Foot and Syllable Structure in Modern Icelandic

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory K. Iverson ◽  
Courtenay A. Kesterson
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Foot Structure

As is well known, vowel length in Modern Icelandic is in general predictable on the basis of syllable structure such that, in polysyllabic words, stressed vowels in open syllables are long, other vowels are short; in stressed monosyllables, however, vowels are long whether the syllable is open or closed by a single consonant, and short only when the syllable is closed by a consonant cluster. In contrast to the ‘final maximalistic’ strategy of Árnason (1980) and other unlikely syllabification schemes designed to unify these two patterns, we invoke Giegerich's (1985) characterization of foot structure as applied to German and English, according to which stressed monosyllables categorize metrically as disyllabic feet whose rightmost member is null. Thus, CVC structures are metrically /CV.CØ/, with the result that the generalization regarding vowel length in words of all types is simply that stressed vowels in open syllables are long, others short.

scholarly journals Syllable weight, vowel length and focus in Lebanese Arabic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Short Vowel ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Levantine Arabic ◽  
Lebanese Arabic

Research on a variety of languages has shown that vowel duration is influenced by phonological vowel length as well as syllable structure (e.g., Maddieson, 1997). Further, the phonological concept of a mora has been shown to relate to phonetic measurements of duration (Cohn, 2003; Hubbard, 1993; Port, Dalby, & O'Dell, 1987). In Levantine Arabic, non-final closed syllables that contain a long vowel have been described as partaking in mora-sharing (Broselow, Chen, & Huffman, 1997; Khattab & Al-Tamimi, 2014). The current investigation examines the effect of vowel length and syllable structure on vowel duration, as well as how this interacts with durational effects of prosodic focus. Disyllabic words with initial, stressed syllables that were either open or closed and contained either a long or a short vowel wereexamined when non-focused and in contrastive focus. Contrastive focus was associated with longer words and syllables but not vowels. Short vowels were shorter when in a syllable closed by a singleton but not by a geminate consonant, while long vowels were not shortened before coda singletons. An analysis is proposed whereby long vowels followed by an intervocalic consonant cluster are parsed as open syllables, with the first consonant forming a semisyllable (Kiparsky, 2003), while long vowels followed by geminate consonants partake in mora-sharing (Broselow, Huffman, Chen, & Hsieh, 1995). The results also indicate compensatory shortening for short vowels followed by a singleton coda.

Duration of syllable nuclei in Spanish

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-280
Author(s):  
Alexander C. Aldrich ◽  
Miquel Simonet
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Articulatory Phonology ◽  
Using Data

AbstractIn many languages, vowel duration is modulated by syllable structure — a phenomenon known asvowel compression— so that vowels are shorter in syllables with more segments than in syllables with fewer segments. Most instrumental evidence to date has reported an effect, in many languages, of the presence (and complexity) of a coda, and some studies have also documented effects of the presence (and complexity) of an onset. However, no prior studies on Spanish vowel duration have captured any effects of syllable structure. Using data from nine speakers and controlled speech materials, the present study addresses the following research question: Does syllable structure modulate vowel duration? The findings are as follows: (a) Relative to simplex onsets (those with a singleton consonant), complex onsets (those with a consonant cluster) trigger vowel compression; and (b) neither simplex nor complex codas consistently drive vowel compression — i.e. codas do not systematically affect vowel duration. Together with the facts for other languages, our findings support a view according to which syllable structure — in particular,onsetcomplexity — modulates acoustic vowel duration. The study discusses the theoretical implications of this finding, which are argued to be in line with some of the principles of the Articulatory Phonology framework or, alternatively, suggest that codas should not be considered part of the articulatory syllable.

scholarly journals Syllable structure and extrametricality

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Carmen Jany ◽  
Carlos Nash ◽  
Nobutaka Takara
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Functional Basis ◽  
Final Stress ◽  
Stress Asymmetry ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Universal Pattern ◽  
Duration Theory

This paper proposes a functional basis for final consonant extrametricality, the asymmetric status of CVC syllables as stress-attracting in non-final position of a word but stress-rejecting in final position. A typological study of phonemic vowel length pattern in 10 languages with this final vs. non-final stress asymmetry and 30 languages in which CVC attracts stress in final position indicates a robust asymmetry between languages differing in their stress system’s treatment of final CVC. Languages that asymmetrically allow stress on non-final but not on final CVC all lack phonemic vowel length contrast in final position, whereas those lacking the stress asymmetry often have contrastive length in final vowels. It is claimed that the absence of phonemic length in languages that do not stress final CVC facilitates the nearly universal pattern of phonetic final lengthening, which threatens to obscure the perception of phonemic length. The enhanced lengthening of final vowels in languages with final phonemic vowel length reduces the duration ratio of CVC relative to CV, thereby reducing CVC’s perceptual prominence and thus its propensity to attract stress in keeping with Lunden’s (2006) proportional duration theory of weight. A phonetic study of two languages differing in the stress-attracting ability of final CVC offers support for the proposed account. Arabic, which displays consonant extrametricality and largely lacks phonemic vowel length in final position, has substantial final vowel lengthening, whereas Kabardian, which stresses final CVC and contrasts vowel length in final position, lacks substantial final lengthening.

