An Intraspeaker Variation Study of Scottish English /r/ Pharyngealisation
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Ruaridh Purse, Euan McGill

An Intraspeaker Variation Study of Scottish English /r/ Pharyngealisation

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Introduction

An intraspeaker variation study of scottish english /r/ pharyngealisation. Study examines intraspeaker variation of Scottish English /r/ pharyngealisation in Frankie Boyle. Acoustic analysis reveals style shifts influenced by interview context and audience design.

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Abstract

Pharyngealisation— the retraction of the tongue towards the pharynx— of prepausal and preconsonantal /r/ has been recognised as an emergent strategy of derhoticisation in Scotland’s Central Belt (Stuart-Smith 2007). However, previous studies have focused on the incidence of this phenomenon between speakers, with little attention paid to intraspeaker variation. The question remains: How does Scottish English derhoticisation behave in a situation of style shifting? We explore the intraspeaker variation of comedian Frankie Boyle, a recognisable speaker of Scottish English, comparing his production of apical and pharyngealised /r/ in prepausal and preconsonantal environments in two interview contexts. The acoustic correlates of /r/ pharyngealisation are characterised as a rise in F3 with reduced energy in the formant. This is quite different from the plummeting F3 associated with an apical realisation of /r/, allowing for a binary categorisation of pharyngeal and apical tokens as well as an analysis of F3 frequency as a continuous measure.We present evidence that Boyle makes significantly more frequent use of pharyngealisation when interviewed by Kevin Bridges, a fellow Glasgow native, than by Richard Osman, a Southern Standard British English (SSBE) speaker. Further, a secondary analysis of phonation quality shows that Boyle uses significantly more creaky voice with Osman than with Bridges, allowing for a fuller understanding of Boyle’s style in each context. Attempts to attribute the observed differences in pharyngealisation rate to factors other than interview context (e.g., linguistic factors or discussion topic) yielded insignificant results, further reinforcing the notion that the style shift is due to interview context. Even within the binary categories of pharyngeal vs. apical, an analysis of formant frequency found that, on average, Boyle produced “ more apical” apicals with Osman (lower plummeting F3) and “ more pharyngeal” pharyngeals with Bridges (higher rising F3), suggesting that these forms are dynamic and can be strategically produced to varying degrees. This evident style shift between interview contexts is an ideal platform for a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of various sociolinguistic theories. Ultimately, we conclude that audience design best captures the interactional effects observed, but reference to second order indexicality is required to understand what social meaning Boyle achieves through style shifting.


Review

This study offers a compelling investigation into the intraspeaker variation of /r/ pharyngealisation in Scottish English, addressing a notable gap in previous research which largely focused on interspeaker differences in this emergent derhoticisation strategy. By meticulously analyzing the speech of comedian Frankie Boyle across two distinct interview contexts – one with a fellow Glaswegian (Kevin Bridges) and another with a Southern Standard British English speaker (Richard Osman) – the authors effectively explore how phonetic features behave in situations of style shifting. The findings clearly demonstrate that Boyle employs significantly more pharyngealisation with Bridges, alongside a notable increase in creaky voice when interviewed by Osman, reinforcing the central role of interview context in driving these phonetic shifts. The methodology employed is particularly robust, utilizing acoustic correlates of F3 frequency and energy to not only binary categorize /r/ tokens but also to analyze F3 as a continuous measure, providing a nuanced understanding of phonetic production. The inclusion of a secondary analysis on phonation quality further enriches the characterization of Boyle’s stylistic choices in each context. A significant strength lies in the authors' rigorous efforts to rule out confounding linguistic factors or discussion topics, solidifying the attribution of observed differences to interview context. The discovery that Boyle produces "more apical" apicals with Osman and "more pharyngeal" pharyngeals with Bridges, even within binary categories, highlights the dynamic and strategic nature of phonetic variation, moving beyond simple categorical shifts to reveal gradient adjustments. Ultimately, this paper makes a significant contribution to sociophonetics by providing strong empirical evidence for the interplay of audience and social meaning in phonetic variation. The detailed analysis of Frankie Boyle’s speech offers an ideal platform for discussing the explanatory power of various sociolinguistic theories, with the authors concluding that audience design, when complemented by second-order indexicality, best accounts for the observed interactional effects and the social meanings conveyed. While focusing on a single speaker, the depth and precision of the analysis, coupled with its insightful theoretical discussion, render this study an invaluable resource for understanding the complexities of intraspeaker phonetic variation and its social function in real-world communicative settings.


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