Phonetics and Phonology Commons^™

Prosody And Intonation In Formosan Languages, Benjamin K. Macaulay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Formosan languages are the languages of the Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan. These languages are part of the Austronesian language family, and represent all but one primary branch of this family of 1,200+ languages. The Formosan languages are endangered, some critically so. While these languages have seen attention in the literature for their syntactic and phonological systems, little work has been done on their prosodic structure or intonation.

This dissertation analyzes the prosodic structure and intonational phonology of Mantauran Rukai, Budai Rukai, Tsou, Kanakanavu, Hla’alua, Sandimen Paiwan, Piuma Paiwan, Kavalan, Amis, Bunun, Tgdaya Seediq, Truku Seediq, and Pazeh, based on …

Language Contact And Covert Prominence In The Sḥerēt-Jibbāli Language Of Oman, Jarred Brewster

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This thesis reports on a phonetic production study, the results of which support the existence of a complex word-prosodic system for the Sḥerēt-Jibbāli language of Dhofar, Oman. In the language, stress seems to co-occur in some lexical items with a high tone. In the discussion, a mechanism for the emergence of this system is proposed as the reflex of a typological feature held in common with the related language, Soqotri, and as justification for an Eastern Modern South Arabian subgroup consisting of Sḥerēt-Jibbāli and Soqotri.

Stabilizing Forces In Acoustic Cultural Evolution: Comparing Humans And Birds, Daniel C. Mann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learned acoustic communication systems, like birdsong and spoken human language, can be described from two seemingly contradictory perspectives. On one hand, learned acoustic communication systems can be remarkably consistent. Substantive and descriptive generalizations can be made which hold for a majority of populations within a species. On the other hand, learned acoustic communication systems are often highly variable. The degree of variation is often so great that few, if any, substantive generalizations hold for all populations in a species.

Within my dissertation, I explore the interplay of variation and uniformity in three vocal learning species: budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), …

Final Vowel Devoicing In Blackfoot, Samantha Leigh Prins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a study of final vowel devoicing in Blackfoot, an indigenous language of Montana and Alberta. Previous research on final vowel devoicing in Blackfoot variously suggests word-final, phrase-final, and utterance-final vowel devoicing processes (e.g. Taylor 1965, Bliss & Gick 2009, Frantz 2017), though, the conditioning environment for this phenomenon had not been a research focus prior to this study. The present study investigates intonation units (IUs) as the conditioning domain for final vowel devoicing in Blackfoot.

Final vowel devoicing in Blackfoot is investigated here by examining the common word-final suffixes –wa (3SG.AN) and –yi (4SG) in two recordings …

Non-Manual Articulators In Irish Sign Language Verbs: An Analysis With Data Mining Association Rules, Robert G. Smith, Markus Hofmann

Conference Papers

The Signs of Ireland (SOI) corpus (Leeson et al., 2006) deploys a complex multi-tiered temporal data structure. The process of manually analyzing such data is laborious, cannot eliminate bias and often, important patterns can go completely unnoticed. In addition to this, as a result of the complex nature of grammatical structures contained in the corpus, identifying complex linguistic associations or patterns across tiers is simply too intricate a task for a human to carry out in an acceptable timeframe. This work explores the application of data mining techniques on a set of multi-tiered temporal data from the SOI corpus. Building …

The Sound Patterns Of Kachok In The Context Of Bahnaric And North-Bahnaric Studies, Emily L. Olsen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents a description of the sound patterns of Kachok, Austroasiatic language spoken in northeastern Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. The language is spoken by approximately 3000 people and is considered endangered (Simons & Fennig, 2018). Kachok is undocumented, and this dissertation is the first attempt to describe the language and its sound patterns. The goals of this dissertation are twofold: to contribute to linguistics and the science of phonetics and phonological typology, as well as increase the body of work on Austro-Asiatic languages, and to create resources for the Kachok language, culture, and people that have the potential to outlive …

Constructing A Grammatically Enriched Children's Book, Rebecca Ebert

Honors Projects

The intended purpose of this book is to serve as a grammatically rich resource of the grammatical structure: third person singular present tense. It is targets preschool age children with or at risk for a specific language impairment (SLI). More specifically, this book can be used as a clinical tool by speech-language pathologists in order to assist those with language delays in acquiring this difficult structure. Third person singular present tense is a morpheme that is acquired later in child language development due to its complexity, rarity and acoustic factors. Creating a clinical resource with an abundance of third person …

