Short Syllables Research Articles

Anapests and the Tragic Plot

Abstract: Anapests, consisting always of elements of the same length (one long or two short syllables), are conducive to expressing both steady forward motion and the metaphorical motion that drives a plot to its conclusion. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides repeatedly take advantage of this association between anapests and steady motion to underline the driving forces of their plots. They call attention to those driving forces through unusual or unexpected use of anapests early in a play, then repeat the anapests in related passages later.

Word Length in Chinese: The Menzerath-Altmann Law is Valid After All

ABSTRACT According to the Menzerath-Altmann law, longer language constructs consist, on average, of shorter constituents. It is most often studied at the level of words and syllables (the mean syllable length gets shorter with the increasing word length). Its validity at this level was corroborated in several languages. However, it was claimed that Chinese is an exception with respect to the validity of the Menzerath-Altmann law. We show that the law is valid if word types are considered, while the behaviour of word tokens is different. This difference can be explained by the fact that the Zipf law of abbreviation is valid not only for words but also for syllables (shorter syllables are used more frequently).

The Elusive Progress of Prosodical Study: Essays in Honor of Thomas Cable

The Elusive Progress of Prosodical Study: Essays in Honor of Thomas Cable

Lithuanian Syllable: The Hierarchy of Syllable Constituents and Syllable Weight

The article aims to establish the hierarchy of Lithuanian syllable constituents and determine how syllables should be interpreted in terms of syllable weight. The empirical data based on 311 000 syllables show that the variety of consonants in the onset is more significant than in the coda. A vowel and a succeeding approximant form the nucleus of a prosodic syllable, which shows strong coherency between a nucleus and a coda. Therefore, a CVC syllable is interpreted as [syllable Onset [rhyme Nucleus Coda]]. The division of Lithuanian syllables into light and heavy can be based on the realization of pitch accent, and it fully coincides with the traditional classification of long and short syllables in Lithuanian linguistics. Short syllables are light, their nucleus is a short vowel, and the number of consonants in the onset and the coda is unimportant. Such syllables account for almost half of all syllables in the database of this research (45%). Long syllables are heavy, and their nucleus may consist of long vowels (30%), diphthongs (12%), or mixed diphthongs (13%). When stressed, heavy syllables are pronounced in two ways: traditionally known as “acute” and “circumflex”. The stress is not dependent on the syllable weight, as both light (short) and heavy (long) syllables can be stressed. However, it has been observed that heavy (long) syllables are stressed more often than light (short) ones. Heavily stressed syllables constitute 25%, while light stressed syllables comprise 11% of all the syllables in this research database.

High temperatures reduce song production and alter signal salience in songbirds

Global climate change is causing heatwaves to increase in number, length and intensity. These extreme temperatures can reduce fitness when mating behaviours are affected. An important mating behaviour for many organisms is sexual signalling. For example, songbirds, such as the zebra finch, Taeniopyggia guttata, use song to attract mates. Here, we test how an acute period of extreme heat affects song production in male zebra finches. We then ask whether female zebra finches discriminate between songs produced at different temperatures. We find that males significantly reduce song output at temperatures that induce heat dissipation behaviours. We also find that males produce song bouts with shorter syllables when thermally challenged. Furthermore, the relative acoustic and structural consistency of songs changes with temperature. Finally, we find that female zebra finches discriminate between songs produced at different temperatures, and the strength of discrimination is associated with changes in syllable duration. Altogether, we demonstrate that heatwave-like conditions can impact communication via alterations in signaller behaviour and the signal itself. We also discuss the potential compounding effects of reduced song production and other physiological declines on fitness in free-living zebra finches, which increasingly experience these high temperatures.

