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

Monitoring English Sandhi Linking – A Study of Polish Listeners’ L2 Perception

This paper presents a set of word monitoring experiments with Polish learners of English. Listeners heard short recordings of native English speech, and were instructed to respond when they recognized an English target word that had been presented on a computer screen. Owing to phonological considerations, we compared reaction times to two types of vowel-initial words, which had been produced either with glottalization, or had been joined via sandhi linking processes to the preceding word. Results showed that the effects of the glottalization as a boundary cue were less robust than expected. Implications of these findings for models of L2 speech are discussed. It is suggested that the prevalence of glottalization in L1 production makes listeners less sensitive to its effects as a boundary cue in L2

Around conjectures of N. Kuhn

We discuss two extensions of results conjectured by Nick Kuhn about the non-realization of unstable algebras as the mod $p$ singular cohomology of a space, for $p$ a prime. The first extends and refines earlier work of the second and fourth authors, using Lannes' mapping space theorem. The second (for the prime $2$) is based on an analysis of the $-1$ and $-2$ columns of the Eilenberg-Moore spectral sequence, and of the associated extension. In both cases, the statements and proofs use the relationship between the categories of unstable modules and functors between \Fp-vector spaces. The second result in particular exhibits the power of the functorial approach

The Cubist\u27s View of Montmartre: A Stylistic and Contextual Analysis of Juan Gris\u27 Cityscape Imagery, 1911-1912

This thesis examines the stylistic and contextual significance of five Cubist cityscape pictures by Juan Gris from 1911 to 1912. These drawn and painted cityscapes depict specific views near Gris\u27 Bateau-Lavoir residence in Place Ravignan. Place Ravignan was a small square located off of rue Ravignan that became a central gathering space for local artists and laborers living in neighboring tenements. In these early Cubist cityscapes, Gris attempted to reinterpret Montmartre\u27s architectural landscape in abstracted geometric forms. My stylistic analyses establish several contextual readings for Gris\u27 cityscapes that first address his profound interest in earlier Cubist landscapes painted by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque from 1908 and 1909. Gris\u27 Cubist views of Place Ravignan reference his dual relationships with each painter as an honorific means of celebrating their Cubist innovations. I also explore the sociological content of Gris\u27 cityscapes in view of his personal experiences in Montmartre. My discussion references four illustrations Gris produced for L\u27Assiette au Beurre between 1909 and 1910, which present similar pictorial attributes to the cityscapes. The L\u27Assiette illustrations are significant to my discussion because they establish an accurate socio-economic and political context for Gris\u27 initial Cubist cityscapes

Sandhi-voicing in dialectal Polish : prosodic implications

Proces udźwięcznienia sandhi w wybranych dialektach języka polskiego dotyczy spółgłosek znajdujących się na końcu wyrazu, które występują bezpośrednio przed kolejnym wyrazem rozpoczynającym się od samogłoski lub spółgłoski zwarto-otwartej. Według tradycyjnych opisów proces ten zachodzi bez względu na to, czy spółgłoska jest z zasady dźwięczna czy bezdźwięczna. Zjawisko to sprawiało problemy dla teorii fonologicznej - wcześniejsze analizy albo wymagają mechanizmów ad-hoc pozwalających na rozprzestrzenianie się cechy [voice], albo w niezadowalający sposób tłumaczą ograniczenia kontekstu tego procesu. W tym artykule badamy hipotezę, że w dialektach, w których występuje proces udźwięcznienia, granice wyrazów są słabsze. Porównujemy użytkowników (N=10) standardowej polszczyzny z użytkownikami (N=10) dialektu wielkopolskiego, którzy nagrali zdania zawierające sekwencje spółgłoski właściwej i spółgłoski zwarto-otwartej na granicy wyrazów. Znalezione zostały dowody akustyczne słabszych granic w dwóch parametrach prozodycznych u użytkowników dialektu, co odzwierciedla przywidywania teoretyczne. Przewidywania te pochodzą z modelu Onset Prominence (Schwartz 2010 et seq.), który tłumaczy też, dlaczego proces ten ogranicza się do kontekstu przed spółgłoską zwarto-otwartą, i rolę, jaką stopień otworu artykulacyjnego ma w jego wywoływaniu.Sandhi-voicing in dialectal Polish affects word-final obstruents in pre-sonorant and pre-vocalic environments. According to the standard descriptions, the process occurs irrespectively of the 'underlying' laryngeal specification of the consonant. The process has been problematic for phonological theory, with earlier accounts either requiring ad-hoc mechanisms to allow the 'spreading' of [voice], or providing an inadequate explanation of why the process is limited to word boundaries. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that sandhi-voicing dialects is a function of weaker word boundaries in the given dialects. Weaker boundaries go hand in hand with weaker initial syllables. We compare the speech of Standard Polish speakers (N=10) with speakers of the Poznań-Kraków dialect (N=10), who recorded sentences containing obstruent-sonorant sequences spanning word boundaries. We found acoustic evidence of weaker initial syllables for two prosodic parameters in the productions of dialect speakers. The relative strength of word-boundaries is described in the Onset Prominence model (OP; Schwartz 2010 et seq.), which also explains the role of manner of articulation in triggering the process

