Paul Warren
Professor, School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

How can we take a dynamic approach to studying diphthongs, and why does it matter?

In this talk I outline some of the history of how diphthongal vowels have been analysed and compared in (socio-)phonetic research. Traditionally, single points or short sections of vowels have been taken as representative of the entire vowel, leading to analysis of acoustic data based on these points or sections. Since diphthongal vowels by their very nature involve movement in the vowel space, this approach potentially ignores key additional information carried by the vowel trajectory. In this light, I conclude by considering some recent studies that have taken a dynamic rather than static approach to the analysis of diphthongal vowels.