A Phonetic Study of Vowel Mergers in Grenadian Parliamentary Speech

Abstract

The major aim of this project, therefore, is to conduct a quantitative sociophonetic study analysing the vowels of Grenadian MPs in the House of Representatives from the parish of Saint Andrews to understand how certain vowels pattern for speakers within a traditionally formal context and how these patterns relate to Creole and Standard varieties through the studies done on Standard Caribbean Englishes as well as those done on GEC, namely Paterson (2013). Using the available demographic and extra-linguistic features available, explanations will be put forth as to why certain patterns occur within a formal context such as parliament.