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Publication Pitch Variability Cues Perceptions of Singlish: A Perceptually-guided Approach to Sociophonetic Variation(2024-10) Tan, Yin Lin; Lin, Ting; Sumner, MeghanMultiple models have been proposed to understand variation in the use of English in Singapore, many of which posit a distinction between Singlish, a colloquial variety of English in Singapore, and standard Singapore English. In contrast, an indexical, feature-based model does not draw such distinctions, but instead requires linguists to identify relevant linguistic features and the social meanings indexed by them. Using a perceptually-guided approach for prosodic features, this paper investigates the prosodic features that are associated with listeners' perceptions of Singlish. In an online study, 132 participants completed a speeded forced-choice task, where they chose which of two audio clips sounded `More Singlish', and a post-task questionnaire. Listeners' descriptions of more Singlish-sounding speakers and clips were leveraged to identify prosodic features associated with Singlish. The results showed that a clip was more likely to be chosen as `More Singlish' if it had more local pitch variability, less global pitch variability, and faster speech rate. We argue that pitch variability and speech rate cue perceptions of Singlish and are important for an indexical account of English in Singapore. The present study also underscores the utility of speeded forced-choice tasks in investigating sociophonetic variation. Future work can more precisely control for the features of pitch variability and speech rate, identify the specific social meanings indexed by these features, and disentangle the indexical pathways by which these features and their social meanings are connected.Publication Wiggly Lifespan Change in a Crisis: Contrasting Reactive and Proactive Identity Construction(2024-10) Stefánsdóttir, Lilja Björk; Ingason, Anton KarlIn the present study, we analyze the speech of two individuals, each of whom goes through a crisis while serving as a member of the Icelandic Parliament. Connecting our analysis to our previous case study, we find that an MP who assumes a proactive leadership role during a crisis style-shifts toward formal style while the crisis is ongoing. In contrast, we also look at new data from another MP, whose crisis is more personal and characterized by his lack of control, and we find that his reactive response to this situation leads to him shifting toward informal style until the crisis has passed. We hypothesize that these findings are linked to a more general pattern such that a proactive response to a crisis is linked to formal style whereas a reactive response to a crisis is linked to informal style.Publication Visible Articulatory Variation Cueing Sound Change: Lip Rounding and Lip Protrusion Variability in the Mandarin Sibilant Merger(2024-10) Du, Baichen; Pfiffner, Alexandra; Johnson, KeithPhonological contrasts in speech production and perception are frequently studied with acoustic and/or auditory cues. Less is known about how visual cues are incorporated in a contrast, and how these cues are affected by an acoustic merger-in-progress, especially for changes that can be initiated by different articulatory gestures. This paper investigates the acoustic and visual cues in the ongoing Mandarin sibilant merger, where retroflexes are merging with alveolars. We analyzed audiovisual production data using Computer Vision articulography and found that speakers range from having an almost complete visual merger to a complete visual distinction. The direction of the visual cue merger was also consistent with the direction of the acoustic merger. Further, visual cues were found to be correlated with acoustic cues and strongly predicted spectral moments. We extend previous findings of cue weighting to a shared domain of audio and visual cues, and we discuss implications for the directionality of sound change.Publication Combinatorial Effects of Southern French Features on Perception(2024-10) Richy, CéliaThis experiment tests the effects of co-occurrence of Southern features on the perception of spoken Southern French. Specifically, it investigates the perception of word-internal schwas in relation to their co-occurrence with different realisations of a nasal vowel. While nasal vowels in standard French are realised as fully nasalised, they are stereotypically realised with a consonantal nasal coda in Southern varieties. Word-internal schwas are indexically linked to both formality and Southern varieties. The different combinatorial effects of these features are analysed. This study also tests whether the absence of the Southern nasal vowel in Southern French speech can impact speech perception, using a within-subject (Linguistic Conditions) and between-subject (Regional Information Conditions) design. Results show an incremental effect of schwa and Southern nasal vowel presence on the perception of accentedness, while the perceived degree of formality is affected by schwa only when co-occurring with the Southern nasal vowel. There is no evidence that feature absence plays a role in speech perception.Publication Variation in the Acceptability of Singular They in Singapore English(2024-10) Venkatachalam, Alamelu; Starr, Rebecca L.Previously used to refer to generic antecedents and antecedents of unknown gender, singular they has been found to increasingly occur with definite antecedents of known gender. This shift is associated with rising awareness of nonbinary gender identities and the expansion of they as a preferred pronoun. Usage of singular they has been previously examined only within Inner Circle Englishes (e.g., US English). In this study, we investigate sociolinguistic factors that influence the acceptability of singular they in Singapore English, an Outer Circle variety that is pivoting towards internal linguistic norms but also experiences frequent contact with non-local Englishes. We find that singular they is rated as significantly more grammatical by younger respondents; its rating is also constrained by definiteness and interactions between social factors, including gender and religiosity. These factors are found to be stronger predictors of singular they acceptability than linguistic prescriptivism. The diffusion of singular they to Singapore English illustrates the ongoing role of non-local contact in the evolution of this variety.