Position and height asymmetries in hiatus resolution: Are they phonetically driven phenomena?

Abstract

Hiatus is not preferred in many languages and is resolved in various ways. Two typological patterns have been found in hiatus resolution. When hiatus is resolved by a weakening (deletion or gliding) of one vowel, (1) V1 is more likely to be the target than V2 [Casali (1996)] and (2) high vowels are more likely to be the target than non-high vowels [Rosenthall (1997)]. If these patterns are due to human articulatory and/or auditory mechanisms [Ohala (1993)], the patterns would be expected to reflect variations in ordinary speech. In this study Korean CV1V2 nonce words produced by six Korean speakers are analyzed to test whether V1 and high vowels in a realized hiatus are actually weakened in terms of duration. The results showed that V1 is shorter than V2 irrespective of speech rate [F(1,5)=12.90, P<0.02], which was not found in CVCV or CVGV words. It was also found that high vowels are shortened in fast speech to a more degree than non-high vowels [F(1,5)=7.16, P<0.05]. The formant analysis showed that vowel-to-vowel coarticulation effects are greater in CV1V2 than in CVCV, which means that vowels in hiatus are more vulnerable to misperception and consequently, sound change.