Effects of semantic predictability and regional dialect on vowel space reduction

Abstract

This study explored the interaction between semantic predictability and regional dialect variation in an analysis of speech produced by college-aged female talkers from the Northern, Midland, and Southern dialects of American English. Previous research on the effects of semantic predictability has shown that vowels in high semantic predictability contexts are temporally and spectrally reduced compared to vowels in low semantic predictability contexts. In the current study, an analysis of vowel duration confirmed temporal reduction in the high predictability condition. An analysis of vowel formant structure and vowel space dispersion revealed overall spectral reduction for the Southern talkers. For the Northern talkers, more extreme Northern Cities shifting occurred in the high predictability condition than in the low predictability condition. No effects of semantic predictability were observed for the Midland talkers. These findings suggest an interaction between semantic and indexical factors in vowel reduction processes.