Raddoppiamento sintattico and glottalization phenomena in Italian

This paper is a preliminary phonetic exploration of aspects of the well-known Italian sandhi phenomenon of Raddoppiamento sintattico (henceforth RS), which involves the gemination of word-initial consonants under certain conditions, eg dei [k]ani ‘some dogs’ but tre [kk]ani ‘three dogs’. It is often assumed that RS C-gemination is regular, but there is increasing evidence that it competes with other phenomena such as vowel lengthening. This paper first discusses results of our auditory study of RS contexts, which show that RS is far less frequent in spontaneous speech than is theoretically predicted. This paper then looks specifically at glottal stop insertion and creak in RS contexts, based on the results of an initial small-scale acoustic investigation. The first has controversially been reported as occurring in RS environments where it serves to block RS (Absalom & Hajek, 1997). In addition, glottal stops have also been claimed to provide a coda to short word-final stressed vowels outside of RS environments (Vayra, 1994). We discuss our unexpected finding that glottalization characterizes phrase boundaries in our spontaneous speech data, and the implications that this evidence may have for the phonetic and phonological description of Italian and for our understanding of RS

The effect of word-initial glottalization on word monitoring in Slovak speakers of English

The study investigates the impact of glottal elements before word-initial vowels on the speed of processing of the phrases taken from natural continuous speech. In many languages a word beginning with a vowel can be preceded by a glottal stop or a short period of creaky voice. However, languages differ in the extent of use and functions of this glottalization: it may be used to mark the word boundary, for instance, or to add special prominence to the word. The aim of the experiment was to find out whether the presence of the glottal element can influence reaction times in a word-monitoring paradigm. Users of different languages - Slovak and Czech learners of English, as well as native speakers of English - were participating in perception testing so that the influence of the mother tongue could be determined. The results confirm the effect of both glottalization and the L1 of the listeners. In addition, a significant effect of test item manipulations was found. Although the phrases with added or deleted glottal stops displayed no obvious acoustic artefacts, they produced longer reaction times than items with naturally present or absent glottalizations. We believe that this finding underlines the importance of inherent stress patterns, whose alterations lead to the increase in processing load

Co-occurrence of /t/ Variants in Young Vermont Speakers

Despite the social perception that Vermont’s rural dialect is dying, /t/ glottalization has been found to be a highly robust feature, especially among adolescent and younger speakers (Roberts 2006). Naturally, this leads to questions as to the current status and future projections of the feature. In a study of Vermont speakers (Bellavance and Roberts 2016), aspiration following glottalization ([ʔʰ]) was found in the speech of all fourth graders. It is with these observations that this study sought answers to fine-tuned questions regarding Vermont glottalization. The informal interviews of 30 speakers were analyzed. The speakers comprised five females and five males of three age groups: kindergarten, fourth grade, and high school. 11,954 tokens were perceptually coded for seven variants of /t/: glottal stop replacement, glottal reinforcement, flap, deletion, aspirated /t/, creak, and aspiration following replacement. A quantitative analysis of the data for replacement variants, using Rbrul (Johnson 2009), revealed the following: significant differences (p\u3c.05) were found for word position, preceding segment, following segment, and grammatical status. The social factors, age and gender, were not significant. Results from the model show the fourth grade age group with the highest proportion of [ʔʰ] occurrence. Although this is not surprising given initial observations, the finding goes against the expected age group for language innovation (high school). Results from the study raise questions as to the allophonic status of [ʔʰ] as well as its usage among age groups. Additionally, anecdotal evidence raises questions regarding stance qualities of [ʔʰ] in high school speakers

