Effect of emphasis spread on VOT in coronal stops in Qatari Arabic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kulikov ◽  
Fatemeh M. Mohsenzadeh ◽  
Rawand M. Syam
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Centre Of Gravity ◽  
Vowel Formants ◽  
Arabic Dialects ◽  
Adjacent Segments

Emphasis (contrastive pharyngealization of coronals) in Arabic spreads from an emphatic consonant to neighboring segments. Previous research suggests that in addition to changing spectral characteristics of adjacent segments, emphasis might affect voice onset time (VOT) of voiceless stops because emphatic stops in Arabic dialects have considerably shorter VOT than their plain cognates. No study investigated whether emphatic co-articulation could shorten VOT in plain stops produced in emphatic environment. The present study investigates changes in VOT in syllable-initial /t/ using production data from sixteen speakers of Qatari Arabic, who read non-word syllables with initial plain and emphatic stops /t/ and /ṭ/ adjacent to another plain or emphatic consonant. The results show that emphasis spread is a gradient process that affects only spectral characteristics of segments, causing changes in vowel formants and spectral centre of gravity of stops. Long-lag VOT in plain /t/, however, was not shortened in emphatic syllables. The findings suggest that shorter VOT in voiceless emphatic stops in Qatari Arabic is not a mechanical aftermath of pharyngealization but, rather, a phonological requirement to maintain contrast between long-lag and short-lag VOT in plain and emphatic stops.

scholarly journals Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Phonetic Realization

This paper reports results of a quantitative phonetic study of Kabardian, a Northwest Caucasian language that is of typological interest from a phonetic standpoint. A number of cross-linguistically rare properties are examined. These features include the phonetic realization of Kabardian's small vowel inventory, which contains only three contrastive vowel qualities (two short vowels and one long vowel), spectral characteristics of the ten supralaryngeal voiceless fricatives of Kabardian, as well as the acoustic, palatographic, and aerodynamic characteristics of ejective fricatives, an extremely rare type of segment cross-linguistically. In addition, basic properties of the consonant stop series are explored, including closure duration and voice onset time, in order to test postulated universals linking these properties to place of articulation and laryngeal setting.

Cross-Gender Differences in English/French Bilingual Speakers: A Multiparametric Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 003151252097351
Author(s):  
Erwan Pépiot ◽  
Aron Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Second Harmonic ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Intensity Difference ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Language And Gender ◽  
Vowel Formants ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
And Gender

The present study concerns speech productions of female and male English/French bilingual speakers in both reading and semi-spontaneous speech tasks. We investigated various acoustic parameters: average fundamental sound frequency (F0), F0 range, F0 variance ( SD), vowel formants (F1, F2, and F3), voice onset time (VOT) and H1-H2 (intensity difference between the first and the second harmonic frequencies, used to measure phonation type) in both languages. Our results revealed a significant effect of gender and language on all parameters. Overall, average F0 was higher in French while F0 modulation was stronger in English. Regardless of language, female speakers exhibited higher F0 than male speakers. Moreover, the higher average F0 in French was larger in female speakers. On the other hand, the smaller F0 modulation in French was stronger in male speakers. The analysis of vowel formants showed that overall, female speakers exhibited higher values than males. However, we found a significant cross-gender difference on F2 of the back vowel [u:] in English, but not on the vowel [u] in French. VOT of voiceless stops was longer in Female speakers in both languages, with a greater difference in English. VOT contrast between voiceless stops and their voiced counterparts was also significantly longer in female speakers in both languages. The scope of this cross-gender difference was greater in English. H1-H2 was higher in female speakers in both languages, indicating a breathier phonation type. Furthermore, female speakers tended to exhibit smaller H1-H2 in French, while the opposite was true in males. This resulted in a smaller cross-gender difference in French for this parameter. All these data support the idea of language- and gender-specific vocal norms, to which bilingual speakers seem to adapt. This constitutes a further argument to give social factors, such as gender dynamics, more consideration in phonetic studies.

scholarly journals Categorization of regional and foreign accent in 5- to 7-year-old British children

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Floccia ◽  
Joseph Butler ◽  
Frédérique Girard ◽  
Jeremy Goslin
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Old French ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
British English ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Vowel Formants ◽  
Better Than

This study examines children's ability to detect accent-related information in connected speech. British English children aged 5 and 7 years old were asked to discriminate between their home accent from an Irish accent or a French accent in a sentence categorization task. Using a preliminary accent rating task with adult listeners, it was first verified that the level of accentedness was similar across the two unfamiliar accents. Results showed that whereas the younger children group behaved just above chance level in this task, the 7-year-old group could reliably distinguish between these variations of their own language, but were significantly better at detecting the foreign accent than the regional accent. These results extend and replicate a previous study (Girard, Floccia, & Goslin, 2008) in which it was found that 5-year-old French children could detect a foreign accent better than a regional accent. The factors underlying the relative lack of awareness for a regional accent as opposed to a foreign accent in childhood are discussed, especially the amount of exposure, the learnability of both types of accents, and a possible difference in the amount of vowels versus consonants variability, for which acoustic measures of vowel formants and plosives voice onset time are provided.

