News in Brief Anthropology

The southern drawl gets deconstructed

Understanding vowel sound diversity could improve Siri

pecan pie

SWEET AS PAH  Delving into the vowel pronunciations of Southerners, who, for example, turn pie into “pah,” reveals surprising linguistic complexity that could help make better speech recognition software.

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By Rachel Ehrenberg

- More than 2 years ago

BOSTON — Some aspects of speech are as Southern as pecan pie. Consider the vowel shift that makes the word pie sound more like “pah.”