Production study, 120 speakers, 4,800 measured tokens

Linguistics research poster example

A vowel merger measured across 120 speakers in one coastal city, laid out as an A0 portrait board where a single hero figure takes the top half. The figure plots formant difference by birth decade, so the change reads as a trend rather than as two bars.

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The whole board

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AU
A merger in progress: near and square vowels across two age bands in one coastal city
H. Vasquez ¹, E. Ngata ¹
1 Department of Linguistics, Ashgrove University
Abstract
Speakers of this variety are often described as merging the vowels of beer and bear, but the claim rests on impressionistic reports rather than measurement. We recorded 120 speakers in one coastal city, 60 aged under 30 and 60 aged over 60, reading a 40 word list that held three minimal pairs in a carrier sentence. Every token was forced aligned and the first and second formants were taken at the vowel midpoint, giving 4,800 tokens in total. In the older band the two vowels stay apart: mean F1 for bear sits 115 Hz above beer, a separation a listener hears. In the younger band the same pair differs by 15 Hz, which is inside the variation we measure within a single speaker across repeats. Coding each speaker individually, the merger is complete for 44 of 60 speakers under 30 and for 13 of 60 over 60. The pill and pull pair behaves the same way in both bands and acts as the control, and the cot and caught pair is midway through the same change. The merger is therefore not general to the variety; it is specific to particular pairs and it is moving through the community one generation at a time.
Control
Near
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
03570105140
Figure 1. Mean F1 difference within each pair, in hertz, by speaker birth decade.
Source: 4,800 measured tokens from 120 speakers, 2026.
METHODS
Speakers. 120 lifelong residents, 60 aged 18 to 29 and 60 aged 61 to 84, balanced for gender.
Materials. 40 word list with three minimal pairs, each word in a fixed carrier sentence.
Recording. Head mounted microphone, 44.1 kHz, in a quiet room at a community hall, not a lab booth.
Measures. Forced alignment then F1 and F2 at the vowel midpoint, 4,800 tokens, hand checked.
Merger rule. A speaker counts as merged when the pair differs by under 30 Hz in F1 across all repeats.
REFERENCES
1.Delacroix, P. (2024) Measuring near and square: thresholds for merger in production data. Journal of Phonetics Research, 52, 101 to 124.
2.Ngata, E. and Vasquez, H. (2025) Forced alignment error in community hall recordings. Speech Methods Letters, 8(2), 33 to 41.
3.Okafor, B. (2023) Apparent time and the generational reading of vowel change. Language Variation Quarterly, 19(4), 410 to 438.
Results
Under 30 the beer and bear pair differs by 15 Hz in F1, over 60 by 115 Hz. The pill and pull control pair differs by 53 Hz in the young band and 55 Hz in the old, so the change is not a general flattening of the vowel space. Cot and caught sit between the two, 32 Hz apart in the young band and 70 Hz apart in the old. Within speaker variation across repeats averaged 22 Hz, which is the threshold the merger rule is set against.
Discussion
Plotted by birth decade the near pair falls away steadily from the 1960s on, while the control pair holds within 7 Hz across fifty years of birth dates. That is the signature of a change moving through the community rather than of speakers shifting as they age, and the flat control line rules out a recording artefact, since a microphone that flattened the vowel space would flatten both pairs alike. The cot and caught pair, midway between the other two, is the one to watch in the next cohort.
44 of 60
speakers under 30 with a complete merger
73%, against 13 of 60 over 60, which is 22%, at a 30 Hz threshold
Conclusion
Two pairs are merging, one holds apart, and the split runs along age rather than gender.
Beer and bear differ by 15 Hz under 30, 115 Hz over 60
Merged for 44 of 60 young speakers, 13 of 60 older ones
Pill and pull hold within 7 Hz across every birth decade
4,800 tokens, midpoint formants, 30 Hz merger threshold
Acknowledgements
Recorded with the help of two community halls and a local historical society, who found speakers over 60 that a university notice board never reaches. Fieldwork was funded by a small grant from the Ashgrove Faculty of Arts, and the word list was piloted with 11 speakers who are not in the reported sample.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

