This study compares the duration and first two formants (F1 and F2) of 11 nominal monophthongs and five nominal diphthongs in Standard Southern British English (SSBE) and a Northern English dialect. F1 and F2 trajectories were fitted with parametric curves using the discrete cosine transform (DCT) and the zeroth DCT coefficient represented formant trajectory means and the first DCT coefficient represented the magnitude and direction of formant trajectory change to characterize vowel inherent spectral change (VISC). Cross-dialectal comparisons involving these measures revealed significant differences for the phonologically back monophthongs /ɒ, ɔː, ʊ, uː/ and also /зː/ and the diphthongs /eɪ, əʊ, aɪ, ɔɪ/. Most cross-dialectal differences are in zeroth DCT coefficients, suggesting formant trajectory means tend to characterize such differences, while first DCT coefficient differences were more numerous for diphthongs. With respect to VISC, the most striking differences are that /uː/ is considerably more diphthongized in the Northern dialect and that the F2 trajectory of /əʊ/ proceeds in opposite directions in the two dialects. Cross-dialectal differences were found to be largely unaffected by the consonantal context in which the vowels were produced. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to VISC, consonantal context effects and speech perception.

1.
Adank
,
P.
,
Van Hout
,
R.
, and
Smits
,
R.
(
2004
). “
An acoustic description of the vowels of Northern and Southern Standard Dutch
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
116
,
1729
1738
.
2.
Anderson
,
N.
(
1978
). “
On the calculation of filter coefficients for maximum entropy spectral analysis
,” in
Modern Spectrum Analysis
, edited by
D. G.
Childers
(
IEEE Press
,
New York
), pp.
252
255
.
3.
Boersma
,
P.
, and
Weenink
,
D.
(
2011
). “
Praat: doing phonetics by computer (version 5.2.26) [computer program]
,” http://www.praat.org/ (Last viewed May 26, 2011).
4.
Bunton
,
K.
, and
Story
,
B. H.
(
2010
). “
Identification of synthetic vowels based on a time-varying model of the vocal tract area function
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
,
EL146
EL152
.
5.
Chládková
,
K.
,
Escudero
,
P.
, and
Boersma
,
P.
(
2011
). “
Context-specific differences between Peruvian and Iberian Spanish vowels
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
130
,
416
428
.
6.
Chládková
,
K.
, and
Podlipský
,
V. J.
(
2011
). “
Native dialect matters: Perceptual assimilation of Dutch vowels by Czech listeners
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
130
,
EL186
EL192
.
7.
Clopper
,
C. G.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
2004
). “
Some acoustic cues for the perceptual categorization of American English regional dialects
,”
J. Phon.
32
,
111
140
.
9.
De Jong
,
G.
,
McDougall
,
K.
, and
Nolan
,
F.
(
2007
). “
Sound change and speaker identity: An acoustic study
,” in
Speaker Classification II
, edited by
G.
Müller
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
130
141
.
10.
Deterding
,
D.
(
1997
). “
The formants of monophthongs in Standard Southern British English pronunciation
,”
J. Int. Phonetic Assoc.
27
,
47
55
.
11.
Eisner
,
F.
,
Melinger
,
A.
, and
Weber
,
A.
(
2013
). “
Constraints on the transfer of perceptual learning in accented speech
,”
Frontiers Psychol.
4
,
1
9
.
12.
Escudero
,
P.
,
Boersma
,
P.
,
Rauber
,
A.
, and
Bion
,
R.
(
2009
). “
A cross-dialect description of vowels: Brazilian versus European Portuguese
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
,
1379
1393
.
13.
Escudero
,
P.
,
Simon
,
E.
, and
Mitterer
,
H.
(
2012
). “
The perception of English front vowels by North Holland and Flemish listeners: Acoustic similar predicts and explains cross-linguistic L2 perception
,”
J. Phon.
40
,
280
288
.
14.
Escudero
,
P.
, and
Williams
,
D.
(
2012
). “
Native dialect influences second-language vowel perception: Peruvian versus Iberian Spanish learners of Dutch
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
131
,
EL406
EL412
.
15.
Evans
,
B. G.
, and
Iverson
,
P.
(
2004
). “
Vowel normalization for accent: An investigation of best exemplar locations in northern and southern British English sentences
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
115
,
352
361
.
16.
Evans
,
B. G.
, and
Iverson
,
P.
(
2007
). “
Plasticity in vowel perception and production: A study of accent change in young adults
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
121
,
3814
3826
.
16a.
Faulkner
,
A.
,
Rosen
,
S.
, and
Green
,
T.
(
2012
). “
Comparing live to recorded speech in training the perception of spectrally shifted noise-vocoded speech
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
132
,
EL336
EL342
.
17.
Ferragne
,
E.
, and
Pellegrino
,
F.
(
2010
). “
Formant frequencies in 13 accents of the British Isles
,”
J. Int. Phonetic Assoc.
40
,
1
33
.
18.
Foulkes
,
P.
, and
Docherty
,
G. J.
(
2007
). “
Phonological variation in England
,” in
Language in the British Isles
(
Cambridge University Press
,
Cambridge, UK
), pp.
52
74
.
19.
Foulkes
,
P.
,
Scobbie
,
J. M.
, and
Watt
,
D.
(
2010
). “
Sociophonetics
,” in
The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences
, edited by
W. J.
Hardcastle
,
J.
Laver
, and
F.
Gibbon
(
Blackwell
,
Oxford, UK
), pp.
703
754
.
20.
Fox
,
R. A.
, and
Jacewicz
,
E.
(
2009
). “
Cross-dialectal variation in formant dynamics of American English vowels
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
126
,
2603
2618
.
21.
Harrington
,
J.
,
Kleber
,
F.
, and
Reubold
,
U.
