Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T10:15:38.961Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An acoustic study of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2013

Jussi Wikström
Jussi Wikström*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridgejussiwikstrom@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While there is variation among existing impressionistic accounts where the description of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels is concerned (compare Wells 1982 (vol. I), Collins & Mees 2003, Roach 2004, Cruttenden 2008), not much attention has been paid to this issue in acoustic studies of RP (e.g. Wells 1962, Deterding 1990, Hawkins & Midgley 2005). In the present study, seven female native speakers of RP or near-RP born between 1985 and 1993 (i.e. speakers aged between 18 and 25 years at the time of the study) were recorded saying English words containing monophthongal vowels. In addition, data consisting of read speech from 18 male native speakers of RP or near-RP born between 1983 and 1991 (i.e. speakers aged between 18 and 25 years at the time they were recorded) contained in the DyViS database (Nolan et al. 2009) were analysed. The data were analysed acoustically by measuring F1 and F2 and normalising the measurements according to Lobanov's (1971) formula along with the mean F1 and F2 frequencies reported in Wells (1962), Deterding (1990) and Hawkins & Midgley (2005). Statistical analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the F1 formant measurements of the seven female speakers and the 18 male speakers versus Hawkins & Midgley's speakers born between 1946 and 1951; mean F1 was higher for the speakers born between 1946 and 1951. As for the THOUGHT vowel, the F1 measurements overlapped with the means relating to all different age groups in Hawkins & Midgley's (2005) data. It is suggested that RP LOT is undergoing raising whereas there is no strong evidence of any shift of the THOUGHT vowel.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 37 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © International Phonetic Association 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adank, Patti,Smits, Roel & van Hout, Roeland. 2004. A comparison of vowel normalization procedures for language variation research. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 116, 3099–3107.10.1121/1.1795335CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David 2011. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 5.0.11). http://www.praat.org/ (accessed 28 February 2011).Google Scholar
Collins, Beverley & Mees, Inger M.. 2003. Practical phonetics and phonology: A resource book for students. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cruttenden, Alan (ed.). 2008. Gimson's pronunciation of English, 7th edn. London: Hodder Education.Google Scholar
Deterding, David. 1990. Speaker normalisation for automatic speech recognition. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Diehl, Randy,Lindblom, Björn, Hoemeke, Kathryn & Fahey, Richard. 1996. On explaining certain male–female differences in the phonetic realization of vowel categories. Journal of Phonetics 24, 187–208.10.1006/jpho.1996.0011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabricius, Anne H. 2007. Variation and change in the TRAP and STRUT vowels of RP: A real time comparison of five acoustic data sets. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37, 293–320.10.1017/S002510030700312XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gimson, Alfred C. 1962. An introduction to the pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Gimson, Alfred C. 1980. An introduction to the pronunciation of English, 3rd edn. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Hawkins, Sarah & Midgley, Jonathan. 2005. Formant frequencies of RP monophthongs in four age groups of speakers. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35, 183–199.10.1017/S0025100305002124CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IBM. 2010. PASW statistics (Version 18.0.2).Google Scholar
IPA [International Phonetic Association]. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jennifer. 2000. The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jennifer. 2007. English as a lingua franca: Attitude and identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Daniel. 1917. An English pronouncing dictionary. London: J. M. Dent.Google Scholar
Jones, Daniel. 1977. Everyman's English pronouncing dictionary. Revised and edited by Gimson, A. C.. London: Dent.Google Scholar
Lobanov, Boris. M. 1971. Classification of Russian vowels spoken by different speakers. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 49, 606–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolan, Francis,McDougall, Kirsty, de Jong, Gea & Hudson, Toby. 2009. The DyViS database: Style-controlled recordings of 100 homogenous speakers for forensic phonetic research. Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 16, 31–57.Google Scholar
Roach, Peter. 2000. English phonetics and phonology. 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roach, Peter. 2004. British English: Received Pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34, 239–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. & Kendall, Tyler. 2007a. About vowel normalization. http://ncslaap.lib.ncsu.edu/tools/norm/about_normalization.php (accessed 1 February 2011).Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. & Kendall, Tyler. 2007b. NORMs vowel normalization methods. http://ncslaap.lib.ncsu.edu/tools/norm/norm_methods.php (accessed 1 February 2011).Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. & Kendall, Tyler. 2007c. NORM: The vowel normalization and plotting suite. http://ncslaap.lib.ncsu.edu/tools/norm/ (accessed 30 June 2011).Google Scholar
Wells, John C. 1962. A study of the formants of pure vowels of British English. M.A. Dissertation, University College London. http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/formants/index.htm (accessed 1 November 2010).Google Scholar
Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English, 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, John C. 1997. Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? In Casado, Carmelo Medina & Palomo, Concepción Soto (eds.), II Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses 19–28. Jaén: Universidad de Jaén.Google Scholar
Wells, John C. 2008. Longman pronunciation dictionary, 3rd edn. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar