Phonological Description Research Articles

Acoustic, phonetic, and phonological features of Drehu vowels.

This study presents an acoustic investigation of the vowel inventory of Drehu (Southern Oceanic Linkage), spoken in New Caledonia. Reportedly, Drehu has a 14 vowel system distinguishing seven vowel qualities and an additional length distinction. Previous phonological descriptions were based on impressionistic accounts showing divergent proposals for two out of seven reported vowel qualities. This study presents the first phonetic investigation of Drehu vowels based on acoustic data from eight speakers. To examine the phonetic correlates of the proposed phonological vowel inventory, multi-point acoustic analyses were used, and vowel inherent spectral change (VISC) was investigated (F1, F2, and F3). Additionally, vowel duration was measured. Contrary to reports from other studies on VISC in monophthongs, we find that monophthongs in Drehu are mostly steady state. We propose a revised vowel inventory and focus on the acoustic description of open-mid /ɛ/ and the central vowel /ə/, whose status was previously unclear. Additionally, we find that vowel quality stands orthogonal to vowel quantity by demonstrating that the phonological vowel length distinction is primarily based on a duration cue rather than formant structure. Finally, we report the acoustic properties of the seven vowel qualities that were identified.

English Phonological Operations: A Study of Rule Interactions

This study focuses on English phonological operations with emphasis on rule interaction, rule ordering, bleeding, and feeding. It is a study in rule-governed phonological description. The method adopted for analysis is the descriptive survey approach. The theoretical framework adopted is Noam Chomsky’s generative phonology. The finding is that phonological descriptive generalization is best done by rules rather than by phonemic analysis. This study recommends that the study of phonetics and phonology in Nigerian universities should focus more on practical exposure using laboratory instruments; laboratory exercises in conversational English using relevant phonological materials (tapes, records, video films, among others.), distinctive features, and rule writing approach for the advanced students are recommended.

A sightseeing diminutive tour in Limburgian

Abstract This paper provides an overview, based on the MAND database and on additional recordings for Limburgian Panningen, of diminutive formation in Limburgian and focuses on the status of n-assimilation. It is shown that both the presence and the absence of n-assimilaton poses problems both for existing phonological descriptions as well as for constraint-based approaches to phonology such as standard Optimality Theory. We will show that the nature of the three interacting modifications, that is n-assimilation, k-fronting and s-insertion is different. k-fronting and s-insertion are limited in their application to the diminutive suffix and are as such lexical modifications. n-assimilation is shown to apply also across word boundaries and is a post-lexical modification. This allows for a straightforward description in stratal OT and for a better understanding of the data observed.

Tonal features of Hà Tây dialect (The case of Quốc Oai variant)

The goal of the paper is to study the tonal features of the Quốc Oai variant (former H Ty, H Nội nowaday). By use of instrumental phonetics, phonological description and comparative methods, the study presents the following results: (1) A description of tonal features of Quốc Oai using synchronic data; (2) A comparison of Quốc Oai with Thạch Thất tones and the urban H Nội tones to provide a broader view of H Ty tones; (3) A comparison of Quốc Oai tones with the tones of some neighboring Mường dialects in synchronous and chronological aspects, which help to establish a few details explaining the interesting nature of this dialect; (4) Finally, we also provide some interdisciplinary evidences to support the linguistic data. All kinds of data point to the idea that xứ Đoi, Ba V (including Quốc Oai in the past and present) is a mixed space of Việt-Mường culture. In this mixed space one may find similar features of all elements of culture, including linguistic similarities, especially in tones.

Goan Karachiites’ English Pronunciation

Pakistan’s linguistic diversity and communication challenges are documented evidence of the country’s policy makers and practitioners for a decade’s plan of cultural harmony, regional stability, and linguistic autonomy. Besides, regional language users, national identity persuaders, and national integration into the global objectives of access to information for growth and good is made possible through the medium of communication. Its practice was seen in educational decisions in the past and its struggle for a nationwide networking is being witnessed in the period of COVID-19. The study is the result of almost 15 years old motivation to highlight the issues relevant for a phonological description of Goan Karachiites (GKs) speech of English. However, the framework is updated to absorb recent trends of global integration and communication challenges for a result-oriented academic deliberation. Its QUAL QUAN methods application is derived from phonological underpinnings to witness the divergence of English pronunciation of the GKs from Received Pronunciation (RP). The GKs English was reportedly non-RP, but intelligible on systemic phonological grounds.

