The urge to unmerge: a case of structural change across the lifespan
View/ Open
Published version
Embargoed until: 5555-01-01
Reason: Version not permitted.
Embargoed until: 5555-01-01
Reason: Version not permitted.
Editors
Skarnitzl, R
Volín, J
Pagination
3627 - 3631 (4)
Publisher
Publisher URL
ISBN-14
978-80-908 114-2-3
Location
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper considers change across the lifespan by investigating an adult speaker’s development from a one-part low back vowel system to a two-part system. Specifically, we use podcast data to track the realtime development of a LOT-THOUGHT split in the speech of an American English speaker who previously exhibited a merged system in production. Using automatic forced alignment, we extracted measures of the first and second formants. Degree of overlap was analysed using lmers and Pillai scores. Analysis revealed that the speaker’s one-part system diverged into two statistically significantly distinct categories, coming to resemble the dominant pattern of the region in which he resides. As previous work indicates that grammatical plasticity is constrained in adulthood, the current finding contributes a new insight into the nature of post-critical period change. These findings are discussed within the broader context of underlying phonological representations and motivations behind language change across the adult lifespan.
Authors
Barnard, M; Hellyer, RJ; Holmes-Elliott, S; 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS)Collections
- Linguistics [250]