Perception of allophonic cues to English word boundaries by Polish learners: Approximant devoicing in English

The study investigates the perception of devoicing of English /w, r, j, l/ after /p, t, k/ as a word-boundary cue by Polish listeners. Polish does not devoice sonorants following voiceless stops in word-initial positions. As a result, Polish learners are not made sensitive to sonorant devoicing as a segmentation cue. Higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency Polish learners of English participated in the task in which they recognised phrases such as buy train vs. bite rain or pie plot vs. pipe lot. The analysis of accuracy scores revealed that successful segmentation was only above chance level, indicating that sonorant voicing/devoicing cue was largely unattended to in identifying the boundary location. Moreover, higher proficiency did not lead to more successful segmentation. The analysis of reaction times showed an unclear pattern in which higher-proficiency listeners segmented the test phrases faster but not more accurately than lower-proficiency listeners. Finally, #CS sequences were recognised more accurately than C#S sequences, which was taken to suggest that the listeners may have had some limited knowledge that devoiced sonorants appear only in word-initial positions, but they treated voiced sonorants as equal candidates for word-final and word-initial position

External Sandhi in L2 segmental phonetics - final (de)voicing in Polish English

The effects of external sandhi, phonological processes that span word boundaries, have been largely neglected in L2 speech research. The glottalization of word‐initial vowels in Polish may act as a “sandhi blocker” that prevents the type of liaison across word boundaries that is common in English (e.g. find out/fine doubt). This reinforces the context for another process, final obstruent devoicing, which is typical of Polish‐accented English. Clearly ‘initial’ and ‘final’ do not mean the same thing for the phonologies of the two languages. An adequate theory of phonological representation should be able to express these differences. This paper presents an acoustic study of the speech of voiced C#V sequences in Polish English. Results show that the acquisition of liaison, which entails suppression of the L1 vowel‐initial glottalization process, contributes to the error‐free production of final voiced obstruents, implying the internalization of cross‐language differences in boundary representatio

Spectral Dynamics in L1 and L2 Vowel Perception

This paper presents a study of L1 and L2 vowel perception by Polish learners of English. Employing the Silent Center paradigm (e.g. Strange et al. 1983), by which listeners are presented with different portions of a vowel, a force choice identification task was carried out. Due to differences in the vowel systems of the two languages, it was hypothesized that stimulus type should have minimal effects for L1 Polish vowel perception since Polish vowels are relatively stable in quality. In L2 English, depending on proficiency level, listeners were expected to adopt a more dynamic approach to vowel identification and show higher accuracy rates on the SC tokens. That is, listeners were expected to attend more to dynamic formant cues, or vowel inherent spectral change (VISC; see e.g. Morrison and Assmann 2013) in vowel perception. Results for identification accuracy for the most part were consistent with these hypotheses. Implications of VISC for the notion of cross-language phonetic similarity, crucial to models of L2 speech acquisition, are also discussed

Asymmetrical Equivalence Classification – Cluster Affrication vs. Lenis Stops in the Speech of Polish Learners of English

According to the Speech Learning Model (Flege 1995), successful L2 phonological acquisition is facilitated by the formation of new phonetic categories in the L2. However, category formation may be hindered by equivalence classification, wherein speakers perceptually merge L1 and L2 sounds. This study examines L1 Polish learners of English, including a phonetic parameter that has received minimal attention: affrication of /tr-dr/ clusters in English. Two groups of speakers, comprising B1 level and C2 level learners, produced word lists containing both initial /tr-dr/ clusters, as well as singleton voiced stops /b, d, g/. The results revealed an asymmetry: both groups failed to suppress pre-voicing in /b, d, g/, but were successful in producing affricated clusters. A new category has therefore been formed for the clusters, but not for the singleton stops. Phonological implications of this finding are discussed