which would take longer to say /ae/ or /ai/

[Tom Zurinskas]

The study of vowel durations in the Winter 2008 American Speech used 54 participants split between Wisc, NC, and Ohio dialects.  It’s claimed to be the largest  sample for a duration study.  They examined 10 key words, bits, baits, bets, bats, bites, and correspondingly, bids, bades, beds, bads, bides (nonsense words were given meanings).  These were spoken in sentences with various words stressed so the key words were in stressed, intermediate, and low emphasis.  Results showed that the vowels were all significantly different in duration.  There was no explanation of why bites/bides was shorter than bats/bads.  NC was longest.  Stessed vowels were longest.  The “ds”forms were longer than “ts”. Gender was mixed.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.



> Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:13:57 -0500
> From: jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA
> Subject: Re: which would take longer to say /ae/ or /ai/
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: James Harbeck
> Subject: Re: which would take longer to say /ae/ or /ai/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I would think that in those dialects where the I
> in /aI/ is elided, the tendency would be to
> lengthen it in order to preserve distinctiveness
> (those who are more used to Southern US speech
> can comment on whether this seems actually to be
> the case). I don't have the current issue of AD
> (this reminds me: I need to go do some business
> at the ADS website) -- is there an indication of
> the sample base? It would be useful to break it
> out by rendering of the diphthong, or at least
> geographically.
>
> Is any suggestion made in the article to account
> for the relative times -- tongue movement time,
> for instance, or typical context, or need for
> distinction (in some Northern dialects now the
> area around [æ] is getting crowded, I think)?
>
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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