A Study on Ornamentation and Expression in French vocal Music (1650-1750)

This study aims to understand and learn about the historical performance practice in the 17th century. As an early music singer, I am attracted to the sweet and charming 17th-century French vocal music. In particular, I am interested in the relationship between French ornamentation and expression. This research investigates the background of 17th-century performance practice in France in relation to the ornamentation, the pronunciation of 17th-century French, the different types of ornaments and the expression implied by the ornaments. The performance practice in the 17th century was different from now since it was undergoing a major change from polyphonic to solo music, which emphasised more the text than the music. The knowledge of ornamentation was an expected requirement for all well-trained singers in the 17th century, ornamentation was not merely a decoration, but a tool in emphasizing the importance of the text. Thus, it is necessary to learn ornamentation for a complete 17th-century French vocal performance. Since text was the main element in 17th-century French vocal music, it is important to know the characteristics of French language in this period. The ability to distinguish French long and short syllables was important because ornamentation could only be applied mostly to long syllables. The pronunciation of certain French vowels has undergone a significant alteration, and the ‘old’ way of pronouncing them is included in the study. The research findings also show that some ornaments were meant to be used only in certain expression and they help me to better ‘compose’ French ornamentation in future performances.

Nestling, but not adult male, barn swallows emit short calls in noisy environments

Abstract Some, but not all, animals cope with anthropogenic noise by changing the structure of their acoustic signals, possibly due to two interrelated factors: the design of the acoustic signals and the intrinsic biological state. Here, using the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) that breed solitarily along streets, we studied male enticement calls and nestling food-begging calls in relation to ambient noise. The former calls are structurally quite similar to the latter, perhaps functioning as a sensory trap to exploit female parental care for nestlings. This provides a unique opportunity to study whether intrinsic biological state (i.e. developmental stage, here), virtually independent of acoustic design, matters in acoustic adaptation to anthropogenic noise. We found that the syllable length of nestling food-begging calls, but not of male enticement calls, decreased with increasing local noise levels within populations. The syllable lengths of the father’s enticement calls and those of the nestling’s food-begging calls were positively related, which explains why male enticement calls as well as nestling food-begging calls had shorter syllables in a noisy urban population compared to those in a quiet rural population. The current findings indicate that the intrinsic biological state of two acoustically similar sounds explains their differential relationships with ambient noise.

F0 timing in Luganda: Effects of phrase position and gone category

In Luganda (Bantu, Uganda), there is a contrast between early and late high tone, differing in the timing of the f0 peak relative to the consonant and vowel intervals of the associated syllable. According to the extensive transcription-based literature on the language, this contrast is limited to “long” syllables (those with a long vowel or coda), and to short word-final syllables. In this study, these claims are tested in two production studies. As in other languages, the timing of f0 peaks was found to be sensitive to the duration of the onset-vowel interval in the high-toned syllable, with longer onset-vowel duration associated with a later f0 peak. The late high tones were found to have a significantly greater peak delay than early high tone, but only in long syllables with a long vowel or diphthong. Short syllables had early high tone (shorter peak delay) in sentence-final words, but word position had no effect. The results suggest that the phenomenon that previous studies have described in terms of the distribution of falling tones is better seen as a phonetic effect of phrasal position on f0 peak timing, as has been observed in languages such as English, Spanish, and Serbian.

Differences between queen piping temporal structures of two honeybee species, Apis cerana and Apis mellifera

In swarming season, honeybee queens emit two kinds of queen piping signals: tooting and quacking. These signals are considered to be important for swarming, and honeybees distinguish between the two signals through differences in their temporal structures. In this study, we revealed that the piping signals of two honeybee species, Apis cerana and Apis mellifera, had different temporal structures. The tooting of A. cerana consisted of almost one long syllable, while that of A. mellifera was constructed from several syllables. The quacking of both species comprised around 50 short syllables, but the duration and period of the syllables of A. cerana were about half those of A. mellifera. The findings provide new insights that reveal the mechanisms of signal discrimination and the functions of the signals.

