Variation and change in the vowel system of Manchester

The dataset contains the F1 and F2 values (in Hz) of each vowel phoneme in the speech of 66 speakers from Manchester, representing different genders, generations, social classes and ethnicities, i.e. White British, Pakistani, and Black Caribbean.

The goal of the project is to elucidate of the mechanisms of language change and dialect differentiation by examining changes currently in progress in Manchester's vowels. This will result in the first systematic description of Manchester's accent, and will provide the basis for comparisons with other large urban centres of the UK.
The study investigates the patterns of variation within the community, ie, the ways in which Mancunians' speech varies depending on age, gender, social class, neighbourhood, and ethnicity. It is based on the acoustic analysis of 66 speakers representing different generations, genders, social classes, and ethnicities, i.e. White British and Pakistani and Black Caribbean.
The informants' speech is analysed acoustically in terms of F1 and F2 (i.e. first and second formant), corresponding to the position of vowels in phonetic space. The measurements obtained through computer-assisted acoustical analysis are subjected to a range of multivariate statistical analyses. Their results will help to assess the role of extralinguistic factors, such as ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, neighbourhood, and age, in the creation of the linguistic variation found in Manchester.