Phonological description of Naba

Naba, also known as Bilala, is a Nilo-Saharan (Sara-Bagirmi) language of Chad with about 410,000 speakers from three ethnic groups. This paper gives a basic description of the Naba phonological system, using segmental phonology and lexical phonology approaches. Topics covered include the phonemic inventory, syllable structure and phonotactic restrictions, the tone system and its interaction with other phonological processes, and the main lexical and post-lexical processes. A special focus is given to the important role of sonority hierarchy in Naba phonological structure and processes. This hierarchy groups affricates and non-sibilant fricatives with stops in a single obstruent category, while nasals, liquids, and approximants comprise the sonorant category. The distinction is key for syllable structure, phonotactic restrictions, tone sandhi, and a number of both lexical and post-lexical processes. It is proposed that the two sibilant fricatives /s/ and /z/ exist as a separate sonority level in between obstruent and sonorant, and evidence is given as to why they cannot be classed with either group.

Orthography and Phonology in Vocalized Medieval Christian Arabic Gospel Manuscripts

Pre-modern vocalized Arabic manuscripts can reveal a great deal about a variety of linguistic features represented in each text. Recent work has demonstrated the potential that vocalized manuscripts have, specifically for revealing aspects of the phonology of the corpora including the Quran, Judaeo-Arabic, and later ‘Middle Arabic’ texts. Christian Arabic texts, however, have been less frequently studied in this manner. Blau’s grammar of the Christian Arabic of south Palestine in the 9th/10th centuries CE4 draws primarily on unvocalized manuscripts, and therefore the phonological details he provides are inferred primarily from consonantal orthographic patterns. While a few others have focused on Christian Arabic manuscripts from the medieval period,6 there has been little work that undertakes a phonological description of vocalized Christian manuscripts in a thorough and systematic way.

Qaqet

Qaqet (Glottocode qaqe1238; ISO 639-3: byx) is a Papuan (i.e. non-Austronesian) Baining language that is spoken by an estimated 15,000 people in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province. Figure 1 shows a map of where Qaqet and the four other known Baining languages (Mali, Kairak (also spelt Qairaq – see map), Simbali and Ura) are spoken (see Stebbins, Evans & Terrill 2017 for an overview of Baining; for phonological descriptions, see Stanton 2007 on Ura, and Stebbins 2011 on Mali). The wider affiliations of the Baining languages are unknown. They share typological features with other East Papuan languages (i.e. the non-Austronesian languages of Island Melanesia), but there is no historical-comparative evidence to establish genealogical relationships.1 In terms of phonology, there are no structures shared across all of East Papuan, but Baining languages have similarities to the East Papuan language Kuot spoken on neighbouring New Ireland (i.e. the intervocalic lenition of voiceless plosives; pitch movements at the right edge of intonation units).2 Furthermore, language contact is known to have taken place across the entire region, and Baining languages share typological features with Oceanic languages. This includes phonemic contrasts between voiceless and voiced plosives and between /r/ and /l/; as well as a number of morphosyntactic structures (e.g. a large inventory of definite and indefinite articles, AVO/SV constituent order, prepositions).

PHONEME DISTRIBUTION IN A TATAR TEXT: A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH

Along with the qualitative description of phonemes which is presented in Tatar grammars, their quantitative description is often required. Such a research should be performed on a sufficient volume of text data which would contain lexical items in their natural surroundings and reflect basic regularities of the language system. This paper analyzes the distribution of phonemes and phoneme combinations in the story by Amirkhan Yeniki “Äytelmägän vasɪyät” (“The unspoken testament”). The research material was the text converted to a phonologically relevant form. The absolute and relative frequencies (using the quantiles of the standard normal distribution) are provided for each of the 34 phonemes distinguished in the text. The approach to data normalization (z-statistics) is based on information about both the number of phonemes depending on their position (wordinitial, wordfinal or wordmedial), and the total number of occurrences of each phoneme in the text; this allows us to retain information about positional features of low frequency phonemes and to find individual tendencies for each cell in the contingency table. The deviation of the z-statistics from the quantiles of the standard normal distribution (-1.96, 1.96) indicates the character of phoneme sequences in the language. It is shown that for the absolute majority of Tatar phonemes, the z-statistics are far beyond the interval (-1.96, 1.96), with the exception of borrowed phonemes |ц| and |щ|, as well as the low-frequency phoneme |ж|, which indicates the random nature of the distribution of these phonemes in Tatar. The syntagmatic component of the phonological system, just like the inventory of phonemes, is unique for each language, so without such study the phonological description would be incomplete. That is why a special section examines Tatar phoneme sequences using the example of two and three phoneme combinations. Since there is often a gap in grammar books between the descriptions of the phonological and morphological levels, quantitative information on phonemes is complemented with grammatical interpretation; in particular, the author shows that high frequency combinations of phonemes are associated with affixes and stems, which is determined by the agglutinative structure of the Tatar language.

Intervocalic lenition is not phonological: evidence from Campidanese Sardinian

This paper develops a model of lenition in Campidanese Sardinian. The model treats lenition (and its inverse, fortition) as a predictable consequence of gradient changes in duration associated with prosodic structure. A more typical approach to lenition processes in Campidanese and other languages is to treat them as changes in phonological features. I show here that a phonetic model operating on the output of phonological computations avoids some of the analytical problems associated with such phonological analyses, unifies the phonetic and phonological description of lenition, and captures the relationship between prosody, lenition and duration. While the detailed simulations here are specific to Campidanese, I suggest that the model is broadly applicable to languages with intervocalic lenition processes such as voicing, spirantisation and tapping.

Mecapalapa Tepehua

Mecapalapa Tepehua (ISO code: tee) is a language of Mexico that belongs to the Huehuetla branch of the Totonac-Tepehua linguistic family. It is spoken in the town of Mecapalapa, Puebla, Mexico. This linguistic family is composed of the Tepehua and Totonac branches (see MacKay & Trechsel 2014 and references there). The Tepehua branch consists of three main languages and their respective varieties: Pisaflores and Tlachichilco Tepehua are located in Veracruz, and Huehuetla Tepehua is located in Hidalgo and Puebla (see Figure 1). In comparison with Totonac, Tepehua has been poorly studied (see a comprehensive list of references in MacKay & Trechsel 2012). Representative works include Watters (1988), on Tlachichilco morpho-syntax with a brief phonological survey; Gutiérrez, Jiménez & García (2013), on a Tepehua-Spanish vocabulary, which is a vocabulary for the Tepehua variety spoken in Tlachichilco; MacKay & Trechsel (2013, 2018), providing detailed accounts of the phonological structures of Pisaflores and discussion of previous reconstructions of proto-Totonac-Tepehua sounds; and Kryder (1987) and Smythe (2007), offering a detailed description of Huehuetla phonology.

Phonological units for phonological change: synchrony shall provide them

The question of what types of units and domains are needed in order to capture phonological change is a reasonable one to ask. To answer this question, however, we first need to properly define how we understand phonological change, and the definition that we adopt for that clearly depends on the phonological framework that is assumed. I consider several influential frameworks here and then come to the conclusion that the same condition holds for all of them: change can only be described in terms of the same units (and domains) as are used for synchronic description. This leads to the following conclusion: the set of units for phonological change is a subset of the set of units that are needed for synchronic phonological description. However, it is also unlikely that some units needed for synchronic description can be fully ignored for all descriptions of changes, which leads us to the conclusion that the set of units that are needed for phonological change is also a superset of that set. The sets are thus equal: the phonological units needed for synchronic description are the units needed to account for phonological change, and the question above is meaningless.

The ASL-LEX 2.0 Project: A Database of Lexical and Phonological Properties for 2,723 Signs in American Sign Language.

