Syllable Boundaries Research Articles

Keep calm and carry on blending: Experimental insights into Romanian lexical blending

Although lexical blending is considered a creative and unpredictable process, the literature shows that it tends to follow certain patterns ( Gries 2012 ; Beliaeva 2019 ), a tendency observed mainly in English. To check whether such generalisations and constraints are the same for Romanian or whether there are language-specific features affecting lexical blending, we created a hybrid-object image-based online experiment asking 110 Romanian native speakers, students at the University of Bucharest who rated themselves as advanced and intermediate users of English, to use only one word to name the hybrids presented to them; as compounding is mainly used in Romanian to name hybrids, we expected it to be more often used. Surprisingly, 68.31% of the elicited Romanian words were lexical blends, likely due to the linguistic profile of our subjects, reinforcing Vasileanu & Niculescu-Gorpin’s (2022) corpus based-analysis that suggests that, due to the global English influence, the process is also active in Romanian. Most of the elicited Romanian lexical blends observe the patterns acknowledged in the literature, e.g. merging the beginning of the first source-word with the end of the second, preserving the phonological contour of a source-word, and source-word clipping at syllable boundaries. Nevertheless, a handful of items revealed morpho-phonological properties that had been previously considered impossible in blends (e.g. interfixes or switch points inside complex syllable constituents), evidence that some constraints, formulated mainly for English, need to be checked against larger datasets and against other languages as lexical blending is a very creative process that seems to transgress possible constraints.

Bidirectional C-to-V coarticulation across syllable and word boundaries

Extensive work has explored the anticipatory or carryover coarticulatory effects of consonants on F2 of adjacent vowels using locus equation. However, studies examining bidirectional effects remain scarce. This study examines how voicing and place of articulation (PoA) of consonants affect bidirectional C-to-V coarticulation across syllable and word boundaries. Recordings of / C;1V;1.C;2V;2/, /C;1V;1#C;2V;2/ and /C;1V;1C;2#V;2t/ sequences from native speakers of Canadian English were analyzed. F0, F1, and F2 were measured at the onset and offset of the target vowels (/i ɑ/) to compare the coarticulatory effects caused by the adjacent consonants with different voicing and PoA (/p b t d g k/). Preliminary results (N = 6) indicate that coarticulatory effects vary based on voicing and PoA of consonants. Voiceless consonants exhibited a greater effect on f0 bidirectionally, but smaller effects on F1 and F2. Regarding PoA, only the effect of F2 in anticipatory contexts was dependent on different PoA. The findings also suggest that bidirectional coarticulatory effects are found across both syllable and word boundaries. Within and across these boundaries, larger anticipatory effects were found on f0, while the carryover effect on F1 was more robust. Concerning F2, differences between coarticulatory effects were only evident in voiceless and velar contexts.

General auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning

Abstract This study examined general auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and the relations with English L2 word learning. Participants were 61 Mandarin-speaking children who learned English as an L2 in Taiwan. They received the following tasks: general auditory processing (i.e., amplitude envelope rise time, pitch contour and interval), Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning (at Time 1 and 2). The results revealed that (1) only amplitude envelope rise time discrimination, independent of years of English learning, predicted English L2 word learning at Time 1, (2) Mandarin L1 phonological awareness, relative to Mandarin L1 prosodic awareness, made more contributions to English L2 word learning after controlling amplitude envelope rise time discrimination, and (3) successful English learners outperformed their unsuccessful peers on Mandarin L1 phonological awareness. Taken together, beginning English learners might use amplitude envelop rise time cuing syllable boundaries and rely on L1 prosodic and phonological awareness for English L2 word learning.

