Bilingualism and sound change: perception in the /ʎ/-/j/ merger process in Majorcan Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-133
Author(s):  
Assumpció Rost Bagudanch
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Inhibiting Effect ◽  
Change Perception ◽  
Merger Process ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour ◽  
Contact Effects

AbstractYeísmo has been accounted for as a merger process occurring in Spanish irrespective of language contact effects though some scholars have claimed that the interference between Spanish and the variety of Catalan spoken in Majorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) has an inhibiting effect on yeísmo. This paper focusses on whether this inhibiting effect can be demonstrated at the perception level and whether it has an effect in the linguistic behaviour of bilinguals. To examine these effects, we conducted an identification experiment with three groups of listeners (Majorcan Catalan-dominant bilinguals, Spanish-dominant bilinguals and a control group of Spanish monolinguals). Results show that Catalan dominants do recognise [ʎ] stimuli, but Spanish dominants only identify [ʎ] at chance level. Consequently, it would seem that bilingual subjects display a bimodal performance at the perception level.

scholarly journals Bidirectionality of language contact: Spanish and Catalan vowels

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Annie Helms
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Disproportionate Number ◽  
Probabilistic Nature ◽  
Contact Effects

The disproportionate number of studies in Barcelona and the Balearic Islands observing Spanish contact effects in Catalan production, rather than Catalan contact effects in Spanish production, is an oversight of bidirectionality and the probabilistic nature of social factors in situations of language contact. Accordingly, the present study analyzes both Catalan and Spanish mid front vowel production data from Barcelona to investigate whether Catalan contact effects occur in Spanish via a process of dissimilation, and whether such effects are strengthened in younger speakers due to the relatively recent implementation of Catalan linguistic policy in the educational and public spheres. The results are suggestive of dissimilation, where phonetic distinctions are maintained between Spanish /e/ and the two Catalan mid front vowels across both F1 and F2. Additionally, analyses of variance across F1 and F2 reveal that Spanish /e/ productions across F1 are more diffuse in younger speakers and Catalan mid front vowels across F2 are less diffuse, providing evidence of reciprocity in contact effects. These results underscore the bidirectional nature of language contact and advocate for the use of variance of F1 and F2 as a metric of phonological contact effects.

scholarly journals Regional differences in the evolution of the merger of /ʃ/ and /ç/ in Luxembourgish

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
François Conrad
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
The South ◽  
Data Set ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
The North ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Old Men ◽  
Middle Generation

The merger of post-alveolar /ʃ/ and palatal /ç/ into alveolopalatal /ɕ/ has recently gained growing interest in sociophonetic research, especially in the Middle German dialect area. In Luxembourgish, a Continental West Germanic language, the sound change has been linked to age differences, while its origins remain unclear. Two studies with a regional focus are presented in this paper. The first study examines the merger in the Centre and the South of Luxembourg. The acoustic examination of both the spectral peak and the centre of gravity of a spoken data set of five minimal pairs embedded in read and orally translated sentences from 48 speakers (three generations (old generation, 65–91 years; middle generation, 40–64 years; young generation, 20–39 years; each generation, n = 16), men and women) reveals interesting results related to their regional background. In the old generation, the merger is further advanced in the speech of old men from the former mining region in the South compared to their peers in the Centre, the former leading this sound change. On the other hand, young speakers in both regions produce only alveolopalatal /ɕ/, the merger being complete in this generation. The second study presents exploratory data from the East and the North of the country. The analysis of this smaller sample (n = 6 speakers) reveals patterns similar to the central region. Pointing to language contact with Romance in the South as cradle and/or catalyser of the merger, these results not only give further clues as to the development in Luxembourg, but also add to a deeper understanding of sound changes in process in complex sibilant systems.

scholarly journals Phonetic Sources of Sound Change: The Influence of Thai on Nasality in Pwo Karen

MANUSYA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Karnthida Kerdpol ◽  
Volker Dellwo ◽  
Mathias Jenny
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Nasal Vowels ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
High Vowels ◽  
Phonetic Realization

The phonetic realization of nasal vowels produced by Pwo speakers of different ages can vary. The present study investigated mid and low nasal vowels of Pwo speakers from Mae Hong Son province, Thailand. Due to the higher tendency of language contact with Thai, the younger group’s nasal vowels were expected to lose more nasality than the older group. The emergence of final nasal consonants was also expected in the younger group. The nasalization duration and consonant duration of both groups were analyzed. The results showed that, regardless of age, mid nasal vowels of some speakers had final nasal consonants, while low nasal vowels of all speakers did not. Furthermore, the older group had both longer nasalization duration and consonant duration than the younger group, suggesting their higher tendency to preserve nasality. The younger group had shorter nasalization duration and consonant duration, indicating the loss of nasality in vowels without compensatory final nasal consonants. The change might be due to the vowel quality. High vowels were fully denasalized with no compensatory final nasal consonants. Mid vowels were nasalized with the emergence of final nasal consonants. Low vowels remained nasalized without final nasal consonants. We could not confirm that the emergence of final nasal consonants was induced by Thai because it occurred in both groups. The existence of final nasal consonants in the younger group could not be used as evidence of an effect of contact.

