Les voyelles nasales du français: aérodynamique, articulation, acoustique et perception par Véronique Delvaux

Abstract

included the bismillah they were either of Arabic origin or addressed to Muslims. Gari examines Ramon Llull’s Libre de Santa Maria, a text written in Catalan around 1290 but quickly translated into Latin. The historical meaning of the different readings of the Catalan text that these translations offer is stressed. Bas and Sanz’s contribution compares the prologue’s structure of the Laws of the Kingdom and of the city of Valencia in Latin versus in a Romance language, while stressing the emphasis of each. The third section is devoted to translations within the Romance language family. Whereas Riquer addresses different regional versions of the thirteenth century Tuscan tales of the Novellino, Ferrando analyzes three Catalan editions of the fifteenth century La Historia de les Amors de Paris e Viana to hypothesize about the linguistic origin of the work. Alchalabi’s contribution, on the other hand, seems out of place, focusing primarily on the maritime discourse in two chivalric romances. The contributions in the last section focus on historical translations and their contemporary interpretations. Peres examines translations of the Tirant lo Blanch to argue that the fifteenth century Catalan masterpiece had a significant impact on the European novel. Costa looks at Jaume Roigs’s Spill to highlight a particular phrase (“de fet”) and its potential meaning in the text, while Barberà ponders the translation of mythical character names, given that their spelling is often unclear and changed over time. Though somewhat uneven in quality, this volume should interest not only those Romance scholars working on the renaissance of classical thought but also the educated reader interested in the broader history of translation. Pennsylvania State University Bettina Brandt Delvaux, Véronique. Les voyelles nasales du français: aérodynamique, articulation, acoustique et perception. Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 2012. ISBN 978-90-5201-898-0. Pp. 252. 36,50 a. Despite years of research, the production and perception of French nasal vowels remain challenging areas of investigation for linguists. This book, written by one of the foremost experts in French nasality, has the ambitious goal of updating the existing literature with results from recent experimental studies. The book consists of an introductory chapter followed by four chapters that address nasal vowels from various perspectives. Numerous subheadings facilitate reading and searching for information, and summaries at the end of each chapter synthesize key information. Some readers might find the inclusion of bibliographies at the end of each chapter redundant, as a general bibliography is also provided at the end of the book. Instead, it might have been helpful to incorporate subject and author indexes. The introduction provides a brief explanation of the distinction between nasal vowels and nasalized vowels and gives an overview of the articulatory, aerodynamic, and acoustic characteristics of nasal vowels. Also included is a short section on the phonological inventories of nasal 288 FRENCH REVIEW 88.2 Reviews 289 consonants and vowels, along with the history of nasal vowels and a debate surrounding their development. Chapter 2 is dedicated to the aerodynamic characteristics of nasal vowels and starts with a review of the methodologies and instruments used to measure nasal air flow, followed by results and factors accountable for variability (for example, individual, prosodic, stylistic, and regional variation). The use of dozens of graphics throughout the chapter is particularly appreciated, as they facilitate an understanding of the aerodynamic nature of nasal versus oral vowels. Chapter 3 presents methods employed for articulatory analyses, along with their results.As in the previous chapter, Delvaux addresses factors of variability before highlighting the complex relationship between articulatory phases and aerodynamics. Chapter 4 reviews acoustic theories of nasal vowels and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used for measurement (modelization, spectral analysis, and nasometry). The author then examines data on nasalized vowels before focusing specifically on French nasal vowels. Chapter 5 provides a detailed review of perception studies. The first part is more practical and focuses particularly on methodological aspects (for example, experimental tasks, stimuli, and participants) and paradigms used in various experiments (such as identification, discrimination, gating, and eye-tracking). The rest of the chapter covers issues such as coarticulation, perceived nasality, and perceptual properties.Although Delvaux mentions one of her studies...