Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Louisiana State University, Field House Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2020 Jan;147(1):541. doi: 10.1121/10.0000505.
This study examined acoustic characteristics of vowels produced by speakers from Louisiana, one of the states in the Southern English dialect region. First, how Louisiana vowels differ from or are similar to the reported patterns of Southern dialect were examined. Then, within-dialect differences across regions in Louisiana were examined. Thirty-four female adult monolingual speakers of American English from Louisiana, ranging in age from 18 to 23, produced English monosyllabic words containing 11 vowels /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, ʌ, u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɑ/. The first two formant frequencies at the midpoint of the vowel nucleus, direction, and amount of formant changes across three different time points (20, 50, and 80%), and vowel duration were compared to previously reported data on Southern vowels. Overall, Louisiana vowels showed patterns consistent with previously reported characteristics of Southern vowels that reflect ongoing changes in the Southern dialect (no evidence of acoustic reversal of tense-lax pairs, more specifically no peripheralization of front vowels). Some dialect-specific patterns were also observed (a relatively lesser degree of formant changes and slightly shorter vowel duration). These patterns were consistent across different regions within Louisiana.
本研究考察了来自路易斯安那州（美国南部英语方言区的一个州）的说话者所发出的元音的声学特征。首先，研究了路易斯安那州元音与报道的南部方言模式的差异或相似之处。然后，研究了路易斯安那州内部不同地区之间的方言差异。来自路易斯安那州的 34 名年龄在 18 至 23 岁之间的成年女性单语美国英语说话者，分别发出包含 11 个元音 /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, ʌ, u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɑ/ 的英语单音节单词。在三个不同时间点（20、50 和 80%）的元音核心中部的第一和第二共振峰频率、共振峰变化的方向和幅度以及元音持续时间与之前关于南部元音的报告数据进行了比较。总体而言，路易斯安那州的元音表现出与之前报道的南部元音特征一致的模式，这些特征反映了南部方言的持续变化（没有紧张-松弛对的声学反转证据，更具体地说，没有前元音的边缘化）。还观察到一些特定于方言的模式（相对较小的共振峰变化程度和略短的元音持续时间）。这些模式在路易斯安那州的不同地区是一致的。
