This research examines sound change over time, a widespread feature in human language, which is discernible in speech of each upcoming generation of speakers from the same dialectal background. The investigation focuses on vowel changes across three generations of speakers of three different dialects of American English and seeks to provide at least a partial explanation for why such changes occur. (More)

The long-term goal of this research is to challenge the view that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is one, distinct, internally consistent socio-ethnic variety of American English spoken primarily by black Americans. Rather, AAVE can be viewed as a series of regional dialects sharing features historically associated with AAVE while incorporating aspects of the dialect spoken by the majority population in that region. The specific aim of this project is to examine the pronunciation of vowels in AAVE to determine the presence or absence of Southern Vowel Shift, an important and well documented phonological process affecting the vowel system of Southern English. (More)

This project examines speech rate of young and older adults who were born and raised in either south-central Wisconsin or westernmost North Carolina. In our work on sound change in American English, we have found consistent and statistically significant dialectal differences in vowel duration: North Carolina vowels are longer than Wisconsin vowels (Jacewicz, Salmons, and Fox, 2007). (More)

Most cross-dialectal comparisons have focused on vowel characteristics in addressing broader issues in regional variation in American English speech. This project examines stop consonants, specifically the nature of voicing of voiced stop consonants in word-initial position preceded by a liquid consonant. We have observed notable dialectal differences in the "amount of voicing" in this position for North Carolina and Wisconsin speakers. (More)

The occurrence of auditory spectral integration and its possible manifestation in the form of the center of gravity effect suggest that the auditory system performs additional spectral summation beyond the level of the cochlea. This project examines and attempts to model spectral integration in the processing of dynamic and static speech sounds. (More)

This project provides a comprehensive analysis of acoustic variation in the amplitude of coarticulated vowels. An extensive set of amplitude measurements includes amplitude of rms peak, overall rms amplitude, and relative amplitudes of the first four vowel formants as a function of both vowel category and consonantal context. Listener sensitivity to this type of variation with verify its importance and its contribution to vowel idnetity. (More)

The aim of this research is to understand the interaction of the rules of phonology and the morphemic properties of language in a way sufficient to formulate predictions about staged development of second language phonetic category formation. The perceptual relevance of the universal principles of phonology to phonetic processing and category learning is examined in a set of identification with masking and descrimination experiments. (More)