A Contrastive Study of English and Arabic Supra-Segmental Phonemes

This article concentrates on an interesting study of the supra-segmental phonemes of L1 and L2. A stress sign or mark has no phonemic value in Arabic; this is very different from English, which contains three common degrees or levels of word stress, that effect meaning. Stress can also joins word segments, affecting their grammatical structures. The intonation forms of pitch, too, play out differently in the two languages; in English pitch shows the difference between questions, statements, and other types of attitudes and utterance that refer to phonological features. Arab students often have great difficulty with stress placement, unstressed vowels such as ,the schwa /ə/, and syllable boundary. These supra-segmental phonemes differences are the cause of difficulties for beginning learners. In classrooms, it is easy for teachers to follow students’ speech and identify their problem areas. This experimental study followed a sample of 50 female first-year students at Majmaah University in their acquisition of skills in rendering English supra-segmental phonemes. Oral pre- and post-tests were used for data collection, following an interview questions/ and answer formats. While participant spoke, examiners focused on the tested areas and assigned scores according to each participants’ answer. The findings indicate that, FL beginner learners commonly misinterpret supra-segmental phonemes.

Experimental Evidence of Syllabification of /sC/-Clusters at Onset Position by Kashmiri Speakers in Pakistani English

The current study investigates the syllabification of sC-clusters at onset position in Pakistani English by Kashmiri speakers. The main objective of the study was to explore the syllable boundary syllabification of sC-clusters by Kashmiri speakers in Pakistani English context. The study uses real disyllabic and tri-syllabic words with sC-clusters at onset position as stimuli for the data. The participants were asked to produce the stimuli. The Praat analysis was used to study the spectrographic features of sC-clusters at onset position in Pakistani English. The results of the study show that proceeding vowel length, cluster sonority, and edge constraints have significant effects on the syllabification of sC-clusters at onset position in Pakistani English produced by Kashmiri speakers. In addition, data shows that phonological and morphological structure of Kashmiri language (L1) influence s-clustering in Pakistani English. The study also shows that Kashmiri English speakers break the sC-clusters at onset position and generate the process of epenthesis, which is an evidential sign that CC clustering in Pakistani English by Kashmiri speakers is influenced by L1. The study recommends an interlanguage syllabification based on extra-linguistic variables for further in-depth exploration.

Thalamus drives vocal onsets in the zebra finch courtship song.

While motor cortical circuits contain information related to specific movement parameters1, long-range inputs also have a critical role in action execution2,3. Thalamic projections can shape premotor activity2-6 and have been suggested7 to mediate the selection of short, stereotyped actions comprising more complex behaviours8. However, the mechanisms by which thalamus interacts with motor cortical circuits to execute such movement sequences remain unknown. Here we find that thalamic drive engages a specific subpopulation of premotor neurons within the zebra finch song nucleus HVC (proper name) and that these inputs are critical for the progression between vocal motor elements (that is, 'syllables'). In vivo two-photon imaging of thalamic axons in HVC showed robust song-related activity, and online perturbations of thalamic function caused song to be truncated at syllable boundaries. We used thalamic stimulation to identify a sparse set of thalamically driven neurons within HVC, representing ~15% of the premotor neurons within that network. Unexpectedly, this population of putative thalamorecipient neurons is robustly active immediately preceding syllable onset, leading to the possibility that thalamic input can initiate individual song components through selectively targeting these 'starter cells'. Our findings highlight the motor thalamus as a director of cortical dynamics in the context of an ethologically relevant behavioural sequence.

EXPRESS: The role of syllables and morphemes in silent reading: An eye-tracking study.

German skilled readers have been found to engage in morphological and syllable-based processing in visual word recognition. However, the relative reliance on syllables and morphemes in reading multi-syllabic complex words is still unresolved. The present study aimed to unveil which of these sub-lexical units are the preferred units of reading by employing eye-tracking technology. Participants silently read sentences while their eye movements were recorded. Words were visually marked by the use of color alternation (Experiment 1) or hyphenation (Experiment 2), either at syllable boundary (e.g., Kir-schen), at morpheme boundary (e.g., Kirsch-en) or within the units themselves (e.g., Ki-rschen). A control condition without disruptions was used as a baseline (e.g., Kirschen). The results of Experiment 1 showed that eye-movements were not modulated by color alternations. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that hyphens disrupting syllables had a larger inhibitory effect on reading times than hyphens disrupting morphemes, suggesting that eye-movements in German skilled readers are more influenced by syllablic than morphological structure.

