Low Back Vowel Query

[Terry Irons]

Please accept my apologies for my last post.  It is riddled with
grammatical solecisms.  There shouldn't be so many negative and complex
constructions in the first sentence.  What is see is the (conditioned)
loss of the glide in speakers who are not merging, in 3 contexts:
alveolar nasal, voicless alveolar stop, and voiceless labio-dental
fricative.

My other observation is that it is the presence of the upglide that
distinguishes the two vowels in speakers who have an apparent merger.  I
hope to do some commutation experiments, using natural and
re-synthesized vowels ,to see how sensitive speakers are to the glide
presence/absence in distinguishing nearly-merged vowels.

The next hypothesis to examine is whether the gradual (or abrupt loss)
of the glide is a factor in the mechanism of the merger, where the
merger is occurring.

--
Virtually, Terry
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Terry Lynn Irons        t.irons at morehead-st.edu
Voice Mail:             (606) 783-5164
Snail Mail:             UPO 604 Morehead, KY 40351
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