Effects of Consonantal Context on the Pronunciation of /æ/ 81T-test results show that all six young women, but none of the men, raise /æ/ in
front of nasals to a degree that is statistically signi¿ cant at or below the .05 level
of probability. In addition, the only two speakers whose pre-nasal /æ/ is both
fronted and raised are young women who also have an overall mean for /æ/ that
is fronted, indicating NCS accommodation. There are two other people (out
of the 32 participants) who show statistically signi¿ cant fronting and raising
of /æ/ before nasals. Both are women under the age of 40 who, although they
are speakers of English as a second language, learned English in Lansing and
have lived in Lansing for most or all of their lives. The fact that statistical sig-
ni¿ cance is achieved for these speakers based on only three words per speaker
in which /æ/ appears before a nasal—Sam, Lansing, plant—underscores how
dramatically different pre-nasal /æ/ is from /æ/ in other environments.
Table 3.4 Results for Position of /æ/ Before Nasal Consonants (X = Statistical Sig-
ni¿ cance .05 Level of Probability between Mean for Pre-nasal /æ/ and
Mean for /æ/ in all other Environments)
Name Age Overall F1/F2 means
(/æ/ relative to /͑/)Pre-nasal /æ/,
raised (F1)Pre-nasal /æ/,
fronted (F2)
Judith 21 fronted and raised /æ/ X
Jose 35 fronted and raised /æ/
Lucy B 14 fronted /æ/ X
Estela 17 fronted /æ/ X X
Emelia 20 fronted /æ/ X
Solana 22 fronted /æ/ X X
Ralph 41 fronted /æ/ X
Edmund 45 fronted /æ/Andy (^14) /æ/ = /͑ X
Rodolfo (^27) /æ/ = /͑
Melito (^29) /æ/ = /͑
Martin (^48) /æ/ = /͑
Walter 71 backed /æ/
Melinda (^16) /æ/ below /͑ X
Ronald B (^16) /æ/ below /͑
Jesse (^28) /æ/ below /͑