포먼트 분포와 궤적에 따른 미국영어 후설저모음융합의 지역적 특징

Regional Acoustic Traits of the Low Back Merger in Modern American English

The phonetic contrast between the vowels /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ is being lost through a sound change known as the low back vowel merger for last centuries in America. The low-back merger represents an ongoing change in contemporary American English and is one of key elements in extensive vowel shift that typifies the regional characteristics. This paper investigates the role of formant frequencies or formant trajectories in regional traits of the low back merger. Analysis of the formant data shows numerous differences among the regions, both in terms of average frequencies of F1 and F2, and the degree of overlap among adjacent vowels. Vowels /ɑ/, /ɔ/, and /ɒ/ can be separated with a high degree of accuracy if spectral change information is included. The examination of the low back vowel merger verifies that this is an active sound change spreading in the United States.