Effects of syllable boundaries in Tibetan reading

Interword spaces exist in the texts of many languages that use alphabetic writing systems. In most cases, interword spaces, as a kind of word boundary information, play an important role in the reading process of readers. Tibetan also uses alphabetic writing, its text has no spaces between words as word boundary markers. Instead, there are intersyllable tshegs (“”), which are superscript dots. Interword spaces play an important role in reading as word boundary information. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the role of tshegs and what effect replacing tshegs with spaces will have on Tibetan reading. To answer these questions, Experiment 1 was conducted in which 72 Tibetan undergraduates read three-syllable-boundary conditions (normal, spaced, and untsheged). However, in Experiment 1, because we performed the experimental operations of deleting tshegs and replacing tshegs, the spatial information distribution of Tibetan sentences under different operating conditions was different, which may have a certain potential impact on the experimental results. To rule out the underlying confounding factor, in Experiment 2, 58 undergraduates read sentences for both untsheged and alternating-color conditions. Overall, the global and local analyses revealed that tshegs, spaces, and alternating-color markers as syllable boundaries can help readers segment syllables in Tibetan reading. In Tibetan reading, both spaces and tshegs are effective visual syllable segmentation cues, and spaces are more effective visual syllable segmentation cues than tshegs.

The Historical Dynamics of the Archaistic Lexicon in Modern Balinese Languages

The communication of Balinese people in this era is often marked by the waning of archaistic vocabulary diction, which is believed to have politeness values. Even though it still exists, diction on archaistic elements is only used in a limited realm. The use of archaistic vocabulary diction is felt to give more value, such as respect for elders. Moreover, archaic words give a certain spirit to the Balinese Kepara or common language. This study aims to comparatively describe the archaic vocabulary of Balinese, considering the language is an acculturation of several cultures. In other words, the Balinese is not merely a language of communication, but reflects a polite and educative culture in building the image and identity of the people. Therefore, tracing the archaic lexicon is necessary to describe and accept its usage. Several lexicons were found in Sanskrit, Old Javanese, and Old Balinese and still exist in Modern Balinese. In terms of shape and organization, some of these lexicons are unchanged (linear), while others have changed. The linear lexicon is used massively by Balinese people with their strong Hindu religion. The archaistic lexicon indicates that local wisdom can be maintained to develop Balinese culture. Several lexicons undergo changes in form accompanied by a shift in meaning. However, they are still maintained in the component and the lexicon with contrasting meanings. The shape changes are only phonological, with variations in syllable boundaries.

Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech I. Timing Perturbation

PurposeThis study determined whether adults who stutter (AWS) exhibit deficits in responding to an auditory feedback timing perturbation, and whether external timing cues, which increase fluency, attenuate any disruptions due to altered temporal auditory feedback. MethodsFifteen AWS and sixteen adults who do not stutter (ANS) read aloud a multisyllabic sentence either with normal pacing or with each syllable paced at the rate of a metronome. On random trials, an auditory feedback timing perturbation was applied, and timing responses were compared between groups and pacing conditions. ResultsBoth groups responded to the timing perturbation by delaying subsequent syllable boundaries, and there were no significant differences between groups in either pacing condition. Furthermore, no response differences were found between normally paced and metronome-paced conditions. ConclusionThese findings are interpreted as showing that 1) AWS respond normally to pure timing perturbations, and 2) metronome-paced speech has no effect on online speech timing control as assessed in the present experiment.

The interaction of focus and phrasing with downstep and post-low-bouncing in Mandarin Chinese.

