Congratulations to Maya Dewhurst, who passed her PhD viva subject to minor revisions earlier this month!

Maya’s thesis is titled Exploring variation and change in vowel nasalisation in the North West of England. She was examined by Georgia Zellou (UC Davis) and Justin Lo (Lancaster).

Maya (4th from left, back) surrounded by members of the Phonetics Lab (back), together with supervisors Danielle (left, front), Sam (centre right, front), Claire (right, front) and internal examiner Justin (centre left, front). Celebrating Maya’s viva success!

The thesis presents an experimental investigation of vowel nasalisation in two closely related dialects of British English: Manchester English and Blackpool English. Combining nasometry and acoustic analysis, it demonstrates social conditioning of nasality and vowel nasalisation both across and within dialects. These findings will contribute to wider conversations on the phonologisation of phonetic nasal coarticulation.