Diffusion of Merger: A Longitudinal Study

语言学家长期以来一直观察到语言的声音会随着时间的推移而变化。其中一种声音变化涉及语言中两个不同的声音消失的过程，这个过程被称为“合并”。例如，“low back merger”描述的是美式英语中“cot”和“caught”元音之间缺乏对比。一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。一种标准的说法是，随着时间的推移，合并可以在个人内部发生。然而，尽管许多已发表的研究已经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化，但还没有发表的文章验证了这一说法，并清楚地记录了个人内部合并的过程。这个项目是有史以来第一个纵向研究，旨在确定“未合并”的说话者是否会随着时间的推移出现合并的迹象。该项目位于明尼阿波利斯郊区/St。Paul，明尼苏达州，并使用从该地区暴露于两个正在进行的合并（即“低背合并”）的受试者中获得的录音语音和其他数据来测试有关合并的说法。“床”vs。“caught”)和“pre-velar raising”，其中像“haggle”这样的单词中的重读元音听起来和“Hegel”中的元音很相似。这两项合并都是正在进行的变化，但在明尼阿波利斯/圣。保罗市区。参与者包括一所郊区初中的13到15岁的学生，这是一个超过关键习得期的人群，但也是一个可能易受变化影响的年龄。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：记录说话者说出的一系列单词，根据人工元音刺激进行听力任务，并记录10到20分钟的半结构化对话。目前的研究旨在为理解早期成人的语言模式建立一个基线。它将揭示声音变化的过程，并以一种整合社会语言学、历史语言学和方言学的方式推进我们对一种重要的声音变化类型的理解。该项目还包括一个外联部分，大学生将构建视听和电子媒体展示，向高中生和初中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方面的培训。该项目将为讨论声音变化如何起作用增加大量公开可用的数据。

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.