This thesis is an articulatory investigation into phonological variation and change in English /l/-darkening. Although syllable-based accounts of /l/-darkening state that light [l] occurs in onsets (e.g. `leap') and a dark variant in codas (e.g. `peel'), numerous works linking phonology with other subfields of linguistics have shown that this simplified distinction cannot fully account for the variation found. Firstly, /l/-darkening is sensitive to morphosyntactic structure, as shown through overapplication of the process in certain morphosyntactically defined positions: e.g. word-finally in phrases such as `heal it', or stem-finally before a suffix in words such as `healing'. In addition, analyses of /l/-darkening from several phonetic studies have led to some arguing against an allophonic distinction altogether, stating that the difference between light and dark variants is merely two extremes of one continuum. Not only does this interpretation challenge the traditional categorisation of /l/-darkening but, given the clear sensitivity to morphosyntactic boundaries that /l/-darkening displays, it also raises questions for a modular architecture of the grammar if phonetics can be morphologically conditioned. This dissertation is an empirical analysis of /l/-darkening, presenting data from nine varieties of English. Given the difficulty in measuring liquid consonants reliably, ultrasound tongue imaging is used to provide a thorough account of the prime articulatory correlations of darkening processes. The present study provides hitherto absent instrumental evidence confirming the varying degrees of morphosyntactic sensitivity across different dialects. I demonstrate that, rather than being contradictory or chaotic, variation to morphosyntactic boundaries cross-dialectally makes complete sense under an analysis that pays due consideration to the diachronic evolution of phonological processes. Moreover, my data show that the majority of speakers display both categorical allophony of light and dark variants, and gradient phonetic effects coexisting in the same grammar. Therefore, an adequate account of English /l/-darkening presupposes both a theory of the morphosyntax-phonology interface, and the phonetics-phonology interface. I interpret these results by assuming the modular architecture of the life cycle of phonological processes, whereby a phonological rule starts its life as a phonetically driven gradient process, over time stabilising into a phonological process at the phrase level, and advancing through the grammar. Not only does the life cycle make predictions about application at different levels of the grammar, it also predicts that stabilised phonological rules do not replace the phonetic processes from which they emerged, but typically coexist with them. Moreover, the obvious intimate link between /l/-darkening and /l/-vocalisation can be explained in terms of the life cycle, in the way of lenition trajectories. The results here show that, as predicted, the more recent stage of the lenition trajectory is harsher in terms of its phonetic effect, as well as less advanced in the grammar, applying at a lower level than darkening when the two co-occur in the same variety. I conclude by arguing that the proposed analysis demonstrates that a full understanding of /l/-darkening in English requires an approach that considers variation under phonetic, phonological and morphosyntactic terms. The wide range of dialectal diversity, for which this thesis provides only a small subset, shows a great deal of orderliness when paying due consideration to the diachronic evolution of variable phonological processes.

“Canadian Raising” (CR) is a phonological process typical of Canadian English, defined as the production of /aj, aw/ with raised nuclei before voiceless codas, e.g. in about. This dissertation investigates the relationship between CR and another process which abbreviates vowels in the same phonological context in most English dialects: pre-voiceless vowel abbreviation (PVVA). This study sampled three North American dialects: Canada, and the American West and North. Comparisons of vowel duration and formant trajectories revealed common patterns and specific differences between these dialects related to both CR and PVVA. Comparisons of vowel formant trajectories were conducted using statistical techniques for comparing curvilinear datasets, employed in novel methodology which utilizes multiple models of time-scaling. Results indicate that the allophonic production of /aw/ differs in Canadian English in relation to the other dialects, while /aj/ follows a common pattern in all three. I argue that PVVA is achieved through the gestural reorganization of vowels preceding voiceless coda, with the dynamic nature of diphthongs making possible several patterns of abbreviation, two of which are attested in these data: truncation of the onset i.e. the diphthongal nucleus, and compression of the overall trajectory; truncation of the offset is also attested for some monophthongs. Differences in selection of which of these abbrevatory patterns applies to /aw/ in Canadian English versus other dialects accounts for the observed differences in phonetic output. These results indicate that it is worth reconsidering several aspects of the current conception of CR, as follows. First, diphthong-raising processes can be directly linked to the more common process of vowel abbreviation, with consideration of how diphthongal gestures are organized, and reorganized in relation to post-vocalic voicing gestures. Second, that /aw/-raising appears to be distinctly Canadian. And third, that /aj/-raising is not specifically Canadian, suggesting that the two terms be described and named distinctly. This dissertation contributes to the literature on sociophonetics in two major ways: by indicating how CR is directly connected to PVVA in contemporary speech, beyond their surmised historical connections; and, by developing novel methodology for the analysis of dynamic formant trajectories, involving comparison of different time-scaling methods. / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

