Anticipation, Simultaneity/Consecutivity and Distinctive Features in Phonology

The notion of distinctive features has had a firm position in phonology since the time of the Prague Linguistic Circle and especially that of one of its representatives, Roman Jakobson, whose well-known delimitation of a phoneme as “a bundle of distinctive features” (Jakobson, 1962, p. 421), that is, a set of simultaneous distinctive features, has inspired many scholars. Jakobson’s attempt “to analyse the distribution of distinctive features along two axes: that of simultaneity and that of successiveness” (ibid., p. 435) helped cover several phonetic and/or phonological processes and phenomena. Distinctive features, although theoretical constructs (Giegerich, 1992, p. 89), reflect phonetic, that is, articulatory and acoustic, properties of sounds. In the flow of speech, some features tend to influence the neighbouring phonemes. Sometimes speech organs produce something that the brain just ‘plans’ to produce (anticipatory speech errors). There are situations where it seems as if the successive organization of phonemes went hand in hand with the simultaneous nature of certain articulatory characteristics of those phonemes (the transgression of consonants and inherence of vowels in Romportl’s theory), or the given feature seems to be anticipated by the preceding segment. This is the case with nasalization and/or anticipatory coarticulation, as well as regressive (anticipatory) assimilation. In addition, simultaneity/consecutivity is a decisive criterion for the difference between the so-called complex segments, as specified in Feature Geometry, and simple segments (Duanmu, 2009). Moreover, the phonological opposition of simultaneity- successivity (that is, consecutivity) itself functions as a feature making a difference between segmental and suprasegmental elements in the sound system of a language, as was first mentioned by Harris (1944), later indicated by Jakobson (1962) and then fully developed by Sabol (2007, 2012).

Measuring sign complexity: Comparing a theory-driven and a data-driven approach

The study of articulatory complexity has proven to yield useful insights into the phonological mechanisms of spoken languages. In sign languages, this type of knowledge is scarcely documented. The current study compares a data-driven measure and a theory-driven measure of complexity for signs in French Sign Language (LSF). The former measure is based on error rates of handshape, location, orientation, movement and sign fluidity in a repetition task administered to non-signers; the latter measure is derived by applying a feature-geometry model of sign description on the same set of signs. A significant correlation is found between the two measures for the overall complexity. When looking at the impact of individual phonemic classes on complexity, a significant correlation is found for handshape and location but not for movement. We discuss how these results indicate that a fine-grained theoretical model of sign phonology/phonetics reflects the degree of complexity as resulting from the perceptual and articulatory properties of signs.

Contrastive Feature Typologies of Arabic Consonant Reflexes

Attempts to classify spoken Arabic dialects based on distinct reflexes of consonant phonemes are known to employ a mixture of parameters, which often conflate linguistic and non-linguistic facts. This article advances an alternative, theory-informed perspective of segmental typology, one that takes phonological properties as the object of investigation. Under this approach, various classificatory systems are legitimate; and I utilize a typological scheme within the framework of feature geometry. A minimalist model designed to account for segment-internal representations produces neat typologies of the Arabic consonants that vary across dialects, namely qāf,ǧīm,kāf, ḍād, the interdentals, the rhotic, and the pharyngeals. Cognates for each of these are analyzed in a typology based on a few monovalent contrastive features. A key benefit of the proposed typologies is that the featural compositions of the various cognates give grounds for their behavior, in terms of contrasts and phonological activity, and potentially in diachronic processes as well. At a more general level, property-based typology is a promising line of research that helps us understand and categorize purely linguistic facts across languages or language varieties.

