Phonotactic Constraints Research Articles

Syllabification, Tone Marking, and Minimality in Eleme

This paper discussed syllabification in Eleme. It accounted for the distribution of glides and phonotactic constraints on intrasyllabic segmental sequences via sonority hierarchy. Two types of extraprosodicity in Eleme – word-final /i/s and word-initial were also discussed. The paper also presented the analysis of foot construction and tone marking, adopting the framework of Halle and Vergnaud (1987). It argued for a minimal word constraint in Eleme, which states that the smallest allowable phonological word in Eleme is a maximal (i.e. binary) foot. This constraint is crucial to understanding why vowel-initial words with only a single well-formed syllable violate the tone rule and why sequences of equally sonorant vowels are allowed only in bivocalic words. Finally, the paper summarized the results of this study and their significance for linguistic theory and Ogonoid studies. The twofold objective of this paper is therefore to describe tone and syllabification in Eleme and their interaction with prosodic minimality, underscoring the implications of these phenomena for multilinear theories of phonology.

The roles of long-term phonotactic and lexical prosodic knowledge in phonological short-term memory.

Many previous studies have explored and confirmed the influence of long-term phonological representations on phonological short-term memory. In most investigations, phonological effects have been explored with respect to phonotactic constraints or frequency. If interaction between long-term memory and phonological short-term memory is a generalized principle, then other phonological characteristics-that is, suprasegmental aspects of phonology-should also exert similar effects on phonological short-term memory. We explored this hypothesis through three immediate serial-recall experiments that manipulated Japanese nonwords with respect to lexical prosody (pitch-accent type, reflecting suprasegmental characteristics) as well as phonotactic frequency (reflecting segmental characteristics). The results showed that phonotactic frequency affected the retention not only of the phonemic sequences, but also of pitch-accent patterns, when participants were instructed to recall both the phoneme sequence and accent pattern of nonwords. In addition, accent pattern typicality influenced the retention of the accent pattern: Typical accent patterns were recalled more accurately than atypical ones. These results indicate that both long-term phonotactic and lexical prosodic knowledge contribute to phonological short-term memory performance.

An onset is an onset: Evidence from abstraction of newly-learned phonotactic constraints.

Phonotactic constraints are language-specific patterns in the sequencing of speech sounds. Are these constraints represented at the syllable level (ng cannot begin syllables in English) or at the word level (ng cannot begin words)? In a continuous recognition-memory task, participants more often falsely recognized novel test items that followed than violated the training constraints, whether training and test items matched in word structure (one or two syllables) or position of restricted consonants (word-edge or word-medial position). E.g., learning that ps are onsets and fs codas, participants generalized from pef (one syllable) to putvif (two syllables), and from putvif (word-edge positions) to bufpak (word-medial positions). These results suggest that newly-learned phonotactic constraints are represented at the syllable level. The syllable is a representational unit available and spontaneously used when learning speech-sound constraints. In the current experiments, an onset is an onset and a coda a coda, regardless of word structure or word position.

Theoretical and empirical approaches to phonotactics and morphonotactics

Phonotactics deals with constraints shaping the form of speech. Constraints may either be universal or language-specific; they may be grounded on properties of the articulatory content or on auditory salience. By organizing the form of speech and enhancing perception, phonotactic constraints simplify language acquisition and storage. Therefore they play a fundamental role in cognition, both in children's acquisition and adult processing. This volume brings together some of the most relevant European projects currently dealing with phonotactics from an empirical perspective. Some of the papers deal in particular with morphonotactics, i.e. the area of intersection between phonotactics and morphotactics. In those contributions, evidence is provided supporting the hypothesis that a given sound sequence is processed differently when it occurs across a morpheme boundary, compared with the morpheme internal position. This volume is of particular importance for functionalist and naturalist approaches to phonological complexity. Universal preferences of sound organization and language-specific constraints on phoneme and morpheme concatenation are investigated in English, German, Dutch, Italian and Polish.

