Phonetic Experiments Research Articles

The production of the English stop voicing contrast by Arab L2 speakers of English

The English voiceless stop /p/ and voiced stop /ɡ/ are absent in the consonant inventory of Arabic. This difference provides a fertile ground for empirical research in L2 speech learning among Arab L2 speakers of English. The current study, therefore, aims to explore the English stop voicing contrast as produced by Arab native speakers. Focusing on Voice Onset Time (VOT) as an acoustic parameter, the study seeks to examine the extent to which (1) Arab L2 speakers of English maintain the English stop voicing contrast for /p-b/ and /k-ɡ/, and (2) the L2 VOT continuum by Arab L2 speakers follows or deviates from the L1 VOT continuum in English. The acoustic phonetic experiment involved elicited materials of /p-b/ and /k-ɡ/ from four male native speakers of Arabic. The tokens were recorded in isolation (utterance-initial position) and in a carrier sentence (utterance-medial position). The data were then acoustically analysed following standard segmentation, annotation and measurement criteria. Results reveal that the Arab L2 speakers can, to a large extent, maintain the English stop voicing contrast across all places of articulation, with voiced stops usually being produced with “normal” negative VOT (prevoicing) and voiceless stops usually being produced with “normal” positive VOT and also accompanied with aspiration in the long-lag region. There are also exceptional cases of “abnormal” negative VOT (prevoicing) for voiceless stops and “abnormal” positive VOT (devoicing) for voiced stops, with an extremely larger number of devoiced tokens for voiced stops in comparison to prevoiced tokens for voiceless stops. The results accord well with the Speech Learning Model’s prediction that phonetically “new” sounds are relatively easier to learn than phonetically “similar” sounds. The conclusion is drawn that languages sharing the same sound contrast may exhibit different phonetic implementations in marking a phonological contrast.

Letter to the editor

It is not yet standard practice in phonetics to provide access to audio files along with submissions to journals. This is paradoxical in view of the importance of data for phonetic research: from audio signals to the whole range of data acquired in phonetic experiments. The phonetic sciences stand to gain greatly from data availability: what is at stake is no less than reproducibility and cumulative progress. We will argue that a collective turn to Open Science holds great promise for phonetics. First, simple reflections on why access to primary data matters are recapitulated and proposed as a basis for consensus. Next, possible drawbacks of data availability are addressed. Finally, we argue that data curation and archiving are to be recognized as part of the same activity that results in the publication of research papers, rather than attempting to build a parallel system to incentivize data archiving by itself.

The influence of perceived L2 sound categories in on-line adaptation and implications for loanword phonology

Some propose that loanword adaptation is at its core non-native perception of foreign input (Boersma and Hamann 2009; Peperkamp et al. 2008; Silverman 1992). It has also been noted, however, that cross-language correspondences in loanwords are far more consistent than expected based on on-line perception by naive monolinguals. There is also evidence that cross-language perception itself differs depending on adapters’ experience with the source language (henceforth, L2) (Bundgaard-Nielsen et al. 2011; Kwon 2017; Nomura and Ishikawa 2018). These findings suggest that cross-language perception is mediated by adapters’ knowledge of L2 sound structure, rather than a simple function of native language (L1) perception applied to L2 acoustic signals. The current study presents a direct test of the influence of L1 vs. L2 perceptual strategies on cross-language speech perception through a series of phonetic categorization experiments in three language modes: L1, L2, and L2L1 (cross-language). Results point to a distinct influence of listener’s L2 knowledge on cross-language perception: L2L1 mapping was well explained by listeners’ L2 perceptual strategies, and for those listeners who showed different perceptual patterns for L1 and L2, cross-language perception more closely mirrored L2 than L1 perception. By demonstrating that perceived L2 phonological categories shape cross-language perception, the study suggests a way to reconcile the perceptual view of loanword adaptation with the phonological regularity of established loanwords.

