9 research outputs found
Efectos graduales de la sonorización en las lenguas romances
El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar los efectos sincrónicos de la asimilación de sonoridad en las lenguas romances y analizar los principios - las regularidades - que subyacen en la variación observada. Como la exégesis del fenómeno se verá condicionada por el dominio de aplicación, dentro de la palabra o entre palabras, y por su engranaje con los cambios que afectan a las obstruyentes en posición de coda y en posición de ataque, apuntamos en primer lugar las características comunes a los fenómenos de asimilación. The aim of this paper is to present the synchronic effects of voicing assimilation in Romance languages and analyze the principles - the regularities - that underlie the observed variation. As the exegesis of the phenomenon will be determined by the application domain within a word or between words and their gear with changes affecting obstructing in coda position and in attack, we aim, firstly, to show the common features of the assimilation phenomena
Efectos graduales de la sonorización en las lenguas romances 55-82
The aim of this paper is to present the synchronic effects of voicing assimilation in Romance languages and analyze the principles - the regularities - that underlie the observed variation. As the exegesis of the phenomenon will be determined by the application domain within a word or between words and their gear with changes affecting obstructing in coda position and in attack, we aim, firstly, to show the common features of the assimilation phenomenaEl objetivo de este trabajo es presentar los efectos sincrónicos de la asimilación de sonoridad en las lenguas romances y analizar los principios – las regularidades – que subyacen en la variación observada. Como la exégesis del fenómeno se verá condicionada por el dominio de aplicación, dentro de la palabra o entre palabras, y por su engranaje con los cambios que afectan a las obstru-yentes en posición de coda y en posición de ataque, apuntamos en primer lugar las características comunes a los fenómenos de asimilació
From phonetic enhancement to phonological underspecification:Hybrid voicing contrast in European Portuguese
Laryngeal contrast in European Portuguese has typically been described in the phonological literature in terms of an opposition between [+voice] and [–voice]. However, a number of phonetic studies have revealed that lenis fricatives in European Portuguese tend not to exhibit consistent, robust voicing. Focusing on the sibilant system, this paper has a three-fold goal. Firstly, we present results of a phonetic study designed to test the realisation of sibilants both in contrast and neutralisation contexts. Secondly, we propose a reanalysis of synchronic laryngeal contrast couched in the laryngeal realist tradition. Our claim is that an analysis in which fortis fricatives are specified for [spread glottis] makes more accurate phonetic predictions than alternative approaches. Our analysis entails the secondary claim that European Portuguese exemplifies what we term a hybrid voicing system: whilst [spread glottis] is the key contrast feature for the fricative series, the stop series can be best handled by assuming that lenis stops are specified for [voice]. Thirdly, we develop a possible diachronic scenario for how such a hybrid system may have emerged diachronically as the result of phonological changes the history Portuguese
Gradual effects of voicing in the Romance languages
The aim of this paper is to present the synchronic effects of voicing assimilation in Romance languages and analyze the principles - the regularities - that underlie the observed variation. As the exegesis of the phenomenon will be determined by the application domain within a word or between words and their gear with changes affecting obstructing in coda position and in attack, we aim, firstly, to show the common features of the assimilation phenomen
Voiceless stop lenition and reduction as linguistic and social phenomena in Concepción, Chile
This study investigates voiceless stop lenition in Chilean Spanish. Recent studies (e.g. Pérez 2007, Figueroa & Evans 2014 among others) have documented high levels of lenition of /bdg/ in Chilean Spanish. As a result, the present study seeks to document the degree to which the voiceless stops /ptk/ undergo lenition in this variety of Spanish. Furthermore, the relationship between lenition and social factors (e.g., age, gender, and socioeconomic stratification) is examined. Data was taken from the sociolinguistic interviews of 32 speakers from the Province of Concepción, Chile. In all, 4,419 intervocalic tokens of /ptk/ were analyzed for lenition using three different measurement criteria: total voicing, articulatory reduction, and duration. Results confirm that, according to all three criteria, elevated levels of lenition are observed in the production of /ptk/ in Concepción. Likewise, results indicate that as a social phenomenon, voiceless stop lenition in Concepcion is primarily conditioned by age and gender
Phonetics and phonology of the three-way laryngeal contrast in Madurese
Madurese, a Western Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the Indonesian island
of Madura, exhibits a three-way laryngeal contrast distinguishing between voiced,
voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops and an unusual consonant-vowel
(CV) co-occurrence restriction. The CV co-occurrence restriction is of phonological
interest given the patterning of voiceless aspirated stops with voiced stops rather than
with voiceless unaspirated stops, raising the question of what phonological feature
they may share. Two features have been linked with the CV co-occurrence
restriction: Advanced Tongue Root [ATR] and Lowered Larynx [LL]. However, as
no evidence of voicing during closure for aspirated stops is observed and no other
acoustic measures except voice onset time (VOT), fundamental frequency (F0),
frequencies of the first (F1) and the second (F2) formants and closure duration
relating to the proposed features have been conducted, it remains an open question
which acoustic properties are shared by voiced and aspirated stops.