Voicing Contrasts and Their Phonological Implications in the Speech of Articulation-Disordered Children

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann B. Smit ◽  
John E. Bernthal
Keyword(s):  
Normal Child ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Normal Controls

Five-year-old articulation-disordered children, some classified as substituters and some as syllable reducers, were compared with normal child and adult controls in their production of voicing contrasts. These contrasts occurred in minimal pairs containing word-final obstruents and in minimal triples containing word-initial stops and /s/-plus-stop clusters in initial position. Measures of vowel duration, voice onset time (VOT), and frequency of use of phonetic voicing were made from spectrograms. In every comparison the substituters' performance resembled that of the normal controls, as did the syllable reducers' use of VOT in stop singles. The syllable reducers used larger vowel duration ratios than the normal controls in a few minimal pairs and used phonetic voicing less often in word-initial /b d g/. The production data and previously reported perception data were examined for evidence that individual syllable reducers had voicing contrasts in underlying phonological form despite their deletions of obstruents in which these contrasts occurred. Most of the syllable reducers appeared to recognize underlying voicing contrasts in at least a few final obstruents and in some of the initial stop singles.

scholarly journals Effect of emphasis spread on coronal stop articulation in Qatari Arabic

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kulikov ◽  
Fatemeh Mohsenzadeh ◽  
Rawand Syam
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Gulf Arabic ◽  
Complete Transformation

Emphasis (contrastive uvularisation) in Arabic spreads from an emphatic consonant to neighboring segments (Davis 1995). The effect of emphasis spread on a consonant is manifested as lowering of its spectral mean (Jongman et al. 2011). Although stop consonants reveal a strong effect of emphasis, it is not known how emphasis spread affects other acoustic properties of stops, e.g. voice onset time (VOT). Previous studies (Kulikov 2018) showed that VOT and emphasis are linked in speech production: plain /t/ in Gulf Arabic is aspirated; emphatic /ṭ/ has short-lag VOT. Phonological theory predicts that plain /t/ should become more emphatic in emphatic context, which might reduce stop VOT as well. The current study investigates the effect of emphasis spread on VOT in word-initial coronal stops in Qatari Arabic. The stimuli, produced by sixteen native speakers of Qatari Arabic, contained target plain and emphatic stops /t/, /ṭ/ followed by short or long low vowel, and plain coronal obstruents /t, s, ð/ or their emphatic counterparts /ṭ, ṣ, ð̣/. The acoustic analysis included measurements of VOT and spectral mean of burst in the stop, and F1, F2, F3 frequencies at the vowel beginning, middle and end. The results showed that final emphatic obstruent triggered emphasis spread across the syllable. The effect of emphasis on the vowel was stronger next to the emphatic obstruent (p < .01). Spectral mean of burst in plain /t/ was lower in the emphatic context (D = 276 Hz, p = .05). VOT, however, was not affected by emphasis spread. Plain /t/ had long-lag VOT averaging 52 ms; emphatic /ṭ/ had short-lag VOT averaging 17 ms. These values were not different in emphatic context (p = .743). The findings demonstrate that emphasis spread within a syllable affects only spectral characteristics of a coronal stop. Emphaticness of plain /t/ did not affect its VOT and did not result in complete transformation of the stop category

Disentangling Research on Study Abroad and Pronunciation

2016 ◽  
pp. 673-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Nagle ◽  
Alfonso Morales-Front ◽  
Colleen Moorman ◽  
Cristina Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
Study Abroad Program

Despite intuitive and theoretically motivated claims that Study Abroad (SA) is an optimal environment for language development, including pronunciation gains, research on its effectiveness has produced contradictory results. Furthermore, there is little known about short-term study abroad programs, where matriculation numbers are increasing faster than ever before. This chapter analyzes pre- and post-SA oral production data from 18 advanced learners of Spanish, focusing on stop consonants (/p, t, k, b, d, g/). Development was defined in terms of voice onset time for /p, t, k/ and a 5-point lenition measure for /b, d, g/. Learners produced significantly shorter VOT values after the SA program, though there was not a similar improvement in lenition score. Therefore, the intensive, six-week SA experience yielded substantial gains in L2 pronunciation for these advanced learners of Spanish. Results are discussed in light of advances in both research methodology and study abroad program design.

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