Preaspirated /pp tt kk/ in standard Italian

This paper investigates preaspiration of geminate stops in Standard Italian /pp tt kk/. We first compare voiceless stops produced in isolated words according to speaker sex and then region (Northern, Central and Southern Italy). We find that the frequency and duration of preaspiration remain relatively stable across these sociophonetic categories. Given these patterns we suggest that the appearance of preaspirated stops is conditioned primarily by phonetic (consonant place, vowel type, lexical stress) rather than the sociophonetic factors under consideration

How widespread is preaspiration in Italy?

Preaspiration is a comparatively rare phonetic feature, almost entirely confined to languages spoken in far northwestern Europe (Andersen 2002; Helgason 2002). A recent acoustic phonetic investigation into consonant gemination in Sienese Italian (e.g. Stevens & Hajek 2007), however, found that preaspiration occurred in one third of geminate /pp tt kk/ tokens. Up until that point preaspirated stops had not been reported to occur in Sienese or any other variety of Italian including the standard language. With this in mind, the present paper presents the results of an acoustic phonetic investigation into voiceless geminate stops /pp tt kk/ in a controlled corpus of words read by speakers from 15 other Italian cities. Results are analysed according to city as well as factors (e.g. speaker sex, vowel type) known to favour occurrences of preaspiration in other better known preaspirating languages. Preliminary duration values are presented and results are discussed in terms of two specific hypotheses regarding the rise of preaspiration in Sienese Italian

On the natural history of preaspirated stops

This dissertation makes two contributions, one empirical, the other theoretical. Empirically, the dissertation deepens our understanding of the lifecycle and behavior of the preaspirated stop, an extremely rare phonological feature. I show that in most confirmed cases, preaspirated stops develop from earlier voiceless geminate stops, less commonly from nasal-voiceless stop clusters. When decaying, preaspirated stops typically develop into unaspirated voiceless stops, or undergo buccalization to become preaffricated. More rarely, decaying preaspirated stops may trigger tonogenesis, or undergo spirantization or nasalization. Phonologically, preaspirated stops usually function as positionally conditioned allophones of underlying aspirated voiceless stops contrasting with voiceless unaspirated stops. The dissertation tests three theoretical frameworks. First, the State-Process model claims that the synchronic distribution of linguistic features offers insight into their rates of innovation and transmission. Conventionally, the rarity of preaspirated stops is attributed to a presumed low rate of transmission: they are rare because they are hard to hear. However, the geographic and genetic distribution of preaspirated stops fit the State-Process model's prototype of an infrequently innovated but robustly transmitted linguistic feature. Further, I show experimentally that preaspirated stops are no more difficult to distinguish from unaspirated stops than are much more abundant postaspirated stops. Second, the dissertation tests the success of two models, one cognitive, the other phonetic/diachronic, at accounting for two place-based asymmetries in Scottish Gaelic preaspiration. Whereas a conventional Optimality-Theoretic analysis of these asymmetries overgenerates, an analysis modified via Steriade's P-map Hypothesis resolves this overgeneration. The P-map analysis depends on congruent perceptual scales, which the perception experiment (above) confirms: participants' confusion rates closely match the place-based asymmetries observed in Gaelic. The competing innocent misperception model depends on the presence of phonetic precursors to produce an ambiguous phonological signal, which listeners may interpret differently than intended by the speaker, leading to an alteration in a segment's underlying form. A series of production experiments identifies potential precursors, but also reveals between-speaker variation more compatible with the P-map account than innocent misperception, again lending support to Steriade's hypothesis

Proto-Indo-European glottalic stops: The comparative evidence

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Pre-aspiration in Bethesda Welsh: a sociophonetic analysis

Previous research has shown that pre-aspiration can be either a phonemic or variable linguistic feature susceptible to linguistic and extra-linguistic influences. In the case of Welsh, previous exploratory work has found the presence of pre-aspiration (Ball 1984; Morris 2010; Iosad Forthcoming; Spooner 2016), but the phonetic and phonological properties of this feature and its sociophonetic patterning in the language are not known. This paper presents analyses of the variety of Welsh spoken in Bethesda (Gwynedd). It reports the frequency of occurrence of pre-aspiration, its duration, and noisiness. As well as describing pre-aspiration, it attempts to ascertain the extent to which this feature is influenced by linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. Wordlist data were analysed from 16 Welsh–English bilinguals from Bethesda (Gwynedd, north Wales). Speakers were aged between 16 and 18 years old and the sample was stratified by speaker sex and home language (either Welsh or English). The results indicate that pre-aspiration is frequent in both fortis and lenis plosives (the latter of which are typically devoiced in Welsh). In addition to a number of linguistic influences on its production, both speaker sex and home language were found to be significant predictors of variation for some measures. The results are discussed with reference to previous studies of pre-aspiration in other languages and work on phonetic variation in Welsh-English bilingual speech

