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Prosodic conditioning of pre-sonorant voicing
The present study investigates the influence of prosodic structure on pre-sonorant voicing in Slovak. Our results demonstrate that prosodic boundaries as well as accent interact in a meaningful way with voicing assimilation. If a major boundary intervenes,
the role of accent is eliminated, while in other contexts the presence of contrastive focus induces less voicing. A novel finding of the study is that sonorant consonants and vowels differ considerably in this assimilation process. It is also demonstrated that pre-sonorant voicing in Slovak is categorical but optional and is close to being completely neutralizing
Sampling the progression of domain-initial denasalization in Seoul Korean
Word-initial nasals in Korean are known to exhibit prosody-sensitive denasalization. The
literature on the subject is still scarce and even the basic description of the process is debated.
This study tested the speculation that inconsistencies in the literature may be explained if
certain features of denasalization have developed relatively recently as part of an ongoing
sound change. Based on apparent-time data from thirty-two speakers of Seoul Korean, the
study explored the development of denasalization over a fifty-year period. The phonetic
manifestations of domain-initial nasals were examined, along with the effects of prosodic
position, place of articulation, and the height of the following vowel. The results revealed
that denasalization has advanced rapidly over time, acquiring more plosive-like features of
devoicing as well as a complete lack of nasality. Alveolar nasals before a high vowel were
most likely to show denasalization and devoicing. Interestingly, the cumulative effect of
prosody became weakest and partial denasalization was least likely for the younger group.
Based on these results, we speculate that Korean denasalization is in the process of being
stabilized into a discrete phrase-level process from a more general, gradient phenomenon of
domain-initial strengthening, consistent with the theory of the life cycle of phonological
processes.
Keywords: denasalization; domain-initial strengthening; articulatory strengthening; fortition;
Korean; sound change; rule scattering; life cycle of phonological processes; apparent tim
A Typology of Stress- and Foot-Sensitive Consonantal Phenomena
This article investigates consonantal alternations that are conditioned by stress and/ or foot-structure. A survey of 78 languages from 37 language families reveals three types of consonantal phenomena: (i) those strictly motivated by stress (as in Senoufo lengthening), (ii) those exclusively conditioned by foot structure (as in /h/ epenthesis in Huariapano), and (iii) those motivated both by stress and foot structure (as in flapping in American English).The fact that stress-only and foot-only consonantal phenomena are attested alongside stress/foot structure conditioned phenomena leads to the proposal that stress and foot structure can work independently, contradicting the traditional view of foot structure organization as signaled by stress-based prominence. It is proposed that four main factors are at play in the consonantal phenomena under investigation: perception, duration, aerodynamics, and prominence. Duration, aerodynamics and perceptual ambiguity are primarily phonetic, while prominence and other perceptual factors are primarily phonological. It is shown that the mechanism of Prominence Alignment in Optimality Theory captures not only consonantal alternations based on prominence, but can also be extended to those with durational and aerodynamic bases. This article also makes predictions regarding unattested stress/foot sensitive alternations connected to the four factors mentioned above
Stressed vowel duration and phonemic length contrast
As far as phonemic length contrast is concerned, we observe a high degree of durational overlap between phonemically long and short vowels in monosyllabic CVC words (which is enforced by a greater pitch excursion), whereas in polysyllables the differences seem to be perceptually non-salient (>40 ms, cf. Lehiste 1970). This suggests that the differences in vowel duration are not significant enough to underlie phonological length contrast
When is a Syllable not a Syllable?
This paper reviews evidence for unifying two seemingly disparate types of syllable reduction phenomena: the elision of reduced vowels in English and German, and the devocalization of high vowels in Japanese, Korean, and Montreal French. Both types of "casual speech rule" can be understood as extreme endpoints of a phonetic continuum of gestural overlap. The vowel is seemingly deleted or devoiced when the gestures of neighboring consonants encroach so completely into the space for the affected vowel that the relevant vowel gesture(s) leave no salient acoustic trace. However, in some cases in some of these languages, the reduction has been phonologically reanalyzed, so that the word loses a syllable. The paper explores the circumstances under which such reanalysis can occur
Examining the life cycle of phonological processes: considerations for historical research
The life cycle of phonological processes (e.g. Bermúdez‐Otero 2015)
provides an account of how a sound change might develop over the
history of a language, from its beginnings in the pressures of speaking
and hearing, through its progress to a cognitively‐controlled process and
maturation into a categorical phenomenon, to its final resting‐place as a
lexical or morphological pattern. It has been the subject of increased
research in recent times, but has faced strikingly few challenges to its
diachronic aspects, notably its predictions of unidirectionality and cycle‐
based dialectal splits. Furthermore, the cognitive mechanisms rooted in
morpheme‐based learning which are required to predict domain
narrowing (phrase > word > stem) rather than broadening need to be
tested through child (and adult) acquisition studies. This paper examines
how a historical phonologist might go about interrogating the life‐cycle
model using extensive historical data spanning several centuries, and
methodically ascertaining what the model predicts in order to know
what to look for. The paper concludes by briefly addressing some of the
many other questions raised by the model which have faced
comparatively little investigation given the purported pervasiveness of
the life cycle
Loanword Adaptation: A study of some Australian Aboriginal Languages
This thesis is a case study of some aspects of the adaptation of English words in several Australian Aboriginal languages, including Martu Wangka, Gamilaraay and Warlpiri. I frame my analysis within Smith’s (to appear) source-similarity model of loanword adaptation. This model exploits loanword-specific faithfulness constraints that impose maximal similarity between the perceived source form and its corresponding loan. Using this model, I show that the conflict of the relevant prosodic markedness constraints and loanword-specific faithfulness constraints drives adaptation. Vowel epenthesis, the most frequent adaptation strategy, allows the recoverability of a maximal amount of information about the source form and ensures that the loan conforms to the constraints of language-internal phonological grammar. Less frequent strategies including deletion and substitution occur in a restricted environment. The essence of the present analysis is minimal violation, a principle that governs loanword adaptation as well as other areas of phonology
Opacity and Transparency in Phonological Change
Modern High German final obstruent devoicing is usually thought to descend from Middle German devoicing without any chronological break, despite the fact that the graphic representation of final devoicing ceased in the Early Modern period. However, an alternative account holds that the spelling change reflects the actual loss of the devoicing rule, and that therefore the modern rule has an independent origin. In particular, apocope of final schwa has been suggested as the cause of the loss of devoicing in Early Modern German.
According to this theory, loss of devoicing occurred because schwa apocope rendered the devoicing rule opaque, and hence hard to learn. If true, we expect to see some evidence for opaque devoicing during the period that apocope was in progress. In accordance with this prediction, we found a statistically significant correlation between apocope and absence of final devoicing in a number of German texts of the 14th and 15th centuries. After the 15th century, devoicing is lost across the board, which correlates with the completion of schwa apocope and the loss of the opaque devoicing rule. This confirms our theoretical predictions. If apocope had not rendered devoicing opaque, we would have to conclude that Early Modern German schwa apocope was an instance of rule insertion. However, the structural description of neither apocope nor devoicing leads us to expect insertion. Instead, Modern German final devoicing appears to be an instance of rule re-affirmation, which entails that the devoicing rule, though opaque, remained productive in some dialects
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