Spectral differences among varieties of American English have been widely studied, typically recognizing three major regionally diagnostic vowel shift patterns [Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change (De Gruyter, Berlin)]. Durational variability across dialects, on the other hand, has received relatively little attention. This paper investigates to what extent regional differences in vowel duration are linked with spectral changes taking place in the Northern, Western, and Southern regions of the U.S. Using F1/F2 and duration measures, the durational correlates of the low back vowel merger, characteristic of Western dialects, and the acoustic reversals of the front tense/lax vowels, characteristic of Southern dialects, are investigated. Results point to a positive correlation between spectral overlap and vowel duration for Northern and Western speakers, suggesting that both F1/F2 measures and durational measures are used for disambiguation of vowel quality. The findings also indicate that, regardless of region, a durational distinction maintains the contrast between the low back vowel classes, particularly in cases of spectral merger. Surprisingly, Southerners show a negative correlation for the vowel shifts most defining of contemporary Southern speech, suggesting that neither spectral position nor durational measures are the most relevant cues for vowel quality in the South.

Southern varieties of English are known to be affected by the Southern Vowel Shift (SVS), which alters the positional relationship between the front tense/ lax system. However, previous work on the SVS generally limits its focus to steady state formant measures. Possible links between these shifts and dynamic trajectory distinctions have largely been unexplored despite widespread recognition that Southern vowels are dynamic in nature. The current article uses data from three Southern states (Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia) to ask to what extent does spectral onset position (the typical measure of SVS participation) correlate with internal spectral dynamics in the SVS. Analysis methods include a series of spectral measures (vector length, trajectory length, spectral rate of change and vector angle), which capture vowel inherent dynamics and vowel directionality. Results support the utility of looking at dynamic measures to better understand the fuller extent of vowel changes that occur with the SVS and lend support to recent calls to include nonstatic measures in sociophonetic analyses more generally.

Speaker vowel formant normalization, a technique that controls for variation introduced by physical differences between speakers, is necessary in variationist studies to compare speakers of different ages, genders, and physiological makeup in order to understand non-physiological variation patterns within populations. Many algorithms have been established to reduce variation introduced into vocalic data from physiological sources. The lack of real-time studies tracking the effectiveness of these normalization algorithms from childhood through adolescence inhibits exploration of child participation in vowel shifts. This analysis compares normalization techniques applied to data collected from ten African American children across five time points. Linear regressions compare the reduction in variation attributable to age and gender for each speaker for the vowels BEET, BAT, BOT, BUT, and BOAR. A normalization technique is successful if it maintains variation attributable to a reference sociolinguistic variable, while reducing variation attributable to age. Results indicate that normalization techniques which rely on both a measure of central tendency and range of the vowel space perform best at reducing variation attributable to age, although some variation attributable to age persists after normalization for some sections of the vowel space.

In many varieties of African American English (AAE), glottal stop replacement and deletion of word-final /t/ and /d/ results in consonant neutralization, while the underlying voicing distinction may be maintained by other cues, such as vowel duration. Here, I examine the relationship between vowel duration, final glottal stop replacement, and deletion of word-final /t, d/ to determine whether the phonological contrast of consonant voicing is maintained through duration of the preceding vowel. Data come from conversational interviews of AAE speakers in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington, DC. Results indicate that glottalization and deletion of word-final /t/ and /d/ are widespread across the speakers in the analysis. Additionally, the duration of vowels is significantly longer before underlying /d/ than /t/ for consonant neutralized contexts, thus showing that duration, normally a secondary cue to final voicing, may be becoming a primary cue in AAE.

ties has been limited. As social science disciplines, and linguistics in particular, take more seriously issues of replicability, big data, and open access (see Berez-Kroeker et al. 2018; Gawne & Styles, chapter 2, this volume), it is, frankly, imperative, that publicly available data sets be developed and shared. 2 2 CORAAL CORAAL focuses on providing public access to recorded speech from regional varieties of AAL. CORAAL is a longterm corpus-building project conceived of in terms of several individual components. Each component includes audio recordings along with time-aligned orthographic transcription. The core components of CORAAL focus on AAL in Washington, DC, the nation's capital, a city with a long-standing African American majority, and the site of much early research on AAL (Farrington & Schilling 2019