Perceptions of /a/ fronting Across Two Michigan Dialects 235stimuli were presented in eight blocks of 56 trials each. The experiment was
administered in two 30-minute parts, with a 30-minute break in between.
4.8 Results for the UP Respondents
The UP subgroup of respondents were selected for this study based on their
longtime residence in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and correspondingly,
on their limited experience with speech that was strongly inÀ uenced by NCCS.
Figure 9.8 shows the UP respondents’ results for the sociophonetic test. The
psychometric functions plotted in the upper panel of the ¿ gure are for vowel
items presented in sentences produced by Talker UP. The functions in the bot-
tom panel are for vowels items in sentences produced by Talker LM.
Figure 9.8 Psychometric functions for the UP respondents. The upper panel shows
responses for sentence carriers produced by Talker UP; the lower panel
shows responses for sentence carriers produced by Talker LM.