An overview of the dress and trap vowels before /l/ as a regional accent marker in Australian
English
Deborah Loakes | The University of Melbourne | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
John Hajek | The University of Melbourne | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
Janet Fletcher | The University of Melbourne | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
This study gives an overview of the merger of the dress and trap vowels before laterals, which occurs for some
speakers of Australian English in the state of Victoria (in the south-east of the country), as well as in some other varieties of
English. Research on this phenomenon in Australian English has been preliminary to date, but has uncovered some general tendencies
in distribution, as well as possible motivators for actuation and spread of the change. The aim of this paper is to describe and
orient the phenomenon in the context of English worldwide, and while we work with some illustrative experimental data, our aim is
not to provide a detailed quantitative sociophonetic perspective here. This paper further aims to illustrate the extent of the
variability seen in the Australian English community with respect to ongoing change.
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