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Prosodic prominence effects on vowels in chain shifts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Ewa Jacewicz ,
Robert Allen Fox  and
Joseph Salmons
Ewa Jacewicz
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
Robert Allen Fox
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
Joseph Salmons
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Abstract

This study examines synchronic variation in vowels in an effort to advance our understanding of the “transmission problem” in language change, in particular, the cross-generational perseverance of vowel shifts. Seeking a connection to patterns and directions of shifts in vowel systems over time, we examine the role of a largely neglected parameter of structured heterogeneity: prosodic prominence. Experimental data from two Midwestern dialects of American English—central Ohio and south-central Wisconsin—show that, for the vowels studied here, the changes in vowel characteristics observed under higher degrees of prosodic prominence (or greater emphasis) correspond to the changes predicted by well-established principles of chain shifting. An acoustic study assesses variation in prosodic prominence by examining formant frequencies at multiple locations in the course of vowel duration, which provides information about vowel quality dynamics. A perceptual study determines listeners' sensitivity to the obtained acoustic variation, as manifested in specific patterns of vowel identification, confusions, and category goodness ratings. Finally, a prosodically based explanation of the transmission of sound change is described, which offers new connections between structural and social factors in sound change, notably the roles of “social affect” and speaker gender.This article builds on earlier conference papers (Fox, Jacewicz, & Salmons, 2003; Jacewicz & Salmons, 2003; Jacewicz, Salmons, & Fox, 2004a, 2004b; Salmons & Jacewicz, 2004). Additional acoustic analyses and perceptual results from the data set presented here can be found in Jacewicz et al. (forthcoming) and Fox et al. (forthcoming). We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. We also thank Kristin Hatcher, Jennifer Mercer, and Dilara Tepeli for help with collection of the perception data. Work supported by NIH NIDCD R01 DC006871-01 and NIH NIDCD R03 DC 005560 to The Ohio State University (Ewa Jacewicz, PI).

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , October 2006 , pp. 285 - 316
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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