Die vorliegende Arbeit mit dem Titel „Ebíra English in Nigerian Supersystems: Inventory and Variation“ befasst sich mit einer kleinen Varietät des Nigerianischen Englisch, die für eine Untersuchung aus zwei Gründen besonders geeignet erscheint: Einerseits bin ich selbst Mitglied dieser Volksgruppe, was mir einen besonderen Zugang zu guten, aktuellen und vor allem natürlichen Sprachdaten ermöglicht. Diese sind für eine soziophonetische Untersuchung mit den Konzepten und modernen Methoden der Variationslinguistik von besonderer Bedeutung. Andererseits ist die vorliegende Arbeit keine weitere Studie über die großen Systeme des nigerianischen Englisch oder über die beiden größten und bereits relativ gut untersuchten Systeme des Yoruba-Englisch im Südwesten des Landes oder des Hausa-Englisch im Norden, sondern über eine relative kleine Gruppe dazwischen, die historisch zunächst von den Yoruba und später immer mehr von den Hausa-Sprechern beeinflusst wurde und nach wie vor beeinflusst ist. Diese empirische soziophonetische Studie stellt zwei Forschungsfragen: FF1) Welches Vokalinventar besitzt Ebíra Englisch? Diese Frage ergibt sich aus den widersprüchlichen Ergebnissen vorheriger Untersuchungen (zu Nigerianischen, Yoruba- bzw. Hausa-Englisch) und soll hier erstmals in einer Analyse von digitalen Aufnahmen von 28 jüngeren und älteren Männern und Frauen (16 bzw. 12) aus den Jahren 2014-2016 untersucht werden. Diese Aufnahmen wurden im Rahmen von soziolinguistischen Interviews gemacht, die die bekannten Sprachstile (nach Labov) umfassen: Wortliste, Lesepassage (die bewährte Kurzgeschichte The Boy who Cried Wolf mit jeweils 90 vorkommenden englischen Vokalen) und Konversation. Diese Frage ist auch vor dem Hintergrund des Einflusses der beiden nahen Hauptvarietäten Yoruba- und Hausa-Englisch interessant (FF1b). Auf der Grundlage von fast 15.000 extrahierten Vokalen erfolgte jeweils nach der sorgfältigen Aussortierung unbrauchbarer oder unvollständiger Daten eine quantitative Untersuchung mit Hilfe des Analyseinstruments PRAAT, mit dem sich die Vokalqualität in Form von Formanten messen und darstellen lässt. Die Untersuchung umfasste die bekannten Monophthongkontraste (nach Wells` lexical sets) FLEECE & KIT, FOOT & GOOSE (+ USE ), LOT & THOUGHT & STRUT , TRAP & BATH & lettER , sowie NURSE , und die relativen Diphthonge FACE , GOAT und CURE. FF2) Welche sprachlichen und sozialen Variablen können die Variation dieses Ebíra Englisch Vokalsystems erklären? Neben den bekannten sozialen Variablen Alter (bzw. Altersgruppe), Geschlecht, Mehrsprachigkeit und Bildung wurden v.a. die sprachlichen Variablen Vokaldauer, phonetische Umgebung der Vokale und Sprachstil untersucht. Interessanterweise war für eine so detaillierte Analyse der Variation die zunächst recht groß wirkende Anzahl der extrahierten Vokale nicht in jedem Fall groß genug oder nicht gut genug verteilt.

Forced alignment, a speech recognition software performing semi-automatic phonological transcription, constitutes a methodological revolution in the recent history of linguistic research. Its use is progressively becoming the norm in research fields such as sociophonetics, but its general performance and range of applications have been relatively understudied. This thesis investigates the performance and portability of the Forced Alignment and Vowel Extraction program suite (FAVE), an aligner that was trained on, and designed to study, American English. It was decided to test FAVE on four non-American varieties of English (Scottish, Irish, Australian and Indian English) and a control variety (General American). First, the performance of FAVE was compared with human annotators, and then it was tested on three potentially problematic variables: /p, t, k/ realization, rhotic consonants and /l/. Although FAVE was found to perform significantly differently from human annotators on identical datasets, further analysis revealed that the aligner performed quite similarly on the non-standard varieties and the control variety, suggesting that the difference in accuracy does not constitute a major drawback to its extended usage. The study discusses the implications of the findings in relation to doubts expressed about the usage of such technology and argues for a wider implementation of forced alignment tools such as FAVE in sociophonetic research.

