The phenomenon of Yod Dropping is a well-attested feature of East Anglian Englishes, with Upton and Widdowson (1996) observing that it is "probably the best known feature of dialects in East Anglia". This is the process through which /j/ is omitted in Cju sequences, rendering forms such as cute [ku:t] and beauty [bu:ti] in place of the standard forms [kju:t] and [bju:ti], respectively. However, in sequences where there is a preceding coronal stop, a second non-standard form is available. These forms involve palatalisation between a preceding /t d/ and the /j/, rendering pronunciations such as tune [u:n] and duke [u:k].
The emergence of these palatalised forms in south-eastern dialects, particularly those associated with the London boroughs, has been seen to eclipse the yod-dropped form as the preferred non-standard variant in /tju/ and /dju/ sequences, with Wells (1982) noting that popular London speech seems to have switched towards the palatalised [ ] forms in place of [tu: du:]. However, these palatalised forms in peripheral locations in the south-east have been shown to be a more recent acquisition. AUTHOR et al (2008) demonstrate how, in three locations on the East Anglian periphery, the degree of palatalisation increases dramatically in apparent time between the two generations of speakers analysed.
This presentation builds on these findings and adopts an experimental approach in order to ascertain the progress of phonologisation of palatalisation within these /tju:/-/dju:/ sequences. In order to do this, participants from Mersea Island, Essex, who were life-long Islanders were recruited, representing a range of 18-90 years of age. Following the methodology of both Davis and Hammond (1995) and Barlow (2001), participants were instructed in the mechanics of the language game Pig Latin, and then recorded producing a number of words via a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation followed by their Pig Latin form. This was followed by an open discussion, simulating a classic sociolinguistic interview, in an attempt to procure tokens in a more naturalistic, casual context for comparative purposes. An example of possible Pig Latin outcomes for the word tune would be:
1. [ju:n+tei] – only the initial [t] segment is moved
2. [u:n+tjei] – the initial [tj] sequence is moved
3. [u:n+ei] – the palatalised [] segment is moved and no separation occurs
The realisation of options 1 or 2 above would indicate that, even if a speaker realises the palatalised form in the initial reading (or follow-up interview), the underlying form for these sequences is still t+j, and no consonant merger has occurred. However, if a speaker was to produce option 3, it could be taken as an indicator that the merger of t+j has established itself as the underlying representation within these forms, thus marking the advanced progression of this variant. Initial findings from a sample of older speakers suggest that the consonant merger has not taken place within their phonologies, as the data from Amos et al (2008) would predict, and a further analysis of younger speakers is needed to judge the progression of this feature.