School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemA sociophonetic analysis of vowels produced by female Irish migrants: Investigating second dialect contact in Melbourne(Australian Speech Science and Technology Association, 2019-08)We present preliminary results of an acoustic analysis of monophthongal vowels produced by five female Irish migrants in Melbourne, with lengths of residence in Australia between 1.5 and 9.5 years. This sample is compared with five female Australian English (AusE) participants. Results show greater overall variability within the Irish group compared to the AusE group for the majority of vowels. Sociophonetic variability also emerged, for example with only two migrants producing an expected Irish English FOOT-STRUT merger. One ‘non-merger’ with the longest length of residence, and a social network comprised exclusively of Australians, also displayed initial signs of movement towards other AusE vowel targets, such as a fronted /ʉ:/. This research contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of dialect contact, indicating movement in the direction of AusE after approximately ten years of exposure.
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ItemIndividual differences and sound change actuation: evidence from imitation and perception of English /str/(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc, 2019-08-05)This study investigates the role of individual differences in the earliest stages of sound change, taking as a case study /s/-retraction in . Australian English speakers completed an auditory repetition task involving isolated words with word-initial sibilants. In -words the sibilant was manipulated to resemble post-alveolar [ʃ]. The same participants also completed a forced choice perception task involving sibilants. The study tests two predictions: (1) the sibilant in -words should shift in the direction [s] → [ʃ] during exposure; (2) the magnitude and direction of shifts within individuals should depend on their own phonetic repertoire (production and perception). Results did not support (1) but there was partial support for (2) from production. The implications of the results for models of sound change are discussed.
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ItemThe /el/-/æl/ merger in Australian English: Acoustic and articulatory insights(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association, 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.
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ItemTracking vowel categorization behaviour longitudinally: a study across three x three year increments (2012, 2015, 2018)(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc., 2019)Longitudinal data provide a unique opportunity to address questions around language change, and speaker/listener behaviour. Processing behaviour is considered subject to change over time, but it remains an open question as to over what time period incremental changes might occur. This study compares responses to a forced-choice listening test over three x three-year increments (2012, 2015, 2018), from a set of the same ten mainstream Australian English listeners. The listeners are from a small town (Warrnambool, Australia), where crucially, a distinction between /el/-/æl/ is lost for many. Here we focus on the contrasts between /ɪ e æ/ in /hVt/ and /CVL/ environments. Despite our predictions, overall results show that the increments, which span six years in total, are too small for any changes to arise. This study contributes to our understanding of longitudinal processing behaviour, showing overall consistency across 2012-2018, even in the context of a merger in-progress.
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ItemVarietal differences in categorisation of /ɪ e æ/: A case study of Irish and Australian English listeners in Melbourne(ASSTA, 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 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.
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ItemCoronal Stop VOT in Australian English: Lebanese Australians and Mainstream Australian English(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Australia (ASSTA), 2018)This paper analyses variability in voice onset time (VOT) in Australian English (AusE) coronal stops, as produced by those of mainstream, and Lebanese heritage ethnicities. Data are derived from the AusTalk corpus, and from a new corpus of Lebanese Australian (“LAus”) speech in Melbourne comprising 30 speakers aged 18—30. Both groups use short- and long-lag VOT for /d/ and /t/ respectively; however, speakers with Lebanese heritage exhibit substantially more pre-voiced /d/ tokens. Group-wise, there are fine phonetic differences between groups. Lebanese Australian individuals exploit a greater range of VOT values but there is no evidence of transfer of Lebanese Arabic VOT system. Instead, speakers deploy coronal stop VOT to index ethnic identities as Lebanese Australians.
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ItemSociophonetic variablity of postvocalic /t/ in Aboriginal and mainstream Australian English(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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ItemPitch accent variation and realization in interactive discourse in Australian English(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Australia (ASSTA), 2018)This paper examines pre-nuclear and nuclear pitch accent variation and realization in map task interactions for Standard Australian English. An analysis of pitch accent choice in accented words reveals that pitch accent type is not always critical to the realization of information structure categories; for instance in the case of informational focus participants often use a range of pitch accent shapes. Nevertheless nuclear bitonal accents (e.g. L+H* pitch accents) are scaled higher than simple H* pitch accents across the board in line with previous findings for other English varieties. Furthermore there is evidence of an interaction between dialog act, pitch accent choice and realization with more rising and/or higher scaled accents used in particular kinds of interactions.
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Item/æl/-/el/ transposition in Australian English: Hypercorrection or a competing sound change?(City University of Hong Kong, 2011)
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ItemVowel perception in Victoria: variability, confusability and listener expectation(Macquarie University, 2012)