British Celtic influence on English phonology

The dissertation assesses the influence of British Celtic on the phonological development of English during and shortly after the Anglo-Saxon settlement period, ca. AD 450–700. By reconstructing and then comparing the phonological systems of both British Celtic and English at the time of contact, an independent assessment of the differences and similarities between the sound systems of the two languages is achieved. On this basis, the segments which were most likely to have been susceptible to change in a situation of language contact and language shift are identified. Evidence for change in English resulting from British Celtic influence is then sought in the medieval textual records. Numerous possible examples of phonological and phonetic change resulting from contact are identified in especially northern English dialects. These findings are interpreted in the context of other on-going research from linguistics and other disciplines.LEI Universiteit LeidenDescriptive and Comparative Linguistic

The Phonology of Quantity in Icelandic and Norwegian

Tematem niniejszej rozprawy jest analiza fonologiczna iloczasu w j. islandzkim i norweskim. Podstawę teoretyczną analizy stanowi model Fonologii Rządu. W rozdz. 1. przedstawione zostały inwentarze dźwięków j. islandzkiego i norweskiego, a także hierarchia elementów prozodycznych (akcentu, iloczasu i tonu) i wpływ akcentu na dystrybucję długich i krótkich samogłosek. Rozdz. 2. przedstawia podstawowe założenia Fonologii Rządu. Rozdz. 3. poświęcony jest tzw. wzdłużeniu w otwartych sylabach i alternatywnej definicji otwartej sylaby. W rozdz. 4. analizie poddano zbitki spółgłoskowe, które występują na początku i wewnątrz wyrazów. Dla podkreślenia uniwersalności analizy, przywołano dane z j. farerskiego. Rozdz. 5. analizuje preaspirację w j. islandzkim. Opisana jest ona zarówno pod względem struktury melodycznej, jak i pozycji w sylabie. Rozdz. 6. poświęcony jest analizie spółgłosek retrofleksyjnych w j. norweskim. Rozdz. 7. rozwija opis zbitek spółgłoskowych wewnątrz słowa, skupiając się na takich, które następują tylko po krótkiej samogłosce. Rozdz. 8. prezentuje szczegółową analizę jednej spółgłoski islandzkiej, /s/, i jej znaczenia dla opisu iloczasu w tym języku. Opisano /s/ jako „podwójnego agenta” w fonologii j. islandzkiego. Rozdz. 9. konfrontuje ustaloną w regułę iloczasu z formami złożonymi morfologicznie, tj. derywatami i złożeniami. Rozdz. 10. kontynuuje dyskusję nad rolą informacji morfologicznej w analizie iloczasu. Zaproponowano opis wybranej kategorii morfologicznej tj. tworzenia czasu przeszłego.Chapter 1 briefly presents sound inventories of Icelandic and Norwegian. Chapter 2 presents basic theoretical assumptions of Government Phonology. Chapter 3 is devoted to the so-called „open syllable lengthening” in Icelandic and Norwegian. Chapter 4 discusses branching onsets in Icelandic and Norwegian. An attempt is made to explain why forms like Ic. sötr or Norw. Afrika have a stressed long vowel, although a consonant cluster follows. Chapter 5 further analyses the distribution of long and short vowels and continues the discussion on Icelandic preaspiration. Chapter 6 sheds some alternative light on the so-called retroflex consonants in Norwegian. Chapter 7 takes a closer look at what was traditionally called coda-onset contact. Chapter 8 analyses the peculiar phonological behavior of /s/ in Icelandic. Following GUSSMANN (2001a) we call it “the double agent” of Icelandic phonology. Chapter 9 is devoted to the phonology of quantity in compound words in Icelandic. Chapter 10 analyses the creation of past tense in Icelandic and Norwegian from the phonological point of view