Phonological Units Research Articles

A Critical Account of Articulatory Phonology: A Subject Review

Phonological theories are in constant search for common points among natural languages, but there are complexities in applications weaking such theories. Articulatory phonology started as a system of gestures that are based on phonological units depending on phonetic articulation. However, it has ended widith loose terminology, a poor economy of principles and rules, vague concepts and dimensions, following subjective methods of analysis, and poor workability. This has left the theory without further applications and studies that are yet to be addressed.

Early Irish grammarians and the study of speech sound

ABSTRACT Irish grammatical tradition, with its thoroughly bilingual mindset, was one of the most prolific in early medieval Europe. Bringing together vernacular and Hiberno-Latin texts from ca. 700–900, this article explores Irish grammarians’ approaches to the linguistic study of sound on various levels, from single phonemes to complete phonological units. It is argued that the combination of corporeal and incorporeal views of speech sound displayed in the sources resulted from the symbiosis of Stoic and Aristotelian philosophy of language. The innovative and transformative character of Irish grammarians’ work is explored through an analysis of vernacular terminology for phonetics and phonology. Abbreviations: eDIL: The Electronic Dictionary of Irish Language; GL: Grammatici Latini; LSJ: Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon; PL: Patrologia Latina.

DIANA, a Process-Oriented Model of Human Auditory Word Recognition.

This article presents DIANA, a new, process-oriented model of human auditory word recognition, which takes as its input the acoustic signal and can produce as its output word identifications and lexicality decisions, as well as reaction times. This makes it possible to compare its output with human listeners’ behavior in psycholinguistic experiments. DIANA differs from existing models in that it takes more available neuro-physiological evidence on speech processing into account. For instance, DIANA accounts for the effect of ambiguity in the acoustic signal on reaction times following the Hick–Hyman law and it interprets the acoustic signal in the form of spectro-temporal receptive fields, which are attested in the human superior temporal gyrus, instead of in the form of abstract phonological units. The model consists of three components: activation, decision and execution. The activation and decision components are described in detail, both at the conceptual level (in the running text) and at the computational level (in the Appendices). While the activation component is independent of the listener’s task, the functioning of the decision component depends on this task. The article also describes how DIANA could be improved in the future in order to even better resemble the behavior of human listeners.

Lexical and sublexical effects on diachronic stability and instability of phonological systems: A case study on Proto-Indo-European dorsal stops

Lexical and sublexical conditions such as a word’s phonological contrast to other words in a lexicon or the informativity of a segment in its context can influence the likelihood that certain linguistic changes occur. This paper sets out to investigate whether the effects of segment informativity and segment contrast apply to larger sets of phonological units, thus contributing to the diachronic stability or instability of natural classes or phonological series in a language. The test case for this analysis are the Proto-Indo-European dorsal stops and laryngeal series which underwent iconic changes in many daughter languages. The investigation replicates previous findings and shows that phonological contrast and segment informativity have contributed to the changes and pathways of these Proto-Indo-European consonant series. As a result, the findings suggest that lexical and sublexical effects can contribute in part to the diachronic stability of larger phonological units in a language.

THE SYLLABIC AWARENESS AND UPGRADING THE READING ABILITIES OF LEARNERS

Several studies have demonstrated the role of phonological awareness in developing the linguistic abilities of learners in general and reading skills in particular. since syllabic awareness is one of the most prominent components of phonological awareness, this article develops the hypothesis according to which syllables are functional phonological units that contribute to the process of learning the reading skill of primary school learners within the framework of didactical approach that adopts the syllabical reading method, as a didactical procedure that has a role in teaching reading skills. Accordingly, the article discussed dialectical importance of reading skill in relation to other language skills, and some weaknesses of reading among learners. The article also approached the orderly relationship between phonological awareness and reading skill, defining the Arabic syllable, syllabic structure and the role of syllabic reading in upgrading the reading abilities of learners, within the framework of flexible dialectical transfer of the data of this prosodic structure. Key words: Phonological Awareness, Reading, Syllable, Syllabical Awareness, Syllabical Reading.

Cognitive model of phonological awareness focusing on errors and formation process through Shiritori

Language acquisition is supported by phonological awareness, which intentionally makes children aware of phonological units. By understanding the internal processes of children during language acquisition, this study aims to elucidate factors that can correct erroneous phonological generation. Therefore, we developed a cognitive model using innate and experiential factors of the memory retrieval in the cognitive architecture–ACT-R. Furthermore, we performed simulations using Shiritori, a Japanese word game, as an interaction task. The simulation included the observation of effects of the experiential factor of repeating a task and innate factors of different settings. It showed that repeating a single task causes incorrect convergence, and this convergence can be prevented by comprehensive activation of overall phonological knowledge during the interval of Shiritori tasks. Moreover, the simulation in specific innate settings exhibited commonalities with cases of developmental disorder by showing errors like consonant deletion. In the future, we will examine the correlation of the aforementioned findings with actual language development to realize the use of cognitive architecture in real world.

