A real-time study of plosives in Glaswegian using an automatic measurement algorithm: change or age-grading?

Stuart-Smith, J. , Rathcke, T., Sonderegger, M. and Macdonald, R. (2015) A real-time study of plosives in Glaswegian using an automatic measurement algorithm: change or age-grading? In: Torgersen, E., Harstad, B., Maehlum, B. and Royneland, U. (eds.) Language Variation: European Perspectives V: Selected Papers from the 7th International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 7). Series: Studies in Language Variation (17). John Benjamins: Amsterdam, pp. 225-237. ISBN 9789027234971 (doi: 10.1075/silv.17.17stu)

[img]
Preview
Text
106301.pdf - Accepted Version

588kB

Publisher's URL: https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/silv.17/main

Abstract

This paper presents a collaborative study of variation and potential change in the voicing contrast in Scottish English plosives, analyzed in recordings from twelve vernacular female speakers of different generations made in the 1970s and the 2000s in Glasgow. We adapted an existing automatic measurement algorithm for predicting Voice Onset Time (VOT) originally developed for voiceless stops, for the analysis of voiced and voiceless plosives in casual sociolinguistic speech recordings of different kinds. Our semi-automatic method, which involved quick manual coding of automatically-generated positive VOT predictions, resulted in correct or close to correct measures for two-thirds of our data, and allowed us to process a very large number of tokens very quickly, especially for voiceless stops. The VOT results themselves indicate that the voicing contrast is being maintained, but suggest that a change in the phonetic realization of the stops may have been in progress since the middle of the 20th century, specifically a lengthening of aspiration for /p/ and /t/, and a trend to a longer release phase in their voiced counterparts.

Item Type:Book Sections
Status:Published
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Rathcke, Dr Tamara and Macdonald, Dr Rachel and Stuart-Smith, Professor Jane
Authors: Stuart-Smith, J., Rathcke, T., Sonderegger, M., and Macdonald, R.
Subjects:P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
P Language and Literature > PE English
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics
Publisher:John Benjamins
ISBN:9789027234971
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 The Authors
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record

Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
559031Fine phonetic variation and sound change: a real-time study of GlaswegianJane Stuart-SmithLeverhulme Trust (LEVERHULME)RPG-142CRIT - ENGLISH LANGUAGE