Phonetic Processes Research Articles

Are pun mechanisms universal? A comparative analysis across language families

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to provide a new definition of pun, in order to describe it in a cross-linguistic perspective and to point out that puns, as verbal humorous phenomena which exploit ordinary phonetic processes, are universal. The definition is tested through a comparison among puns in 15 languages belonging to different families. I show that puns always imply the manipulation of a string through mechanisms involving all the elements of the phonetic chain. Such manipulation is realized in all possible string and syllable domains, tendentially within the threshold of five elements. Taking into account the progressive improvements in linguistic models of puns, the present study also provides a synthetic overview of the literature on puns and related phenomena. Results include some phonetic elements not considered in previous studies; a cross-linguistic formulation of phonetic distance between target and pun is also proposed.

What affects the presence versus absence of schwa and its duration: A corpus analysis of French connected speech

This study presents an analysis of over 4000 tokens of words produced as variants with and without schwa in a French corpus of radio-broadcasted speech. In order to determine which of the many variables mentioned in the literature influence variant choice, 17 predictors were tested in the same analysis. Only five of these variables appeared to condition variant choice. The question of the processing stage, or locus, of this alternation process is also addressed in a comparison of the variables that predict variant choice with the variables that predict the acoustic duration of schwa in variants with schwa. Only two variables predicting variant choice also predict schwa duration. The limited overlap between the predictors for variant choice and for schwa duration, combined with the nature of these variables, suggest that the variants without schwa do not result from a phonetic process of reduction; that is, they are not the endpoint of gradient schwa shortening. Rather, these variants are generated early in the production process, either during phonological encoding or word-form retrieval. These results, based on naturally produced speech, provide a useful complement to on-line production experiments using artificial speech tasks.

Evaluation of the speech behaviour of reference speakers

In forensic settings, when speech samples have to be compared, or in LADO investigations, it is crucial to be able to differentiate the speech behavior of cooperative speakers from the speech behavior of partly cooperative speakers. In order to perform this task, a comprehensive approach which encompasses knowledge from several linguistic subfields is needed. The theoretical framework of Natural Phonology which incorporates phonetic, phonological, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic knowledge proves useful to perform this responsible and considerably difficult task. For illustration purposes, the analysis of three case studies will be presented. Results show that phonetic and phonological variation and process application of partly cooperative speakers differs considerably from the results generally obtained in investigations on language variation (drawn from cooperative speakers). In addition, partly cooperative speakers tend to apply substitutions which are in contradiction to phonetic and phonological principles.

Interaction and representational integration: Evidence from speech errors

We examine the mechanisms that support interaction between lexical, phonological and phonetic processes during language production. Studies of the phonetics of speech errors have provided evidence that partially activated lexical and phonological representations influence phonetic processing. We examine how these interactive effects are modulated by lexical frequency. Previous research has demonstrated that during lexical access, the processing of high frequency words is facilitated; in contrast, during phonetic encoding, the properties of low frequency words are enhanced. These contrasting effects provide the opportunity to distinguish two theoretical perspectives on how interaction between processing levels can be increased. A theory in which cascading activation is used to increase interaction predicts that the facilitation of high frequency words will enhance their influence on the phonetic properties of speech errors. Alternatively, if interaction is increased by integrating levels of representation, the phonetics of speech errors will reflect the retrieval of enhanced phonetic properties for low frequency words. Utilizing a novel statistical analysis method, we show that in experimentally induced speech errors low lexical frequency targets and outcomes exhibit enhanced phonetic processing. We sketch an interactive model of lexical, phonological and phonetic processing that accounts for the conflicting effects of lexical frequency on lexical access and phonetic processing.

C055 The musical stages profile (MSP): Acquisition of musical behaviours post cochlear implantation (CI)

C055 The musical stages profile (MSP): Acquisition of musical behaviours post cochlear implantation (CI)

Major Phonetic Processes in Sabzevari Dialect

Sabzevar with an area of 19500 square kilometer is located in Northeast Iran, In Khorasan Razavi province. Northward, it is bounded to Quchan and Esfarayen, Eastward to Neyshabour, Southward to Kashmar and Shahrood and Westward to Semnan province. With a phonetic approach and after giving a short definition for ―dialect, this piece of writing attempts to introduce the most prominent phonetic processes of Sabzevari dialect –one of the Western new Iranian dialects- and introduce vocal changes of this dialect compared with Standard Persian. The findings of this research show that in Sabzevari dialect ―mutation is the main phonetic process and ―metathesis is of the lowest frequency.