Evaluating models of phonotactic constraints on the basis of sC cluster acquisition data

This paper aims to test the model of phonotactics called NAD (Net Auditory Distance) with the acquisition data to see whether it makes better predictions than sonority-based models. NAD assumes that the phonotactic preferability of a cluster depends on perceptual distance between particular sounds in this cluster. The index of perceptual distance within NAD is based on phonetic features: manner of articulation (MOA), place of articulation (POA) and voicing. To test the predictions of our model we used data gathered from 50 Polish kindergarten children, who produced for us six initial double clusters: /st/, /sp/, /sk/, /sx/, /sm/ and /sw/. This sC set ensured that clusters were similar, yet differing on NAD scales. To check for the preferences, we calculated the number of cluster reductions applied for each cluster group. In accordance with the newest version of NAD principle, we predicted that the /st/ would be the most dispreferred (reduced) cluster, followed by /sp/, /sk/ and /sx/, /sm/ and finally /sw/. The results only partially confirmed this hypothesis. For the /sx/, /sm/ and /sw/ clusters, our prediction turned out to be accurate, but the theory did not predict correctly the results for the s+stop clusters. In fact, the results pointed out to /st/ (the most dispreferred cluster according to NAD), as the most preferred sequence. Overall, our results point to a special status of the s+stop clusters among all the other sound sequences. The ambiguous nature of these clusters (they are dispreferred in many phonological theories but relatively salient acoustically) may render them more vulnerable to frequency effects. This would explain the preference for /st/, which is the third most frequent initial double cluster in Polish. Our study thus shows that in ambiguous cases language-specific idiosyncrasies can override the universal tendencies in language acquisition.

Phonotactic constraints and sub-syllabic structure: A difficult relationship

Of late, a controversy has arisen over the internal structure of Korean syllables. While there is general agreement that non-phonotactic criteria argue for left-branching, Lee & Goldrick's (2008) left-branching phonotactic analysis is contradicted by Berg & Koops's (2010) claim as to a phonotactically symmetrical syllable structure. A comparison of the methodologies of the two studies, a revisit of the previous data and a new analysis cement the conclusion that there is neither a left-branching nor a right-branching phonotactic effect in Korean syllables. An investigation of the phonotactic structure of Finnish CVC syllables, which exhibit a psycholinguistic left-branching bias much like Korean, reveals that word-initial syllables possess a largely symmetrical organization whereas word-final syllables tend to show a right-branching slant. This curious set of results is consistent with the following three hypotheses: (i) The phonotactic criterion has an inherent VC bias. (ii) Symmetrical syllable structures represent a compromise between left- and right-branching effects. (iii) The strength of phonotactic constraints increases from earlier to later portions of words. The bottom line of this analysis is that, contra all previous claims, phonotactic constraints cannot be used as an argument for sub-syllabic constituency. We discuss the proposal that the basis of the left-branching bias in Korean syllables is instead to be found in the high degree of coarticulation between the onset consonant and the following vowel.

A Comparative Study of Methods of Quantifying Non-categorical Phonotactic Constraints: Focusing on the Chahar Dialect

A Comparative Study of Methods of Quantifying Non-categorical Phonotactic Constraints: Focusing on the Chahar Dialect

In some Languages, /s/ is a Vowel

<p>In clusters, /s/ fails to respect the phonotactic constraints of other obstruents; for example, /s/+stop, the optimal sC cluster, does not involve rising sonority. In research that adopts an articulated view of the syllable, the behaviour of /s/ has been captured through assigning it some special status, for example, as an appendix in sC clusters. No proposal along these lines contests the position that /s/ is an obstruent. However, what makes /s/ different from other obstruents is that, like a vowel, it has robust internal cues for place and manner, which ensures its perceptibility, even when adjacent to stops. This paper examines /s/ in Blackfoot (Algonquian), which goes well beyond the appendix-like behaviour this segment shows in other languages. We propose that this is because Blackfoot /s/ <em>is</em> a vowel: it can be underlyingly non-moraic (akin to a glide), monomoraic or bimoraic. Depending on its position in the string, moraic /s/ will surface as a syllable head and/or coda, sometimes with links to preceding or following onsets as well. None of this, we argue, has to be stipulated: combined with ordinary constraints on syllabification (place, sonority and hiatus), the segmental context in which /s/ occurs determines its realization.</p>

