Perception of Diphthongized Vowels in Rhode Island English
| Number | 1305 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Drawer | 25 |
| Entry Date | 01/09/2008 |
| Authors | Magen, H.S. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Barcelona, Spain. August 3-9, 2003. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, pp. 1453-1456. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1305.pdf |
| Abstract | Dialects of American English vary in extent of diphthongization. The Rhode Island dialect includes the usual mid-height /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ and also diphthongizes /ɪ/ and /ᴐ/. To examine whether one portion of the diphthong is perceptually dominant, we compare production and perception of 10 RI speakers on vowel pairs (/ɪ/ /eɪ/) and (/oʊ/ /ᴐ/). Vowel formants were measured at three points and interpolated, yielding two pairs of trajectories roughly parallel in F1. In a perceptual study, listeners identified the best exemplar from a range of steady-state synthetic vowels. Perceptions varied: closer to the onset for /eɪ/, to the midpoint for /oʊ/ and /ɪ/; and to the glide for /ᴐ/. Results indicate that for diphthongized vowels the perceptually dominant portion of the diphthong is variable. The heavier weighting of the offglide for /ᴐ/ places it in a part of the vowel space more typical of other dialects. |
| Notes |
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