Subphonemic and suballophonic consonant variation : the role of the phoneme inventory

Consonants exhibit more variation in their phonetic realization than is typically acknowledged, but that variation is linguistically constrained. Acoustic analysis of both read and spontaneous speech reveals that consonants are not necessarily realized with the manner of articulation they would have in careful citation form. Although the variation is wider than one would imagine, it is limited by the phoneme inventory. The phoneme inventory of the language restricts the range of variation to protect the system of phonemic contrast. That is, consonants may stray phonetically into unfilled areas of the language's sound space. Listeners are seldom consciously aware of the consonant variation, and perceive the consonants phonemically as in their citation forms. A better understanding of surface phonetic consonant variation can help make predictions in theoretical domains and advances in applied domains

The Production of the english interdental fricatives by brazilian former and future EFL teachers

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente, Florianópolis, 2010The present study investigated the production of the English interdental fricatives by Brazilian former and future EFL teachers. The main objectives of the present study were to investigate: (a) the pattern of production and replacements for the voiceless interdental fricative in word-initial and final positions; (b) the pattern of production and replacements for the voiced interdental fricative in word-initial and final positions; and (c) whether word-position might affect the degree of difficulty for the accurate production of the interdentals. The participants of the study were eight undergraduate learners from the Letras English Course at UFSC and three former English teachers from language schools in the south of Brazil. Data were collected through a questionnaire and a production test. The test, which was audio and video recorded, contained the interdentals in each word position, initial and final. Despite the limitations of the study, results show a high percentage of accurate productions especially of word-initial and final /T/. For /D/, more accurate productions were observed in word-initial than in wordfinal position. The predominant production types observed were: (a) the realization of [T] for /T/ in word-initial and final positions; (b) the realization of [D] for /D/ in word-initial position; and (c) the realization of [T] for /D/ in word-final position. The results suggest that the high number of accurate productions might be due to the participants# frequency of English contact and high proficiency level. The difficulty observed for the production of word-final /D/ may be related more to lack of word familiarity than to markedness constraints.O presente estudo investigou a produção das fricativas interdentais do Inglês por antigos e futuros professores brasileiros de Inglês como língua estrangeira (EFL). Os principais objetivos deste estudo foram investigar: (a) o padrão de produção e de substituição para a fricativa interdental surda em posições inicial e final de palavra, (b) o padrão de produção e de substituição para a fricativa interdental vozeada em posições inicial e final de palavra, e (c) se a posição do fonema nas palavras pode afetar o grau de dificuldade para a produção acurada das interdentais. Os participantes do estudo são oito alunos de graduação do Curso de Letras Inglês na UFSC e três exprofessores de Inglês de escolas de idiomas no sul do Brasil. Os dados foram coletados através de um questionário e um teste de produção. O teste, que foi gravado em áudio e vídeo, continha as interdentais em cada posição da palavra, inicial e final. Apesar das limitações do estudo, os resultados mostram uma elevada percentagem de produções acuradas especialmente de /T/ em posição inicial e final de palavra. Para /D/, as produções acuradas foram observadas com maior freqüência em início de palavra do que em posição final de palavra. Os tipos predominantes produção observadas foram: (a) a realização de [T] para /T/ no início e fim de palavra; (b) a realização de [D] para /D/ em início de palavra; e (c) a realização de [T] para /D/ em posição final de palavra. Os resultados sugerem que o elevado número de produções curadas pode ser devido a maior freqüência de contato dos participantes com o Inglês e seu alto nível de proficiência. A dificuldade encontrada para a produção do /D/ final pode estar relacionada mais à falta de familiaridade com as palavras do teste do que apenas à restrições de marcação

The Effect of Instructed Second Language Learning on the Acoustic Properties of First Language Speech

This paper reports on a comprehensive phonetic study of American classroom learners of Russian, investigating the influence of the second language (L2) on the first language (L1). Russian and English productions of 20 learners were compared to 18 English monolingual controls focusing on the acoustics of word-initial and word-final voicing. The results demonstrate that learners’ Russian was acoustically different from their English, with shorter voice onset times (VOTs) in [−voice] stops, longer prevoicing in [+voice] stops, more [−voice] stops with short lag VOTs and more [+voice] stops with prevoicing, indicating a degree of successful L2 pronunciation learning. Crucially, learners also demonstrated an L1 phonetic change compared to monolingual English speakers. Specifically, the VOT of learners’ initial English voiceless stops was shortened, indicating assimilation with Russian, while the frequency of prevoicing in learners’ English was decreased, indicating dissimilation with Russian. Word-final, the duration of preceding vowels, stop closures, frication, and voicing during consonantal constriction all demonstrated drift towards Russian norms of word-final voicing neutralization. The study confirms that L2-driven phonetic changes in L1 are possible even in L1-immersed classroom language learners, challenging the role of reduced L1 use and highlighting the plasticity of the L1 phonetic system

Laryngeal stop systems in contact: connecting present-day acquisition findings and historical contact hypotheses

This article examines the linguistic forces at work in present-day second language and bilingual acquisition of laryngeal contrasts, and to what extent these can give us insight into the origin of laryngeal systems of Germanic voicing languages like Dutch, with its contrast between prevoiced and unaspirated stops. The results of present-day child and adult second language acquisition studies reveal that both imposition and borrowing may occur when the laryngeal systems of a voicing and an aspirating language come into contact with each other. A scenario is explored in which socially dominant Germanic-speaking people came into contact with a Romance-speaking population, and borrowed the Romance stop system

L1-L2 Interference: The case of final devoicing of French voiced fricatives in final position by German learners