Звуковые системы русского и чешского языков в контексте обучения чехов русскому произношению

The article presents an analysis of the phonetic systems of Russian and Czech languages in a linguodidactic context. Three aspects – systemic, system-position and articulatory – were taken into account while describing the similarities and differences of the compared systems. The first aspect assumes the comparison of the repertoire of phonemes including the signs that characterize them, the second - the investigation of the functioning of phonological units, the third – the description of the articulation of vowels. In addition to the differences between the two systems, which determine the phonetic differences in Russian speech of the Czechs, the correspondences that cause the possibilities of using the positive transfer of phonetic features of the mother tongue to the students are also described.

Sound symbolism in Chinese children’s literature

AbstractIconicity is a fundamental property of spoken and signed languages. However, quantitative analysis of sound-meaning association in Chinese has not been extensively developed, and little is known about the impact of sound symbolism in children’s literature. As sound symbolism is supposed to be a universal cognitive phenomenon, this research seeks to investigate whether iconic structures of Mandarin are embodied in native Chinese speakers’ language experience. The paper describes a case study of Chinese storybooks with the goal of testing whether phonosemantic association is prominent between name sounds and character features. A quantitative method was used to investigate the distribution of different phonological units in character denomination depending on their physical and emotional traits. The results show that phonemes and syllable combination patterns are closely related to perceivable character features. By comparing schematic mapping in Chinese with other languages, the study illuminates a cross-linguistic tendency in addition to a Chinese-specific iconic relation between sound and meaning.

Phonological encoding in Vietnamese: An experimental investigation.

In English, Dutch, and other Germanic languages the initial phonological unit used in word production has been shown to be the phoneme; conversely, others have revealed that in Chinese this is the atonal syllable and in Japanese the mora. The current paper is, to our knowledge, the first to report chronometric data on Vietnamese phonological encoding. Vietnamese, a tonal language, is of interest as, despite its Austroasiatic roots, it has clear similarities with Chinese through extended contact over a prolonged period. Four experiments (i.e., masked priming, phonological Stroop, picture naming with written distractors, picture naming with auditory distractors) have been conducted to investigate Vietnamese phonological encoding. Results show that in all four experiments both onset effects as well as whole syllable effects emerge. This indicates that the fundamental phonological encoding unit during Vietnamese language production is the phoneme despite its apparent similarities to Chinese. This result might have emerged due to tone assignment being a qualitatively different process in Vietnamese compared to Chinese.

Phonological Analysis of Isochrony in English Speech

This study aims at illustrating the concept of isochrony ,determination its phonological units , emphasizing the existence and the role of this phenomenon. Isochrony refers to the occurrence of stressed syllables at equal time intervals through an utterance. This term is used to specify the rhythm features. Many experiments have been applied by the specialists to find a vivid clue about the presence of isochrony in production. They found modicum assent about the actuality of its principles. They assure its existence at perceptual level. The term ''perceptual isochrony'' includes a role in two significant psycholinguistic styles ''underlying spoken'' and written word comprehension , which are word segmentation and lexical access .Isochrony cannot be neglected because it forms the standard of rhythmic system of English. Finally, there is a relationship between isochrony and syntax because the reading of ambiguous sentence requires accurate effort and attention to the meaning during the time of reading.

Cartographie fonctionnelle et parametrique de la semantique des unites phraseologiques au sein de l'espace interculturel

The research objective in the proposed work circles around the semantic of the French phraseological units in the light of the functional-parametric description. In particular, it identifies the new motivational characteristics of the national language, as well as the linguistic and cultural commentary of phraseological units and the principles of correlating the semantic basics of different systems and sentences based on figurative sense and locutions in the French language. The study aims to develop a new model of functional cartographic and parametric cartography of the phraseological units in the interlingual and intercultural space and to present a methodology for the development of the phonological unit.

