The Role of Vowel Deletion and Epenthesis in the Assignment of Syllable Structure

1982 ◽  
pp. 69-120
Author(s):  
Steven G. Lapointe ◽  
Mark H. Feinstein
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Vowel Deletion

On the role of syllabic neighbourhood density in the syllable structure effect in European Portuguese

Lingua ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 103166
Author(s):  
Ana Duarte Campos ◽  
Helena Mendes Oliveira ◽  
Ana Paula Soares
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Structure Effect ◽  
European Portuguese

scholarly journals Lesions of an Avian Basal Ganglia Circuit Prevent Context-Dependent Changes to Song Variability

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 1441-1455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mimi H. Kao ◽  
Michael S. Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Courtship Song ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Social Modulation ◽  
Anterior Forebrain ◽  
Magnocellular Nucleus ◽  
The Moment

Trial-by-trial variability is important in feedback-based motor learning. Variation in motor output enables evaluation mechanisms to differentially reinforce patterns of motor activity that produce desired behaviors. Here, we studied neural substrates of variability in the performance of adult birdsong, a complex, learned motor skill used for courtship. Song performance is more variable when male birds sing alone (undirected) than when they sing to females (directed). We test the role of the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP), an avian basal ganglia–forebrain circuit, in this socially driven modulation of song variability. We show that lesions of the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (LMAN), the output nucleus of the AFP, cause a reduction in the moment-by-moment variability in syllable structure during undirected song to the level present during directed song. This elimination of song modulation is immediate and long-lasting. We further show that the degree of syllable variability and its modulation are both attenuated in older birds, in concert with decreased variability of LMAN activity in these birds. In contrast to the requirement of LMAN for social modulation of syllable structure, we find that LMAN is not required for modulation of other features of song, such as the number of introductory elements and motif repetitions and the ordering of syllables or for other motor and motivational aspects of courtship. Our findings suggest that a key function of avian basal ganglia circuitry is to regulate vocal performance and plasticity by specifically modulating moment-by-moment variability in the structure of individual song elements.

Investigating the Relationship Between Nonword Repetition Performance and Syllabic Structure in Typical and Atypical Language Development

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 708-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Tamburelli ◽  
Gary Jones
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Syllabic Structure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Phonological Complexity ◽  
Different Levels

Purpose In this study, the authors examined the role of syllabic structure in nonword repetition performance in typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method Eighteen children with SLI (5;7–6;7 [years;months]) and 18 TD children matched for chronological age were tested on their ability to repeat phonemes in different positions within syllable structure (onset, nucleus, coda). The test involved 2 separate nonword repetition tasks differing in lexicality (high vs. low). High-lexicality nonwords contained subparts that are morphemes of the language (i.e., subparts were “lexical”), whereas nonlexical nonwords did not. Results Repetition performance across the 3 syllabic positions showed a significant effect for both populations and on both tasks. However, although on the high-lexicality task the direction of the effect revealed the onset as the most error-prone constituent (onset > coda > nucleus), on the low-lexicality task, it was the coda that attracted most errors (coda > onset > nucleus). Conclusions Results suggest that the procedures involved in computing syllabic structure are qualitatively similar in the 2 populations. We take these results to support the view that different syllabic positions involve different levels of phonological complexity and that tests that control for lexicality are crucial in illuminating these differences.

scholarly journals Patterns and timing of glottalisation

Phonology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darin Howe ◽  
Douglas Pulleyblank
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Modular Theory ◽  
Phonological Constraints ◽  
Perceptual Factors

Through an investigation of glottalisation in several languages of North America, this article examines the role of perception in the grammatical distribution of segments. Specifically, we consider the hypothesis that perceptual factors on the timing of glottalisation in consonants determine the arrangement of such consonants phonologically. Our conclusion is in the negative. In the cases we study, the distribution of glottalisation appears to be governed by syllable structure, not by glottal timing. We interpret the patterns presented as evidence for a modular theory of phonetics and phonology rather than a theory where properties of articulator timing are directly referenced by phonological constraints. Patterns of glottalisation result from the interaction of phonological submodules that are largely independent of each other, though properties of particular modules may be influenced by phonetic factors.

