Using Acoustic Trajectory Information in Studies of Merger

This study investigates the utility of examining acoustic trajectory information indicative of gliding in the case of mergers or near-mergers. It presents a sociophonetic analysis of conversational speech from one African American Seattle native, who perceives the pin and pen classes as merged. The study finds no difference (“merger”) between the speaker’s pin and pen classes by F1 or F2 at vowel midpoint. However, phonemic vowel distinctions are preserved in Euclidean distance and duration, and the vowel classes are more distinct pre-nasally than in non-pre-nasal contexts. A regression of the researcher’s perception of distance on vowel class corroborates this pattern. Lastly, multidimensional calculation of overlap using SOAM (Wassink 2006) for a small sample of data from 12 Seattle speakers suggests Seattle African Americans differentiate pin from pen somewhat by the amount of glide, while Seattle Whites do not

"Il parle normal, il parle comme nous”: self-reported usage and attitudes in a banlieue

We report on a survey of language attitudes carried out as part of a project comparing youth language in Paris and London. As in similar studies carried out in London (Cheshire et al. 2008), Berlin (Wiese 2009) and elsewhere (Boyd et al. 2015), the focus was on features considered typical of ‘contemporary urban vernaculars’ (Rampton 2015). The respondents were pupils aged 15-18 in two secondary schools in a working-class northern suburb of Paris. The survey included (1) a written questionnaire containing examples of features potentially undergoing change in contemporary French; (2) an analysis of reactions to extracts from the project data: participants were asked to comment on the speakers and the features identified. Quantitative analysis had shown that some of these features are more widespread than others and are used by certain categories of speaker more than others (Gardner-Chloros and Secova, 2018). This study provides a qualitative dimension, showing that different features have different degrees of perceptual salience and acceptability. It demonstrates that youth varieties do not involve characteristic features being used as a ‘package’, and that such changes interact in a complex manner with attitudinal factors. The study also provides material for reflection on the role of attitude studies within sociolinguistic surveys

The listening talker: A review of human and algorithmic context-induced modifications of speech

International audienceSpeech output technology is finding widespread application, including in scenarios where intelligibility might be compromised - at least for some listeners - by adverse conditions. Unlike most current algorithms, talkers continually adapt their speech patterns as a response to the immediate context of spoken communication, where the type of interlocutor and the environment are the dominant situational factors influencing speech production. Observations of talker behaviour can motivate the design of more robust speech output algorithms. Starting with a listener-oriented categorisation of possible goals for speech modification, this review article summarises the extensive set of behavioural findings related to human speech modification, identifies which factors appear to be beneficial, and goes on to examine previous computational attempts to improve intelligibility in noise. The review concludes by tabulating 46 speech modifications, many of which have yet to be perceptually or algorithmically evaluated. Consequently, the review provides a roadmap for future work in improving the robustness of speech output

A sociophonetic analysis of Jamaican vowels.

This thesis provides an acoustic examination of the vowel systems of eleven Jamaican Creole-dominant (St. Thomas parish) and nine Jamaican English-dominant (Kingston) speakers and seeks to link results with sociolinguistic factors. This research was motivated by an interest in two enduring questions in creole linguistics: the possibility of contrastive vowel duration in Jamaican language varieties, and the magnitude of vowel quality differences between Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole. Data were collected in rural and urban Jamaica using word list, casual conversation, and picture description tasks. Although fourteen orthographic vowel categories were investigated, of particular interest were the relative roles of spectral (quality) and temporal (quantity) characteristics in contrasts between vowels traditionally described as belonging to long:short oppositions (high front /i:, i/, mid front /e:, &egr;/, low /alpha:, a/, and high back /u:, u /). Spectral overlap was assessed using a formula based on a representation of vowel distributions as ellipses in acoustic space. Temporal overlap was assessed using duration ratios of long:short vowel pairs. Variation in vowel quality and quantity was correlated with both extralinguistic and phonetic factors. St. Thomas and Kingston speakers displayed spectral differences between vowel quality oppositions, but for some contrasts temporal differences were of greater magnitude for St. Thomas speakers than for Kingston speakers. Additionally, females in both groups showed larger temporal differences within long: short pairs than males. Manner of articulation and voicing of a following consonant primarily affected vowel duration. A social network strength index, based on degree of orientation into a close-knit rural community, was adapted for use in Jamaica. However, with one exception, network strength was not a reliable predictor of acoustic features: males in Kingston with low network scores tended to show a high degree of r-lessness. In an informal study of metalinguistic awareness, a listening task was used to elicit speakers' comments concerning what constitutes and distinguishes Jamaican Creole and English speech. Speakers related age, social class, and region of residence with differences in Jamaican speech and described a small number of stylistic, morphosyntactic, and phonological features which they ascribed to Jamaican English, Jamaican Creole, or American English.Ph.D.Language, Literature and LinguisticsLinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/131814/2/9929976.pd

Collecting and using race and ethnicity information in linguistic studies

Despite being regarded by some as the most humanistic of the social sciences, linguistics has been criticized for its undertheorized application of the notions of race and ethnicity. This white paper is written for practicing linguists. We provide definitions of these terms and develop attendant issues that contribute to their complexity, such as the multiplicity and fluidity of racial identification. A survey of methods texts reveals that limited attention is given to race and ethnicity in training researchers. To address this need, the bulk of the paper uses a “challenges and recommendations” format to work through common design concerns and suggest better practices. We consider issues pertinent to collecting information about self-identification in a range of study types, from quantitative, experimental, computational or intuitional approaches to qualitative and mixed methods designs. We consider the advantages and disadvantages of eliciting demographic data using multiple-choice, free-response and interview formats, and offer recommendations drawing on best practices from within linguistics and its sister fields. Ethical concerns are raised, including using locally constructed labels, respecting communities, analyst positionality, recognizing the potential for harm. Throughout, brief examples are provided where possible to speak concretely to linguists’ concerns. The final section presents a detailed case study of the decision-making process for a multi-phase research project in which ethnic identification was explicitly investigated. Our goal is to provide researchers with tools to reflect on their own study design, reflect on their own responsibility to participants and communities, and design study prompts that allow more nuanced representation of race or ethnicity