This study explored the interaction between semantic predictability and regional dialect
variation in an analysis of speech produced by college-aged female talkers from the
Northern, Midland, and Southern dialects of American English. Previous research on the
effects of semantic predictability has shown that vowels in high semantic predictability
contexts are temporally and spectrally reduced compared to vowels in low semantic
predictability contexts. In the current study, an analysis of vowel duration confirmed temporal …