range of data types in investigating a merger-in-progress.
Vowel perception in Victoria: variability, confusability and listener expectation
In the Australian state of Victoria, sound changes involving /el/-/ael/ are reported in production and perception. Previous pilot work has shown that /el/-/ael/ words are confusable for listeners from this region, and interestingly, that words also containing a nasal are typically recognised more poorly than words with no nasals (i.e. Ellen-Allen vs. Ellie-Allie). This study confirms that the sound changes in question affect vowel perception, and that Australian English listeners are actually aided by coarticulation to some degree.
Proceedings of the Seventeenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 2018
This paper presents results of a vowel categorisation task of front lax vowels in /hVt/, /hVl/ and /mVl/ contexts, by 12 native Australian English speakers and 10 Irish migrants residing in Melbourne. Results show significant differences in how listeners categorise these vowels, in five out of six phonetic contexts. Vowels suggested to be undergoing merger in Victoria, specifically /el-ael/, are not perceived as merged, indicating this phenomenon may be stratified and/or more age-graded than previously reported. Results show clear differences between listeners sharing an L1 but speaking different dialects, even when these dialects are in direct contact due to migration.
Phonologisation of vowel duration and nasalised /ae/ in Australian English
2014
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 [aẽ] that overlaps the F1/F2 /e/ space, achieving [aẽ]/[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 /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 [aẽ]/[ẽ] contrast and indicates phonologisation of length.
2018
This paper presents results of a vowel categorisation task of front lax vowels in /hVt/, /hVl/ and /mVl/ contexts, by 12 native Australian English speakers and 10 Irish migrants residing in Melbourne. Results show significant differences in how listeners categorise these vowels, in five out of six phonetic contexts. Vowels suggested to be undergoing merger in Victoria, specifically /el-æl/, are not perceived as merged, indicating this phenomenon may be stratified and/or more agegraded than previously reported. Results show clear differences between listeners sharing an L1 but speaking different dialects, even when these dialects are in direct contact due to migration.