Experimental-Phonetic Analysis of Suprasentential Units in the English Language

The current article deals mainly with the suprasentential units in English and their characteristic peculiarities. Some viewpoints of western, Russian and Azerbaijani linguists are discussed here. One of the important matters discussed here is to distinguish the notions “text” and “suprasentential units”, which was possible owing to the viewpoints and investigations of specialists in this field. To determine “suprasentential units”, some other terms such as, “micro-text” and “macro-text” are discussed here, too.
 
 To get a detailed information on “suprasentential units”, phonetic experiment was carried out. The essence of the article is to determine the phoneticparameters of “suprasentential units” in the form of a short text. The experiment was realised at the Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. For acoustic analysis of the recorded materials, “Speech Analyser”, “WinCecil”, “PRAAT”, “MacSpeech Lab” programs have been used. In the acoustic analysis of speech signals of the given short text, the valuable “PRAAT” computer program created by the professors of Amsterdam University Paul Boersman and David Veenik has been widely used. “PRAAT” computer program has wide opportunities, such as to hold ossillographic and spectographic analysis of language materials (in our case, short texts), to get indicators of tonal frequency intensity, and length of language materials, etc. The above mentioned computer program provides specialists and learners with the chance of learning speech fragments having the recording time from several m/sec to several hours.

Dziewictwo utracone w tłumaczeniu: analiza indywidualnego stylu Zuzanny Ginczanki w oryginale i w przekładzie na język ukraiński

Virginity Lost in Translation: The Analysis of Individual Style of Zuzanna Ginczanka in Polish Original Poems and Their Ukrainian Renditions The aim of this article is a comparative study of original poems by Zuzanna Ginczanka (Zuzanna Gincburg) and their translations into Ukrainian language by Yaroslav Polishchuk. The poetess crafted a distinctive, highly dynamic style in Polish literature. Among the particular features of her style are: phonetic experiments, neologisms, lexical and grammatical repetitions, ironic utterances and extended metaphors. The loss or rendering of these features will be the key criterion in judging Polishchuk’s translations. The study focuses on the poem called Virginity, but numerous examples are taken from many other poems and their Ukrainian versions.

СЛОВО-ФРАЗА КАК ЦЕЛЬНООФОРМЛЕННЫЙ ЭЛЕМЕНТ СИСТЕМНО-СТРУКТУРНОЙ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ ПРОСОДЕМНОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА ИСПАНСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Introduction. The present study examines a lexicalized phrase as an indivisible notional constituent of the prosodemic space of the Spanish language within a systemic vision. The results showed structural and functional unity of the prosodemic space with a lexicalized phrase being opposed according to purpose of the utterance by means of the stress. It was found that intonational contours of the lexicalized phrase determine the functioning of the prosodemic space as a   unified system. Problem and aim. The article undertakes to describe the application of some systemic approach principles to the analysis of the prosodic constituent of a lexicalized phrase within the Spanish language system. The systemic approach is viewed as the fundamental principle of the theoretical aspect of research. It is developed and presented in further detail in the author’s methods and techniques, based on the complex computerized processing of prosodic information. Methods. The methodology of the study is based on the implementation of the phonetic experiment as exemplified in the Castilian variety of Spanish. A comparative study and a systemic method, as well as statistic methods of interpreting the received data proved congruent to the aim of the research. Results. The systemic analysis of the lexicalized phrase identified as a minimal prosodeme showed that the prosodemic space of Spanish is characterized as a lingual, material and information unity functioning in a certain environment, possessing a determining matrix and flexibility, capable of self-reproduction and subject to all changes of the system properties. The empirical results of the study can be essential for phonology, intonology, practical phonetics of the Spanish and other languages. Conclusions. The analysis of the phonetic experiment results and the linguistic interpretation of the data allowed to discern the peculiarities of prosodemic space functioning and prosodic determinant actualization. The structure of the prosodemic space manifests itself by means of the system of prosodemes, united by nuclear, universal and basis connections with universal connections going through the continuity stage and regulated by the law of movement in time, and basis connections serving the purpose of differentiation.