ASL-LEX is a publicly available, large-scale lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL). We report on the expanded database (ASL-LEX 2.0) that contains 2,723 ASL signs. For each sign, ASL-LEX now includes a more detailed phonological description, phonological density and complexity measures, frequency ratings (from deaf signers), iconicity ratings (from hearing non-signers and deaf signers), transparency (“guessability”) ratings (from non-signers), sign and videoclip durations, lexical class, and more. We document the steps used to create ASL-LEX 2.0 and describe the distributional characteristics for sign properties across the lexicon and examine the relationships among lexical and phonological properties of signs. Correlation analyses revealed that frequent signs were less iconic and phonologically simpler than infrequent signs and iconic signs tended to be phonologically simpler than less iconic signs. The complete ASL-LEX dataset and supplementary materials are available at https://osf.io/zpha4/ and an interactive visualization of the entire lexicon can be accessed on the ASL-LEX page: http://asl-lex.org/.

Phonology and Phonetics of L2 Telugu English

The paper provides a partial phonological and phonetic description of the segmental structure of L2 Telugu English (TE). Previous research on the subject has been carried out in the context of a more general notion of Indian English (IE), so the properties of TE as distinct from other varieties of IE (e.g., Gujarati English) have largely remained unexplored. We have primarily focused on areas that previous research identified as prominent issues in the study of IE: vowel inventory and production, representation and realization of liquids, word-final obstruent phenomena, and allophones of /w/. To account for these aspects of TE, we have combined a generative approach to the study of an individual’s linguistic competence with linguistic fieldwork as a means of collecting first-hand data. On the basis of collected data, we have conducted a spectrographic analysis of TE vowels and a distributional analysis of TE consonants. The paper provides the first description of the acoustic spaces of TE vowels. We found that all vowels except [?] and [i] are more central in TE than in General American English. /r/ was realized as either [r] or [?] without a specific pattern, and occasionally as [?] in the intervocalic position. /l/ was realized as [?] in word-final position and as [l] elsewhere. TE displayed word-final obstruent devoicing for all obstruents except for /b/, which was consistently unreleased. /w/ was realized as [?] before front vowels and as [w] elsewhere. While previous research that concentrated on the broad notion of Indian English recognized the issue of /w/-allophony, it has not provided a principle that governs the exact distribution of /w/’s allophones. By combining the generative framework with linguistic fieldwork, we have accounted for this long-standing puzzle with a single rule: /w/ ? [?] / __ [–CONS, –BACK].

Description of Phonology, Characteristics, and Determination of the Origin Language of Waisika

This study aims to describe the Waisika language carried out in the Northeast Alor sub-district based on the observation point, which was the object of research. This research uses quantitative and qualitative approaches. In diachronic research methods, there are two main methods in facilitating the direction of research, namely quantitative methods and qualitative methods. Application of minimal pairing procedures and similar environments, it can be found that all vocoids sound in Waisika is vocal segments /a, i, u, e, o/. Application of minimal pairing procedures and similar environments, it can be found that all contoid sounds are consonant segments [p, b, mb, t, nt, d, k, g, nd, h, s, m, n, N, Nk, l, r, w]. Five vowel phonemes, which are found to have complete distribution at the front, central, and back of the morpheme. The phoneme /mb/, /nt/, /d/, /k/, /nd/, /r/, /w/ only exists in the initial and middle position of words. The phonemes /Nk/ are only in the central position of words. The phonemes /N/ are only in the central and back positions.

The segmental phonetics and phonology of Hyow, A Tibeto-Burman language of Bangladesh

Abstract This paper presents a description and analysis of segmental phonetics and phonology of Hyow, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by almost 4,000 people in the southeast of Bangladesh. Hyow demonstrates phonological features which are absent in other Chin languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch. Proto Kuki-Chin initial voiceless nasals are not only preserved in Mara and Central Chin languages (Van Bik 2009: 220), but also in Hyow. Unlike other Southern Chin languages, Hyow final liquids are sometimes preserved or developed into central approximants. In fact, final liquids are preserved in Bangladesh Hyow, and in two varieties of Laitu – Keyni and Myebon – and Laisaw in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The salient and prevalent phonological process of re-syllabification in Hyow demonstrates that the glottal stop cannot be treated as a phonetic property of the coda-cluster sonorants, which is otherwise treated as glottalized in some Chin languages by scholars, e.g. Hakha Lai (Hyman & Van Bik 2002: 114). Hyow does not show a phonemic contrast between long and short vowels which is very often found in Chin languages. Though Mainland Southeast Asian Languages are profoundly known for having sesquisyllables or reduced syllables, in Hyow, vowels of initial syllables of disyllabic words carrying grammatical morphemes are harmonized with vowels of root-initial syllables, which confirms the absence of such type of reduced syllables in Hyow. The phonological description and analysis in this paper are furthermore supported by phonetic data and illustrations. Discussions of variant phonetic realizations of certain segments have also been included.

