Consonantal Sound Change in American English
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Consonantal Sound Change in American English by Wiebke Ahlers
Research on sound change often focuses on vowels, yet consonantal sound change also offers fascinating insights into language development and variation. This pioneering book provides a detailed investigation of consonantal sound change in English, by analyzing a large corpus of specifically designed field recordings from Austin, Texas. It offers one of the most in-depth analyses of /str/-retraction to date, drawing comparisons with studies of change in the distinguishing phonetic features of other varieties of English, and with studies of /str/-retraction in other Germanic languages. It further deepens our understanding of sound change by including qualitative data to position the sound change in the social reality of Austin, showing that specific sound changes are universally driven by age, gender and ethnicity. The results provide a testing ground for models of sociolinguistic and sound change, and highlight the importance of the social fabric of language in modeling language change.
Wiebke Ahlers is a postdoctoral researcher of English Linguistics at TU Dortmund University. She is a Fulbright scholar.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781316512722 |
| ISBN 10 | 131651272X |
| Title | Consonantal Sound Change in American English |
| Author | Wiebke Ahlers |
| Series | Studies In English Language |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2023-08-24 |
| Number of pages | 180 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |