School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications

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    Sociophonetic variablity of postvocalic /t/ in Aboriginal and mainstream Australian English
    Loakes, D ; McDougall, K ; Clothier, J ; Hajek, J ; Fletcher, J ; Epps, J ; Wolfe, J ; Smith, J ; Jones, C (ASSTA, 2018)
    This paper analyses post-vocalic /t/ variability in controlled speech across two groups, both L1 Aboriginal English and mainstream Australian English speakers. Data were collected in Warrnambool, a small community in western Victoria (Australia). While both Aboriginal English and mainstream Australian English speakers used canonical aspirated [tʰ] a range of other variants were observed. The Aboriginal English group used a greater number of variants overall, and tended toward “glottal” variants (full glottal stops, pre-glottalised stops, and ejective-like stops) whereas the mainstream Australian group preferred so-called “breathy” variants (affricates, fricatives); we attribute this to sociophonetic variability, potentially linked with voice quality and glottal timing. Overall, the study highlights some previously undocumented variation both within L1 Aboriginal English, and between L1 Aboriginal English and mainstream Australian English.
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    An Investigation of the /el/-/ae l/ Merger in Australian English: A Pilot Study on Production and Perception in South-West Victoria
    Loakes, D ; Clothier, J ; Hajek, J ; Fletcher, J (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2014-01-01)
    This exploratory study looks at evidence of merger between /el/ and /æl/ in Australian English, and the possible relationship between production and perception that might be involved in such a process. This merger appears to occur primarily in Victoria, although its regional distribution within that state still requires investigation. The phenomenon appears to be motivated by the interaction of three different phonetic processes: increasing lateral velarization; increasing vowel lowering; and misperception/misparsing of the phonetic signal. We focus here on the behaviour of a sample of native speakers from Warrnambool, a regional township in south-west Victoria. Given evidence that some speakers merge the vowels in /el/ and /æl/ while others do not, our participants are categorized as maintainers (those who keep /el/–/æl/ distinct) and combiners (those who merge /el/–/æl/), and we compare how the groups process /el/–/æl/ in perception. Overall results point to an association, according to category, between listeners' own production and perception of /el/–/æl/ in an identification task, although individual variability is also evident and needs to be understood.
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    Identifying /el/-/æl/: A comparison between two regional Australian towns
    Loakes, D ; Hajek, J ; Clothier, J ; Fletcher, J ; Hay, J ; Parnell, E (University of Canterbury, 2014)
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    Short vowels in L1 Aboriginal English spoken in Western Victoria
    LOAKES, D ; Fletcher, J ; Hajek, J ; Clothier, J ; Volchok, B ; Carignan, C ; Tyler, MD (Causal Productions, 2016-12-16)