L(ow) tone in Mandarin Chinese causes both downstep and post-low-bouncing. Downstep refers to the lowering of a H(igh) tone after a L tone, which is usually measured by comparing the H tones in a “H…HLH…H” sentence with a “H…HHH…H” sentence (cross-comparison), investigating whether downstep sets a new pitch register for the scaling of subsequent tones. Post-low-bouncing refers to the raising of a H tone after a focused L tone. The current study investigates how downstep and post-low-bouncing interact with focus and phrasing in Mandarin Chinese. In the experiment, we systematically manipulated (a) the tonal environment by embedding two syllables with either LH or HH tone (syllable X and Y) sentence-medially in the same carrier sentences containing only H tones; (b) boundary strength between X and Y by introducing either a syllable boundary or a phonological phrase boundary; and (c) information structure by either placing a contrastive focus in the HL/HH word (XF), syllable Y (YF), or the sentence-final word (ZF). A wide-focus condition served as the baseline. With systematic control of focus and boundary strength around the L tone, the current study shows that the downstep effect in Mandarin is quite robust, lasting for 3–5 H tones after the L tone, but eventually levelling back again to the register reference line of a H tone. The way how focus and phrasing interact with the downstep effect is unexpected. Firstly, sentence-final focus has no anticipatory effect on shortening the downstep effect; instead, it makes the downstep effect lasts longer as compared to the wide focus condition. Secondly, the downstep effect still shows when the H tone after the L tone is on-focus (YF), in a weaker manner than the wide focus condition, and is overridden by the post-focus-compression. Thirdly, the downstep effect gets greater when the boundary after the L tone is stronger, because the L tone is longer and more likely to be creaky. We further analyzed downstep by measuring the F0 drop between the two H tones surrounding the L tone (sequential-comparison). Comparing it with F0 drop in all-H sentences (i.e., declination), it showed that the downstep effect was much greater and more robust than declination. However, creaky voice in the L tone was not the direct cause of downstep. At last, when the L tone was under focus (XF), it caused a post-low-bouncing effect, which is weakened by a phonological phrase boundary. Altogether, the results showed that although intonation is largely controlled by informative functions, the physical-articulatory controls are relatively persistent, varying within the pitch range of 2.5 semitones. Downstep and post-low-bouncing in Mandarin Chinese thus seem to be mainly due to physical-articulatory movement on varying pitch, with the gradual tonal F0 change meeting the requirement of smooth transition across syllables, and avoiding confusion in informative F0 control.

An Aspect of Sinhala Assimilation

This paper deals with the assimilations in Sinhala. Syllable contact, which prohibits a rising sonority across the syllable boundary, plays a critical role in assimilation. If a medial cluster shows a falling sonority, assimilation does not apply. When a medial cluster has either a rising or an equal sonority, leftward assimilation arises, resulting in geminates. If, however, a sequence consists of a consonant and a glide, perseverative assimilation occurs instead. It implies the prominence of the onset position can disappear if the onset segment is a weak glide. Another progressive assimilation occurs in the data in which several phonological processes apply before progressive assimilation. The application of phonological processes creates a segment sequence that calls for progressive assimilation. Assimilation types in Sinhala reveal that a simple input-to-output mapping of the classic OT cannot provide a proper analysis. To explain them, we use a theoretical framework, Harmonic Serialism (HS), which can incorporate both rule-based and constraint-based components. We propose one constraint ranking, which can account for non-assimilating and assimilating data in Sinhala.

Validating Automatic Diadochokinesis Analysis Methods Across Dysarthria Severity and Syllable Task in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Oral diadochokinesis (DDK) is a standard dysarthria assessment task. To extract automatic and semi-automatic DDK measurements, numerous DDK analysis algorithms based on acoustic signal processing are available, including amplitude based, spectral based, and hybrid. However, these algorithms have been predominantly validated in individuals with no perceptible to mild dysarthria. The behavior of these algorithms across dysarthria severity is largely unknown. Likewise, these algorithms have not been tested equally for various syllable types. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of five common DDK algorithms as a function of dysarthria severity, considering syllable types. We analyzed 282 DDK recordings of /ba/, /pa/, and /ta/ from 145 participants with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Recordings were stratified into mild, moderate, or severe dysarthria groups based on individual performance on the Speech Intelligibility Test. Analysis included manual and automatic estimation of the number of syllables, DDK rate, and cycle-to-cycle temporal variability (cTV). Validation metrics included Bland-Altman mixed-effects limits of agreement between manual and automatic syllable counts, recall and precision between manual and automatic syllable boundary detection, and Kendall's tau-b correlations between manual and algorithm-detected DDK rate and cTV. The amplitude-based algorithm (absolute energy) yielded the strongest correlations with manual analysis across all severity groups for DDK rate (τ b = 0.7-0.84) and cTV (τ b = 0.7-0.84) and the narrowest limits of agreement (-5.92 to 7.12 syllable difference). Moreover, this algorithm also provided the highest mean recall and precision across severity groups for /ba/ and /pa/, but with significantly more variation for/ta/. Algorithms based on signal energy analysis appeared to be the most robust for DDK analysis across dysarthria severity and syllable types; however, it remains prone to error against severe dysarthria and alveolar syllable context. Further development is needed to address this important issue.