Illusory vowels in perceptual epenthesis: the role of phonological alternations

Phonology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Durvasula ◽  
Jimin Kahng
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Perceptual Illusions ◽  
Phonemic Representations ◽  
Vowel Deletion

Listeners often perceive illusory vowels when presented with consonant sequences that violate phonotactic constraints in their language. Previous research suggests that the phenomenon motivates speech-perception models that incorporate surface phonotactic information and the acoustics of the speech tokens. In this article, inspired by Bayesian models of speech perception, we claim that the listener attempts to identify target phonemic representations during perception. This predicts that the phenomenon of perceptual illusions will be modulated not only by surface phonotactics and the acoustics of the speech tokens, but also by the phonological alternations of a language. We present the results of three experiments (an AX task, an ABX task and an identification task) with native Korean listeners, and native English listeners as a control group, showing that Korean listeners perceive different sets of illusory vowels in different phonological contexts, in accordance with the phonological processes of vowel deletion and palatalisation in the language.

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.

The perceptual foundations of phonological development

2007 ◽  
pp. 578-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Curtin ◽  
Janet F. Werker
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Initial Work ◽  
Infant Speech Perception ◽  
Infant Speech ◽  
The Individual

Phonological development involves learning the organisation of the individual sound units, the syllable structure, the rhythm, and the phonotactics of the native language, and utilising these in both productive and receptive language. The initial work in phonological development focused exclusively on production, with detailed description of the onset of babbling and first words. This article examines how infant speech perception provides a foundation for acquiring the phonological system, and how production data and perception studies together can provide a more complete picture of the course of phonological development. The discussion begins with a review of key empirical findings that show how speech perception provides the foundation for phonological development. It then looks at language-general speech perception capabilities as evident in infants from birth through the first few months of life. The discussion also considers the ways in which the ambient language modifies infant speech perception; phonological and phonetic factors in word segmentation and word form recognition; the role of phonology in early lexical comprehension; and theories and models of phonological development.

Arabic stress in strict CV, with no moras, no syllables, no feet and no extrametricality

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-600
Author(s):  
Noam Faust ◽  
Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Syllable Type ◽  
Stress Theory ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Quantity Sensitivity ◽  
Palestinian Arabic ◽  
First Time

Abstract This paper continues the effort that began in (Scheer, Tobias & Peter Szigetvari. 2005. Unified representations for stress and the syllable. Phonology 22(1). 37–75.) to present a compelling alternative to moraic accounts of stress systems, framed in the theory of Strict CV (Lowenstamm, Jean. 1996. CV as the only syllable type. In Jacques Durand & Bernard Laks (eds.), Current trends in phonology models and methods, 419–442. European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.). We have chosen stress in Palestinian Arabic, a stronghold of moraic theory, to be the empirical basis of the paper. It is a complex system, involving syllable structure and stress assignment, quantity sensitivity and syllabically-determined stress shift. Moreover, its analysis requires the deployment of a great deal of the theoretical machinery that has been (independently) developed in moraic stress theory. These phenomena, although recurrent cross-linguistically, remained outside the scope of Scheer and Szigetvari’s work. The present paper provides an account of these patterns using the innovative grid-based notion of weight incorporation (Ulfsbjorninn, Shanti. 2014. A Field Theory of Stress: the role of empty nuclei in stress systems. SOAS – University of London, PhD Dissertation.). The analysis is also brought to bear on Cairene Arabic, which is shown to differ from Palestinian in a single parameter setting. Significant independent support is provided by the extension of the analysis to the phenomenon of vowel shortening (both metrical and final), whose distribution and motivation are shown to follow in a straightforward manner from the general account. The paper also improves on previous analyses of meter in Strict CV, as for the first time in Strict CV metrics, a computational component is explicitly formalized. We conclude with a comparison to a moraic analysis of the phenomena discussed, and argue on principled grounds that the Strict CV account is a worthy competitor to such an analysis. Like its predecessor from 2005, the present account recognizes only one unit relevant for meter: the nucleus. No appeal is made to moras, syllables, feet or extrametricality.

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