Practice and retention of nonwords in adults who stutter

PurposeWe investigated short-term practice and retention of nonwords in 10 adults who stutter (Mean age=30.7 years, SD=15.1) and age and sex-matched 10 control participants (Mean age=30.8 years, SD=14.9). MethodsParticipants were required to repeat nonwords varying in length (3, 4, and 6 syllables), phonotactic constraint (PC vs. NPC, on 3-syllable nonwords only), and complexity (simple, complex). They were tested twice with 1h gap between sessions. ResultsLogistic mixed model of speech accuracy revealed that the AWS showed a significantly lower probability of correct responses with increasing length and complexity. Analysis of speech kinematics revealed practice effects within Session 1 in AWS seen as a reduction in movement variability for the 3-syllable nonwords; the control group was performing at ceiling at this length. For the 4-syllable nonwords, the control group showed a significant reduction in movement variability with practice, and retained this reduction in Session 2, while the AWS group did not show practice or retention. Group differences were not evident at the 6-syllable level. ConclusionsGroup differences in speech accuracy suggest differences in phonemic encoding and/or speech motor processes. Group differences in changes in movement variability within and between sessions suggest reduced practice and retention in AWS. Relevance of the combined use of both behavioral and kinematic measures to interpret the nature of the skill acquisition deficit in persons who stutter is discussed.Educational objectives: At the end of this activity the reader will be able to: (a) summarize the process of skill acquisition; (b) discuss the literature on skill acquisition deficits in adults who stutter, (c) summarize the differences between AWS and control participants in speech accuracy and speech kinematics with short-term practice and retention of nonwords, (d) discuss potential research directions in the area of skill acquisition in AWS.

The perceptual assimilation of Korean obstruents by native Mandarin listeners

The current study reports the results of a perception experiment in which 20 naive native Mandarin listeners classified and rated the goodness of Korean stops /p, t, k, p(h), t(h), k(h), p*, t*, k*/, affricates /tɕ, tɕ*, tɕ(h)/, and fricatives /s(h), s*/ in terms of Mandarin segmental categories. It was found that listeners were sensitive to the voice onset time dimension of Korean stops and the presence of aspiration in Korean affricates, but Korean lenis and aspirated obstruents were generally assimilated to a single Mandarin category because the f0 cue differentiating them is not relevant to any Mandarin segmental contrast. The affricates were perceived as alveolopalatal and postalveolar more often than alveolar. The perception of fricatives was strongly influenced by vowel context, as the two fricatives were often perceived as different categories before /a/, but as the same category more often before /i/ and /u/. The results for the affricates and fricatives may be partly explained by Mandarin phonotactic constraints that prohibit alveolar and postalveolar consonants before /i/ and alveolopalatal consonants before /a/ or /u/.

Rules from Words: A Dynamic Neural Basis for a Lawful Linguistic Process

Listeners show a reliable bias towards interpreting speech sounds in a way that conforms to linguistic restrictions (phonotactic constraints) on the permissible patterning of speech sounds in a language. This perceptual bias may enforce and strengthen the systematicity that is the hallmark of phonological representation. Using Granger causality analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)- constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) data, we tested the differential predictions of rule-based, frequency–based, and top-down lexical influence-driven explanations of processes that produce phonotactic biases in phoneme categorization. Consistent with the top-down lexical influence account, brain regions associated with the representation of words had a stronger influence on acoustic-phonetic regions in trials that led to the identification of phonotactically legal (versus illegal) word-initial consonant clusters. Regions associated with the application of linguistic rules had no such effect. Similarly, high frequency phoneme clusters failed to produce stronger feedforward influences by acoustic-phonetic regions on areas associated with higher linguistic representation. These results suggest that top-down lexical influences contribute to the systematicity of phonological representation.

