The lexical status effect on place of articulation and voice onset time contrasts

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (S1) ◽  
pp. S2-S2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie A. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Lexical Status ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Status Effect

The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: task and stimulus effects

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Pater
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Stimulus Effects ◽  
Parallel Effect ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This article presents a follow-up to Curtin et al.’s study of the perceptual acquisition of Thai laryngeal contrasts by native speakers of English, which found that subjects performed better on contrasts in voice than aspiration. This finding - surprising in light of earlier cross-linguistic voice onset time (VOT) research - was attributed to the fact that the task tapped lexical representations, which are unspecified for aspiration according to standard assumptions in generative phonology. The present study further investigated possible task effects by examining the discrimination and categorization of the same stimuli in various experimental conditions. Stimulus effects were also investigated by performing token-based analyses of the results, and by comparing them to acoustic properties of the tokens. The outcome of the discrimination experiment was the opposite of the earlier study, with significantly better performance on contrasts in aspiration than voice, even on a lexical task. A second finding of this experiment is that place of articulation interacts with the perception of the laryngeal distinctions; the aspiration distinction is discriminated better on the labials, and voice on alveolars. A parallel effect of place of articulation was also found in a categorization experiment.

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-language correspondences in the face of change: Phonetic independence versus convergence in two Korean-Mandarin bilingual communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-199
Author(s):  
Jessamyn Schertz ◽  
Yoonjung Kang ◽  
Sungwoo Han
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
The Face ◽  
Tightly Coupled ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Over Time

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: We investigate the robustness of cross-language phonetic correspondences in two bilingual communities over time, focusing on whether corresponding sounds (e.g. Mandarin /s/ and Korean /s’/) remain coupled in the face of language change, or whether the categories diverge over time in younger, more proficient bilinguals. Design/Methodology/Approach: We quantify the extent of assimilation versus independence of categories across languages by comparing bilinguals’ production of place of articulation and laryngeal contrasts in Mandarin and Korean sibilants. Distinct language-internal changes were expected on each dimension. Data and analysis: 107 speakers varying in age (aged 19–83), gender, and dialect participated in the study. Acoustic measurements (center of gravity of frication, voice onset time) and statistical analyses were performed on a total of ~11,000 tokens. Findings/Conclusions: The extent of cross-language independence differed on the two dimensions. Corresponding segments across the two languages remained tightly coupled in terms of place of articulation, even in the face of change; on the other hand, a language-internal change in the Korean laryngeal contrast left corresponding Mandarin segments unaffected, resulting in divergence of originally corresponding categories. We also found unpredicted changes on each dimension, and these changes progressed concurrently in the two languages. Originality: The study of correspondences in the context of independent sound change provides a unique perspective from which to evaluate the robustness of cross-language interaction, and the parallel analysis of two separate dimensions in two communities adds to the generalizability of results. Significance/Implications: Most changes occurred concurrently in the two languages, suggesting that similar phonetic categories across languages can remain tightly coupled, even in highly proficient bilinguals where phonetic independence is expected. However, one of the primary expected changes (voice onset time merger in Korean) did not affect corresponding segments in Mandarin, indicating that the extent of cross-language independence in phonetic correspondences may differ even within the same population. We discuss potential reasons for the different results.

scholarly journals Leveraging the uniformity framework to examine crosslinguistic similarity for long-lag stops in spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khia A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Phonetic Convergence ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language

While crosslinguistic influence is widespread in bilingual speech production, it is less clear which aspects of representation are shared across languages, if any. Most prior work examines phonetically distinct yet phonologically similar sounds, for which phonetic convergence suggests a cross-language link within individuals [1]. Convergence is harder to assess when sounds are already similar, as with English and Cantonese initial long-lag stops. Here, the articulatory uniformity framework [2, 3, 4] is leveraged to assess whether bilinguals share an underlying laryngeal feature across languages, and describe the nature of cross-language links. Using the SpiCE corpus of spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech [5], this paper asks whether Cantonese-English bilinguals exhibit uniform voice-onset time for long-lag stops within and across languages. Results indicate moderate patterns of uniformity within-language—replicating prior work [2, 6]—and weaker patterns across languages. The analysis, however, raises many questions, as correlations were generally lower compared to prior work, and talkers did not adhere to expected ordinal VOT relationships by place of articulation. Talkers also retained clear differences for /t/ and /k/, despite expectations of similarity. Yet at the same time, more of the overall variation seems to derive from individual-specific differences. While many questions remain, the uniformity framework shows promise.

