Abstract
Typologically, two-way or three-way voicing contrasts in stops can be reliably defined along the VOT continuum, that is, by measuring the gap between the start of voicing and the stop burst, which can be negative or positive. In the literature, three main categories are therefore derived: prevoiced, unaspirated, and aspirated stops (Keating, 1984; Lisker and Abramson, 1964; and Cho et al., 2019). For Lio, an understudied Austronesian language of Central Flores (Eastern Indonesia), it has been claimed that the stop voicing contrast is realized with prevoicing for voiced stops and aspiration for voiceless stops (Elias, 2018). However, it is unclear how long the aspiration is, and whether Lio voiceless stops can be characterized as unaspirated or aspirated; furthermore, this claim was not based on an acoustic analysis, and relied heavily on one speaker. This study offers a descriptive analysis on voicing contrasts in Lio stops. The acoustic analysis reveals that the contrast is one of ‘true voicing’, with the closure phase of voiced stops presenting voicing (prevoiced) and short-lag VOT voiceless stops (unaspirated). This study will offer a valuable contribution to voicing contrasts typology, especially compared to Cho et al. (2019), and serves as a building block for future Lio research.
Published Version
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