Temporal Characteristics of Prosody in Imperative Utterances and the Phenomenon of Emphatic Length in the English Language

The paper focuses on one of the most effective factors of linguistic manipulation, i.e. imperative utterance. The subject of the study was direct contact appeals, whose structures corresponded to the literary norms of the English language. The research determined and described the temporal component of imperative prosody. The author employed electro-acoustic, mathematical and statistical methods. The phonetic experiment revealed four prosodic structures, as well as their inter-structural and inter-style levels, the degree of temporal fluctuation and the phenomenon of emphatic length, the latter being recognized as the basic temporal feature of imperative prosody. Temporal variation in a phrase and its functional segments in different prosodic structures and in certain extra-linguistic conditions convincingly demonstrates the set of absolute and inter-style markers of this prosodic subsystem. In practice, the results of the present research can be applied in teaching communicatively oriented utterances and in making up the algorithm of automatic speech recognition and synthesis.

Moving towards a bilingual baseline in second language phonetic research

Abstract This investigation compared adult sequential bilinguals and native speakers (NSs) with the intention of determining if bilinguals are an appropriate comparison group for second language (L2) learners in L2 phonetic research. To that end, 16 Spanish-English bilinguals were compared to 20 NSs of English on their perception and production of two English vowels. In perception, both groups had a similar category boundary and acoustic cue weighting. In production, both groups produced distinct vowels that were highly intelligible, although the bilinguals produced the phonemes closer together in the vowel space and had more variable performance than the NSs. The inspection of these two participant groups reveals that bilinguals have the ability to perceive and produce a difficult L2 phonemic contrast, with slight and inconsequential differences when compared to NSs. Thus, I argue that bilinguals who have acquired a target structure are an apt comparison group in L2 phonetic experiments.

CONDITIONS OF BILINGUAL PERSONALITY FORMATION AND ENGLISH SPEECH INTONING SKILLS (SURVEY RESULTS)

The article deals with the results of research of sociolinguistic factors’ effect on English phrasal accentuation in the reading authentic English material by Mexican subjects. It features a survey data analysis of the characteristics of the Mexican testees with different levels of English language proficiency. The survey has supplied information about their age at the beginning period of English learning process and its conditions, intensity of its usage at present and subjects’ attitude to the necessity of English phonetics acquisition. The current paper introduces some results of phonetic experiment aimed at revealing Mexican subjects’ ability to intone English speech, namely to choose nucleus in the English utterance. Mexican students’ linguistic competence is proved to be the crucial factor responsible for the correctness in identifying nucleus location. The results presented can be used to contribute to the effectiveness of the English and Spanish as a foreign language teaching as well as for improvement of survey construction in sociolinguistic studies.

The Pragmatic Functions and Prosodic Features of the Sentence-Final Particle "ba" in the Imperatives

Ba is one of the common used sentence-final particle in Chinese. This paper studies the spoken language of film and television drama to analyze and verify the pragmatic functions of “ba” by means of the multidimensional study of language form, meaning, pragmatics and phonetics. First, from the perspective of different category distribution of the imperative sentence, it probes into the distribution rules of “ba”, the co-occurrence with adverbs, auxiliary verbs etc, and reveals the grammatical meaning. Statistical analysis shows that the use of modal particles is the marked form of the imperative sentence. Among them, ba is the most frequently used, and its core meaning is Suggestion Discussion. Secondly, through the semantic analysis of “ba” in terms of Discourse Politeness Theory, it concludes that “ba” can serve the purpose of softening the manner of speaking and the degree of courtesy/discourtesy. Thirdly, from the perspective of phonetic experiment, the phonetic features of the sentence-final particle ba under different functions, were observed and analyzed, which again verified the rationality of our pragmatic classification. Thus, it is proved that the elements of language do not exist in isolation, and the characteristics of function words such as sentence-final particle can be better revealed by studying them from the comprehensive perspective of form, meaning, pragmatics and phonetics.

