{"doi":"10.1121/1.3508345","title":"Cross-generational vowel change in Southern American English.","abstract":"<jats:p>This study focuses on acoustic characteristics of vowels in the regional variety of Southern American English spoken in western North Carolina. It examines the cross-generational pattern of positional vowel changes with special reference to vowel-inherent spectral change. 140 speakers, males and females, ranging in age from 8-year-old children to adults in their early 90s produced 13 vowel categories in isolated hVd words. All participants were born and raised in the area and speak the local dialect. The results show that the reorganization of the vowel system occurs gradually, generation by generation, and there is a correspondence between positional vowel changes and the changes in formant dynamics. In each age group, females represent a more advanced stage of vowel change compared to males. These data clearly document both the systemic nature of vowel change and close interdependent relationships between the nominal monophthongs and diphthongs. The categorical distinction between monophthong and diphthong changes across generations. The oldest speakers produce monophthongal diphthongs and diphthongal monophthongs, whereas younger speakers show increased monophtongization of the former and diphthongization of the latter. [Work supported by NIH.]</jats:p>","journal":"The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America","year":2010,"id":667489,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1124544,"name":"Ewa Jacewicz","orcid":"0000-0002-7501-2634","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1743093,"name":"Joseph Salmons","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1739666,"name":"Robert Allen Fox","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Cross-generational vowel change in Southern American English.","abstract":"<jats:p>This study focuses on acoustic characteristics of vowels in the regional variety of Southern American English spoken in western North Carolina. It examines the cross-generational pattern of positional vowel changes with special reference to vowel-inherent spectral change. 140 speakers, males and females, ranging in age from 8-year-old children to adults in their early 90s produced 13 vowel categories in isolated hVd words. All participants were born and raised in the area and speak the local dialect. The results show that the reorganization of the vowel system occurs gradually, generation by generation, and there is a correspondence between positional vowel changes and the changes in formant dynamics. In each age group, females represent a more advanced stage of vowel change compared to males. These data clearly document both the systemic nature of vowel change and close interdependent relationships between the nominal monophthongs and diphthongs. The categorical distinction between monophthong and diphthong changes across generations. The oldest speakers produce monophthongal diphthongs and diphthongal monophthongs, whereas younger speakers show increased monophtongization of the former and diphthongization of the latter. [Work supported by NIH.]</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"19162232","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2042989581","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"closed","license":null,"oa_locations":[{"url":"https://pubs.aip.org/jasa/article/128/4_Supplement/2353/708309/Cross-generational-vowel-change-in-Southern","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3508345","host_type":"journal"}],"fields_of_study":["Phonetics and Phonology Research","Linguistic Variation and Morphology"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Diphthong","Vowel","Formant","Mid vowel","Sound change","Linguistics","American English","Psychology"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Quality Education"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-13T18:00:45.401549Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}