Sociophonetic analysis of vowel variation in African American English in the Southern United States

Abstract

Sociophonetic analysis of vowel production was completed to evaluate regional vowel variation in African American English. Previous research has established robust regional variation in White American English. Similar robust variation in African American English has not been observed. This study evaluated vowels produced by thirty-two male participants, African American and White American English speaking males (sixteen per socio-ethnic group) living in two distant and distinct dialect regions in North Carolina. Read speech data were collected and acoustically analyzed for participation in the Southern Vowel Shift, back vowel fronting, and the African American Shift, three regional and socio-ethnic vowel change phenomena currently occurring throughout the United States. Results revealed regional similarity in the production of front vowels across socio-ethic group membership, with White American English speakers and African American English speakers living in the same community producing front vowels in a similar manner. Socio-ethnic alignment in vowel production was observed for the White American English speaking males who are participating in back vowel fronting. African American English speaking males are not. African American English speaking males are participating in the African American Shift. The impact of these findings is discussed in relation to exemplar theories of speech production.