In our recently published work on vowel production and vowel perception across US
regional dialects, we found clear evidence of F1 and F2 distinctions among speakers of
Northern, Western and Southern dialects in line with well-documented regionally diagnostic
vowel shift patterns (Kendall and Fridland 2012, Fridland and Kendall 2012). In addition,
perceptual distinctions were found among regions reflecting reflexes of these shifts. Our
work also found substantial variability in the degree to which speakers within each region …