Initial glottalization and final devoicing in polish English

This paper presents an acoustic study of the speech of Polish leaners of English. The experiment was concerned with English sequences of the type George often, in which a word-final voiced obstruent was followed by a word-initial vowel. Acoustic measurements indicated the degree to which learners transferred Polish-style glottalization on word-initial vowels into their L2 speech. Temporal parameters associated with the production of final voiced obstruents in English were also measured. The results suggest that initial glottalization may be a contributing factor to final devoicing errors. Adopting English-style ‘liaison’ in which the final obstruent is syllabified as an onset to the initial vowel is argued to be a useful goal for English pronunciation syllabi. The implications of the experiment for phonological theory are also discussed. A hierarchical view of syllabic structures proposed in the Onset Prominence environment allows for the non-arbitrary representation of word boundaries in both Polish and English

A glottalized tone in Muong (Vietic): a pilot study based on audio and electroglottographic recordings

Proceedings of ICPhS XIX (19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences). Melbourne.International audienceThe combination of pitch and glottalization (glottal constriction or lapse into creaky voice) as relevant phonetic/phonological dimensions of lexical tone is found in several language families in Asia. The Vietic subbranch of Austroasiatic stands out in that all its languages have at least one glottalized tone. Vietnamese is a well documented example, but the others remain little studied. The research reported here contributes experimental evidence on one of these languages: Muong (Mường). Excerpts from a database of audio and electroglottographic recordings of twenty speakers allow for a characterization of this dialect's glottalized tone, as contrasted with the four other tones of this five tone system. The ultimate goal is to determine what (sub)types of glottalized tones exist in the world's languages, bringing out typological differences in terms of (i) phonetic realizations and (ii) degree of importance of glottalization as a feature of linguistic tones

Variation in Glottalization at Prosodic Boundaries in Clear and Plain Lab Speech

Previous research on glottalization shows that this voice quality occurs more frequently at prosodic boundaries than in the middle of prosodic phrases. This study investigates ten speakers’ use of glottalization at prosodic boundaries in five passages read in both clear and plain lab speech. I analyzed each syllable in every passage for its voice quality (glottalized or modal) and for its prosodic boundary strength using the ToBI system. I found that glottalization is used regularly in phrase-final syllables, and that speakers use glottalization marginally more when preceded by a prosodic boundary than when phrase-medial. I found no evidence of a significant effect of speaking style on glottalization use.This work was partially supported by an Undergraduate Research Scholarship.This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (BCS-1056409).No embargoAcademic Major: AnthropologyAcademic Major: Linguistic

Perception of Glottalization in Varying Pitch Contexts Across Languages

Glottalization is often associated with low pitch in intonation languages, but evidence from many languages indicates that this is not an obligatory association. We asked speakers of German, English and Swedish to compare glottalized stimuli with several pitch contour alternatives in an AXB listening test. Although the low F0 in the glottalized stimuli tended to be perceived as most similar to falling pitch contours, this was not always the case, indicating that pitch perception in glottalization cannot be predicted by F0 alone. We also found evidence for cross-linguistic differences in the degree of flexibility of pitch judgments in glottalized stretches of speech. Index Terms: prosody, voice quality, perception, glottalizatio