Development of disyllabic tones in different learning contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233
Author(s):  
Bei Yang ◽  
Nuoyi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Immersion Programs ◽  
Post Test

AbstractTones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese. We study tonal acquisition for American learners of Chinese in three learning contexts: study-abroad, at-home and immersion programs. This paper explores whether and how tone production is improved in these contexts. Fifteen learners of Chinese participated in this study. They took a pre-test and a post-test. The control group contained ten native speakers. The task was a read-aloud test in Chinese. Additionally, learners filled out a language contact form. To assess students’ tonal accuracy, we conducted two kinds of analysis: a perception assessment by native Mandarin speakers and an acoustic analysis of pitch track comparison. Contextual data were coded based on the length of language contact with native speakers of Chinese. The results indicate that difficult tone combinations are context sensitive. It also reveals what strategies learners of Chinese use to produce tones similar to native speakers’ production.

Minimal Familiarity and Left-Right Judgment of Paintings

1966 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce M. Ross
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Male College ◽  
Male College Students

20 male college students briefly viewed slides of 30 paintings. On second showing, 16 of the 30 slides were reversed in left-right orientation and Ss judged each painting as to whether a reversal had occurred. On third showing, Ss judged whether a painting was in the “correct” artist-intended orientation. Judgments of “correct” were chiefly based on whether the painting had minimal familiarity, i.e., had been unchanged in orientation on the first two showings. Neither this group nor a control group agreed with artist intent at more than a chance level.

scholarly journals Bantu Lexical Reconstruction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koen Bostoen ◽  
Yvonne Bastin
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Intermediate Step ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Phonological Reconstruction ◽  
The Relationship

Lexical reconstruction has been an important enterprise in Bantu historical linguistics since the earliest days of the discipline. In this chapter a historical overview is provided of the principal scholarly contributions to that field of study. It is also explained how the Comparative Method has been and can be applied to reconstruct ancestral Bantu vocabulary via the intermediate step of phonological reconstruction and how the study of sound change needs to be completed with diachronic semantics in order to correctly reconstruct both the form and the meaning of etymons. Finally, some issues complicating this type of historical linguistic research, such as “osculance” due to prehistoric language contact, are addressed, as well as the relationship between reconstruction and classification.

On the Study of Strata in the Phonological History of Dialects

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Rulong Li
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Dialects

Researchers studying strata in the phonological history of Chinese dialects should note the following: First, some historical strata emerged because of language contact. Second, beside the evolution of phonological categories themselves, it is also important to trace the actual sound change from one pronunciation to another. Third, primary (i.e. covering most characters in a category) and secondary strata should be differentiated, and the latter should not be blown out of proportion. Fourth, researchers should find out how the various strata in a dialect constitute a single synchronic system. The four points in discussion are all illustrated with examples from Min dialects.

scholarly journals Emphatic consonants beyond Arabic: The emergence and proliferation of uvular-pharyngeal emphasis in Kumzari

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-328
Author(s):  
Erik Anonby
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
European Language ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Semitic Language ◽  
Strait Of Hormuz ◽  
Sound Changes

AbstractThe complex and cross-linguistically uncommon phonological phenomenon of “emphasis” is best known from Central Semitic languages such as Arabic and Aramaic. It is, however, found to varying degrees in a number of non-Semitic languages in contact with Arabic. This paper describes how in Kumzari, an Indo-European language spoken around the Strait of Hormuz, uvular-pharyngeal emphasis has arisen through language contact and has proliferated through language-internal processes. Beginning with the retention of emphatic consonants in a direct, extensive lexification by Arabic dating back at least 1300 years, emphasis has progressively penetrated the language by means of lexical innovations and two types of sound changes in both borrowed and inherited vocabulary: (i) analogical spread of emphasis onto plain but potentially emphatic consonants; and (ii) a sound change in which z has been invariably recast as an emphatic ẓ with no plain counterpart. The role of the back consonants w, x, q and ḥ, which induce emphasis on potentially emphatic consonants in diachronic processes but not synchronically, highlights the unique way in which this complex phenomenon operates in one non-Semitic language in contact with Arabic.

Production and perception of a sound change in progress: Tone merging in Hong Kong Cantonese

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy P. K. Mok ◽  
Donghui Zuo ◽  
Peggy W. Y. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Reaction Time Data ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
Merging Process ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Predictive Discriminant Analysis

AbstractCantonese has six lexical tones (T), but some tone pairs appear to be merging: T2 [25] vs. T5 [23], T3 [33] vs. T6 [22], and T4 [21] vs. T6 [22]. Twenty-eight merging participants and thirty control participants in Hong Kong were recruited for a perception experiment. Both accuracy rate and reaction time data were collected. Seventeen merging participants also participated in a production experiment. Predictive discriminant analysis of the fundamental frequency data and judgments by native transcribers were used to assess production accuracy. Results show that the merging participants still had six tone categories in production, although their “tone space” was more reduced. Tones with lower type frequency were more prone to change. The merging group was significantly slower in tone perception than the control group was. In illustrating the patterns of the ongoing tone merging process in Cantonese, this study contributes to a better understanding of the forces of sound change in general.

scholarly journals Convergence and the Retention of Marked Consonants in Sango: the Creation and Appropriation of a Pidgin

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-237
Author(s):  
William Samarin
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
West African ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Phonological System

AbstractSango challenges allegations that the sound inventories of pidgins are small and that in language contact sound change often leads to loss or assimilation in phonemic distinctions. Sango has retained almost the whole phonological system of Ngbandi, on which it is based. This is explained, not by substratal influence—the systems of co-territorial Ubangian languages of the Banda and Gbaya groups—but by similar systems of several West African and especially central Bantu languages spoken by the workers and soldiers who were brought to the Ubangi River basin by Belgian colonizers, beginning in 1887 and very soon after by the French, and who, with the indigenes, very quickly created a new language that was soon appropriated by the Ngbandis, thereby preserving at least this part of their own language.

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