Identification of Thai students’ level of phonetic sensitivity in the imitation of Russian syllables

The article deals with the role of phonological sensitivity in the development of skills in a foreign language. In psycholinguistic terms, verbal communication in non-native language is a language contact. It is important that, in learning environments, the interaction of contacting languages should not be spontaneous, it should be taken into account in the modeling of verbal communication. Since the formation of mechanisms that ensure the speech activity of an individual in the language under study occurs under the influence of interference, it is necessary to study the manifestation of the specifics contacting linguistic systems in the perception of speech in a non-native language. To make the right decision – whether or not an incorrect perception of the phonemic composition of words occurs in the natural conditions of communication in a foreign language – is not possible. This requires a special phonetic experiment. The authors describe the results of an experiment aimed at revealing the phonetic sensitivity of native speakers of Thai. The material of the experiment was 260 syllables having the structure CV (consonant + vowel). Subjects who had not previously studied the Russian language had to listen to audio recordings of syllables pronunciation and reproduce them. Thus, the implementation of Russian vowels and consonants in the composition of syllables was analyzed. The authors succeeded in revealing the similarity and difference in the articulatory characteristics of the interacting languages’ sounds. It was found that when imitating Russian syllables the Thais are not aware of the opposition of consonants on the grounds of “hardness-softness” and “voiceless-voiced”. In this connection special work is required to produce soft sounds and to develop skills for distinguishing sounds from voiceless-voiced. During the study, it was confirmed that the influence of the native language is clearly manifested if it is functionally prevalent.

Typological variation in the phonetic realization of lexical and phrasal stress: Southern British English vs. Tunisian Arabic

Results of phonetic experiments on the acoustic correlates of lexical stress (word-level prominence) and phrasal stress (phrase-level prominence = accent) as two separate concepts in two typologically different languages, Southern British English (SBE) and Tunisian Arabic (TA), are reported in this study. Because of the confusion in the literature between the terms stress and accent, their acoustic correlates were muddled, too. To avoid this confusion, the data in this study are elicited using an experimental paradigm which allows careful investigation of the correlates of each concept independently. The duration, spectral balance, and vowel quality cues are measured. Results show cross-linguistic similarities and differences between the two languages. Unlike most world languages, duration in TA is not a correlate of stress. It is rather a correlate of accent. In the absence of focus on the target words in TA, the only phonetic characteristics of lexical stress that come in the foreground are spectral balance and F1 lowering. However, when the word is focused, Tunisian speakers rely mainly on duration and spectral balance to signal accent. SBE signals stress through three acoustic correlates which are duration, spectral balance, and vowel quality. More similarity is found for accent detection between speakers of the two languages.

Some English Stress Mistakes and Solutions - A Phonetic Experimental Research on Vietnamese Students

The combination of phonological knowledge with rhythm and English stress rules is one of the solutions for English stress problems facing Vietnamese students. From the phonetic experiment, some types of stress mistakes made by Vietnamese students were discovered. The hypothesis is that the English Rhythmic patterns and English stress rules will help students to solve their stress problems. However, the English stress rules are so complicated. Therefore, based on the main rhythmic pattern, the key for stress rules has been raised to simplify the way to recognize stressed syllables. The final target is to help Vietnamese students identify English words through different ways of stress placement in order to increase their pronunciation ability as well as catching the main idea in the conversation to improve their communicative skill in English.

ЗВУКОВЫЕ СРЕДСТВА ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЯ В БРИТАНСКОЙ ПУБЛИЧНОЙ РЕЧИ

The paper deals with the issue of influencing the listener when delivering public speech. Special attention is paid to the phonetic means of affecting the public used in British political discourse. Also the problem of meaning-sound correlation of lexical units is touched upon. The phonetic experiment of British political discourse revealed the phonaesthetic characteristics of lexical units and helped compile the matrix of phonaesthetic syllabic and segmental features of this type of discourse.