Effect of phonetic complexity on word reading and repetition in deep dyslexia

This investigation moves beyond the traditional studies of word reading to identify how the production complexity of words affects reading accuracy in an individual with deep dyslexia (JO). We examined JO’s ability to read words aloud while manipulating both the production complexity of the words and the semantic context. The classification of words as either phonetically simple or complex was based on the Index of Phonetic Complexity. The semantic context was varied using a semantic blocking paradigm (i.e., semantically blocked and unblocked conditions). In the semantically blocked condition words were grouped by semantic categories (e.g., table, sit, seat, couch), whereas in the unblocked condition the same words were presented in a random order. JO’s performance on reading aloud was also compared to her performance on a repetition task using the same items. Results revealed a strong interaction between word complexity and semantic blocking for reading aloud but not for repetition. JO produced the greatest number of errors for phonetically complex words in semantically blocked condition. This interaction suggests that semantic processes are constrained by output production processes which are exaggerated when derived from visual rather than auditory targets. This complex relationship between orthographic, semantic, and phonetic processes highlights the need for word recognition models to explicitly account for production processes.

Consonant lenition and phonological recategorization

AbstractWe examine the weakening of intervocalic voiceless stops in Spanish in order to gain insight on historical processes of intervocalic lenition. In our corpus, about a third of all tokens of intervocalic /ptk/ are fully or partially voiced in spontaneous speech. However, even when fully voiced, /ptk/ tend to show greater constriction than /bdg/, with the velars being less different than labials and coronals. Word-initial and word-internal intervocalic segments are equally affected. Based on our findings from acoustic measurements of correlates of lenition, we propose that common reductive sound changes, such as intervocalic consonant lenition, start as across-the-board conventionalized phonetic processes equally affecting all targets in the appropriate phonetic context. The common restriction of the sound change to word-internal contexts may be a consequence of phonological recategorization at a later stage in the sound change.

Neural representations and mechanisms for the performance of simple speech sequences.

Speakers plan the phonological content of their utterances before their release as speech motor acts. Using a finite alphabet of learned phonemes and a relatively small number of syllable structures, speakers are able to rapidly plan and produce arbitrary syllable sequences that fall within the rules of their language. The class of computational models of sequence planning and performance termed competitive queuing models have followed K. S. Lashley [The problem of serial order in behavior. In L. A. Jeffress (Ed.), Cerebral mechanisms in behavior (pp. 112-136). New York: Wiley, 1951] in assuming that inherently parallel neural representations underlie serial action, and this idea is increasingly supported by experimental evidence. In this article, we developed a neural model that extends the existing DIVA model of speech production in two complementary ways. The new model includes paired structure and content subsystems [cf. MacNeilage, P. F. The frame/content theory of evolution of speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21, 499-511, 1998 ] that provide parallel representations of a forthcoming speech plan as well as mechanisms for interfacing these phonological planning representations with learned sensorimotor programs to enable stepping through multisyllabic speech plans. On the basis of previous reports, the model's components are hypothesized to be localized to specific cortical and subcortical structures, including the left inferior frontal sulcus, the medial premotor cortex, the basal ganglia, and the thalamus. The new model, called gradient order DIVA, thus fills a void in current speech research by providing formal mechanistic hypotheses about both phonological and phonetic processes that are grounded by neuroanatomy and physiology. This framework also generates predictions that can be tested in future neuroimaging and clinical case studies.

Imaginative Science

SummaryThis article traces the interactions between the philologist and applied linguist Henry Sweet (1845–1912) and the anthropologist and evolutionist E. B. Tylor (1832–1917). Tylor was impressed by Sweet’s uniformitarian views on phonetic synthesis and word-division: that phonetic and grammatical processes observable in the present could be used to explain grammatical formation and inflection in the past. Conversely, Sweet’s views on language and its origins owe much to Tylor’sintellectualismand hisdoctrine of survivals. According to Tylor, ‘primitive man’ employed rational thought in his attempts to make intellectual sense of the world and its phenomena. In expressions such as ‘the sun rises’, vestiges of this primitive thought and animism then survive in the lexis and syntax of later, modern languages. Sweet used Tylorian material in his language textbooks, and the intellectualist theory was taken up by literary critics in the 1880s, e.g., in the Shelley Society — of which Sweet was a founding member, in order to explore the roots of poetic metaphor and figurative language as used in modern English poetry.

