An instrumental phonetic investigation of timing relations in two-stop consonant clusters in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic

This study uses acoustic, electropalatographic and laryngographic data to investigate articulatory timing and the timing of voicing of single stops and two-stop consonant clusters in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic. The theoretical framework which has been adopted in this investigation is based on Articulatory Phonology. An acoustic approach is also employed in this study to measure the duration of segments and overlap in clusters. Another objective of this research is to determine whether syllable position, place of articulation, including articulation sequence, the morphological structure, gender of the speaker and articulation rate will have an influence on the gestural coordination and the timing of voicing of Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic stops. Fourteen native speakers of Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic produced fifty-eight mostly monosyllabic words that contain seven syllable-initial single stops, seven syllable-final single stops, twenty-seven syllable-initial two-stop clusters and seventeen syllable-final two-stop clusters in normal, fast and slow articulation rate. One speaker was recorded using Electropalatography and Laryngography. Measurements include duration of the hold phase of the stops, the duration of overlap/delay between two adjacent consonantal closures, the timing and duration of the voicing during the hold phase and the duration of VOT. Statistical results show significant influence of syllable position, place of articulation, gender and speaking rate on the gestural coordination of two-stop clusters. In syllable-initial position, the pattern of coordination is characterised by an overlap between the two consonantal closures or by a short delay as a result of the release of the first stop. In syllable-final position, the pattern of coordination of two consonantal gestures is marked by a less cohesive coordination leading to the existence of an epenthetic vowel. These patterns of coordination varied as a function of place of articulation, gender of the speaker and the rate of articulation. Clusters with lingual stops are less overlapped compared to clusters containing bilabial stops. Male speakers produced longer hold phase durations and longer inter-consonantal intervals in comparison with female speakers. While in faster articulation rates the two consonantal gestures were reduced in duration and exhibited more gestural overlap, slow articulation rate resulted in the opposite outcome. Results of the influences of articulation sequence and morphological structure of the cluster were less evident. Finally, the duration of voice onset time and the timing and duration of voicing during the hold phase varied as a function of syllable position, place of articulation and articulation rate, with more voicing in syllable-final single stops than syllable-initial and an increase in voicing by the increase in articulation rate, and the opposite pattern is evident in slow articulation rate. The duration of VOT becomes longer as the place of articulation moves back and shorter when the articulation rate is increased. In slow speaking rate, VOT is longer

An Acoustic & Articulatory Analysis of Consonant Sequences across Word Boundaries in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic

The main goal of this thesis is to provide a description of the articulatory and temporal interaction between stops spanning the word boundary in the four sequence types VC#CV, VC#CCV, VCC#CV, and VCC#CCV in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic. A general aim of the study is to contribute to the Phonetic description of Libyan Arabic and to provide a better understanding of speech production and the temporal organisation of articulatory gestures. One of the principal objectives of this study is to investigate what effect an increase in the number of stops in a sequence will have on the timing of stop gestures. Furthermore, the study aims to identify the different patterns of gestural coordination and the types of inter-consonantal intervals occurring between stops in the four sequence types. Another aim of the study is to investigate the nature of the resulting inter-consonantal intervals occurring between these stops in order to understand the patterns of epenthesis. Factors affecting gestural coordination such as the order of place of articulation of stops and speech rate are also an objective of this study. Voice assimilation across the word boundary is also investigated in addition to the influence of inter-consonantal intervals on the process. The study adopts Articulatory Phonology as a theoretical framework to carry out the investigations. The data was collected through recordings of participants’ speech and was subjected to EPG and acoustic analysis. Ten native speakers of Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic took part in the acoustic part of the study. Two of the speakers also took part in the EPG part of the study. Results show that the effect of the number of stops in a sequence on gestural timing is not limited to within syllable-initial and final clusters but also spreads across the word boundary. The timing of syllable-final and syllable-initial stops decreases as a result of the increase in the number of stops across the word boundary. The results also show that the timing of syllable-final clusters is more variable than syllable-initial clusters in across word boundary sequences. Different sequences types exhibit different degrees of gestural coordination and epenthesis patterns between adjacent stops. Inter-consonantal intervals occurring as a result of lag durations between adjacent stop gestures fall into two types. The first type are typical of transitional excrescent vowels with a mean duration ranging from 14ms-20ms and their voice values exhibit more variation as a result of the voice context in which they occur. Inter-consonantal intervals of the second type are typical of epenthetic vowels with a mean duration ranging from 43ms-51ms and are usually specified as voiced. The patterns of epenthesis also show that Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic belongs to the VC type of languages where sequences of three stops CCC are broken up by epenthesis occurring between C1 and C2 of the sequence. Statistical tests show a significant effect for order place of articulation on gestural coordination across the word boundary in TLA in the C#C sequence where gestures are more closely coordinated in the coronal-dorsal order. Regressive voice assimilation is more frequent and the voice context of the stops involved plays a major role in determining the direction of voice assimilation spreading. Progressive voice assimilation is limited to the –V+V voice context and whereas regressive assimilation of voicelessness occurs in both. Furthermore, excrescent vowels are found to be transparent to voice assimilation and are dependent on the voicing of the trigger segment. On the other hand, epenthetic vowels block voice assimilation and are more dependent usually specified as voiced