Anceps in Tragedy (1): Lyric Iambics

Abstract:Anceps is not so free that either a long or a short syllable may be used on equal terms. In fact, some strong tendencies are observed in lyric iambics in tragedy. Long syllable is avoided especially at the final anceps in dimeter/trimeter, for instance. Frequencies are statistically calculated each in turn in various combinations of iambic metra, and irregular occurrences are examined in contexts. In contrast to iambics, anceps tends to be long in D/e. Sophocles employs long anceps more frequently than the other two tragedians because his iambics sometimes verge on D/e. In general, long anceps is used in different ways from short. The effect it brought about would not have been felt unless long anceps was delivered differently from short, that is, at the same length as a true long.

Impact of Supra-segmental Features on Reading Comprehension in First and Second Language: A Comparative Study of Iranian EFL learners

Supra-segmental features refer to various forms of intonation and how words and sentences are uttered. Such features challenge meaning and comprehension, too. Despite the importance of these features and their reported association with phonological awareness and linguistic comprehension, their effects on reading comprehension have not been explored. The current work investigated the impact of a remedial program on Persian and English reading comprehension of a group of English language learners (N=30 divided into experimental and control groups). The measurements tested the components of reading comprehension based on the Simple View of Reading (SVR). Additionally, supra-segmental features were assessed by Profiling Elements of Prosody (i.e., supra-segmentals) in Speech-communication (PEPS) in both languages. As a result, English and Persian elision and also Persian listening were affected by teaching supra-segmental features. Assessing the transfer of linguistic skills revealed that Persian listening and knowledge of supra-segmentals, in particular, recognizing short syllables and awareness of stress position in a sentence, contribute to English reading comprehension. It indicates that reading and listening comprehension are affected by similar cognitive processes that may lay in the knowledge of supra-segmentals. The findings also suggest that simpler systems of supra-segmentals are more likely to transfer. Pertinent pedagogical implications were presented, as well.

The Finnic Tetrameter – A Creolization of Poetic Form?

This article presents a new theory on the origins of the common Finnic tetrameter as a poetic form (also called the Kalevala-meter, regilaul meter, etc.). It argues that this verse form emerged as a creolization of the North Germanic alliterative verse form during a period of intensive language contacts, and that the Finnic ethnopoetic ecology made it isosyllabic. Previous theories have focused on the trochaic, tetrametric structure and viewed other features of poetic form as secondary or incidental. This is the first theory to offer a metrically driven explanation for the distinctive features of the poetic form: the systematic placement of lexically stressed short syllables in metrically unstressed positions and systematic yet unmetricalized use of verse-internal alliteration. The emergence of the poetic form may be viewed simply in terms of hybridization, but its formation as a central mode for epic and ritual poetry demands consideration of social factors. Creolization is considered a social process of hybridization at the level of sign systems that is characterized by a salient asymmetrical relation of power, authority or other value in the cultural sign systems being reconfigured from the perspective of the society or groups involved. An argument is presented that North Germanic contacts also produced systematic verse-internal alliteration in Finnic languages. Discussion then turns to the distinction between the origin and spread of the poetic form. The poetic form’s uniformity across Finnic language areas in spite of its ‘foreign’ metrical features along with the range of genres with which it was used are considered indicators of the poetic form’s spread with language, forming an argument that the tetrameter emerged within an environment that also produced Late Proto-Finnic, and then spread with Late Proto-Finnic language and culture through areas where other Finnic language forms were spoken.

The Beauty of the syllabic form in the poetic image - The River of Sorrows poem model: جماليات التشكيل المقطعي في الصورة الشعرية - قصيدة نهر الأحزان لنزار قباني- نموذجاً-

The syllable voice is the cornerstone in phonetics; the verses in poetry are segmented first into segments, and then a distinction is made between short syllables and long syllables, at that point these syllables are categorized according to certain rhythmic bases in larger units called "measures". In the poem under study the poet positions us since the beginning in an atmosphere of hidden semantic meanings throughout the use of open syllables (CV-CVV), and there is no doubt that these syllables have significance to expose sharp emotions hiding inside the self in its conflict with others or with itself, whereas the closed syllable (CVC) portrays the poet’s agitation and the overlapped devotions. The number of the open syllables is as twice as the closed syllables the matter that fits the poem atmosphere and makes the rhythm fast and influential.

