High Vocoids Research Articles

Revisiting binary features: The case of Greek front high vocoids

Στο παρόν άρθρο eξeτάζeται η σχέση μeταξύ των πρόσθιων υψηλών φωνηeντοeιδών της Eλληνικής και προτeίνeται μια ανάλυση που καλύπτeι τόσο τις σταθeρές πραγματώσeις όσο και τις πeριπτώσeις eλeύθeρης ποικιλίας. Στο πλαίσιο των Διαβαθμισμένων Συμβολικών Αναπαραστάσeων (Smolensky και Goldrick 2016) υποστηρίζeται ότι το υποτeμαχιακό χαρακτηριστικό [φωνηeντικό], όπου έγκeιται η eλάχιστη διάκριση μeταξύ των φωνημάτων /i/ και /j/, δeν eίναι δυαδικό, αλλά διαθέτeι στην υποκeίμeνη δομή διαβαθμισμένο eπίπeδο eνέργeιας, το οποίο κυμαίνeται μeταξύ του 0 και του 1. Μe βάση τη συγκeκριμένη υπόθeση, η eλeύθeρη eναλλαγή [i]~[J] eρμηνeύeται ως eπιλογή μeταξύ δύο ισοαρμονικών eξαγόμeνων συνδeόμeνων μe το eισαγόμeνο /i [xφων] /, όπου 0<x≤1.

Vocoid-driven processes: Palatalization and glide hardening in Greek and its dialects

The point of departure of this article is the processes that front vocoids induce as triggers in language. We start with a description of palatalization, using Standard Modern Greek and other Greek dialects as an empirical basis. We then introduce a new, so far undescribed type of palatalization, dubbed strengthened palatalization. Despite its similarity to secondary palatalization, we argue that it is a different process because it is triggered by an unrealized high front /i/, unlike secondary palatalization, where the high vocoid is alongside the preceding consonant as a secondary gesture. Furthermore, the output of strengthened palatalization is different because it lacks the primary cue of secondary palatalization, that is, F2 raising in VC sequences. Next, we examine glide hardening, a process complementary to palatalization because it is also triggered by a high front vocoid. However, in glide hardening the glide is maintained as a separate segment and is strengthened into a palatal fricative (or even a stop). By focusing on the triggers – rather than the outputs, we attain a unified account of both palatalization and glide hardening as enhancement processes that aim at strengthening the phonetic cues of their targets for reasons of perceptual salience.

High vocoids in English: A diachronic analysis

High vocoids in English: A diachronic analysis

Tifinagh and consonantal writing systems

Gelb (1963) famously claimed that the seemingly consonantal West Semitic script is a syllabary with CV signs in which the vowel is unspecified (or zero). Others have argued for a more straightforward approach that assumes consonants directly, but both approaches are empirically adequate for Semitic. The Tifinagh script for Tuareg shows more definitively that individual signs in a script can truly denote just consonants, since an initial vowel is unwritten even when that vowel constitutes the entire syllable. The script is further sensitive to the contextual realization of a high vocoid as a vowel or glide.

A phonetically based account of phonological stop assibilation

This paper proposes a phonetically based account of phonological stop assibilation. We first review evidence for the phonological representation of sibilants proposed by Jakobson et al. (1951) and others. An examination of cross-linguistic data involving phonological assibilation reveals two asymmetries: (a) only high vocoids constitute assibilation triggers; (b) only following vocoids, not preceding vocoids, constitute assibilation triggers. It is then shown that high vocoid-conditioned phonological stop assibilation is motivated by the brief period of turbulence that sometimes occurs at the release of a plosive into a high vocoid. We argue that this turbulence is interpreted in phonology as the insertion of the feature [+strident] into the representation of the plosive, with the loss of the feature [−continuant] in the case of frication. Not only does this phonetic analysis explain the phonetic origin of assibilation, it also correctly reflects the cross-linguistic conditions on high vocoid-conditioned phonological assibilation.

Palatal vowels, glides and obstruents in Argentinian Spanish

The goal of this article is to contribute to our understanding of glides – their properties and distribution in underlying and surface representations, the range and the features of their various phonetic manifestations, and their role in the assignment of syllable structure and stress. Spanish provides a rich opportunity for carrying out this study because of the special properties of high vocoids in this language, which are systematically realised as glides in particular contexts: they can function as both onsets and rhymes; they can occur in prepeak, peak and postpeak position; up to four can occur in a row; and they take on a wide range of surface realisations.In the pursuit of our goal, we confront a problem in Spanish phonology that has tantalised investigators for the better part of this century, and rightly continues to do so. The conundrum involves the two sets of phonetic segments we transcribe as [i j y [barred dotless j] ž jˇ] and [u w γw gw] (articulatory descriptions and feature characterisations are given below). Classical structuralist studies, and some current analyses as well, see the problem as the taxonomic exercise of assigning each of these segments to a particular ‘phoneme’ or ‘underlying segment’. Our study includes the notion of phonemic inventory, but considers it as only one of many intersecting issues involved in the attempt to elucidate aspects of the mental representations that native Spanish speakers employ in their phonological computations. We undertake to raise the level of discourse concerning the problem at hand not only by redefining it but also by enlarging the set of data and descriptive issues brought to bear on it and by situating the discussion in a rich theoretical context.