Hiatus resolution in Nambya: An Optimality Theory analysis

Vowel hiatus is prohibited in many languages. When the nominal morphology of Nambya causes vowel sequences to arise, hiatus may be resolved in one of the three ways: (i) one of the vowels may be deleted; (ii) one of the vowels may be changed into a glide; and (iii) one of the vowels may be parsed nonmoraically as a secondary articulation on the preceding consonant. This article examines these vowel hiatus resolution strategies, using Optimality Theory. Glide formation is the default strategy and when blocked by a syllable structure constraint, secondary articulation operates. In turn, when secondary articulation is blocked by phonotactic and OCP-driven constraints, elision occurs. In Nambya, the quality of the first vowel, and whether it is preceded by a consonant or not, as well as the type of the consonant preceding it determine which strategy between glide formation, secondary articulation and vowel elision repairs the vowel hiatus.

Investigating the retention and time course of phonotactic constraint learning from production experience.

Adults can rapidly learn artificial phonotactic constraints such as /f/ occurs only at the beginning of syllables by producing syllables that contain those constraints. This implicit learning is then reflected in their speech errors. However, second-order constraints in which the placement of a phoneme depends on another characteristic of the syllable (e.g., if the vowel is /æ/, /f/ occurs at the beginning of syllables and /s/ occurs at the end of syllables, but if the vowel is /I/, the reverse is true) require a longer learning period. Two experiments investigated the transience of second-order learning and whether consolidation plays a role in learning phonological dependencies, with speech errors used as a measure of learning. Experiment 1 tested the durability of learning and found that learning was still present in speech errors a week later. Experiment 2 looked at whether more time in the form of a consolidation period or more experience in the form of more trials was necessary for learning to be revealed in speech errors. Both consolidation and more trials led to learning; however, consolidation provided a more substantial benefit.

(Un)articulated definiteness. Nominal determination in Sorbian: Moving from an articleless language to a language with articles?

Abstract Slavonic languages in general do not use articles to indicate (in)definiteness. The development of an article in some of them is the result of language contact. In the case of Sorbian the influence of German led to the use of the demonstrative pronoun ‘this’ and the numeral ‘one’ to indicate definiteness and indefiniteness, respectively. Originally the German system was copied almost without changes, but eventually specific rules developed, subject to phonotactic constraints and restricting the use of the article mainly to intratextual and pragmatic definiteness. The use of the article depended on the kind of text and language (spoken language, Bible translation and original texts, translations from German). Grammatical purism managed to eliminate the use of the article in today’s written variants as well as in most official uses of spoken Sorbian almost completely. In colloquial language and in the dialects, however, the article is very much alive but its use differs considerably from German. There are also differences between Upper and Lower Sorbian, the latter being closer to German usage.

Language adaptation and learning: Getting explicit about implicit learning

AbstractLinguistic adaptation is a phenomenon where language representations change in response to linguistic input. Adaptation can occur on multiple linguistic levels such as phonology (tuning of phonotactic constraints), words (repetition priming), and syntax (structural priming). The persistent nature of these adaptations suggests that they may be a form of implicit learning and connectionist models have been developed which instantiate this hypothesis. Research on implicit learning, however, has also produced evidence that explicit chunk knowledge is involved in the performance of these tasks. In this review, we examine how these interacting implicit and explicit processes may change our understanding of language learning and processing.

Manlleus en cantonès: conflicte entre condicions de fidelitat en rimes VC

This paper focuses on the ways in which English loanwords are brought into line with four phonotactic constraints that restrict the possible combinations of nuclear vowels and coda consonants in Cantonese Chinese. It is found that three of the four constraints are strictly enforced in loans. Repairs change either the vowel or the coda consonant. Parallel to Mandarin, changes in vowel height features ([high], [ATR]) as opposed to changes in vowel backness are employed. Coda consonant changes obey a dorsal > coronal > labial faithfulness hierarchy that mirrors the typology of coda mergers discovered by Chen (1973) for many Chinese dialects. While changes in both the vowel and coda consonant occur, on-line adaptations favor changing the coda and preserving the vowel and suggest that the relative phonetic salience of the nuclear vowel to the coda consonant still plays a role in these adaptations.

