The BAD-LAD split: Secondary /æ/-lengthening in Southern Standard British English

Thomas Kettig

Abstract


Descriptions of the Received Pronunciation (RP) and Southern Standard British English (SSBE) have previously commented on vowel lengthening in certain words such as bad and glad as opposed to shorter lad and pad. This paper comprises the first thorough description of the conditioning of /æ/ duration in twenty-one young native SSBE speakers, finding inconclusive evidence for a lexically specified split but significant general lengthening effects of postvocalic /g/ and /d/; this secondary /æ/-lengthening is discussed in reference to phonological analyses of the TRAP-BATH split (primary /æ/-lengthening) and previously established descriptions of co-articulatory segmental effects on vowel length.

Keywords


Southern Standard British English (SSBE); the Received Pronunciation (RP); vowel duration; secondary /æ/-lengthening

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v1i0.3732

Copyright (c) 2016 Thomas Kettig

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