Durational elasticity for accentual purposes in Northern Finnish

Abstract

This study examined the elastic behaviour of segment durations in Northern Finnish CVC 2V and CVC 2C 3V nonsense words produced in a constant frame sentence. The identities of C 2 and C 3 were systematically varied, and the identities of the other segments were fully counterbalanced. In the CVC 2V words, the three consonants in the C 2 position exhibited systematic differences in their intrinsic durations, whereas in the CVC 2C 3V items they did not, and their durations were reliably longer than in the CVC 2V items. The two consonants in the C 3 position in the CVC 2C 3V items also exhibited an intrinsic durational difference. For the (phonologically single) vowels in the target word structures, four complementary degrees of vowel duration were observed, with a distribution determined by the vowel's moraically defined structural position in the word. Where consonants exhibited intrinsic or other durational differences, these differences were usually counteracted by compensatory shortening of another segment in the word. A locus of duration-to-tone adjustments is postulated that consists of the word's first mora and the next two segments one of which is the word's second mora. As a result of the elastic behaviour, the locus tends to have constant duration across different word structures, and it ensures the tonally and temporally uniform realisation of accent, a characteristic that seems to distinguish Northern Finnish from many other languages. These and other, previous durational findings in (Northern) Finnish are related to a recent model of speech timing.