Introduction: between stress and tone

Fonetische correlaten en communicatieve functies van linguïstische structuu

Perception of Glottalization in Varying Pitch Contexts in Mandarin Chinese

Although glottalization has often been associated with low pitch, evidence from a number of sources supports the assertion that this association is not obligatory, and is likely to be language-specific. Following a previous study testing perception of glottalization by German, English, and Swedish listeners, the current research investigates the influence of pitch context on the perception of glottalization by native speakers of a tone language, Mandarin Chinese. Listeners heard AXB sets in which they were asked to match glottalized stimuli with pitch contours. We find that Mandarin listeners tend not to be influenced by the pitch context when judging the pitch of glottalized stretches of speech. These data lend support to the idea that the perception of glottalization varies in relation to language-specific prosodic structure.casl[1] Gordon, M. & P. Ladefoged (2001). Phonation types: a crosslinguistic overview. Journalof Phonetics 29: 383-406. [2] Gerratt, B.R. & J. Kreiman (2001). Toward a taxonomy of nonmodal phonation. Journal of Phonetics 29: 365-381. [3] Catford, J.C. (1964). Phonation types: the classification of some laryngeal components of speech production. In: Abercrombie, D. et al. (eds.) In honour of Daniel Jones, London: Longmans, pp. 26-37. [4] Blomgren, M., Y. Chen, M.L. Ng, & H.R. Gilbert (1998). Acoustic, aerodynamic, physiologic, and perceptual properties of modal and vocal fry registers. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 103(5): 2649-2658. [5] Gussenhoven, C. (2004). The phonology of tone and intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [6] Pierrehumbert, J. & D. Talkin (1992). Lenition of /h/ and glottal stop. In Papers in Laboratory Phonology II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 90-117. [7] Pierrehumbert, J. (1995). Prosodic effects on glottal allophones. In: Fujimura, O., Hirano, M. (eds.), Vocal fold physiology: voice quality control. Singular Publishing Group, San Diego, pp. 39- 60. [8] Dilley, L., S. Shattuck-Hufnagel, & M. Ostendorf (1996). Glottalization of word-initial vowels as a function of prosodic structure. Journal of Phonetics 24: 423-444. [9] Redi, L. & S. Shattuck-Hufnagel (2001). Variation in the realization of glottalization in normal speakers. Journal of Phonetics 29: 407-429. [10] Henton, C. & A. Bladon (1988). Creak as a socio-phonetic marker. In Hyman, L.M. & C.N. Li (eds.) Language, Speech and Mind: studies in honor of Victoria A. Fromkin. London, pp. 3- 29. [11] Huffman, M.K. (2005). Segmental and prosodic effects on coda glottalization. Journal of Phonetics 33: 335-362. [12] Ogden, R. (2001). Turn transition, creak and glottal stop in Finnish talk-in-interaction. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31: 139-152. [13] Ogden, R. (2004). Non-modal voice quality and turn-taking in Finnish. In Couper-Kuhlen, E & Ford, C. (eds.) Sound patterns in interaction: cross-linguistic studies from conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 29-62. [14] Bissiri, M. P., M.L. Lecumberri, M. Cooke & J. Vol_n, (2011). The role of word-initial glottal stops in recognizing English words. Proceedings of Interspeech 2011, Florence, Italy, pp. 165-168. [15] Kohler, K. J. (1994). Glottal stops and glottalization in German. Phonetica 51: 38-51. [16] Ding, H., O. Jokisch & R. Hoffmann (2004). Glottalization in inventory construction: a cross-language study. Proceedings of ISCSLP 2004, Hong Kong, pp. 37-40. [17] Chao, Y.R. (1968). A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley, University of California Press. [18] Ding, H. & J. Helbig (1996). Sprecher- und kontextbedingte Varianz des dritten Vokaltones in chinesischen Silben - eine akustische Untersuchung. Proceedings of DAGA 1996, Bonn, Germany, pp. 514-515. [19] Silverman, D. (1997). Laryngeal Complexity in Otomanguean Vowels. Phonology 14: 235-261. [20] Frazier, M. (2008). The interaction of pitch and creaky voice: data from Yucatec Maya and cross-linguistic implications. UBC Working Papers in Linguistics: Proceedings of Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas (WSCLA), pp. 112-125. [21] N_ Chasaide, A. & C. Gobl (2004). Voice quality and f0 in prosody: towards a holistic account. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Speech Prosody, Nara, Japan, pp. 189-196. [22] Bissiri, M.P. & M. Zellers (2013). Perception of glottalization in varying pitch contexts across languages. Proceedings of Interspeech 2013, Lyon, France, pp. 253-257. [23] Boersma, P. & D. Weenink (2013). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Available http://www.praat.org/. [24] Liu, S. & A.G. Samuel (2004). Perception of Mandarin lexical tones when F0 information is neutralized. Language and Speech 47(2): 109-138. [25] Lee, C.-Y., L. Tao & Z.S. Bond (2008). Identification of acoustically modified Mandarin tones by native listeners. Journal of Phonetics 36: 537-563.pub4421pu