Variation in the formant dynamics of southeastern Nigerian English diphthongs

Variation in the formant dynamics of southeastern Nigerian English diphthongs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Variation in the formant dynamics of southeastern Nigerian English diphthongs Oluwasegun Matthew Amoniyan, Omotosho Moses Melefa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8878699/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the phonetic realization of diphthongs in southeastern Nigerian English (sNigE) to focus on the influence of gender and regional variation and the role of formant trajectories in vowel identity. Building on prior claims that sNigE exhibits monophthongal realizations and reduced diphthongal contrasts (e.g., Jowitt, 2018 ), this study applies dynamic acoustic methods to reassess vowel patterns in the variety. We sampled data from sNigE from the five states in the region to extract F1 and F2 formants at normalized timepoints and analysed them via generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). The results revealed significant variation in diphthong realization across lexical sets, with many vowels exhibiting spectral shifts inconsistent with canonical RP diphthongs. Even diphthongs that were monophthongized (e.g., [a:], [a], and [e]) showed temporal movement, aligning with the Vowel-Inherent Spectral Change (VISC) framework. Gender significantly influenced vowel height (F1), whereas vowel frontness (F2) remained relatively consistent, likely because of the shared Igbo L1 across the region. These findings support a gradient view of vowel identity in sNigE and underscore the need to reevaluate Nigerian English phonology through dynamic, trajectory-based analyses. Linguistics Formant dynamics southeastern Nigerian English diphthongs GAMM social factors Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8878699","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":591292291,"identity":"6ded57d8-6993-4f4c-afb2-d81e8bf91c9b","order_by":0,"name":"Oluwasegun Matthew Amoniyan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAr0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHAC9s8/Khh4wEweIrWwMTOcYeDhYSNJC2MbUDXRWvjFDj97XDjvjoy9fAPjg7dtRGiRnJ1mbjxz2zOQw5gN5xKjxeB2goEE77bDIC1s0rzEaUn/IME7B6yF/TeRWnLMpHkbILYwE6VFcnZOseGMY0C/HEtslpxzjggt/NLpGx98qLljz958+OCHN2VEaIGCA0DM2EC8eqiWUTAKRsEoGAU4AAC/HjEV8OTrYQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6513-4681","institution":"University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oluwasegun","middleName":"Matthew","lastName":"Amoniyan","suffix":""},{"id":591292986,"identity":"c67d28c8-0619-45e9-a1f6-1c96cec00bdd","order_by":1,"name":"Omotosho Moses Melefa","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5642-090X","institution":"University of Nigeria, Nsukka","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Omotosho","middleName":"Moses","lastName":"Melefa","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-14 09:21:49","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8878699/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8878699/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVariation in the formant dynamics of southeastern Nigerian English diphthongs\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Nigeria","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Formant dynamics, southeastern Nigerian English, diphthongs, GAMM, social factors","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8878699/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8878699/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e This study investigates the phonetic realization of diphthongs in southeastern Nigerian English (sNigE) to focus on the influence of gender and regional variation and the role of formant trajectories in vowel identity. 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