Keywords

perception–production divergence, glide weakening patterns, weak acoustic–perceptual correlation

Abstract

Research question: How does perception compare to production in southern speech in Linguistic Atlas data?

Hypothesis: We expect impressionistic glide weakening to correlate with less dynamic vowels.

Acoustic and perceptual data also tell different stories.

Perceptual data suggest:

Social factors are not significant
Pre-rhotic glides are the most weakened

Production data suggest:

Ethnicity is significant
Pre-lateral glides are the most weakened

As percentage of monophthongal perception goes up, Trajectory Length goes down, as expected, but the correlation is VERY weak.

Trajectory Length is not necessarily reflective of impressionistic transcriptions of glides in DASS.

The acoustic correlates to perception are not always straightforward.

Original Publication Citation

Rachel M. Olsen, Joseph A. Stanley, Michael Olsen, Lisa Lipani, & Margaret E. L. Renwick. “Reconciling perception with production in Southern speech.” American Dialect Society Annual Meeting. New York City, NY. January 3–6, 2019.