Review of Poecilimon species with inflated pronotum: description of four new taxa within an acoustically diverse group.

Poecilimon Fischer (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) consists of about 130 species and a functional taxonomy of the genus requires arranging species into phylogenetic groups. However, this is a task that requires detailed empirical testing. This paper documents data on Poecilimon species with an inflated pronotum. The Poecilimon (Poecilimon) inflatus group is a lineage ranging along a narrow zone in the south-west corner of Anatolia and in Crete plus some other Aegean islands. By producing data of morphology and calling songs of males and responding songs of females the composition and intra-group diversity of P. inflatus group are studied. Both morphology and male calling and female responding songs, exhibited a considerable intra-group diversity. In the light of data obtained the following nomenclatural changes were made. The genus Parapoecilimon Karabağ, 1975 syn. n. is synonymised with Poecilimon Fischer and Parapoecilimon antalyaensis Karabağ, 1975 is given a new combination, Poecilimon antalyaensis (Karabağ, 1975) comb. n. Four new taxa are described in the group: (i) Poecilimon isopterus sp.n.; (ii) Poecilimon inflatus lyciae subsp. n.; (iii) Poecilimon antalyaensis myrae subsp. n., and (iv) Poecilimon antalyaensis anemurium subsp. n. The Poecilimon (P.) inflatus species group consists of the following species: (i) Poecilimon inflatus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891; (ii) Poecilimon martinae Heller, 2004; (iii) Poecilimon cretensis Werner, 1903; (iv) Poecilimon antalyaensis (Karabağ, 1975) comb. n.; (v) Poecilimon bilgeri Karabağ, 1953 and (vi) Poecilimon isopterus sp.n. The species group is defined by a combination of characters including the pronotum inflated in metazona and a male cerci mostly black in their apical 1/2-1/3. The male calling song has typically two types of short syllables and the females respond acoustically with very short latency times. By using combination of morphology and song data we suggest three main lineages in the group: (i) P. bilgeri, (ii) P. antalyaensis and (iii) the other four species.

Trill-calls in Java sparrows: Repetition rate determines the category of acoustically similar calls in different behavioral contexts

Bird vocalizations are often differentiated using terms such as “song” and “call.” The Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) uses several calls in different behavioral situations; notably, they produce similar calls in disparate situations of aggressiveness or affinity. These calls are composed of short syllables with narrow intervals repeated in quick succession. We distinguished these “trill-calls” as either aggressive or affiliative trills based on behavioral context. We compared the sound pressure levels, frequency of maximum amplitude, entropy, and repetition rate of the two types of trills. Sound pressure level and entropy were higher and trill rate was faster in aggressive trills than in affiliative trills. As these two similarly composed but distinct trill-calls are used in disparate interactive contexts, they could serve as a model system to study the relationship between communicative behavior and brain activity.

Paraplangia sinespeculo, a new genus and species of bush-cricket, with notes on its biology and a key to the genera of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) from Madagascar

Madagascar is a well-known hotspot of biodiversity. However, many Orthoptera, and especially the Tettigonioidea, belong to little-studied groups. Here we describe a new genus and species of bush-cricket reared from field-collected eggs.Paraplangiasinespeculogen. nov., sp. nov. belongs to Phaneropterinae and shares diagnostic characteristics with members of the tribe Amblycoryphini and its African subtribe Plangiina stat. nov.Paraplangia, which has a chromosome number of 31 X0, differs from other African members of the tribe and subtribe such asEurycoryphaandPlangia, which both have 29 X0. In addition to morphology, we describe the male calling song, female acoustic response, and mating behavior. As calling song, the male produces two series of short syllables. At the end of the second series the female responds with signals of similar duration and spectral composition as the male sounds (peak about 8-9 kHz). To make future identification easier, a key to all genera of Phaneropterinae found in Madagascar is presented.

