Contact effects on voice-onset time (VOT) in Patagonian Welsh

The effects of language contact extend well beyond the borrowing of lexical items, and can include morphosyntactic, phonetic, and phonological changes over time (Thomason & Kaufman 1998). One especially common structural outcome of long-term contact is phonetic transfer (Matras 2009: 222). The Welsh spoken in Patagonia, which has been in close contact with Spanish for the past 150 years, offers one example of this phenomenon: Jones (1984) observes that younger speakers of Patagonian Welsh may be developing unaspirated voiceless stops /ptk/ as a result of Spanish contact. This paper measures the voice-onset time (VOT) of the Welsh voiceless stops /ptk/ using contemporary conversational speech data from both Patagonia and Wales, for speakers in three age groups (0–29, 30–59, and 60+ years), to examine the effects of Spanish contact on Patagonian Welsh. Results indicate that the tendencies seen in Jones (1984) have held true, and in fact have generalized to become a feature of Patagonian Welsh for speakers of all ages: Patagonian speakers produce the Welsh stops /ptk/ with significantly shorter VOT than speakers from Wales. These results shed light on an important distinguishing phonetic feature of this understudied variety of Welsh, as well as the dynamics of language contact in action.

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Categorical and Noncategorical Modes of Speech Perception along the Voice Onset Time Continuum

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.1982642 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 369-369

Author(s):

Joan House Lazarus ◽

D. B. Pisoni

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The Voice ◽

Time Continuum

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Variation in Voice Onset Time for Korean Stops

Korean Linguistics ◽

10.1075/kl.13.01djs ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

David J. Silva

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The United States ◽

Age Group ◽

Acoustic Data ◽

Diachronic Change ◽

Phonemic Level ◽

The Voice

Abstract. Acoustic data elicited from 34 native speakers of Korean living in the United States pro-vide evidence for diachronic change in the voice onset time (VOT) of phrase-initial aspirated and lax stop phonemes. While older speakers produce aspirated and lax stops with clearly differentiated average VOT values, many younger speakers appear to have neutralized this difference, producing VOTs for aspirated stops that are substantially shorter than those of older speakers, and comparable to those for corresponding lax stops. The data further indicate that, within each age group, older speakers manifest sex-based differences in VOT while younger speakers do not. Despite this appar-ent shift in VOT values, the acoustic evidence suggests that all speakers in this study, regardless of age, continue to mark underlying differences between aspirated and lax stops in terms of stop closure and the fundamental frequency of the following vowel. It is concluded that the data point to a recent phonetic shift in the language, whereby VOT no longer serves as the primary cue to differentiate between lax and aspirated stops. There is not, however, evidence of any reorganization of the lan-guage as the phonemic level: the language's underlying lax ~ aspirated ~ tense contrasts endure.

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Comparison of plosive sounds in monolingual and bilingual children, using the voice onset time acoustic parameter: cases report

Revista CEFAC ◽

10.1590/1982-021620182052118 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 680-687

Author(s):

Maria Teresa R. Lofredo-Bonatto ◽

Marta A. Andrada e Silva

Keyword(s):

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Acoustic Signals ◽

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

Acoustic Parameter ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

The Voice

ABSTRACT The purpose was to compare differences in production of plosive phonemes through the voice onset time (VOT) measurement in the speech of monolingual children, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and bilingual children, speakers of both Brazilian Portuguese and English. The sample consisted of three monolingual children and three bilingual children; average age was 7 years. A speech emission was recorded for the investigation, which had the following vehicle phrase: “Diga ‘papa’ baixinho” (“Say ‘papa’ quietly”). Papa was then replaced by “baba”, “tata”, “dada”, “caca” and “gaga”. The measurements of the acoustic signals were performed through broadband spectrograms, and VOT was descriptively analyzed for the non-voiced sounds [p, t, k] and voiced [b, d, g] plosive sounds. Monolingual children presented higher average VOT values for [p, t, k] compared to bilingual children. For the [b, d, g] sounds, monolingual children had lower average VOT values, as compared to bilingual children. It was concluded that in the comparison of VOT measures of the speech samples, the monolingual children of Brazilian Portuguese presented higher values for the non voiced ones and lower for the voiced ones in relation to the bilingual children speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and English.

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Speakers' Sex Differences in Voice Onset Time: Some Preliminary Findings

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1997.85.2.459 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 85 (2) ◽

pp. 459-463E ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Sandra P. Whiteside ◽

Caroline J. Irving

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The Voice

This study presents a brief investigation into sex differences of speakers in the voice onset time of English plosives that are stressed in both word-initial and prevocalic position. 72 short phrases were presented to 5 men (range 25 to 37 years, mean age 34.2 yr.) and five women speakers (range 28 to 38 years, mean 32.6 yr.). Analysis showed that the women as speakers had on average, longer voice onset time values than their male peers.

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Speakers' Sex Differences in Voice Onset Time: A Study of Isolated Word Production

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1998.86.2.651 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 86 (2) ◽

pp. 651-654 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

S. P. Whiteside ◽

C. J. Irving

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Word Production ◽

Isolated Word ◽

Age Range ◽

The Voice

This report presents a brief study into sex differences of speakers in the voice onset time of English plosives that are stressed in both word-initial and pre-vocalic positions. 36 isolated words were spoken by 5 men (age range 25 to 37 yr., M: 34.2 yr.) and 5 women speakers (age range 28 to 38 yr., M: 32.6 yr.) who were subjects. Analysis showed that the women speakers had on the average relative to the men, longer voice onset time values for voiceless plosives and shorter voice onset time values for the voiced plosives.

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Intracortical Responses in Human and Monkey Primary Auditory Cortex Support a Temporal Processing Mechanism for Encoding of the Voice Onset Time Phonetic Parameter

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhh120 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 170-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 79

Author(s):

M. Steinschneider

Keyword(s):

Auditory Cortex ◽

Temporal Processing ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Primary Auditory Cortex ◽

The Voice ◽

Processing Mechanism

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Voice onset time production in Ecuadorian Spanish, Quichua, and Media Lengua

Journal of the International Phonetic Association ◽

10.1017/s002510031700024x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 173-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jesse Stewart

Keyword(s):

Multidimensional Scaling ◽

Language Contact ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Mixed Effects ◽

Mixed Effects Models ◽

Time Production ◽

Language Varieties ◽

Voicing Contrast ◽

Mixed Language

In Ecuador there exists a dynamic language contact continuum between Urban Spanish and Rural Quichua. This study explores the effects of competing phonologies with an analysis of voice onset time (VOT) production in and across three varieties of Ecuadorian highland Spanish, Quichua, and Media Lengua. Media Lengua is a mixed language that contains Quichua systemic elements and a lexicon of Spanish origin. Because of this lexical-grammatical split, Media Lengua is considered the most central point along the language continuum. Native Quichua phonology has a single series of voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, and /k/), while Spanish shows a clear voicing contrast between stops in the same series. This study makes use of nearly 8,000 measurements from 69 participants to (i) document VOT production in the aforementioned language varieties and (ii) analyse the effects of borrowings on VOT. Results based on mixed effects models and multidimensional scaling suggest that the voicing contrast has entered both Media Lengua and Quichua through Spanish lexical borrowings. However, the VOT values of voiced stops in Media Lengua align with those of Rural and L2 Spanish while Quichua shows significantly longer prevoicing values, suggesting some degree of overshoot.

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