Inter-consonantal intervals in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic: Accounting for variable epenthesis

This paper reports on an acoustic investigation of inter-consonantal intervals in plosive sequences in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic (TLA). TLA permits a wide range of two, three, and four-consonant strings within and across word boundaries. Previous descriptive work has suggested that TLA is characterized by widespread, partly optional vowel epenthesis throughout these sequences. We conducted a production study to investigate the phonetic and phonological properties of inter-consonantal intervals (ICIs) in these sequences, including their durations and voicing characteristics, as well as the voicing of surrounding plosive hold phases. Our aim was to assess the extent of ‘variable epenthesis’ and narrow down the range of possible accounts for it. Unlike many previous studies, we did not rely on native speaker intuitions and made minimal use of manual categorical coding, instead focusing on modelling distributions of continuous acoustic parameters. The central question we address is whether our data contain patterns that can only be explained with reference to phonological vowel insertion—given that variable epenthesis can also be accounted for in terms of vocoid intrusion alone (Hall, 2006). Our study improves our understanding of consonant articulations in Arabic, and of epenthesis and related phenomena

Epenthesis and vowel intrusion in Central Dhofari Mehri

The paper discusses epenthesis and vowel intrusion in the Central Dhofari variety of Mehri, one of six endangered Modern South Arabian languages indigenous to southern Arabia. Mehri is spoken by members of the Mahrah tribe in southern Oman, eastern Yemen, parts of southern and eastern Saudi Arabia and in communities in parts of the Gulf and East Africa. The estimated number of Mehri speakers is between 100,000–180,000. Following Hall (2006), this study distinguishes between two types of inserted vowels: epenthetic vowels, which repair illicit syllable structures, and intrusive vowels, which transition between consonants. The paper examines how the properties of epenthetic and intrusive vowels as proposed by Hall relate to Mehri

Epenthetic and excrescent vowels in stop sequences in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic

We report on an investigation of inter-consonantal intervals (ICIs) in sequences of two, three and four stops within and across word boundaries in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic (TLA). This variety of Arabic has been described as allowing vowel epenthesis in all consonant clusters [7]. Our investigation was motivated by the question of whether some of the ‘epenthetic vowels’ of TLA are better characterized as ‘excrescent vowels’, following the distinction made by [5]. To answer this question, we analysed ICI durations at normal and fast speaking rates across permissible stop sequences within and across word boundaries. We also investigated the relationship between ICI duration and voicing. Our results are consistent with the observations presented in [7], but show that there is indeed evidence for the existence of both epenthetic and excrescent vowels in TLA

