316 research outputs found

    The effect of coarticulatory resistance and aerodynamic requirements of consonants on syllable organization in Polish

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    Hungarian yod

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    This paper argues that the segment /j/ in Hungarian is neither a fricative (as traditionally claimed) nor a glide (as it is usually classified in the international literature). The arguments adduced involve syllabification patterns, processes of j-obstruentisation, phonetic details of hiatus resolution, as well as phonotactic phenomena. Additional problems that are touched upon include the question whether Hungarian has diphthongs, the behaviour of /j/ with respect to vowel zero alternation, voicing assimilation and final devoicing, the analysis of imperative forms of t-final verbs, as well as the relationship between the Duke of York gambit and the principle of Proper Inclusion Precedence

    Stabilizing Forces in Acoustic Cultural Evolution: Comparing Humans and Birds

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    Learned acoustic communication systems, like birdsong and spoken human language, can be described from two seemingly contradictory perspectives. On one hand, learned acoustic communication systems can be remarkably consistent. Substantive and descriptive generalizations can be made which hold for a majority of populations within a species. On the other hand, learned acoustic communication systems are often highly variable. The degree of variation is often so great that few, if any, substantive generalizations hold for all populations in a species. Within my dissertation, I explore the interplay of variation and uniformity in three vocal learning species: budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus), and humans (Homo sapiens). Budgerigars are well-known for their versatile mimicry skills, house finch song organization is uniform across populations, and human language has been described as the prime example of variability by some while others see only subtle variations of largely uniform system. For each of these species, I address several questions related to variability and uniformity: What is the typical range of variation? What are the limits of variation? How are those two issues related? And what mechanisms underlie variability and uniformity? In chapter 3, I investigate a potential domain of uniformity in budgerigar warble: the segment. Segments, units divided by acoustic transitions rather than silence, have been largely ignored in non-human animal communication. I find that budgerigars can achieve a high degree of complexity and variability by combining and arranging these small, more stereotyped units. Furthermore, I find that budgerigar segment organization is not only consistent across independent budgerigar populations but is consistent with patterns found in human language. In chapter 4, I investigate variability in house finch song. I present data showing that house finches learn sound patterns which are absent in wild house finch populations. These data suggest that cross-population variation in house finch song is narrower than what is permitted by the house finch song learning program. Finally, in chapter 5, I focus on human language, the most well-described communication system. Here, I research a sound pattern that is absent in the majority of known languages. I find that the rare pattern has independently developed at least six times. In every case, the historical pathway which led to the rare pattern was the same. The historical development in these six linguistic lineages suggests that the overall rarity of the sound pattern is the result of acoustic similarity. These data illuminate the evolutionary forces that give rise to, and limit, variation. The results of this dissertation have wide-ranging implications, from necessary revisions of linguistic theories, to understanding epigenetic interactions, to the application of evolutionary theory to complex behavior. While these projects within the dissertation are all different, evidence from all three projects support the following claims: (i) cross-population commonality is not evidence for what a species is able to learn; (ii) peripheral mechanisms have a strong influence in limiting cross-population variability; and (iii) high degrees of variation can emerge from uniform traits

    The Phonology of Quantity in Icelandic and Norwegian

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    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

    Voicing in Contrast. Acquiring a Second Language Laryngeal System

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    Drawing on both rule-based and constraint-based approaches, Voicing in Contrast examines typological differences in the laryngeal systems of Dutch and English and investigates the extent to which native speakers of Dutch acquire English obstruent voicing. The analysis is based on a substantial new data collection of conversational Dutch and English speech by speakers of different varieties of Dutch. The results of the study show that the English interlanguage of advanced learners contains a mixed laryngeal system with elements from Dutch as well as from English. The book discusses how this system could emerge and analyses the extent to which learners succeeded in suppressing neutralizing processes of devoicing and voice assimilation. The results of the empirical analysis are examined in the light of existing theoretical approaches to laryngeal systems. Although the focus is on Dutch and English, the frequent references to other languages invite the reader to carry out comparable analyses for other languages with similar laryngeal systems. A detailed description of the methodology also makes the book of interest to scholars working with large databases of spoken first and second language speech. A sample of the data is available on a CD-rom accompanying the book

    Hip-hop Rhymes Reiterate Phonological Typology

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    On the Natural Phonology of Consonants

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    Highly complex syllable structure: A typological and diachronic study

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    The syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language whose strongest cross-linguistic patterns are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure. Syllable patterns involving long sequences of consonants are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized, with few approaches treating these as natural or unproblematic structures. This book is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The two aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that they constitute a distinct linguistic type, and (ii) to identify possible diachronic paths and natural mechanisms by which these patterns come about in the history of a language. These issues are investigated in a diversified sample of 100 languages, 25 of which have highly complex syllable patterns. Languages with highly complex syllable structure are characterized by a number of phonetic, phonological, and morphological features which serve to set them apart from languages with simpler syllable patterns. These include specific segmental and suprasegmental properties, a higher prevalence of vowel reduction processes with extreme outcomes, and higher average morpheme/word ratios. The results suggest that highly complex syllable structure is a linguistic type distinct from but sharing some characteristics with other proposed holistic phonological types, including stress-timed and consonantal languages. The results point to word stress and specific patterns of gestural organization as playing important roles in the diachronic development of these patterns out of simpler syllable structures

    Highly complex syllable structure: A typological and diachronic study

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    The syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language whose strongest cross-linguistic patterns are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure. Syllable patterns involving long sequences of consonants are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized, with few approaches treating these as natural or unproblematic structures. This book is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The two aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that they constitute a distinct linguistic type, and (ii) to identify possible diachronic paths and natural mechanisms by which these patterns come about in the history of a language. These issues are investigated in a diversified sample of 100 languages, 25 of which have highly complex syllable patterns. Languages with highly complex syllable structure are characterized by a number of phonetic, phonological, and morphological features which serve to set them apart from languages with simpler syllable patterns. These include specific segmental and suprasegmental properties, a higher prevalence of vowel reduction processes with extreme outcomes, and higher average morpheme/word ratios. The results suggest that highly complex syllable structure is a linguistic type distinct from but sharing some characteristics with other proposed holistic phonological types, including stress-timed and consonantal languages. The results point to word stress and specific patterns of gestural organization as playing important roles in the diachronic development of these patterns out of simpler syllable structures

    Epenthesis and vowel intrusion in Central Dhofari Mehri

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    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
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