Some publications have used my speech as evidence for phonological theories. More specifically, the output of my dominant L1 has been elicited in both experiments and fieldwork and analyzed in various ways.
The most extensive examination is in chapter 3 of:
Shih, Shu-hao (2026). Vowel Reduction: Theory and Evidence. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781009415590.
However, I have used my speech as evidence, too:
About my L1’s /t/ realizations: [tʰ t tʔ ʔ ɾ ɾ̞ t̠ Ø].
About my deletion and epenthesis processes, focusing on ɻ-epenthesis.
If you want to hear some of my speech, click on the references above.
Why me?
It’s controversial to use yourself as a source of evidence: some people think it’s fine, and others think you should never do it.
I have theoretical and practical reasons for using my own speech. One is that I consider pooling of results from different phonological modules to be a mistake (see Evidence): phonologists must study individual phonological modules.
The problem with studying individual phonological modules is getting enough data, and being able to approach any problem from multiple angles. That requires time and depth of understanding. So, I study my own speech. That has resulted in many years of recording myself, taking notes when I surprise myself with something I say, and so on.
The work by Shih and Staroverov has been invaluable because it involves someone else studying me, so we can compare my findings with theirs and see if they add up.
The big worry about eliciting data from yourself is that you might speak strangely because of self-delusion about how you should speak. In my experience, everyone speaks strangely when you first elicit data from them; it takes a long time for people to be comfortable enough to speak using their L1. The value in eliciting from yourself is that you have a constant stream of data to listen to and reflect on, and it lets you figure out what’s going on.
However, the use of carefully designed experiments and elicitation techniques is crucial in getting to the L1.
I admit that I have been surprised by my own speech to the point where I don’t really know what to expect when I focus on a topic. I was surprised to find that I turn /t/ into glottal stops before consonants, that my front vowels are so high, and my /l/s are almost always velarized (e.g. atlas is [ˈʔɛʔlˠəs]). Unexpected; discovered in Shih’s, Staroverov’s, and my own research.