This article explores the extent to which listeners vary in their ability to notice, identify and discriminate variable linguistic features. With a view to improving speaker evaluation studies (SES), three types of experiments were conducted (noticing tasks, identification tasks and discrimination tasks) with regard to variable features using word- or sentence-based stimuli and focusing on three variables and their variants – (ING): [ɪŋ], [ɪn]; (T)-deletion: [t], deleted-[t]; (K)-lenition: [k], [x]. Our results suggest that the accurate noticing, identifying and discriminating of variants is somewhat higher in words than in sentences. Correctness rates differ drastically between variants of a variable. For (ING), the non-standard variant [ɪn] is more frequently identified and noticed correctly. Yet, for the variables (T)-deletion and (K)-lenition, the standard variants are identified and noticed more successfully. Results of the current study suggest that a more rigorous elicitation of identification and noticing abilities might be useful for a more complete understanding of the nature of social evaluation. .

This study contributes to a growing body of research on the social meanings of linguistic variation with particular interest in the cognitive processes governing their emergence. Our research follows in the tradition of Labov et al.’s (2011) work on the sociolinguistic monitor, a cognitive mechanism hypothesized to track quantitative linguistic variation and prompt social evaluations. Previous research shows that L1 English listeners are sensitive to fre- quency variation, but it is unclear whether this also applies to L2 listeners. This study thus replicates Labov et al.’s (2011) original experiment in a context where English is primarily acquired through L2 instruction. .

Language change beyond the binary: T-glottaling in East Sussex

UKLVC14 2023 | Edinburgh

Lifespan change and sexuality: /s/, pitch and vowel space before and after coming out

Previous research on language and sexuality has explored a wide range of phonetic features and found many of these to correlate with different sexual identities. However, it remains unclear how sexuality is indexed before coming out as gay.

This study compares the evaluation of speech with the pragmatic marker you know to speech without any pragmatic markers. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys, in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Results suggest that the classic prestige, solidarity and dynamism model is not suitable for the pragmatic marker you know.

The Heterogeneity of Sex-Based Categories: a Quantitative Acoustic Analysis of Phonetic Variation in Gay and Straight Speech

Ongoing PhD Project

Sex, Gender & Sexuality: A Quantitative Acoustic Analysis of /l/ Lenition in Southern British English

Voice Onset Time as an Index of Sexuality in Gay and Straight Speech

Paper presented at the Manchester Forum in Linguistics Conference, Manchester (2017)