The dimensionality of phonological awareness among Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children: a longitudinal study

Phonological awareness is one of the most important predictors of reading. However, there is still controversy concerning its dimensionality. This study evaluated the dimensionality of phonological awareness among Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children. A total of 212 children performed six phonological awareness tasks in the last year of kindergarten. Of those children, 177 performed the same tasks when they were in the first grade. The phonological awareness measures differed in both their cognitive demand (detection, blending, segmentation, and elision) and the phonological unit involved (rhyme, syllable, and phoneme). Confirmatory factor analyzes were employed to test several models of phonological awareness dimensionality. The results indicated that the best model was an oblique model of phonological units with two correlated latent factors: phonemic awareness and supraphonemic awareness. This model presented the best fit to the data both in kindergarten and in the first grade. In addition, supraphonemic awareness in the kindergarten predicted phoneme awareness in the first grade; however, phonemic awareness in the kindergarten did not predict supraphonemic awareness in the first grade. These results are compatible with phonological awareness developing from larger phonological units (e.g., syllables) to small phonological units (e.g., phonemes) and the reciprocal relationship between phonological awareness and reading. From a theoretical point of view, these results also suggest that phonological awareness is a one-dimensional construct that can be evaluated by tests employing different phonological units (e.g., syllables, rhymes, phonemes).

Second language experience influences salience of phonological units in spoken word production in the first language

Research question: Previous research suggests that the grain size of primary phonological units (PUs) in spoken word production is language-specific (e.g., phonemic segments in Germanic languages, and atonal syllables in Chinese). When the two languages of bilingual speakers have different primary PUs in their native speakers, will first language (L1) phonological processing be influenced by second language (L2) experience? Methodology: In a picture–word interference task, native Chinese speakers who spoke English as L2 were required to say aloud the predesignated L1 name of a picture while ignoring a written L1 character superimposed on the picture. The picture name shared a certain phonological component (i.e., rhyme or atonal syllable) with the distractor in the related condition but not in the unrelated condition. Data and analysis: Data of 186 participants from eight originally independent experiments were pooled. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on subject means to investigate whether the effects of rhyme relatedness and syllable relatedness on L1 naming latency were influenced by L2 self-rated proficiency, age of acquisition (AoA), and/or years of use. Trial-by-trial data were then analyzed with linear mixed-effects modeling. Findings: Both the rhyme effect and the syllable effect increased with years of L2 use, indicating that the salience of PUs in L1 spoken word production can be influenced by L2 experience. Originality: The current study adopted a chronometric approach to investigate the influence of L2 experience on phonological processing during L1 spoken word production. Importantly, multiple aspects of L2 experience (i.e., self-rated proficiency, AoA, and years of use) were examined at the same time in a relatively large sample. Implications: The current findings provide evidence for backward transfer of primary PUs in spoken word production, which demonstrates the plasticity of the phonological encoding process in bilingual speakers. These findings are discussed and compared with cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in the discussion.

Foundations of early literacy among Arabic-speaking pre-school children

AbstractThe present study aimed to shed light on (i) the most accessible phonological unit and (ii) the nature of letter knowledge among native Arabic-speaking preschool children living in Israel. One hundred and sixty-seven children were assessed on phonological awareness with initial and final isolation tasks as well as knowledge of the standard names and sounds of Arabic letters. Children’s responses in these tasks were categorized in accordance with the phonological unit that the child supplied. Regarding phonological unit accessibility, the novel finding of this study was the prevalence of a tri-phonemic /ʔεC/ unit that begins with the prefix /ʔε-/ and ends with the target (consonantal) phoneme which we have termed the “demi-phoneme” (e.g., /ʔεs/ for the consonant /s/). Awareness of the consonant–vowel unit was the next most prevalent unit followed lastly by the “smallest unit” – the phoneme. It appears that the demi-phoneme functions as a psycholinguistic aid to facilitate phoneme perception and pronunciation (as proposed by the 8th-century scholar – Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi) and both phoneme and demi-phoneme responses are underpinned by the same knowledge. With regard to letter knowledge, the standard name for Arabic letters was the preferred response and letter sounds were retrieved as a demi-phoneme unit.

Ikhin Tone and Nasality: Autosegmental Effects

In generative phonology, tone and nasality are described as suprasegmental phonological units. This implies that their survival depends on the segments on which they are grounded. Thus, when a tone bearing unit or nasality bearing unit disappears, any of these segments also disappears. In autosegmental theory, however, tone or nasality survives after the deletion of segment to which it is attached. This phenomenon is termed ‘stability’ which is the foundation for autosegmental phonological theory. Stability is the survival of tone and nasality after the deletion of segments on which they are grounded. Tone and nasality exhibit stability in Ikhin, a North-Central Edoid language spoken in Edo State, South-South, Nigeria. Previous study on Ikhin dwells mainly on the phonetics of the language. This study, therefore, investigates phonological processes such as vowel elision, glide formation and nasalization with a view to determining the stability or otherwise of tone and nasality. This paper confirms that in Ikhin, any process that involves the removal of a tone bearing unit must relate to stability and relate to the creation of contour tones. The study further confirms that nasality remains stable even in the absence of segment to which it is linked. Based on available data, it is argued that the deletion of a Tone Bearing Unit (TBU) or a Nasality Bearing Unit (NBU) does not necessarily involve the deletion of tone or nasality. Infact, it usual does not. The study concludes that tone and nasality are independent segments. They are as independent as consonant and vowel.

