Canaan Zengyu Lan, Olga Maxwell, Chloé Diskin-Holdaway
Friday, December 16th, 2022, 3.45pm – 4.15pm
Abstract
This study explores the extent of merger between the vowels /e/ and /æ/, /iː/ and /ɪ/, and their durational contrasts, as produced by ten female and male speakers of Singapore English completing a wordlist task. The data were measured acoustically, including F1/F2 values and duration. The results reveal the most overlap for the vowels /iː/ and /ɪ/, followed by /e/-/æ/, /ɪ/-/e/, and /iː/-/e/. The findings also suggest durational differences for vowel pairs, especially among female speakers, whose productions show a greater degree of spectral overlap. This analysis lays the foundation for further investigation examining these vowel contrasts in Singapore English.
SST2022 