Hvordan realiserer andrespråksbrukere norsk kvantitetsdistinksjon? Varighetsímålinger i norsk som andrespråk

I denne studien undersøker vi hvordan brukere av norsk som andrespråk med russisk og arabisk som morsmål uttaler norsk kort og lang vokal. Vi målte varigheten av kort og lang /i/, /y/, /Ãâ°/ og /u/ og etterfølgende henholdsvis lang og kort konsonant i setningskontekst. Resultatene blir sammenliknet med tilsvarende målinger hos norske morsmålsbrukere. ââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âNorsk kan regnes som et nivokalsystem, russisk som et femvokalsystem og arabisk som et trevokalsystem. Kort eller lang vokal i trykksterk stavelse gir betydningsforskjell i norsk (legge â lege). Mens arabisk også har en vokalkvantitetsopposisjon, er det ikke tilfelle i russisk. På dette grunnlag forventet vi at de arabisktalende (irakiske) informantene ville mestre det norske skillet mellom kort og lang vokal bedre enn russerne. Hypotesen ble bekreftet, men varigheten av irakernes segmenter er likevel forskjellig fra de norske. Både deres lange vokaler og lange konsonanter er betydelig lengre. /V/-/K/-dyadene for lang versus kort vokal hos russerne overlapper hverandre i relativt stor grad når det gjelder varighet. Generelt viser resultatene at gjennomsnittsverdier ikke gir tilstrekkelig informasjon, men at tolkningen må ta hensyn til kategorier som ord, vokalkategori som kort eller lang, og etterfølgende konsonant

Acoustics and discourse function of two types of breathing signals

Cwiek A, Wlodarczak M, Heldner M, Wagner P. Acoustics and discourse function of two types of breathing signals. In: Abrahamsen JE, Koreman J, van Dommelen WA, eds. Nordic Prosody: Proceedings of the XIIth Conference, Trondheim 2016. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang Publishing Group; 2017: 83-91.Breathing is fundamental for living and speech, and it has been a subject of linguistic research for years. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in tackling the question of possible communicative functions of breathing (e.g. Rochet-Capellan & Fuchs, 2014; Aare, Włodarczak & Heldner, 2014; Włodarczak & Heldner, 2015; Włodarczak, Heldner, & Edlund, 2015). The present study set out to determine acoustic markedness and communicative functions of pauses accompanied and non-accompanied by breathing. We hypothesised that an articulatory reset occurring in breathing pauses and an articulatory freeze in non-breathing pauses differentiates between the two types. A production experiment was conducted and some evidence in favour of such a phenomenon was found. Namely, in case of non-breathing pauses, we observed more coarticulation evidenced by a more frequent omission of plosive releases. Our findings thus give some evidence in favour of the communicative function of breathing

Teenagers ' pronunciation of Norwegian /�/ and /�/

This study investigates some acoustic characteristics of Norwegian /#/ and /#/ spoken by teenagers. Parameters measured were duration and relative amplitude of the fricative and three spectral properties, viz. lower and upper boundary and peak frequency. The results show that the two fricatives are mainly distinguished by their spectra. For younger speakers with a merged pronunciation the neutralization is not wholly complete

Intervocalic fortis and lenis stops in a Norwegian dialect

This study looks into the realization of intervocalic fortis and lenis stop consonants produced by a group of subjects from the Trøndelag region in Norway. The speech material consisted of isolated words containing fortis and lenis stops occurring after phonologically long and short vowels. Three different places of articulation were included: bilabial, alveolar and velar. The results of acoustic measurements show that the fortis stops are characterized by long durations, voicelessness and often some degree of preaspiration. The lenis stops have shorter durations and are often fully voiced. For the male speakers a somewhat larger degree of voicing was found than for the females. The relative amount of voicing was found to be inversely proportional to closure duration