Highly Complex Syllable Structure: A Typological Study Of Its Phonological Characteristics And Diachronic Development, Shelece Easterday

Linguistics ETDs

The syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language. Strong cross-linguistic tendencies in syllable size and shape are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure, a type which is also privileged in abstract models of the syllable. Syllable patterns such as those found in Itelmen qsaɬtxt͡ʃ ‘follow!’ and Tashlhiyt tsskʃftstt ‘you dried it (f)’ are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized. This dissertation is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that …

Cross-Linguistic Phonosemantics, Raleigh Anne Butler

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Mako Language: Vitality, Grammar And Classification, Jorge E. Rosés Labrada

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation focuses on the documentation and description of Mako, an indigenous language spoken in the Venezuelan Amazon by about 1000 people and for which the only available published material at the start of the project were 38 words. The main goals of the project were to create a collection of annotated ethnographic texts and a grammar that could serve as a starting point for both language maintenance in the community and for further linguistic research. Additionally, the project sought to assess the language’s vitality in the communities where it is spoken and to understand the relationship of Mako to …

Don’T Crimp My Game: A Phonological, Lexical, Syntactic, And Discourse Assessment Of Linguistic Diversity In The United States, Pedro Ferreira

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Seen And Not Heard: The Relationship Of Orthography, Morphology, And Phonology In Loanword Adaptation In The German Hip Hop Community Online, Matt Garley

Publications and Research

In this study, a particular development in language behavior, the use of the -ed suffix from English in both participle and non-participle contexts, is investigated in the domain of the German hip hop community. This morphological-orthographic feature is analyzed from a linguistic and distributional standpoint in a 12.5 million word corpus of German hip hop discussion, revealing its patterns of use over a decade in both contexts within this community, along with supplemental examples from YouTube videos. This corpus analysis is paired with a case study of a discourse event between two forum participants negotiating the use of this form, …

Spatial And Dynamic Aspects Of Retroflex Production: An Ultrasound And Ema Study Of Kannada Geminate Stops, Alexei Kochetov, N. Sreedevi, Midula Kasim, R. Manjula

Alexei Kochetov

Abstract: This study investigates the production of geminate retroflex stops in Kannada using a combination of ultrasound and articulography. Data obtained from 10 native speakers of the language show that the retroflex gesture is dynamically complex and asymmetrical, involving an anticipatory retraction of the tongue tip, followed by the raising of this articulator towards the hard palate, and subsequent rapid flapping-out movement during the closure and the release. The retroflex constriction and the forward movement appear to be facilitated by the simultaneous fronting of the posterior tongue body, flattening of the anterior tongue body, and lowering of the jaw. Compared …

Pedagogía De Hablantes De Herencia: Implicaciones Para El Entrenamiento De Instructores Al Nivel Universitario, Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

The relevancy of this study is not only based on …

Frank Gouldsmith Speck Collection Index Of Penobscot Materials, Pauleena Macdougall

Field Notes/Notebooks

No abstract provided.

Phonetics In Phonology: Evidence From Scottish Gaelic Preaspiration, Ian D. Clayton

Ian D. Clayton

Through factorial typology, Optimality Theory is able to predict a range of theoretically possible grammars. However, factorial typology is sometimes too powerful a tool: there may be a systematic mismatch between the range of grammars predicted and those actually attested. Many scholars have offered solutions to this overgeneration problem; for instance, Wilson’s targeted constraints (2001), and Steriade’s P-map (2001) aim to constrain the predictive power of OT by invoking cognitive factors. However, other scholars (e.g. Ohala 2005, Barnes 2002, Myers 2002) assert that typological gaps may be accounted for through the diachronic operation of phonetic factors; it is therefore redundant …

On The Perceptual Robustness Of Preaspirated Stops [Poster], Ian D. Clayton

Ian D. Clayton

Some phonological patterns are rare crosslinguistically, others commonplace. Rare patterns must be (a) seldom innovated or (b) diachronically unstable. For instance, preaspirated stops occur in < 1% of languages, while postaspirated stops occur in almost 29% (Maddieson 1984). Prevailing explanations have considered only (b), attributing preaspiration’s scarcity to a presumed but unverified perceptual inferiority to postaspiration. Preaspirated stops are hard to hear, it is claimed, thus diachronically unstable (Silverman 2003, Bladon 1986). This study concludes from both experimental and typological evidence that preaspirated stops are better characterized as infrequently innovated but diachronically stable, consistent with Greenberg’s (1978) State-Process model.