Imaginative Science<BR> The interactions of Henry Sweet's linguistic thought and E. B. Tylor's anthropology

This article traces the interactions between the philologist and applied linguist Henry Sweet (1845–1912) and the anthropologist and evolutionist E. B. Tylor (1832–1917). Tylor was impressed by Sweet’s uniformitarian views on phonetic synthesis and word-division: that phonetic and grammatical processes observable in the present could be used to explain grammatical formation and inflection in the past. Conversely, Sweet’s views on language and its origins owe much to Tylor’s intellectualism and his doctrine of survivals. According to Tylor, ‘primitive man’ employed rational thought in his attempts to make intellectual sense of the world and its phenomena. In expressions such as ‘the sun rises’, vestiges of this primitive thought and animism then survive in the lexis and syntax of later, modern languages. Sweet used Tylorian material in his language textbooks, and the intellectualist theory was taken up by literary critics in the 1880s, e.g., in the Shelley Society — of which Sweet was a founding member, in order to explore the roots of poetic metaphor and figurative language as used in modern English poetry.

Point Process Models for Spotting Keywords in Continuous Speech

We investigate the hypothesis that the linguistic content underlying human speech may be coded in the pattern of timings of various acoustic ldquoeventsrdquo (landmarks) in the speech signal. This hypothesis is supported by several strands of research in the fields of linguistics, speech perception, and neuroscience. In this paper, we put these scientific motivations to the test by formulating a point process-based computational framework for the task of spotting keywords in continuous speech. We find that even with a noisy and extremely sparse phonetic landmark-based point process representation, keywords can be spotted with accuracy levels comparable to recently studied hidden Markov model-based keyword spotting systems. We show that the performance of our keyword spotting system in the high-precision regime is better predicted by the median duration of the keyword rather than simply the number of its constituent syllables or phonemes. When we are confronted with very few (in the extreme case, zero) examples of the keyword in question, we find that constructing a keyword detector from its component syllable detectors provides a viable approach.

The “New Spelling” of Russian on the Internet in Relation to Phonetics and Orthography

The article analyses the linguistic phenomenon (here called novograf) that appeared on Russian Internet sites some years ago. In such texts Russian spelling is changed according to the principle “write as you speak”. However, my analysis of a representative text corpus shows that native speakers are not aware of all phonetic processes to the same degree. Even if novograf denies historical-morphological principles, there is a tendency in this open system to create new rules and traditions that differ from a purely phonetic spelling.

Prosodic strengthening of German fricatives in duration and assimilatory devoicing

This study addressed prosodic effects on the duration of and amount of glottal vibration in German word-initial fricatives /f, v, z/ in assimilatory and non-assimilatory devoicing contexts. Fricatives following /ə/ (non-assimilation context) were longer and were produced with less glottal vibration after higher prosodic boundaries, reflecting domain-initial prosodic strengthening. After /t/ (assimilation context), lenis fricatives (/v, z/) were produced with less glottal vibration than after /ə/, due to assimilatory devoicing. This devoicing was especially strong across lower prosodic boundaries, showing the influence of prosodic structure on sandhi processes. Reduction in glottal vibration made lenis fricatives more fortis-like (/f, s/). Importantly, fricative duration, another major cue to the fortis-lenis distinction, was affected by initial lengthening, but not by assimilation. Hence, at smaller boundaries, fricatives were more devoiced (more fortis-like), but also shorter (more lenis-like). As a consequence, the fortis and lenis fricatives remained acoustically distinct in all prosodic and segmental contexts. Overall, /z/ was devoiced to a greater extent than /v/. Since /z/ does not have a fortis counterpart in word-initial position, these findings suggest that phonotactic restrictions constrain phonetic processes. The present study illuminates a complex interaction of prosody, sandhi processes, and phonotactics, yielding systematic phonetic cues to prosodic structure and phonological distinctions.

Are types of filled pause discrete classes?

Clark and Fox Tree hypothesize that filled pauses ‘‘uh’’ and ‘‘um’’ in English serve the discourse function of alerting the interlocutor of production difficulties. They demonstrate that the mean duration of pause immediately after ‘‘um’’ is significantly longer than after ‘‘uh.’’ This account suggests that fillers are categorically differentiated from each other; however, it fails to predict a cross‐linguistic generalization. Across languages, fillers tend to have centralized vowels [Vasilescu et al. (2005)]. When there are two realizations of filled pause within a language, one tends to consist of a vowel followed by a nasal, as in ‘‘um’’ [Clark and Fox Tree (2002)]. These observations suggest filled pause is a phonetic process and, therefore, may apply gradiently. English filled pauses are revisited, showing that the discourse effect identified is not categorically distributed, but rather defined acoustically on a gradient scale. Acoustic models of fillers are trained on the identities of ‘‘uh’’ and ‘‘um’’ in a corpus. These models are then applied to predict the duration of pause. This phonetic account of disfluency performs better than the categorical account in predicting the duration of non‐null pause, showing that the discourse effects may be caused by a gradient strategy for disfluency realization.