PHOM : une base de données de 14 000 pseudo-homophones

Les pseudo-homophones (c’est-à-dire, suite de lettres qui se prononcent comme un mot réel, comme « siel » à partir de « ciel ») jouent un rôle important dans les expériences psycholinguistiques, soit parce qu’ils sont utilisés dans l’exécution de tâches de décision lexicale, ou qu’ils deviennent le principal objet d’étude, comme dans la lecture de non-mots. Nous présentons une base de données, PHOM, de plus de 14 000 pseudo-homophones du français. Nous décrivons également un générateur qui améliore les méthodes habituelles de construction. Il permet la fabrication de pseudo-homophones qui respectent les contraintes phonotactiques du français. La base de données est librement disponible sur le site web : http://sites.google.com/site/ludovicferrand/Home/data.

Grammars leak: Modeling how phonotactic generalizations interact within the grammar

I present evidence from Navajo and English that weaker, gradient versions of morpheme-internal phonotactic constraints, such as the ban on geminate consonants in English, hold even across prosodic word boundaries. I argue that these lexical biases are the result of a maximum entropy phonotactic learning algorithm that maximizes the probability of the learning data, but that also contains a smoothing term that penalizes complex grammars. When this learner attempts to construct a grammar in which some constraints are blind to morphological structure, it underpredicts the frequency of compounds that violate a morpheme-internal phonotactic. I further show how, over time, this learning bias could plausibly lead to the lexical biases seen in Navajo and English.

Representations for Phonotactic Learning in Infancy

Infants rapidly learn novel phonotactic constraints from brief listening experience. Four experiments explored the nature of the representations underlying this learning. 16.5- and 10.5-month-old infants heard training syllables in which particular consonants were restricted to particular syllable positions (first-order constraints) or to syllable positions depending on the identity of the adjacent vowel (second-order constraints). Later, in a headturn listening-preference task, infants were presented with new syllables that either followed the experimental constraints or violated them. Infants at both ages learned first- and second-order constraints on consonant position (Experiments 1 and 2) but found second-order constraints more difficult to learn (Experiment 2). Infants also spontaneously generalized first-order constraints to syllables containing a new, transfer vowel; they did so whether the transfer vowel was similar to the familiarization vowels (Experiment 3), or dissimilar from them (Experiment 4). These findings suggest that infants recruit representations of individuated segments during phonological learning. Furthermore, like adults, they represent phonological sequences in a flexible manner that allows them to detect patterns at multiple levels of phonological analysis.

The Perceptual Interaction between Schwa Deletion and English Phonotactic Constraints

This study explored the perceptual interaction between schwa deletion and English phonotactic constraints by conducting syllable-count experiments on native English and Korean and Japanese learners of English, using English nonce word stimuli. The results of both response accuracy and latency showed that English were abel to discriminate between legal and illegal onset clusters in English resulting from schwa deletion, regardless of the number of the syllables of the stimuli. However, Korean and Japanese learners of English were not sensitive to English phonotactic constraints on legal vs. illegal onset sequences created by schwa deletion. Similarly, English speakers perception of illegal onsets resulting from schwa deletion conformed to the predictions of the sonority-based onset markedness in that their perception of onsets of sonority rises was more accurate and faster than sonority levels and falls in order. On the contrary, Korean and Japanese learners of English displayed a partial sensitivity to the onset-markedness, as the mean accuracy of sonority plateaus was higher than that of sonority rises and as the number of the syllables of the stimulus items also affected the general results. Overall, the results indicate that English phonotactic restrictions as well as the sonority-driven onset-markedness play a role in the perception of onset sequences resulting from schwa deletion. The implications of the results for speech perception, markedness, and lexical representation were further discussed.