Production and perception asymmetries in the Canadian vowel shift
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2015/06/0008/000245Keywords:
Canadian Vowel Shift, English, sound change, speech perceptionAbstract
The Canadian Shift (CS), a lowering and backing of the KIT, DRESS, and TRAP vowels, has been extensively investigated in the speech of English Canadians. However, its effect on the perceptual categorization of vowels has received little attention. The role of perception in ongoing vowel shifts remains comparatively under-researched. By testing participants both in production and in perception, this study gives a unique view into an ongoing sound change. Participants from Montreal in two age groups were recorded reading a list of 44 sentences containing words with stressed /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɔ/, and /ʌ/ vowels. Participants also categorized 96 synthesized vowel stimuli. While the production data clearly replicated the CS, in perception, shift-leaders did not categorize vowels very differently.
References
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