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Effects Of Orthographic Silent ‘L’ On Preceding Vowel Duration, Sylvia Cohen
Effects Of Orthographic Silent ‘L’ On Preceding Vowel Duration, Sylvia Cohen
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
This paper discusses the preliminary results of a phonetics/phonology study investigating the effects of orthographic (written) ‘l’ on the pronunciation of English words like ‘walk’ and ‘talk’. These words would typically be transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wak/ and /tak/, with no /l/ sound present; however, there is some reason to suspect that the written ‘l’ is salient in speakers’ mental representations of these words and may influence their pronunciation. In English (as well as many other languages) vowels before voiced consonants have longer durations than vowels before voiceless consonants. Experimentation by Walsh (1985) has indicated that this …
Competing Semantic And Phonological Constraints In Novel Binomials, Eli George
Competing Semantic And Phonological Constraints In Novel Binomials, Eli George
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
This experiment investigates why certain pairs of words, called “frozen binomials” always appear in the same order. It uses an electronic survey that asks subjects to determine what order they would prefer to say pairs of certain words. Specifically, the experiment tests whether it is the sound of the words or the meaning of the words that determines their order. While the data was inconclusive, it does suggest the existence of deeper rules for the ordering of these words.