A variationist account of voice onset time (VOT) among bilingual West Indians in Panama

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Delano S. Lamy
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Direct Transfer ◽  
West Indians ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Rate Of Speech ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Syllable Stress ◽  
Creole English

AbstractThe present study is concerned with language contact between Creole English and Spanish spoken by bilingual West Indians living in Panama City, Panama. The goal is to examine the speech patterns of monolinguals of Creole English and Spanish and Creole English-Spanish bilinguals by employing the comparative variationist method. A series of statistical comparisons of the factors contributing to voice onset time (VOT) of the voiceless coronal plosive /t/ in four varieties were carried out to address phonetic permeability due to contact. These comparisons reveal evidence of different types of contact-induced outcomes among bilinguals. When speaking Spanish, convergence, which is the result of direct transfer from Creole English, is apparent in terms of rate of speech. When speaking Creole English, there is also evidence of convergence, particularly in the preceding segment variable. Furthermore, the comparisons reveal processes of indirect transfer from Spanish, such as simplification in terms of following vowel height, and the creation of alternations in terms of phone position and syllable stress. These contact-induced changes are interpreted as evidence that bilingual West Indians are resisting influence from a more dominant Mestizo culture, and are creating West Indian norms. It is proposed that this community is in the initial stages of developing new emerging varieties.

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

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-197 ◽  
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.

Rate of Speech Effects in Aphasia: Voice Onset Time

1993 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.R. Baum ◽  
L. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Rate Of Speech

From interference to transfer in language contact: Variation in voice onset time

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiza Newlin-Łukowicz
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
English Only ◽  
Phonological Contrast ◽  
L2 Phonology ◽  
Interdental Fricatives

AbstractThis study examines cross-generational differences in the realization of an English phonological contrast by bilingual Polish Americans in New York City. I analyze the production of voice onset time (VOT) in underlying stops, as intinandden, and stops derived from interdental fricatives, as in [t]in forthinand [d]en forthen, in an English-only reading task. Generation one exhibits VOT “interference” for both stop types, with a bias toward interference for voiced stops. Generation two “transfers” Polish-like VOTs to derived stops. I argue that the cross-generational progression from theglobaleffects of interference to thefocusedpresence of transfer is filtered through L1 markedness and reflects speakers' growing sensitivity to L2 phonology and social considerations. The observed asymmetries in the distribution of interference/transfer are unaccountable by existing models of L2 acquisition and motivate a view of L1/L2 phonetic categories as governed by a variable grammar with access to phonological and social information.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-167
Author(s):  
Morgan Sleeper
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Shed Light

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.

Linguistic attitudes and contact effects in Toronto’s heritage languages: A variationist sociolinguistic investigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Vitality ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Induced Variation ◽  
Successive Generations ◽  
Contact Effects ◽  
Linguistic Attitudes

Aims and objectives: I review several methods of constructing bridges between structural linguistic variation in language contact situations and linguistic attitudes and prestige. Methodology design: Data are examined for heritage varieties of Cantonese, Faetar, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian spoken in Toronto, Canada, and in the corresponding homeland varieties, in an effort to consider how the notions of ‘prestige’ and ‘attitude’ are best operationalized in heritage language studies and to seek associations between structural variation and prestige. Linguistic variation is explored via multivariate analysis of (linguistic and) social factors, in order to determine which factors best account for the selection of competing variants of selected sociolinguistic variables (primarily null subject variation and voice onset time) in spontaneous speech. The attitudinal or prestige aspect is explored in several ways: comparison of ethnolinguistic vitality, language status (in popular and academic media) and ethnic orientation. It is hypothesized that: • communities with a higher ethnolinguistic vitality will be more resistant to contact-induced variation; • varieties exhibiting more contact-induced variation will more likely have acquired a label distinct from the homeland variety; • within a generation, speakers with greater affinity for or more frequent use of English will show stronger contact effects; and • successive generations of speakers, with increasing contact with English, will show greater contact effects. Conclusions/originality/significance: These hypotheses are not supported by our data.

Voice onset time and vowel quality in Madurese

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-184
Author(s):  
Misnadin
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Madurese exhibits a three-way laryngeal contrast in its plosive inventory, distinguishing voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated plosives. Previous studies have investigated some acoustic characteristics of the contrast but have not examined possible dialectal variation in this contrast. The present study aims to discuss the contrast by examining Voice Onset Time (VOT) and vowel quality (F1). Twenty participants (10 Western Madurese speakers and 10 Eastern Madurese speakers) were recruited and instructed to read 150 Madurese words containing plosives. The results showed that an interaction of dialect and gender were significantly correlated with VOT: male Western Madurese speakers produced shorter VOT for voiced and voiceless aspirated plosives than their Eastern counterparts. There was also variation in F1 between gender across dialects: male Western Madurese speakers produced [ə] with a lower F1 than their Eastern counterparts. It was suggested that the variation was possibly due to language contact with Javanese.

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