Three main questions are addressed in the thesis. The first question is what acoustic
properties voiced and voiceless aspirated stops share to the exclusion of voiceless
unaspirated stops. The second question is whether [ATR] or [LL] accounts for the
patterning together of voiceless aspirated stops with voiced stops. The third question
is what the implications of the results are for a transparent phonetics-phonology
mapping that expects phonological features to have phonetic correlates associated
with them. In order to answer the questions, we looked into VOT, closure duration,
F0, F1, F2 and a number of spectral measures, i.e. H1*-A1*, H1*-A2*, H1*-A3*,
H1*-H2*, H2*-H4* and CPP. We recorded fifteen speakers of Madurese (8 females,
7 males) reading 188 disyllabic Madurese words embedded in a sentence frame.
The results show that the three-way voicing categories in Madurese have different
VOT values. The difference in VOT is robust between voiced stops on the one hand
and voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops on the other. Albeit
statistically significant, the difference in VOT values between voiceless unaspirated
and voiceless aspirated stops is relatively small. With regard to closure duration, we
found that there is a difference between voiced stops on the one hand and voiceless
unaspirated and aspirated stops on the other. We also found that female speakers
distinguish F0 for the three categories while male speakers distinguish between F0
for voiced stops on the one hand and voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated
stops on the other. The results for spectral measures show that there are no
significant differences in H1*-A1*, H1*-A3*, H1*-H2*, H2*-H4* and CPP between
vowels adjacent to voiced and voiceless aspirated stops. In contrast, there are
significant differences in these measures between vowels adjacent to voiced and
voiceless unaspirated stops and between vowels adjacent to voiceless aspirated and
voiceless unaspirated stops.
Regarding the question whether voiced and voiceless aspirated stops share certain
acoustic properties, our findings show that they do. The acoustic properties they
share are H1*-A1* for both genders, H1*-H2* for females, H1*-A3* and H2*-H4*
for males, and CPP for females at vowel onset and for males at vowel midpoint.
However, they do not share such acoustic properties as VOT, closure duration and
F0. Voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops can be distinguished by
VOT, F0 and spectral measures, i.e. H1*-A1*, H1*-A3*, H1*-H2*, H2*-H4* and
CPP. However, these two voiceless stop categories have similar closure durations.
As regards the question if [+ATR] or [+LL] might be responsible for the patterning
together of voiceless aspirated stops with voiced stops, our findings suggest that
either feature appears to be plausible. Acoustic evidence that lends support to the
feature [+ATR] includes lower F1 and greater spectral tilt measures, i.e. H1*-A1*,
H1*-A3*, H1*-H2* and H2*-H4*, and lower CPP values. Acoustic evidence that
supports the feature [+LL] includes lower F1 and greater spectral tilt measures, i.e.
H1*-A1*, H1*-A3*, H1*-H2* and H2*-H4*, and lower CPP values. However, the
fact that voiceless aspirated stops are voiceless during closure raises a problem for
the feature [+ATR] and the fact that F0 for voiceless aspirated stops is higher than
for voiced stops also presents a problem for the feature [+LL].
The fact that not all acoustic measures fit in well with either feature is problematic to
the idea that the relationship between phonetics and phonology is transparent in the
sense that phonological features can be directly transformed into their phonetic
correlates. Following the view that not all phonological features may not be expected
to be phonetically grounded, for example, when they are related to historical sound
change, we hold the idea of a phonetics-phonology mapping which allows for other
non-phonetic factors to account for a phonological phenomenon. We also provide
historical and loanword evidence which could support that voiceless aspirated stops
in Madurese may have derived from earlier voiced stops, which probably retain their
historical laryngeal contrast through phonologisation