Phonetic underspecification in Marshallese.

Abstract

The vowels of Marshallese have been analyzed as contrasting only along the height dimension, variation along the front–back dimension being predictable by the secondary articulations of adjacent consonants. Spectrographic evidence suggests this analysis is correct and that the surface allophones can be derived by interpolating between C1 and C2 targets across a vowel that is unspecified for F2. To test this hypothesis, /C1VC2/ words (Cn={/pj/, /pveeswirl/, /tj/, /tveeswirl/} and V={/schwa/, /barred eye/, /a/}) were recorded from four speakers. Then F2 was measured from vowel onset to offset. Preliminary findings based on two of the speakers shows that while F2 variation at the vowel center is statistically significant as a function of vowel category, the proportion of variance accounted for by vowel category is very low compared to that accounted for by the secondary articulation of C1 and C2. This is interpreted as evidence that a vocalic F2 target may not be necessary in modeling the trajectory. Multiple linear regression tests support this interpretation, showing that the vowel midpoint can be accurately predicted without reference to a vowel target. Regression analysis was performed on 15 time-normalized points with and without an intercept k, where k represents an independent vowel contribution to F2. The results show that the contribution of k is negligible (±0.001). Data from the two remaining speakers will be incorporated and discussed in terms of phonetic underspecification in a target-interpolation model.