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.

Phonological Variations Are Compensated at the Lexical Level: Evidence From Auditory Neural Activity.

Dealing with phonological variations is important for speech processing. This article addresses whether phonological variations introduced by assimilatory processes are compensated for at the pre-lexical or lexical level, and whether the nature of variation and the phonological context influence this process. To this end, Swedish nasal regressive place assimilation was investigated using the mismatch negativity (MMN) component. In nasal regressive assimilation, the coronal nasal assimilates to the place of articulation of a following segment, most clearly with a velar or labial place of articulation, as in utan mej “without me” > [ʉːtam mɛjː]. In a passive auditory oddball paradigm, 15 Swedish speakers were presented with Swedish phrases with attested and unattested phonological variations and contexts for nasal assimilation. Attested variations – a coronal-to-labial change as in utan “without” > [ʉːtam] – were contrasted with unattested variations – a labial-to-coronal change as in utom “except” > ∗[ʉːtɔn] – in appropriate and inappropriate contexts created by mej “me” [mɛjː] and dej “you” [dɛjː]. Given that the MMN amplitude depends on the degree of variation between two stimuli, the MMN responses were expected to indicate to what extent the distance between variants was tolerated by the perceptual system. Since the MMN response reflects not only low-level acoustic processing but also higher-level linguistic processes, the results were predicted to indicate whether listeners process assimilation at the pre-lexical and lexical levels. The results indicated no significant interactions across variations, suggesting that variations in phonological forms do not incur any cost in lexical retrieval; hence such variation is compensated for at the lexical level. However, since the MMN response reached significance only for a labial-to-coronal change in a labial context and for a coronal-to-labial change in a coronal context, the compensation might have been influenced by the nature of variation and the phonological context. It is therefore concluded that while assimilation is compensated for at the lexical level, there is also some influence from pre-lexical processing. The present results reveal not only signal-based perception of phonological units, but also higher-level lexical processing, and are thus able to reconcile the bottom-up and top-down models of speech processing.

Problem długich samogłosek w języku macedońskim

The author of the article considers the possibility of introducing long vowel phonemes into the inventory of Macedonian phonological units. On the basis of the arguments put forward, she rejects this idea.

Issues in Chinese Nepali Sound Translation: An Equivalence Based Dualistic Approach

This paper sheds light on the phonological issues of Chinese-named entities transliterated into Nepali in contrast to the Source language phonology, Hany? P?ny?n (pinyin) and the target language phonology. We compared 500 transliterated nouns, related their pronunciation to source language employing speaker and listener oriented experiment on phonological similarity and found out that the prevailed sound translation approaches are strictly inclined to pinyin, where the preservation of the source language phonological units and their nativization in target language orthography, the priority over phonological equivalence are completely neglected and the prevalent issues like phonological gaps, inconsistencies, mis-syllabification etc. aroused. We purpose phonological based Dualistic Equivalence Approach (hybrid transliteration approach)based on Nepali Chinese bilinguals’ perceptual similarity to address the existing issues mainly where the monotonous sound alignment in between source language, pinyin and target language breaks down.

On the role of the written accent mark in visual word recognition in Spanish

BackgroundPrevious research has shown that syllables are important units in visual word recognition in Spanish. If they are treated as real phonological units, then other related phonological features such as lexical stress (syllable prominence) may also play a role in this process. At times, lexical stress is the only difference between minimal pairs in Spanish (e.g., sábana ‘sheet’ vs sabana ‘savannah’). These words are usually distinguished by an accent mark. This research examines whether lexical stress is used in visual word recognition and the role of the written accent mark in this process.MethodsIn a lexical decision task, words with an irregular stress pattern according to generative phonological rules (e.g., túnel ‘tunnel’ or mitin ‘meeting’) were compared with regular words (e.g., melón ‘melon’ or grifo ‘faucet’).ResultsIrregular words without an accent mark (mitin) were particularly difficult to recognise. However, irregulars that carried an accent mark were identified significantly more quickly and accurately.ConclusionsThese findings are discussed as evidence that lexical stress may be an important cue in visual word recognition in Spanish, as suggested by previous research in the psycholinguistic and educational fields, and that models of visual word recognition should consider the impact of the accent mark in languages such as Spanish.