Alternative organization of speech perception deficits in children

Children's first‐language perception base takes shape gradually from birth onwards. Empirical research has confirmed that children may continue to fall short of age‐based expectations in their speech perception. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of various perception processes in both reading and learning disabled children. A series of experiments was carried out with 450 Hungarian‐speaking schoolchildren: learning disabled, reading disabled and typically developing control first‐, second‐, and third‐graders. Data from seven perception tasks—focusing on acoustic, phonetic and phonological perception processes—were analysed. Results revealed that (i) there is no linear development in all groups across ages, (ii) correct performance is characteristic of both the perception process and the type of disability, and (iii) a specific pattern of organization can be drawn up as a factor in development.

Phonetic vs. Phonological Lengthening in Affricates

Affricate consonants consist of two portions: stop closure and frication. Can these portions play different roles in phonetic and phonological processes? In this study, I address the question by probing the behavior of Hungarian affricates under lengthening. I measure the duration changes that affricates undergo in two types of lengthening processes: first, a phonetic process of final lengthening and second, a phonological process of gemination. I show that these two processes alter the internal structure of affricates in very different ways. The results suggest that the difference between phonetic and phonological processes is in fact deeper than a mere difference between “gradient” and “categorical” effects.

Flapping in North American Pronunciation: Case 1 'The Change of /t/ and /d/ into [D] in Pronunciation'

The North American English is different from the British English in many pronunciation cases. One of these cases is known as flapping in the articulation of which the /t/ and /d/ phonemes are converted into a flap, whose sign is [ D ]. This pronunciation case is frequently heard in many TV broadcasts such as CNN, CNN International, and Voice of America. Flapping, triggered by a phonetic process called neutralization, causes a breakdown is communication. Even advanced students can be “confused with it” (Avery and Ehrlich 1992:42). The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the working mechanism of flapping and rehabilitate its pronunciation difficulty by a sample lessons operated by the audio-articulation method.

Old English i-umlaut (for the umpteenth time)

This article offers an account of i-umlaut in Old English based on lexical minimality: the elimination of redundancies from, in this case, the phonological subentries in the lexicon. And the notation is that of Anderson & Ewen (1987), which is based, crucially for the present formulation, on simplex features which may combine in varying proportions. These assumptions combine to favour system-dependent underspecification. In accord with lexical minimality, the approach taken here is also polysystemic: thus, for instance, Old English vowels, even Old English accented vowels, do not enter into only one system of contrasts. The phonology is a system of systems sharing some but not all contrasts. The article attempts to show that on this basis some of the many apparent anomalies that the evidence has been thought to suggest can be resolved in terms of a simple coherent formulation. Concerning the interpretation of this evidence, it is the intention of the article to minimize appeals to phonetic features and phonetic processes not warranted by textual and comparative testimony. It is suggested that lack of attention to polysystemicity and a pervasive indulgence on the part of historical phonologists in phonetic fantasies undermine the conclusions reached by generations of scholars concerning the development of phonological systems, both in general and in particular.

Phonetic Inventories and Phonological Patterns of African American Two-Year-Olds

This pilot study investigated the phonological skills of 8 African American English (AAE)—speaking 2-year-olds. Spontaneous language samples were transcribed and phonological data were entered into the Interactive System for Phonological Analysis (Masterson & Pagan, 1993) for analyses of phonetic inventory, phonological processes, and word shapes. Data were examined to determine if the phonological patterns seen in AAE-speaking children are indicative of emerging dialectal patterns. Findings provide evidence that 2-year-old AAE-speaking children acquire and use the same phonemes and phonological processes as described in the literature for both AAE-speaking toddlers and toddlers speaking Standard American English (SAE). Although the study participants demonstrated frequent use of phonological patterns consistent with AAE, the results could not categorically distinguish typical phonological development from emergent dialectal features. Clinical implications suggest that although assessment of an African American toddler's phonology need not be different from that of SAE-speaking children, an understanding of typical AAE phonological development is necessary to better differentiate an AAE-speaking toddler with deviant phonological development.