scholarly journals Osthoff’s Law in Latin

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-177
Author(s):  
Ollie Sayeed
Keyword(s):  
Sound Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Historical Explanation ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
History Of

The sound change known as Osthoff’s Law, shortening a long vowel before a resonant-consonant cluster, was first explicitly described to have applied in the prehistory of Greek by Osthoff (1884). Since then, the existence of a similar sound change in Latin has been controversial in the literature, with claimed examples such as *vēntus > ventus ‘wind’. At one end, Simkin (2004) argues that Osthoff’s Law never took place in Latin; at the other, Weiss (2009) claims at least three independent rounds of Osthoff’s Law in the history of the Italic branch. I summarize the synchronic facts about pre-cluster vowel length in classical Latin using a comprehensive survey of the Latin lexicon, with a historical explanation for the vowel length in every form containing a cluster. I argue that Osthoff’s Law happened in Latin (contra Simkin), but only once (contra Weiss), around the 2nd century BCE.

scholarly journals Una aproximación a la fonología del tapiete (Tupí-Guaraní)

2010 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Hebe González
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Segmental Phonology

This article presents the main features of Tapiete phonology, a Tupi-Guarani language spoken in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. It discusses the segmental phonology focusing on phonemes, their phonetic description, the phonotactics, the rules that govern the allophonic variations and the syllable structure. At the supra-segmental level, the article provides a characterization of nasal harmony and stress.KEYWORDS: Tapiete; Tupi-Guarani; Phonology; Nasal harmony; Reduplication. RESUMEN Este artículo presenta los principales rasgos de la fonología tapiete, lengua tupí-guaraní hablada en Argentina, Bolivia y Paraguay. El artículo aborda la fonología segmental, centrándose en los fonemas, su caracterización fonética, la fonotáctica, las reglas que rigen las variaciones alofónicas y la estructura silábica. A nivel suprasegmental, el artículo brinda una caracterización de la armonía nasal y el acento. Se describen las variaciones morfofonológicas, específicamente, en su relación con la armonía nasal y el acento.PALABRAS CLAVES: Tapiete; Tupí-Guaraní; Fonología; Armonía nasal; Reduplicació 

scholarly journals Categoricity, Variation, and Gradience in Sambla Balafon Segmental Encoding

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Behavior ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Rhythmic Structure ◽  
Inner Voice ◽  
Phonetic Detail

This paper analyzes the musical surrogate encoding of Seenku (Mande, Burkina Faso) syllable structure on the balafon, a resonator xylophone used by the Sambla ethnicity. The elements of syllable structure that are encoded include vowel length, sesquisyllabicity, diphthongs, and nasal codas. Certain elements, like vowel length and sesquisyllabicity, involve categorical encoding through conscious rules of surrogate speech, while others, like diphthongs and nasal codas, vary between being treated as simple or complex. Beyond these categorical encodings, subtler aspects of rhythmic structure find their way into the speech surrogate through durational differences; these include duration differences from phonemic distinctions like vowel length in addition to subphonemic differences due to phrasal position. I argue that these subconscious durational differences arise from a “phonetic filter”, which mediates between the musician’s inner voice and their non-verbal behavior. Specifically, syllables encoded on the balafon may be timed according to the perceptual center (p-center) of natural spoken rhythm, pointing to a degree of phonetic detail in a musician’s inner speech.

scholarly journals Phonological Constraints on the Utterance of L2 Clusters by Saudi ESL Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-559
Author(s):  
Abdullah N. Alotaibi
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Phonological System

The field of L2 phonology did not receive much research compared to the other linguistic domains. To add to the field and expand the current literature, the present paper’s goal was to examine the impact of syllable structure differences between Arabic and English in uttering L2 English consonant clusters. The following research question was aimed to be answered: Do the differences between two languages’ syllable structure cause production difficulties in the consonant cluster to Saudi Arabian learners of English? The subjects of this investigation were L2 English learners from Saudi with intermediate proficiency levels in English. Applying the descriptive correlational type of research model, the results showed that learners’ production is mainly influenced by their native language-specific phonological features. The learners’ production of targeted L2 consonant clusters seemed to mirror their underlying phonological system, and syllables structures were modified to match their native Arabic phonological system as a result of language transfer. These findings should be taken into account by L2 speech educators as such speech difficulty is anticipated.

Syllable Structure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing ◽  
Al Mtenje
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Hiatus Resolution ◽  
Vowel Deletion ◽  
Resolution Strategies

The chapter begins with an overview of possible syllable types in Chichewa. Possible consonant sequences and issues relating to their syllabification are taken up next. Epenthesis strategies for adapting loanwords from languages which allow a wider variety of consonant cluster types are discussed in detail. Processes of vowel deletion and syllable reduction which create syllabic nasals conclude the discussion of the syllabification of consonant sequences. Vowel sequences are also limited in Chichewa. Morphologically conditioned vowel hiatus resolution strategies are illustrated in detail.

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