Title band, two authors and a QR code
The title names the pair being studied and the design in one line: a merger in progress across two age bands in one coastal city. Two authors share a single department affiliation, and a QR code sits at the right of the band.
Abstract
One wide block covering the claim and its evidence: 120 speakers, a 40 word list in a carrier sentence, 4,800 tokens, formants at the midpoint, 115 hertz separation in the older band against 15 in the younger, and the speaker level counts of 44 and 13 out of 60.
Hero figure
The figure takes the full width and the top half of the lower board: mean formant difference within each pair, in hertz, plotted across six birth decades. The near pair falls from 124 to 15 while the control pair holds between 57 and 50.
Methods as a labelled protocol
Five entries covering the speakers and their age bands, the word list and carrier sentence, recording at 44.1 kilohertz in a community hall rather than a booth, forced alignment with hand checking, and the 30 hertz merger rule.
Results and the headline count
The results block gives the three pair differences in both bands. Beside it a key number block reads 44 of 60, with the detail line giving 73% against 22% for the older band and naming the 30 hertz threshold the count depends on.
Discussion and conclusion
The discussion reads the decade plot as a change moving through the community rather than speakers shifting with age, and uses the flat control line to rule out a recording artefact. A one line conclusion and four checked points follow.
Acknowledgements and references
The acknowledgements name the two community halls and the historical society that found speakers over 60, and record the 11 pilot speakers who are not in the reported sample. Three numbered references close the column.

What makes this board work

The figure is a trend, not a comparison

Plotting the formant difference by birth decade turns two age bands into six points and makes the fall visible as a slope. Two bars would have shown the same numbers and none of the shape.

The control pair is on the same axes

The pill and pull pair holds within 7 hertz across fifty years of birth dates while the near pair falls from 124 to 15. A flat control line on the same figure rules out a recording artefact more convincingly than a sentence about it.

The merger rule is stated, not assumed

A speaker counts as merged below a 30 hertz difference across all repeats, and the within speaker variation of 22 hertz is reported beside it. Without both numbers the claim that 44 of 60 are merged means nothing.

Questions people ask

What goes on a linguistics research poster?

The variable, the speakers and how they were sampled, the elicitation materials, how the measurement was taken, the criterion for the phenomenon you are claiming, and one figure that shows the pattern. A poster that shows formant numbers without stating the measurement point is not checkable.

Should the figure show tokens or speakers?

Whichever your claim is about. This board claims a community level change, so the figure aggregates to birth decade and the speaker level count appears separately as 44 of 60 and 13 of 60. Mixing the two on one axis is the fastest way to confuse a reviewer.

How many speakers do I need before a poster is worth making?

There is no threshold, but the board has to state what it has. This one carries 120 speakers and 4,800 tokens in the abstract and again in the methods. A poster with a small sample is fine when the sample is on the board; a poster that hides the number is not.

How big should poster text be at a metre?

Body text here sits near 24 pixels on the 1656 by 2340 working canvas, or about 12 millimetres printed at A0, which reads comfortably at a metre. Figure axis labels are smaller, so keep them to a few characters and put the key in the caption where the type is larger.

Portrait or landscape for a linguistics conference?

The call for papers decides it. Portrait suits a board built around one tall hero figure with columns of text underneath, which is this layout. Landscape suits a wide figure with the method on one side. Design for the size the venue gives you rather than resizing afterwards.

Can I swap the chart for a different type?

Yes. A figure block can be switched between ten chart types, including line, area, bar, column, pie, donut, radar, waterfall and waffle. Change the data in the block and the axis redraws. Photo figures on a small number of layouts cannot be filled, so pick a layout with chart figures.

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