Diffusion of Merger: A Longitudinal Study

语言学家早就观察到，语言的声音随着时间的推移而变化。其中一种语音变化涉及到一种语言中两个不同的语音消失的过程--一个被称为“合并”的过程。例如，“low back merger”描述了美式英语中“cot”和“caught”中元音之间对比的丧失。有些说话者在这两个元音中保持对比，而另一些说话者则没有。一个标准的说法是，合并可以发生在一个人随着时间的推移。然而，尽管许多已发表的研究报告记录了具体合并的发生，并对合并的原因和过程进行了理论分析，但还没有发表的报告来检验这一说法，并明确记录个人内部的合并过程。该项目是有史以来第一次纵向研究，旨在确定“未合并”的扬声器是否随着时间的推移显示合并的迹象。该项目在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯/圣保罗郊区进行，并使用录制的语音和从该地区两个正在进行的合并中获得的受试者获得的其他数据来测试关于合并的说法，“low back merger”（即“cot”与“caught”）和“pre-velar raising”，其中“haggle”等单词中的重读元音听起来与“Hegel”中的元音相似。这两个合并是正在进行的变化，但没有完全建立在明尼阿波利斯/圣保罗地铁区。参与者包括13至15岁的学生在郊区初中，人口超过了关键收购期，但也是一个年龄可能容易受到变化。这一群体在声音变化领域很少受到关注。纵向研究包括在项目期间分三次收集数据。要收集的数据包括说话者被记录说一个单词列表，采取基于人工元音刺激的听力任务，并被记录在一个10到20分钟的半结构化对话。目前的研究旨在建立一个基线，以了解早期成人的语言模式。它将揭示语音变化的过程，并以整合社会语言学，历史语言学和方言学的方式促进我们对语音变化的重要类型的理解。该项目还辅之以一个外联部分，大学生将制作视听和电子媒体展示，向高中和初中学生介绍基本的语言概念。其他研究生将接受社会语言学研究方法的培训。该项目将为关于声音变化如何工作的讨论增加大量公开数据。

Linguists have long observed that the sounds of a language change over time. One such sound change involves a process in which two distinct sounds disappear in a language--a process called "merger". For example, the "low back merger" describes the loss of contrast between the vowels in "cot" and "caught" in American English. Some speakers maintain a contrast in these two vowels, while other speakers do not. A standard claim is that mergers can occur within an individual over time. However, while numerous published studies have documented the occurrence of specific mergers and theorized on the causes and course of merger, there have been no published accounts testing this claim and clearly documenting the course of a merger within an individual. This project is a first-ever longitudinal study designed to determine whether "unmerged" speakers show signs of merger over time. The project takes place in suburban Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, and tests the claim about merger using recorded speech and other data obtained from subjects exposed to two ongoing mergers in that area, the "low back merger" (i.e. "cot" vs. "caught") and "pre-velar raising", where the stressed vowel in a word like "haggle" sounds similar to the one in "Hegel". Both mergers are changes in progress but are not completely established in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Participants include 13- to 15-year old students at a suburban junior high school, a population beyond the critical acquisition period but also of an age likely to be vulnerable to change. This group has received little attention in the area of sound change. The longitudinal study consists of collecting data at three times during the project period. The data to be collected consists of speakers being recorded saying a list of words, taking a listening task based on artificial vowel stimuli, and being recorded in a 10- to 20-minute semi-structured conversation. The current study is intended to establish a baseline for understanding early adult speech patterns. It will shed light on the process of sound change and advance our understanding of an important type of sound change in a way that integrates sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and dialectology. The project is complemented by an outreach component in which university students will construct audiovisual and electronic media displays to introduce high school and junior high students to basic linguistic concepts. Other graduate students will be trained in sociolinguistic research methodologies. The project will add a large volume of publicly-available data to the discussion about how sound change works.