Abstract:

Current linguistic observation suggests that the low‐back vowels (specifically, international phonetic alphabet [ɑ] and [ɔ]) are merging in the majority of American English dialects. There has yet to be a phonetic study of this merger which would provide empirical support for this observation in the mid‐western varieties of English. The current study investigates this merger experimentally. Speakers of Minnesotan English were asked to read a list of 100 monosyllabic words containing the low‐back vowels (filler words were also produced). The first (F1) and second (F2) formants were measured automatically for each vowel. Observations of speakers suggest three possible outcomes: (1) both vowels merge to [ɑ], (2) both merge to [ɔ], or (3) that the merger results in a novel vowel which is slightly higher than [ɑ] but lower than [ɔ].