Lay observers and linguists have claimed that ongoing phonological and lexical changes in Singapore English may be attributed to increased exposure to American English via media consumption (Poedjosoedarmo 2000; Deterding 2007; Leow 2011). Little is known, however, regarding Singaporeans’ explicit knowledge of the dialect features of other regions, and how this knowledge is shaped by social and parasocial contact. The present study investigates a well-known difference among regional English dialects: the realization of vowels in the bath and trap lexical sets. 1167 Singaporeans are surveyed regarding their own pronunciation of bath and trap words, as well as their perceptions of how these words are pronounced in California and London. While Singaporeans are found to generally retain a conservative bath-trap distinction, media consumption and travel experience, as well as gender and education level, have significant impacts on reported use. Explicit knowledge of the US bath-trap merger is found to be poor relative to the high US media consumption rate, illustrating the limits of media as a source of sociolinguistic knowledge. Contrasting sharply with the rise of postvocalic rhoticity, reluctance to adopt the bath-trap merger is argued to stem from both functional and ideological factors; conservatism in this feature complicates proposals of a wholesale Americanization of Singapore English.

中文翻译：

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新加坡对浴缸陷阱的跨方言意识和使用：调查海外旅行和媒体消费的影响

外行观察家和语言学家声称，新加坡英语在语音和词汇方面的持续变化可能归因于通过媒体消费增加了对美式英语的接触（Poedjosoedarmo 2000；Deterding 2007；Leow 2011）。然而，关于新加坡人对其他地区方言特征的明确了解，以及这些知识是如何被社会和准社会接触塑造的，我们知之甚少。本研究调查了地区英语方言之间众所周知的差异：bath 和 trap 词汇集中元音的实现。1167 名新加坡人接受了关于他们自己对“bath”和“trap”词发音的调查，以及他们对这些词在加利福尼亚和伦敦的发音方式的看法。虽然发现新加坡人普遍保留保守的浴缸区别，媒体消费和旅行经历，以及性别和教育水平，对报告的使用有重大影响。与美国媒体的高消费率相比，对美国浴缸和陷阱合并的明确了解被认为是贫乏的，这说明媒体作为社会语言学知识来源的局限性。与后声带韵律的兴起形成鲜明对比的是，人们认为不愿意采用浴缸-陷阱合并是出于功能和意识形态因素。这一特点的保守主义使新加坡英语全面美国化的提议复杂化。说明媒体作为社会语言学知识来源的局限性。与后声带韵律的兴起形成鲜明对比的是，人们认为不愿意采用浴缸-陷阱合并是出于功能和意识形态因素。这一特点的保守主义使新加坡英语全面美国化的提议复杂化。说明媒体作为社会语言学知识来源的局限性。与后声带韵律的兴起形成鲜明对比的是，人们认为不愿意采用浴缸-陷阱合并是出于功能和意识形态因素。这一特点的保守主义使新加坡英语全面美国化的提议复杂化。