International audienceThis work is dealing with a case of L1-L2 interference in language learning. The Germans learning French as a second language frequently produce unvoiced fricatives in word-final position instead of the expected voiced fricatives. We investigated the production of French fricatives for 16 non-native (8 beginner-and 8 advanced-learners) and 8 native speakers, and designed auditory feedback to help them realize the right voicing feature. The productions of all speakers were categorized either as voiced or unvoiced by experts. The same fricatives were also evaluated by non-experts in a perception experiment targeting VCs. We compare the ratings by experts and non-experts with the feature-based analysis. The ratio of locally unvoiced frames in the consonantal segment and also the ratio between consonantal duration and V1 duration were measured. The acoustic cues of neighboring sounds and pitch-based features play a significant role in the voicing judgment. As expected, we found that beginners face more difficulties to produce voiced fricatives than advanced learners. Also, the production becomes easier for the learners, especially for the beginners, if they practice repetition after a native speaker. We use these findings to design and develop feedback via speech analysis/synthesis technique TD-PSOLA using the learner's own voice

Acquiring a new second language contrast: an analysis of the English laryngeal system of native speakers of Dutch

This study examines the acquisition of the English laryngeal system by native speakers of (Belgian) Dutch. Both languages have a two-way laryngeal system, but while Dutch contrasts prevoiced with short-lag stops, English has a contrast between short-lag and long-lag stops. The primary aim of the article is to test two hypotheses on the acquisition process based on first language acquisition research: (1) native speakers of a voicing language will succeed in producing short-lag stops in the target aspirating language, since short-lag stops occur early in first language acquisition and can be considered unmarked and since one member of the contrast is formed by short-lag stops in both voicing and aspirating languages, and (2) native speakers of a voicing language will succeed in acquiring long-lag stops in the target language, because aspiration is an acoustically salient realization. The analysis is based on an examination of natural speech data (conversations between dyads of informants), combined with the results of a controlled reading task. Both types of data were gathered in Dutch as well as in Eng(Dutch) (i.e. the English speech of native speakers of Dutch). The analysis revealed an interesting pattern: while the first language (L1) Dutch speakers were successful in acquiring long-lag aspirated stops (confirming hypothesis 2), they did not acquire English short-lag stops (rejecting hypothesis 1). Instead of the target short-lag stops, the L1 Dutch speakers produced prevoiced stops and frequently transferred regressive voice assimilation with voiced stops as triggers from Dutch into English. Various explanations for this pattern in terms of acoustic salience, perceptual cues and training will be considered

A synchronic analysis of Indian English

The present paper aims at exploring the impact that linguistic background can have on individual speech. After a brief review on how English became an official language in the republic of India, I will concentrate on the phonological aspect of Indian English. I will, firstly, procure a framework that ensures a baseline for a standard form of Indian English. Secondly, I will analyse an authentic speech sample and will discuss a number of factors that account for the adherence/deviation from the standard and which depict the phonological identity of this particular speaker

The Influence of Attitude on the Treatment of Interdentals in Loanwords : Ill-performed Importations

This article treats cross-linguistic variation in the treatment of /0, d/ in loanwords. We maintain that the phonological adaptation of /0, d/, cross-linguistically, is to /t, d/, that substitution by /f, v/, which occurs in a few languages, is based on faulty perception of the interdental fricatives, and that adaptation to /s, z/, which notably occurs in Japanese, European French and German, represents a flawed production-based attempt to import interdentals. We suggest that such flawed importation occurs when foreign sounds are difficult to produce but the source language holds sufficient prestige that it is deemed important to do so. This proposal is supported by data from, e.g., English, Greek and Classical Arabic. The treatment of interdentals parallels that of the difficult French phoneme /ʒ/ in loanwords in Fula, which also yields a flawed production-based importation, lending further support to our analysis of /0, d/ to /s, z/ as flawed importations.Aquest article tracta de la variació en l'adaptació de les interdentals /0, d/ en els manlleus de diferents llengües. Nosaltres afirmem que l'adaptació fonològica de /0, d/ és /t, d/, que la substitució per /f, v/ que ocorre en algunes llengües es basa en una percepció defectuosa de les fricatives interdentals, i que l'adaptació a /s, z/, que apareix sovint en japonès, francès europeu i alemany, representa un intent imperfecte d'adaptació i producció de les interdentals. Suggerim que aquesta adaptació imperfecta ocorre quan els sons foranis són difícils de pronunciar però que s'ha de fer l'esforç atès el prestigi que té la llengua donant. Aquesta proposta es basa en dades de l'anglès, el grec i l'àrab clàssic. El tractament de les interdentals és anàleg al del fonema francès /ʒ/ en els manlleus del fula, llengua en què també es produeix una importació defectuosa, la qual cosa afavoreix la nostra anàlisi de /0, d/ importades defectuosament com a /s, z/

The laryngeal properties of Slovak three-consonant clusters

In this paper, we study the phonetic properties of three-consonant clusters (CC#C) in Slovak. More precisely, we will investigate the laryngeal properties of the velar–alveolar stop clusters /kt/ and /ɡd/, and the alveolar fricative– stop clusters /st/ and /zd/ in word-final position when followed by a voiced or a voiceless obstruent, or a sonorant consonant. This topic is of interest for two reasons: (i) there are not many studies dealing with the laryngeal characteristics of three-consonant clusters, and (ii) the study of consonant clusters can shed further light on the issue whether or not regressive voicing assimilation (RVA) in general, including pre-sonorant voicing, is a neutralizing process in Slovak. We will seek to answer the following research questions: (i) Is voicing assimilation in Slovak (with obstruent and sonorant consonants as triggers) neutralizing or incomplete? (ii) Does pre-sonorant voicing in Slovak differ from pre-obstruent voicing? (iii) Is the word-final devoicing of obstruent clusters a completely neutralizing process in Slovak, or is it an example of incomplete laryngeal neutralization