Arabic and contact-induced change

This volume offers a synthesis of current expertise on contact-induced change in Arabic and its neighbours, with thirty chapters written by many of the leading experts on this topic. Its purpose is to showcase the current state of knowledge regarding the diverse outcomes of contacts between Arabic and other languages, in a format that is both accessible and useful to Arabists, historical linguists, and students of language contact

Arabic and contact-induced change

This volume offers a synthesis of current expertise on contact-induced change in Arabic and its neighbours, with thirty chapters written by many of the leading experts on this topic. Its purpose is to showcase the current state of knowledge regarding the diverse outcomes of contacts between Arabic and other languages, in a format that is both accessible and useful to Arabists, historical linguists, and students of language contact

Arabic and contact-induced change

This volume offers a synthesis of current expertise on contact-induced change in Arabic and its neighbours, with thirty chapters written by many of the leading experts on this topic. Its purpose is to showcase the current state of knowledge regarding the diverse outcomes of contacts between Arabic and other languages, in a format that is both accessible and useful to Arabists, historical linguists, and students of language contact

An Acoustic & Articulatory Analysis of Consonant Sequences across Word Boundaries in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic

The main goal of this thesis is to provide a description of the articulatory and temporal interaction between stops spanning the word boundary in the four sequence types VC#CV, VC#CCV, VCC#CV, and VCC#CCV in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic. A general aim of the study is to contribute to the Phonetic description of Libyan Arabic and to provide a better understanding of speech production and the temporal organisation of articulatory gestures. One of the principal objectives of this study is to investigate what effect an increase in the number of stops in a sequence will have on the timing of stop gestures. Furthermore, the study aims to identify the different patterns of gestural coordination and the types of inter-consonantal intervals occurring between stops in the four sequence types. Another aim of the study is to investigate the nature of the resulting inter-consonantal intervals occurring between these stops in order to understand the patterns of epenthesis. Factors affecting gestural coordination such as the order of place of articulation of stops and speech rate are also an objective of this study. Voice assimilation across the word boundary is also investigated in addition to the influence of inter-consonantal intervals on the process. The study adopts Articulatory Phonology as a theoretical framework to carry out the investigations. The data was collected through recordings of participants’ speech and was subjected to EPG and acoustic analysis. Ten native speakers of Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic took part in the acoustic part of the study. Two of the speakers also took part in the EPG part of the study. Results show that the effect of the number of stops in a sequence on gestural timing is not limited to within syllable-initial and final clusters but also spreads across the word boundary. The timing of syllable-final and syllable-initial stops decreases as a result of the increase in the number of stops across the word boundary. The results also show that the timing of syllable-final clusters is more variable than syllable-initial clusters in across word boundary sequences. Different sequences types exhibit different degrees of gestural coordination and epenthesis patterns between adjacent stops. Inter-consonantal intervals occurring as a result of lag durations between adjacent stop gestures fall into two types. The first type are typical of transitional excrescent vowels with a mean duration ranging from 14ms-20ms and their voice values exhibit more variation as a result of the voice context in which they occur. Inter-consonantal intervals of the second type are typical of epenthetic vowels with a mean duration ranging from 43ms-51ms and are usually specified as voiced. The patterns of epenthesis also show that Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic belongs to the VC type of languages where sequences of three stops CCC are broken up by epenthesis occurring between C1 and C2 of the sequence. Statistical tests show a significant effect for order place of articulation on gestural coordination across the word boundary in TLA in the C#C sequence where gestures are more closely coordinated in the coronal-dorsal order. Regressive voice assimilation is more frequent and the voice context of the stops involved plays a major role in determining the direction of voice assimilation spreading. Progressive voice assimilation is limited to the –V+V voice context and whereas regressive assimilation of voicelessness occurs in both. Furthermore, excrescent vowels are found to be transparent to voice assimilation and are dependent on the voicing of the trigger segment. On the other hand, epenthetic vowels block voice assimilation and are more dependent usually specified as voiced