Revisiting Deterding (1997): Analysis of Formant Frequencies of Monophthongal Vowels in Standard Southern British English

Hyunsong Chung. 2025. Revisiting Deterding (1997): Analysis of Formant Frequencies of Monophthongal Vowels in Standard Southern British English. Language and Linguistics 107, 57-72. The main purpose of this study is to examine the formant frequencies of monophthongal vowels in stressed syllables spoken by male and female speakers of Standard Southern British English (SSBE) in the Aix-MARSEC database. The study serves as an expanded replication of Deterding (1997). Formant frequencies and Euclidean distances were analyzed to achieve this aim. The results demonstrate that the vowel space of female speakers in the 1980s was more expanded than that of male speakers, with front vowels showing relatively equal spacing for both genders. Additionally, the analysis reveals that the vowel space of Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas broadcasts in the 1980s was not as expanded as that of female speakers from the same period.