Newborn Early-Onset Sepsis Guidelines: The Not So Simple Truth.

> The truth is rarely pure and never simple. > —Oscar Wilde How can we criticize a guideline when the proof of its success is abundant and evidence-based? One truth is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for preventing perinatal Group B Streptococcal (GBS) disease have been exceptionally successful. Since the guidelines were first introduced 2 decades ago and have now been widely implemented, there has been a dramatic decline in the incidence of early-onset GBS disease in newborns.1,2 The cornerstones of the CDC guidelines are prenatal GBS screening and intrapartum maternal antibiotics.3 As the authors of the current CDC guideline state, early-onset GBS disease in newborns is now “relatively uncommon.”1 But there is 1 aspect of the CDC guideline that many frontline newborn clinicians find frustrating. Just say the 3 short syllables “chorio” and our blood pressures rise. Intra-amniotic infection (chorioamnionitis) is diagnosed clinically by obstetric clinicians …

من صور التناسق الصوتی فی العربیة دراسة تطبیقیة على القرآن الکریم

من صور التناسق الصوتی فی العربیة دراسة تطبیقیة على القرآن الکریم

Clustering technology for the analysis and classification of bioacoustic vocalizations

A new technique for clustering and classifying bioacoustics vocalizations from large audio recording data is presented. Over 30,000 terrestrial passive audio and ultrasonic recorders deployed worldwide for the monitoring of birds, frogs and bats generate many petabytes of data annually. Our methods seek to efficiently and automatically detect candidate vocalizations from these massive datasets and sort them into clusters of similar vocalization patterns. Researchers can then quickly survey biodiversity and find species of interest by examining each of the resulting clusters. After clustering, species-specific classifiers can be built by labeling whole clusters or training classifiers after labeling individual detections. Once a classifier is built, it can be used to search new data for species of interest. The algorithms detect vocalizations comprising one or more short syllables. A variable-length observation sequence is extracted comprising spectral features changing through time. A Hidden Markov Model is trained on these sequences and Fisher scores are calculated for each detection. The dot product of two Fisher scores provides a measure of similarity between two vocalizations and forms the basis for clustering. The algorithms are designed to run in parallel on multi-core processors and stream the data to minimize memory requirements.A new technique for clustering and classifying bioacoustics vocalizations from large audio recording data is presented. Over 30,000 terrestrial passive audio and ultrasonic recorders deployed worldwide for the monitoring of birds, frogs and bats generate many petabytes of data annually. Our methods seek to efficiently and automatically detect candidate vocalizations from these massive datasets and sort them into clusters of similar vocalization patterns. Researchers can then quickly survey biodiversity and find species of interest by examining each of the resulting clusters. After clustering, species-specific classifiers can be built by labeling whole clusters or training classifiers after labeling individual detections. Once a classifier is built, it can be used to search new data for species of interest. The algorithms detect vocalizations comprising one or more short syllables. A variable-length observation sequence is extracted comprising spectral features changing through time. A Hidden Markov Model ...

Elision of Oxytones and Non-oxytones in Aeschylus

Abstract Elided oxytones, in which the accent is shifted to the penultimate syllable of the elided word, are very rare in Aeschylus. There are only twenty-four occurrences in the extant plays, and ten of these occurrences have textual issues. Analysis of elisions in Agamemnon shows that nonoytone words with short final syllable are elided more than six times more frequently than oxytones. Neuter plural oxytones are elided more frequently than other oxytone word types. When oxytones are elided emphasis may be given to the elided word. There is no favored location for elision of oxytones in trimeters and no change in frequency of elided oxytones over Aeschylus’ career.