Analytic Or Channel Bias: Explaining Variation In Scottish Gaelic Preaspiration, Ian D. Clayton

Ian D. Clayton

Through factorial typology, Optimality Theory predicts a range of theoretically possible grammars. However, factorial typology can result in overgeneration, e.g. by predicting unattested epenthetic repairs to *NC̥ (Pater 1999). To solve this overgeneration problem, extensions to OT have been proposed, such as targeted constraints (Wilson 2001) and the P-map (Steriade 2002). However, others scholars assert that such typological gaps result diachronically from phonetic factors; thus, attributing them to UG is redundant (Ohala 2005, Barnes 2002, Myers 2002). This paper supports the second view, drawing evidence from asymmetries in the typology of Scottish Gaelic (SG) preaspirated voiceless stops. First, the paper …

Phonetics In Phonology: Evidence From Scottish Gaelic Preaspiration [Poster], Ian D. Clayton

Ian D. Clayton

No abstract provided.

Phonological Facilitation Through Translation In A Bilingual Picture-Naming Task, Paul Amrhein, Aimee Knupsky

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We present a critical examination of phonological effects in a picture-word interference task. Using a methodology minimizing stimulus repetition, English/Spanish and Spanish/English bilinguals named pictures in either L1 or L2 (blocked contexts) or in both (mixed contexts) while ignoring word distractors in L1 or L2. Distractors were either phonologically related to the picture name (direct; FISH–fist), or related through translation to the picture name (TT; LEG–milk–leche), or they were unrelated (bear–peach). Results demonstrate robust activation of phonological representations by translation equivalents of word distractors. Although both direct and TT distractors facilitated naming, TT facilitation was more consistent in L2 naming …

An Instrumental Investigation Of Scottish Gaelic Preaspiration, Ian D. Clayton

Ian D. Clayton

No abstract provided.

Some Observations On The Penobscot Writing Of Joseph Polis (1809-1884), Pauleena Macdougall

Papers on the Penobscot Language

This article, written by Penobscot Dictionary Project Team Member, Pauleena MacDougall, reflects on the ideas set forth at the 32 Algonquian Conference in Montreal. The article discusses her observations on the Penobscot writings of Joseph Polis.

On The Functional Equivalence Of Monolinguals And Bilinguals In “Monolingual Mode”: The Bilingual Anticipation Effect In Picture-Word Processing, Paul Amrhein

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Previous evidence indicates that bilinguals are slowed when an unexpected language switch occurs when they are reading aloud. This anticipation effect was investigated using a picture-word translation task to compare English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals functioning in “monolingual mode.” Monolinguals and half of the bilinguals drew pictures or wrote English words for a picture or English word stimuli; the remaining bilinguals drew pictures or wrote Spanish words for a picture or Spanish word stimuli. Production onset latency was longer in cross-modality translation than within-modality copying, and the increments were equivalent between groups across stimulus and production modalities. Assessed within participants, …

Manifestations Of Ergativity In Quiché Grammar, Tom Larsen

Tom Larsen

This study examines the various types of ergative phenomena in the grammar of the Mayan language Quiche spoken in Guatemala. There is a brief discussion of the phonology of Quiche together with a discussion of the various orthographies which have been used to write the language. This is followed by discussions of the morphology of pronouns, nouns, adjectives, intransitive verbs, transitive verbs, positionals, adverbs, and particles. These discussions include a complete and thorough account of the inflectional morphology, including the ergative/absolutive verb agreement system. There are also brief discussions of the more important derivational processes. This is followed by a …

Dialect Symbols In Aubrey's Dictionary, Pauleena Macdougall

Papers on the Penobscot Language

MacDougall's article discusses the translation of Aubery's Abenaki Dictionary and its representation of the Penobscot culture, society, and language.

The Penobscot Dictionary Project: Preferences And Problems Of Format, Presentation, And Entry, Frank T. Siebert

Documents

The Penobscot language has been obsolescent for over twenty-five years or more. A rather large body of rnaterial has been gathered at irregular periods, but the labor and cost of assemblage, organization, and presentation have been awesome. A recent grant through the Penobscot Nation to Frank Siebert from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities is duly acknowledged to provide the funds to complete the task and to furnish the required secretarial aid.

Penobscot Transformer Tales, Frank G. Speck

Articles

This article describes part of a collection of mythological texts obtained from and dictated by Newell Lion of the Penobscot tribe at Oldtown Maine to Frank G Speck.