title: Tracking word frequency effects through 130 years of sound change.
abstract: Contemporary New Zealand English has distinctive pronunciations of three characteristic vowels. Did the evolution of these distinctive pronunciations occur in all words at the same time or were different words affected differently? We analyze the changing pronunciation of New Zealand English in a large set of recordings of speakers born over a 130 year period. We show that low frequency words were at the forefront of these changes and higher frequency words lagged behind. A long-standing debate exists between authors claiming that high frequency words lead regular sound change and others claiming that there are no frequency effects. The leading role of low frequency words is surprising in this context. It can be elucidated in models of lexical processing that include detailed word-specific memories.
authors: New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Electronic address: jen.hay@canterbury.ac.nz.
authors: Jennifer B
authors: JB
authors: Hay
authors: Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, United States; Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, United States; New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
authors: Janet B
authors: JB
authors: Pierrehumbert
authors: Department of English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, United States.
authors: Abby J
authors: AJ
authors: Walker
authors: New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: LaShell
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D009520:New Zealand; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Chain shift; Exemplar theory; Lexical frequency; New Zealand English; Sound change