The Phonological Features of Non – Arab Workers' Interlanguage in Iraq

Interlannguge is defined as a type of language used by second or foreign language learners in the process of learning the target language; it is an intermediate phase between first and second language. This study aims at providing a phonological description of the Baghdadi Interlanguage ( henceforth BIL ) used by the Bengali workers in Baghdad province , the capital of Iraq. The primary purpose of this study is to substantiate whether this newly emerged variety is an interlanguage or a pidgin , also to solve many tutorial problems in this variety by identifying the errors of the learners of second language in the field of phonology . Data collection was based on some interviews , accompanied by a list of personal questions with four Bengali workers from both genders ( males and females ) , ( two males and two females ). It is found that this new variety is an interlanguage not a pidgin since the characteristics of interlanguage are achieved in this study throughout the stages of the developments of this newly emerged variety ( interlanguage ) . The study also finds that the main phonological differences between the Baghdadi dialect and the interlanguage ( IL ) are in the consonant phonemes rather than the vowel ones.

Phonological Interpretation of Consonants in the Russian Language in Borrowings at the Junction of Prefix and Root

The article is devoted to the phonological interpretation of consonants at the junction of prefix and root in borrowings such as Russian ir-ratsionalnyy, ir-realnyy, in-novatsiya, im-moralnyy, etc. The work is performed taking into account the typology of long and short consonant opposition in different languages of the world. The broad phonological context of the use of long and short consonants in the Russian language is taken into account, but due to the limited volume of the article, illustrations and interpretations of a number of phenomena are given in a generalized form. The author proceeds from the concept of multilevel phonology, developed by him in a number of works. In general, the description is based on primary phonemes that correspond to the phonemes of the Saint Petersburg Phonological School. It is shown that when identifying the morphemic structure of words such as irratsionalnyy one should proceed not from the spelling appearance, but from the accepted pronunciation. With this approach, the morphemic division of the previously cited words takes the following form: i-rationalnyy, i-realnyy, i-novatsiya, i-moralnyy, etc. Thus, the article deals with the problem of creating a phonological description in the conditions of orthoepic uncertainty and variability using a specific example.

Northern Sangtam phonetics, phonology and word list

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive phonetic and phonological description of Northern Sangtam, an essentially undescribed Tibeto-Burman language of central Nagaland belonging to the Aoic subgroup. It is a noteworthy language from a number of phonological perspectives, not least because its phoneme inventory contains two of the world’s rarest phonemes: a pre-stopped bilabial trill, and a doubly-articulated labial-coronal nasal. These unique segments are described in detail, and an attempt is made to determine how they might have developed their phonemic status. The tone system is also of interest, as it demonstrates evidence of debuccalization resulting in the development of a new high tone. Following a systematic description of the syllable and word structure, the tone system, and the segmental phonology, some observed age-related differences in the phoneme inventory are discussed. The paper is linked to an online repository containing the audio-visual data and transcribed word lists of approximately 900 items, based on the recorded utterances of eight speakers.

A preliminary phonology of Brokpa

Author(s): Funk, Damian | Abstract: A preliminary synchronic analysis of Brokpa phonology finds eleven vowel phonemes, including two degrees of vowel length; 35 consonant phonemes; and three tonal values (level low, level high, and contour falling). Based on a sample of 134 words, the phonological description is supported by a phonetic analysis investigating the acoustic correlates of phonemic distinctions: formant values for vowel quality, length measurements for vowel length, pitch measurements for tone, and voice onset time for aspiration in plosives and affricates. A presentation of the basic phonotactic patterns of the language concludes the sketch. Some noteworthy features of Brokpa phonology include its developing tonal system; the relative lack of open vowels, front rounded vowels, and voiced fricatives; the presence of five series of plosives; and some archaic consonant clusters.