(
2008
). “
Compensation for coarticulation, /u/-fronting, and sound change in standard southern British: An acoustic and perceptual study
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
123
,
2825
2835
.
22.
Hillenbrand
,
J. M.
(
2013
). “
Static and dynamic approaches to vowel perception
,” in
Vowel Inherent Spectral Change
, edited by
G. S.
Morrison
and
P. F.
Assmann
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
9
30
.
23.
Hillenbrand
,
J.
,
Getty
,
L. A.
,
Clark
,
M. J.
, and
Wheeler
,
K.
(
1995
). “
Acoustic characteristics of American English vowels
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
97
,
3099
3111
.
24.
House
,
A. S.
(
1961
). “
On vowel duration in English
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
33
,
1174
1178
.
26.
Jacewicz
,
E.
, and
Fox.
,
R. A.
(
2012
). “
The effects of cross-generational and cross-dialectal variation on vowel identification and classification
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
131
,
1413
1433
.
25.
Jacewicz
,
E.
, and
Fox
,
R. A.
(
2013
). “
Cross-dialectal differences in dynamic formant patterns in American English vowels
,” in
Vowel Inherent Spectral Change
, edited by
G. S.
Morrison
and
P. F.
Assmann
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
177
198
.
27.
Jacewicz
,
E.
,
Fox
,
R. A.
, and
Salmons
,
J.
(
2011
). “
Regional dialect variation in the vowel systems of typically developing children
,”
J. Speech Lang. Hearing Res.
54
,
448
478
.
28.
Jin
,
S.-H.
, and
Liu
,
C.
(
2013
). “
The vowel inherent spectral change of English vowel spoken by native and non-native speakers
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
133
,
EL363
EL369
.
29.
Kerswill
,
P.
,
Torgersen
,
E. N.
, and
Fox
,
S.
(
2008
). “
Reversing ‘drift’: Innovation and diffusion in the London diphthong system
,”
Lang. Variation Change
20
,
451
491
.
30.
Kerswill
,
P.
, and
Williams
,
A.
(
2005
). “
New towns and koineisation: Linguistic and social correlates
,”
Linguistics
43
,
1023
1048
.
31.
Mayr
,
R.
, and
Davies
,
H.
(
2011
). “
A cross-dialectal acoustic study of the monophthongs and diphthongs of Welsh
,”
J. Int. Phonetic Assoc.
41
,
1
25
.
32.
McMahon
,
A.
(
2002
).
An Introduction to English Phonology
(
Edinburgh University Press
,
Edinburgh, UK
),
160
pp.
33.
Morrison
,
G. S.
(
2009
). “
Likelihood-ratio forensic voice comparison using parametric representations of the formant trajectories of diphthongs
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
125
,
2387
2397
.
34.
Morrison
,
G. S.
(
2013a
). “
Theories of vowel inherent spectral change
,” in
Vowel Inherent Spectral Change
, edited by
G. S.
Morrison
and
P. F.
Assmann
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
31
48
.
35.
Morrison
,
G. S.
(
2013b
). “
Vowel inherent spectral change in forensic voice comparison
,” in
Vowel Inherent Spectral Change
, edited by
G. S.
Morrison
and
P. F.
Assmann
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
263
282
.
36.
Nearey
,
T. M.
(
2013
). “
Vowel inherent spectral change in vowels in North American English
,” in
Vowel Inherent Spectral Change
, edited by
G. S.
Morrison
and
P. F.
Assmann
(
Springer
,
Berlin
), pp.
49
85
.
37.
Nearey
,
T. M.
, and
Assmann
,
P. F.
(
1986
). “
Modeling the role of inherent spectral change in vowel identification
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
80
,
1297
1308
.
38.
Peterson
,
G. E.
, and
Barney
,
H. L.
(
1952
). “
Control methods used in a study of the vowels
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
24
,
175
184
.
39.
Simpson
,
A. P.
(
2001
). “
Dynamic consequences of differences in male and female vocal tract dimensions
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
109
,
2153
2164
.
40.
Stack
,
J. W.
,
Strange
,
W.
,
Jenkins
,
J. J.
,
Clarke
,
W. D.
, III
, and
Trent
,
S. A.
(
2006
). “
Perceptual invariance of coarticulated vowels over variations in speaking rate
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
119
,
2394
2405
.
41.
Stoddart
,
J.
,
Upton
,
C.
, and
Widdowson
,
J.
(
1999
). “
Sheffield dialect in the 1990s: Revisiting the concept of NORMs
,” in
Urban Voices
, edited by
P.
Foulkes
and
G.
Docherty
(
Arnold
,
London
), pp.
72
89
.
42.
Strange
,
W.
,
Weber
,
A.
,
Levy
,
E. S.
,
Shafiro
,
V.
,
Hisagi
,
M.
, and
Nishi
,
K.
(
2007
). “
Acoustic verifiability within and across German, French, and American English vowels: Phonetic context effects
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
,
1111
1129
.
43.
Van Son
,
R. J. H.
(
2005
). “
A study of pitch, formant, and spectral estimation errors introduced by three lossy speech compression algorithms
,”
Acta Acust. Acust.
91
,
771
778
.
44.
Watson
,
C. L.
, and
Harrington
,
J.
(
1999
). “
Acoustic evidence for dynamic formant trajectories in Australian English vowels
,”
J. Acoust. Am.
106
,
458
468
.
45.
Watt
,
D.
, and
Tillotson
,
J.
(
2001
). “
A spectrographic analysis of vowel fronting Bradford English
,”
English World-Wide
22
,
269
302
.
46.
Wells
,
J. C.
(
1982
).
Accents of English
(
Cambridge University Press
,
Cambridge, UK
), Vol.
2
, pp.
212
.
You do not currently have access to this content.