Vowel duration before ejective stops

It has been well established that vowels are phonetically longer before voiced than voiceless stops, all else being equal. To my knowledge, however, no studies have measured vowel durations before ejective stops. This paper aims to fill this gap: I present preliminary results from a phonetic experiment with nine speakers of Georgian, establishing for the first time that vowels are (i) significantly longer before ejective stops than before voiceless aspirated stops and (ii) significantly shorter before ejective stops than before voiced stops. While the dependent relationship between vowel duration and obstruent voicing is well known, the cause of this relationship is poorly understood. The results presented in this paper shed new light on our understanding of differences in vowel durations and, in doing so, render several proposed explanations for these differences considerably less likely. In particular, my results show that (i) the voice feature itself likely does not affect vowel duration, (ii) closure duration of the following stop is not inversely correlated with vowel duration, and (iii) perceptual factors likely play no role in determining vowel length. My study shows that laryngeal features are the best predictors of vowel duration, suggesting an articulatory connection between these two factors.

The Syntax of Modifier-Sharing Constructions in Korean: Evidence from a Phonetic Experiment

The Syntax of Modifier-Sharing Constructions in Korean: Evidence from a Phonetic Experiment

Inhibitory phonetic priming: Where does the effect come from?

Both phonological and phonetic priming studies reveal inhibitory effects that have been interpreted as resulting from lexical competition between the prime and the target. We present a series of phonetic priming experiments that contrasted this lexical locus explanation with that of a prelexical locus by manipulating the lexical status of the prime and the target and the task used. In the related condition of all experiments, spoken targets were preceded by spoken primes that were phonetically similar but shared no phonemes with the target (/bak/-/dεt/). In Experiments 1 and 2, word and nonword primes produced an inhibitory effect of equal size in shadowing and same-different tasks respectively. Experiments 3 and 4 showed robust inhibitory phonetic priming on both word and nonword targets in the shadowing task, but no effect at all in a lexical decision task. Together, these findings show that the inhibitory phonetic priming effect occurs independently of the lexical status of both the prime and the target, and only in tasks that do not necessarily require the activation of lexical representations. Our study thus argues in favour of a prelexical locus for this effect.

Syntagm in the Analysis of the Intonation Contour (Experimental Results)

The article deals with the syntagm in the analysis of the intonation contour. The elements organizing the discourse, its beginning and end are expressed more saliently with the help of intonation. The problem of studying the information structure within texts was instituted by scholars of the Prague School. It is undeniable that the division of discourse according to the structure and intonation plays a very important role in determining it. The intonation includes three parameters: temporal, dynamic and melodic parameters. The main component of the intonation according to the time parameter is that the time strength is getting weaker at the end of the terminal syntagm. In the Azerbaijani language the time parameter depends on the second parameter—melodic component. As it makes it clear that it takes more time to pronounce the sentences which have the least phonemes and morphemes than the sentences which have the most phonemes and morphemes. The third component of the intonation is its intensity. The intensity inside sentences depends on the quality of the vowels which is realized inside them and the place of them inside a sentence. The article includes the results of the phonetic experiment, in which sentences consisting of one or more syntagms (mostly two syntagms) are used.

論前齶音聲母j-的唇齒化音變

提要 《中原音韻》「微維」同音的記錄實際上反映的是前齶音聲母 j- 唇齒化為濁擦音 v-，這種音類合併可以追溯至10世紀的河西方音，可見漢語史上「惟維」和「微」字讀音混同的發生年代可以提前。而更早時期梵漢對音所反映的東晉北方話和《經典釋文》的有關記錄與其只有表面上的類似，其語音性質實有不同，需要另作解釋。(2)該音變可以形式化為 j->v-/__V[+back,-low] 除了漢語史資料，漢語方言、民族語等材料以及語音實驗的分析都可以表明，該音是具有生理基礎和類型學意義的自然音變。

Characteristics of the Listening and Pronunciation of Korean Obstruents of Chinese Learners -Based on the Phonetic Experiments Using Kalvin and Praat-

Characteristics of the Listening and Pronunciation of Korean Obstruents of Chinese Learners -Based on the Phonetic Experiments Using Kalvin and Praat-