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Published on: September 27, 2024
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Prevelar Vowel Raising and Merger in Manitoba English
1University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Journal of English Linguistics
|September 2, 2022
Summary
Manitoba English speakers show unique vowel patterns before velar consonants. Voiced velars cause raising and fronting, while voiceless velars cause lowering, with potential early-stage merger of /æ/ and /ɛ/.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics and phonology
- Sociolinguistics
- Canadian English Dialectology
Background:
- Vowel production and perception are influenced by surrounding consonants.
- Previous research documented /æ/ raising before /ɡ/ in Canadian Prairies English.
- Manitoba-specific patterns of vowel production and merger remained under-examined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the production of vowels /æ/, /ɛ/, and /e/ in Manitoba English.
- To analyze vowel raising and overlap patterns in prevelar contexts.
- To determine the influence of coda voicing (e.g., /k/ vs. /ɡ/) on vowel articulation.
Main Methods:
- Acoustic analysis of vowel production in three ethnic populations in Manitoba.
- Statistical analysis of spatial and temporal acoustic features.
- Examination of prevelar contexts involving voiceless /k/ and voiced velars (/ɡ/, /ŋ/).
Main Results:
- Prevelar vowel production differs based on coda voicing: /k/ leads to lowering/retraction, while /ɡ/ and /ŋ/ lead to raising/fronting of /æ/ and /ɛ/.
- Significant overlap in vowel production occurs before voiced velars, but not complete merger.
- /k/ productions diverge substantially from those before voiced velars.
Conclusions:
- Manitoba vowel productions share features with other dialects but present a unique configuration.
- An incipient prevelar merger of /æ/ and /ɛ/ is suggested, primarily excluding /e/.
- Social factors like conservatism and affiliation influence vowel production patterns.
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