A Survey of English Vowel Spaces of Asian American Californians

Andrew Cheng
2016 UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Reports  
A phonetic study of the vowel spaces of 535 young speakers of Californian English showed that participation in the California Vowel Shift, a sound change unique to the West Coast region of the United States, varied depending on the speaker's selfidentified ethnicity. For example, the fronting of the pre-nasal hand vowel varied by ethnicity, with White speakers participating the most and Chinese and South Asian speakers participating less. In another example, Korean and South Asian speakers of
more » ... lifornian English had a more fronted foot vowel than the White speakers. Overall, the study confirms that CVS is present in almost all young speakers of Californian English, although the degree of participation for any individual speaker is variable on account of several interdependent social factors.
doi:10.5070/p7121040736 fatcat:yhluokdfyvaovig3lbdxmegg64