Productive Voice Onset Time Characteristics of Esophageal Speech

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Christensen ◽  
Bernd Weinberg ◽  
Peter J. Alfonso
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Esophageal Speech ◽  
Phonological Contrasts ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Group Comparisons

The voice onset times (VOT) of a large number of stop-consonant initiated syllables produced by esophageal and normal speakers were measured. Esophageal speakers systematically varied VOT during the production of speech-sound categories with the same manner of production. Average voice onset times associated with the production of prevocalic voiceless stops of esophageal speakers were significantly shorter than those of normal speakers, while talker-group comparisons associated with the production of voiced prevocalic stops were nonsignificant. Voice onset times of both esophageal and normal speakers were differentially sensitive to place of articulation. Findings are discussed in terms of furthering current understanding of how effectively esophageal speakers achieve important phonological contrasts.

LEXICAL FACTORS AND SEGMENTAL ACCURACY IN SECOND LANGUAGE SPEECH PRODUCTION

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Flege ◽  
Elaina M. Frieda ◽  
Amanda C. Walley ◽  
Lauren A. Randazza
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Lexical Status ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Second Language Speech Production ◽  
Learning English ◽  
Lexical Factors

Voice onset time (VOT) was measured in the production of /t/ in the initial position of 60 English words spoken by native English (NE) speakers and native Spanish (NS) speakers who began learning English before or after the age of 21 years. The subjects rated the words for familiarity, age of acquisition, imageability, and relatedness to word(s) in the Spanish lexicon. The subjects in all three groups showed two well-known phonetic effects: They produced longer VOT values in the context of high than nonhigh vowels, and longer VOT in one- than in two-syllable words. As expected, the NS subjects who learned English prior to the age of 21 years judged the English words to be more familiar and more like a Spanish word than did the subjects who began learning English later in life. Also, many but not all of the NS subjects produced /t/ with shorter VOT values than did the NE subjects. However, regression analyses showed that none of the lexical factors mentioned above or the text frequency of the 60 English words examined affected the NS subjects' VOT values. Thus, variation in the accuracy with which NS subjects produce English /t/ must be accounted for by factors other than the lexical status of the words in which /t/ occurs.

Voice Onset Time (VOT) Consonants Realization of Indian-Muslim English Speakers in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Nazirul Mubin Bin Mohd Noor ◽  
Nuramira Binti Anuar ◽  
Ahmad Muhyiddin B Yusof ◽  
Puteri Rohani Megat Abdul Rahim ◽  
Daljeet Singh Sedhu A/L Janah Singh
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Speech Feature ◽  
Northwest Region

Voice Onset Time (VOT) is commonly found in most spoken languages. It is a speech feature to indicate differences in voicing and meaning. In particular, the duration of Voice Onset Time values is directly determined by place of articulation, with labial VOT values being shorter than velar and alveolar and, sometimes, alveolar being shorter than velar. In the present study, the researchers examined the VOT values of English speakers in Malaysia, particularly Indian-Muslim English speakers in the northwest region of Malaysia.  From the analysis conducted by employing PRAAT software in examining differences in VOT values of voiced and voiceless plosives, the results revealed that there were significant differences in VOT values of bilabial plosives of /p/ and /b/ as well as alveolar plosives of /t/ and /d/ in Indian-Muslim English speakers’ community. However, there is no significant difference in the VOT values of both voiced and voiceless velar plosives of /k/ and /g/, indicating the influence of the speakers’ mother tongue in their English language use. In the case of prominence of aspiration in the present study, the results show that the Indian-Muslim English speakers in Malaysia have high VOT values in voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ (M = 0.0705, SD = 0.0509) and voiced alveolar plosive /d/ (M = 0.015, SD = 0.00). The findings highlight that there are differences in term of VOT values in bilabial plosives and alveolar plosives of English speakers between Indian-Muslim community and Malay community.           

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