Accentedness Ratings and Phonological Variables as Measures of Variation in Pronunciation

Abstract

Verbally neutral, spontaneous speech samples were selected from interviews with 16 younger and 16 older males (mean ages 17 and 69 years, respectively) varying in socio-economic status (SES). All informants were native of Nijmegen, a city in the mideast of the Netherlands. The speech samples were rated with respect to the degree of accentedness and the pronunciation of six phonological variables with variants typical for the Nijmegen dialect. A factor analysis based on the correlations among the phonological variables yielded two factors, the first with high loadings of the four vowels, the second with a high loading of one of the two consonants, the /v/. The other consonant, the /z/, did not contribute to either factor. There was a strong correlation between the factor-1 scores on the one hand and accentedness and SES on the other. The factor-2 scores correlated with age. Some methodological and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.