Sleep replay reveals premotor circuit structure for a skilled behavior

Neural circuits often exhibit sequences of activity, but the contribution of local networks to their generation remains unclear. In the zebra finch, song-related premotor sequences within HVC may result from some combination of local connectivity and long-range thalamic inputs from nucleus uvaeformis (Uva). Because lesions to either structure abolish song, we examine "sleep replay" using high-density recording methods to reconstruct precise song-related events. Replay activity persists after the upstream nucleus interfacialis of the nidopallium is lesioned and slows when HVC is cooled, demonstrating that HVC provides temporal structure for these events. To further gauge the importance of intra-HVC connectivity for shaping network dynamics, we lesion Uva during sleep and find that residual replay sequences could span syllable boundaries, supporting a model in which HVC can propagate sequences throughout the duration of the song. Our results highlight the power of studying offline activity to investigate behaviorally relevant circuit organization.

음절 빈도 효과의 첫 단계, 한글 음절 처리기가 존재하는가?

The syllable parser is basically assumed in order to explain the syllable frequency effect. One of several roles of the syllable parser is to divide syllables from a multi-syllabic word and transform orthographic representation into phonological representation. Thus, this is necessary in languages with a linear alphabetical writing system because syllable boundaries are unclear. However, the letters of Hangul are packed into syllable blocks, and this provides a visual boundary cue between syllables. Therefore, although it is not necessary to assume the syllable parser in Korean, the syllable frequency effect has been observed repeatedly in Korean. In order to find the syllable parser in Korean, the present study tested whether or not the syllable frequency effect is modulated by increasing intervals between the first and second syllable presentation via three lexical decision tasks.

Non- Prototypical Reduplication in Odia

The paper discusses in detail echo formations and expressives found in the Odia language and the strategies for forming them. The complex semantic structure as well as the wide semantic and conceptual space they occupy, make them complex categories that have been ignored both by Western and Asian linguists because they are a prototypical grammatical feature not fitting the traditional grammar writing (Abbi, 2018). Odia has morphological fixed segmentism with the variants /ph/ and /m/. Morphological fixed segmentism is a kind of affixation, and so it resembles affixing morphology generally. [ɡaɽɪ > ɡaɽɪ phaɽɪ ‘car and other transport’ ; ʧɪra > ʧɪra mɪra ‘ torn and such’ ] This paper endeavours to find the reason behind this particular choice of phonemes by Odia speakers. Furthermore, the paper investigates if Odia base-reduplicant structures follow the Syllable Contact Law (Vennemann, 1988). According to the Syllable Contact Law, sonority should fall across syllable boundaries. This paper proves that Odia base-reduplicant structures follow the Syllable Contact Law as rise in sonority across syllable boundaries is a marked feature in Odia.’

Nasal allophony and nasalization in Xochistlahuaca Amuzgo

This paper proposes an account of nasalization phenomena in Xochistlahuaca Amuzgo (XA), a variety of Guerrero Amuzgo, using insight from the phonology-morphology interface within the context of constraints due to monosyllabic lexical roots. Previous assumptions are clarified to show that while nasal consonants and vowels exist phonemically, complex nasal-stop segments do not; and nasalization remains limited to root morphology and a set of inflectional markers and does not occur across syllable boundaries, in contrast with Mixtecan languages. These insights are illustrated by the third-person singular human enclitic (3SGHUM), a nasal autosegment. Alternations triggered by 3SGHUM show that complex nasal-stop segments are shown to be allophones of simple nasals that are post-oralized before an oral vowel to protect and enhance nasal-oral contrast in vowels, an example of the phenomenon known as shielding. A reduplicative allophone of 3SGHUM further displays nasalization that appears exceptional when compared with other nasalization phenomena in plural and pronominal inflection, as well as derivation. These challenges are met from a strict CVCV approach, enabled by the assumption that the Proto-Amuzgo-Mixtecan *CVCV lexical root survives today in XA as CCVV(ʔ), the maximal lexical root. The monosyllabic economy that sets XA apart from its sister languages influences strategies that block against morphophonological change triggered by inflection, or that enhance contrast against loss of identity. Enhancing strategies like shielding then bring XA into a typological relationship with unrelated languages (Jê, Tupí-Guarani, among others).

