Dynamic variation in 'Panjabi-English': Analysis of F1 & F2 trajectories for FACE and GOAT

The vowels FACE /eɪ/ and GOAT /əʊ/ [33] have been reported as characteristic of British English contact varieties. FACE has been found to have a lower F1 and a higher F2. For GOAT, a lower F1 but varying F2 have been reported. The vowels also have shorter trajectories or monophthongal realisations [4, 7, 26, 29, 34]. The current paper considers dynamic data from ‘Panjabi-’ and ‘Anglo-’English speakers in Bradford and Leicester. Within locations, speakers of PanjabiEnglish have significantly lower F1 values across trajectories for both vowels. F2 for Panjabi-English speakers is higher for FACE, and lower for GOAT. Although the two Panjabi-English communities share a heritage language, cultural and linguistic differences between the two mean this may not be an adequate explanation of the similarities observed. Instead, the results are considered in relation to consistencies with previous research which may provide evidence for the development of a supraregional contact variety.