Results of the three studies on the speech production of female-to-male transgender individuals (transmen) present phonetic evidence that speech produces the transmen by what I termed triple decoupling. Transmen successfully decouple gender from biological sex. The results of the longitudinal studies exemplified that speakers born and raised female do not necessarily need to have a female voicing source or filter function. Both qualitative changes can he achieved (to different degree) by bringing exogenous testosterone into the system that virilizes both source and filter over time. Moreover, the cross-sectional study showed that articulatory gestures can be modified to move the acoustic targets towards a gendered target one is striving to present. The acoustic manifestations of transmen with different partner attraction offers the next type of decoupling, that between sexual orientation and gender identity. The results of the cross-sectional study imply that female-born individuals attracted to men do not necessarily have to identify as women. They can opt out of this self-identification by selectively adopting features associated with the gay cismale speaking style. This is suggested by the fact that sexual orientation was found to have a significant effect on the durational and spectral quality of fricatives /s/ and /s/, formant values and sentential pitch range. Finally, the longitudinal studies provide evidence for the third type of decoupling, which comes in the form of gender breaking free from physiology. The recurring "reverse J-pattern" of both the transitioning source and filter, as well as the mean fundamental frequency raising above the pitch floor illustrate the fact that transmen do not feel obliged to sound as masculine (as low-pitched and "low-formanted") as testosterone enables them to. This final type of decoupling also serves to demonstrate that many transmen decidedly do not opt in to the binary system of sex / gender even though they are physiologically able to do so. Although LGB speaking styles have been investigated before, this dissertation is the first to discuss a number of acoustic descriptors specifically in transmen's speech and place them into the context of hormone treatment, sexual orientation and disclosure status.

Cette thèse s'intéresse à l'imitation dans la parole, c'est à dire à la tendance pour un locuteur de parler de façon plus similaire à son interlocuteur. Beaucoup d'entre nous font l'expérience de ce phénomène lorsque que nous conversons avec une personne qui possède un accent différent. Certaines caractéristiques de notre propre parole peuvent changer, pour se rapprocher de celle de notre interlocuteur. L'imitation dans la parole a fait l'objet de récentes études. Notre contribution à ce type de recherches est d'étudier l'imitation au niveau allophonique, c'est à dire au niveau des réalisations phonétiques possibles d'un phonème. Nous voulons savoir si l'imitation d'un son phonétique pour un phonème donné, dans une position de mot donnée, peut influencer les autres réalisations de ce phonème, dans la même position de mot. Nous voulons également savoir si l'imitation d'un son phonétique pour un phonème donné, dans une position de mot donnée, peut influencer la réalisation d'autres allophones de ce phonème, dans une position de mot différente. / This dissertation investigates imitation in speech, which is the general tendency shown by a speaker to become more similar to another speaker in the way they speak. Many of us have experienced this while talking to someone who is speaking the same language but with a different accent. Conversing with such a person can affect some characteristics of our speech, so that we come to sound more like them. Imitation in speech has been very extensively studied, especially over recent years. To contribute to this line of research we provide an account of imitation in speech at the allophonic level, that is at the level of the possible phonetic realisations of a phoneme. We are interested in whether imitation of the sound of a given phoneme in a particular word position can influence the other possible realisations of that phoneme in the same word position. We are also interested in determining whether imitation of a speech sound in a particular word position for a given phoneme can affect the realisations of that phoneme in a different word position.

This study is an investigation into sociolinguistic variation in a second language. More specifically, it is an investigation into the extent to which speakers of English as a second language acquire particular features of the variety of English they are exposed to. The speakers in question are Polish migrants, and the variety of English is that found in Manchester, a city in the North West of England.The research uses data gathered from 41 participants who have been in Manchester for various lengths of time and who came to the UK for a wide range of reasons. The aim was to explore the extent to which local accent features are acquired by second language English speakers, and the linguistic and social factors which influence this acquisition. Methodologically, the research draws on practices from variationist sociolinguistics, but by using them in a second language context, the study has the additional aim of developing the link between these two areas of study. Four linguistic features were identified, on the basis of them each exhibiting local variants that differ from any pedagogical model of English the speakers will have been exposed to in Poland. All four demonstrated some degree of change towards the local variants in the speech of many of the participants, but to greatly differing degrees. Multiple regression analyses helped to determine which factors might be influencing the patterns of variation, with the social constraints of length of residence, level of English, gender, attitude, and identity among those believed to be playing a part. The thesis ends with a discussion exploring the implications of the findings in terms of existing and future research, and looks at how they might usefully be applied to situations outside that of academic linguistics.

No description available.