Differential contributions of synaptic and intrinsic inhibitory currents to speech segmentation via flexible phase-locking in neural oscillators.

Current hypotheses suggest that speech segmentation-the initial division and grouping of the speech stream into candidate phrases, syllables, and phonemes for further linguistic processing-is executed by a hierarchy of oscillators in auditory cortex. Theta (∼3-12 Hz) rhythms play a key role by phase-locking to recurring acoustic features marking syllable boundaries. Reliable synchronization to quasi-rhythmic inputs, whose variable frequency can dip below cortical theta frequencies (down to ∼1 Hz), requires "flexible" theta oscillators whose underlying neuronal mechanisms remain unknown. Using biophysical computational models, we found that the flexibility of phase-locking in neural oscillators depended on the types of hyperpolarizing currents that paced them. Simulated cortical theta oscillators flexibly phase-locked to slow inputs when these inputs caused both (i) spiking and (ii) the subsequent buildup of outward current sufficient to delay further spiking until the next input. The greatest flexibility in phase-locking arose from a synergistic interaction between intrinsic currents that was not replicated by synaptic currents at similar timescales. Flexibility in phase-locking enabled improved entrainment to speech input, optimal at mid-vocalic channels, which in turn supported syllabic-timescale segmentation through identification of vocalic nuclei. Our results suggest that synaptic and intrinsic inhibition contribute to frequency-restricted and -flexible phase-locking in neural oscillators, respectively. Their differential deployment may enable neural oscillators to play diverse roles, from reliable internal clocking to adaptive segmentation of quasi-regular sensory inputs like speech.

Ein korpuslinguistischer Beitrag zu Herkunft und Entwicklung des negativen Indefinitumskein

AbstractThis article discusses the origin and historical development of the German n-indefinitekein, which is an unusual negator because it does not share the initialnthat marks virtually all other negatives in German. Despite the discussion about its origins going back to the nineteenth century, it is still unclear howkeinfirst emerged and out of which other forms it developed. In this paper, new light is shed on an old controversy using new data and modern corpus-linguistic tools, in this case theReferenzkorpus Mittelhochdeutsch(ReM). The article first summarises the current state of research before presenting and analysing the data. In combination with additional evidence, the results show that certain hypotheses that have to this day been treated as accurate are in fact not viable. Subsequently, a solution that combines some of the existing theses and is compatible with the data is presented: Morphological reanalysis and the ensuing back-formation ofkein’s predecessornehein – in combination with a phonologically conditioned sound substitution triggered by a shift of the syllable boundary – in the context of negative concord seems the most likely candidate for an accurate explanation of the emergence and early usage patterns ofkeinin Middle High German. Incongruent evidence from Swiss German, however, suggests that partially convergent developments ensuing from different indefinite forms have taken place in that variety.

Adjacent Consonants and the Universality of Sonority Sequencing Principle in Dotyali Dialects: Syllable Contact Analysis

This paper presents on all the possible adjacent consonant letters in Dotyali, one of the descendant language of Sanskrit, mainly spoken in Shudoor Paschim Nepal [sʊdʊrə-pəssɪmə] (Far-western) and compares the results of their phonological changes in seven local contemporary speech (dialects)：Doteli，Dadeldhuri，Bajhangi，Achhami，Baitadeli，Darchuli and Bajureli. Based on the corpus data from the field survey conducted in between July-September 2017 on a list of 1000 frequently used Dotyali words, this paper comes with a conclusion that even the onset clusters with rising sonority profile (except glides) are broken up by vowel epenthesis or simplify the clusters by deletion. It is revealed that dialects, except from the Achhami and Bajureli, the consonants with different degree of sonority across the syllable boundary tend to be changed due to syllable contact to meet Sonority hierchy, but the sonority distance between two consonants (coda and onset consonants) varies, therefore phonological changes like assimilation, dissimilation, desonorization, contact anaptyxis, contact methasis etc. goes differently. The phonological changes in Bajureli occurs maily due to other separate independent constraints.