Chad Hall

In this paper, the perception of the /ae/-/ɛ/ vowel continuum was analysed in British and United States English speakers by testing their word identification across the pan-pen continuum. A clear difference was found between the two speaker groups, with the U.S. speakers continuing to perceive 'pan' beyond the British speakers, presumably due to /ae/-tensing in U.S. dialects, particularly before nasal codas. It was found that the amount of /ae/-tensing across phonetic environments in a U.S. speaker's dialect as well as their exposure to British English affected how they perceived the continuum. The results prove Bell-Berti's (1979) argument that speech production and perception are closely related, and the steep drop in perception from 'pan' to 'pen' displayed by both speaker groups may prove that vowel perception is categorical, in contrast to popular opinion, though a discrimination task would have to be run before any reliable claim can be made.

In this paper, the /r/ production of adolescent Anglo-English and Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers in West Yorkshire was analysed from speech data collected in 2000. A clear difference was found between Anglo-English speakers who used the standard British rhotic, the postalveolar approximant [ ], exclusively, and the Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers who used both British rhotics and a number of different variants influenced by the Punjabi retroflex flap /ɽ/. The influence of the retroflex flap /ɽ/ was proven by formant and duration results, as well as qualitative observations of the speaker spectrograms. It is predicted that Punjabi-English speaker preference for either Punjabi influenced rhotics or British rhotics depended on if they identify as culturally integrated " British Asians " or culturally alienated " Asians ". This study also considers the possibility of a progression in rhotic production of West Yorkshire Punjabi-English speakers over the last fifteen years.

In this paper, the variability of /æ/-tensing, a widely attested American Sociolinguistic phenomenon, is used as evidence to prove that Optimality Theory in its traditional form is insufficient in accounting for language variation. The paper proposes that a phonetics-based phonology approach, specifically P-map, is preferable in accounting for such linguistic processes. In addition, adopting an element of Gradient OT assists in accounting for the different degrees of /æ/-tensing in various phonological environments across U.S. dialects. The paper also proposes some experimental methodology to elicit empirical data to motivate the proposed constraints to account for /æ/- tensing in U.S. English as well as a P-Map and Gradient approach to OT.

In this paper, the perception of the /æ/-/ɛ/ vowel continuum was analysed in British and United States English speakers by testing their perception of the pan-pen continuum in a word identification task. A clear difference was found between the two speaker groups, with the U.S. speakers continuing to perceive ‘pan’ beyond the British speakers, presumably due to /æ/-tensing in U.S. dialects, particularly before nasal codas (Labov et al., 2006). It was found that the amount of /æ/-tensing across phonetic environments in a U.S. speaker’s dialect as well as their exposure to British English affected how they perceived the continuum. The results prove Bell Berti’s (et al., 1979) argument that speech production and perception are closely related, and the steep drop in perception from ‘pan’ to ‘pen’ displayed by both speaker groups may prove that vowel perception is categorical, in contrast to popular opinion (Fry et al., 1962), though a discrimination task would have to be run before any reliable claim can be made.

In this paper, the /r/ production of adolescent Anglo-English and Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers in West Yorkshire was analysed from speech data collected in 2000. A clear difference was found between Anglo-English speakers who used the standard British rhotic, the postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠], exclusively, and the Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers who used both British rhotics and a number of different variants influenced by the Punjabi retroflex flap [ɽ]. The influence of the retroflex flap [ɽ] was proven by formant and duration results, as well as qualitative observations of the speaker spectrograms. It is predicted that Punjabi-English speaker preference for either Punjabi influenced rhotics or British rhotics depended on if they identify as culturally integrated “British Asians” or culturally alienated “Asians”. This study also considers the possibility of a progression in rhotic production of West Yorkshire Punjabi-English speakers over the last fifteen years.

In this study, the categorical perception of the /æ/-/ɛ/ continuum between British and American English speakers was measured by speakers performing a perception task. It was found that the American speakers' boundary came later than British speakers due to a difference in production of the /æ/ vowel.

Previous research has shown that in densely populated multicultural areas of London, a new dialect has emerged amongst young speakers referred to as Multicultural London English (MLE), the result of language contact between different ethnicities. This study investigates the differences in vowel quality between younger and older speakers in the London Borough of Newham, the most multiethnic borough of London, to see if MLE is gaining territory over the traditional Cockney accent that has existed there for a long period of time. Participants were recorded using a monitored and a spontaneous speech style. Results showed significant differences between the older Cockney speakers and the younger speakers. One speaker showed several traits of MLE while the other displayed a more Cockney accent. It suggests that despite the growth of MLE in Newham, Cockney still has a significant influence on the speech style of the younger community.

In this paper, the perception of the /æ/-/ɛ/ vowel continuum was analysed in British and United States English speakers by testing their perception of the pan-pen continuum in a word identification task. A clear difference was found between the two speaker groups, with the U.S. speakers continuing to perceive ‘pan’ beyond the British speakers, presumably due to /æ/-tensing in U.S. dialects, particularly before nasal codas (Labov et al., 2006). It was found that the amount of /æ/-tensing across phonetic environments in a U.S. speaker’s dialect as well as their exposure to British English affected how they perceived the continuum. The results prove Bell Berti’s (et al., 1979) argument that speech production and perception are closely related, and the steep drop in perception from ‘pan’ to ‘pen’ displayed by both speaker groups may prove that vowel perception is categorical, in contrast to popular opinion (Fry et al., 1962), though a discrimination task would have to be run before any reliable claim can be made.

In this paper, the /r/ production of adolescent Anglo-English and Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers in West Yorkshire was analysed from speech data collected in 2000. A clear difference was found between Anglo-English speakers who used the standard British rhotic, the postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠ ], exclusively, and the Punjabi-English Bilingual speakers who used both British rhotics and a number of different variants influenced by the Punjabi retroflex flap [ɽ]. The influence of the retroflex flap [ɽ] was proven by formant and duration results, as well as qualitative observations of the speaker spectrograms. It is predicted that Punjabi-English speaker preference for either Punjabi influenced rhotics or British rhotics depended on if they identified as culturally integrated “British Asians” or culturally alienated “Asians”. This study also considers the possibility of a progression in the rhotic production of West Yorkshire Punjabi-English speakers over the last 15 years. As well as expanding on the findings of West Yorkshire Asian English, the findings implicate that social identity is a key aspect affecting the speech of bilingual speakers who are often part of more than one culture.

In this study, the categorical perception of the /æ/-/ɛ/ continuum between British and North American English speakers was measured by participants performing a perception task. Because of the presence /æ/-tensing in many dialects of North American English, it was found that the North American speakers’ boundary occurred later than British speakers due to their wider acoustic acceptance of /æ/. This is the first study to test the categorical perception of the /æ/-/ɛ/ continuum between British and North American speakers and the results are significant. The results also challenge the proposal that vowels are perceived continuously.