A Unified Methodology for the Generalisation of the Geometry of Features

The development of generalisation (simplification) methods for the geometry of features in digital cartography in most cases involves the improvement of existing algorithms without their validation with respect to the similarity of feature geometry before and after the process. It also consists of the assessment of results from the algorithms, i.e., characteristics that are indispensable for automatic generalisation. The preparation of a fully automatic generalisation for spatial data requires certain standards, as well as unique and verifiable algorithms for particular groups of features. This enables cartographers to draw features from these databases to be used directly on the maps. As a result, collected data and their generalised unique counterparts at various scales should constitute standardised sets, as well as their updating procedures. This paper proposes a solution which consists in contractive self-mapping (contractor for scale s = 1) that fulfils the assumptions of the Banach fixed-point theorem. The method of generalisation of feature geometry that uses the contractive self-mapping approach is well justified due to the fact that a single update of source data can be applied to all scales simultaneously. Feature data at every scale s < 1 are generalised through contractive mapping, which leads to a unique solution. Further generalisation of the feature is carried out on larger scale spatial data (not necessarily source data), which reduces the time and cost of the new elaboration. The main part of this article is the theoretical presentation of objectifying the complex process of the generalisation of the geometry of a feature. The use of the inherent characteristics of metric spaces, narrowing mappings, Lipschitz and Cauchy conditions, Salishchev measures, and Banach theorems ensure the uniqueness of the generalisation process. Their application to generalisation makes this process objective, as it ensures that there is a single solution for portraying the generalised features at each scale. The present study is dedicated to researchers concerned with the theory of cartography.

Palatalization in Central Bùlì

Palatalization is a process through which non-palatal consonants acquire palatality, either through a shift in place of articulation from a non-palatal region to the hard palate or through the superimposition of palatal qualities on a non-palatal consonant. In both cases, there is a front, non-low vowel or a palatal glide that triggers the process. In this paper, I examine the palatalization phenomena in Bùlì using Feature Geometry within the non-linear generative phonological framework. I argue that both full and secondary palatalization occur in Buli. The paper further explains that, the long high front vowel /i:/, triggers the formation of a palato-alveolar affricate which is realized in the Central dialect of Bùlì, where the Northern and Central dialects retain the derived palatal stop.

Production of Vowel /ə/ in Sundanese by Japanese Native Speakers in First Exposure

The research described native Japanese speakers’ perception of Sundanese vowel /ə/ after the first exposure to a controlled naturalistic input of conversation. The research worked in respect of Brown’s model of L2 speech perception and L1 feature geometry, which sought to relate theories of segmental phonology to L2 speech perception and the first exposure treatment. Some Sundanese native speakers conducted a conversation that contained the /ə/ vowel in front of five Japanese native speakers with no prior exposure to Sundanese. Therefore, the researchers had collected speech data from five L1 Japanese native speakers (three males, two females, Mage = 22, SD = 2,1). The Japanese were asked to listen to the short conversation and imitate vowel /ə/, which did not exist in the Japanese language vowel inventory. The observation confirmed Brown’s hypothesis that L2 perception of /ə/ vowel was constrained by the L1 feature geometry. L1 Japanese language phonological properties worked as a perceptual filter to Sundanese L2 input, causing the Japanese L2 learners to perceive only the vowel discriminated by phonological features presented in Sundanese. The data show that the Japanese native speakers are able to overcome the perceptual filters so they can produce various frequencies of vowel /ə/, which are statistically similar to the frequency produced by Sundanese native speakers. The research implies that the possibility of learning new sounds from an entirely new language is wide open when the learner is able to pass through the L1 perceptual filter.

Restricted and reversed aspectual contrasts

In this chapter, Scottish Gaelic data are presented as evidence for the necessity of two modifications to Cowper’s (1998 and forward) feature geometry for tense and aspectual contrasts. Both modifications involve dependencies on the PRECEDENCE feature, which in Cowper’s geometry of English is responsible for the past tense marker -ed and the past participle morpheme -en/-ed. The first modification is a RESTRICTED feature. This feature is used to encode the temporal restriction between event and reference times in the near perfect and near prospective aspects found in Scottish Gaelic. The second modification is a REVERSED feature, which reverses the temporal ordering of two times. This feature is argued to mark unrestricted and restricted prospective aspects. It is claimed that certain future-like meanings in Scottish Gaelic do not involve a modal feature like IRREALIS but rather the proposed REVERSED feature.

Affrication of Voiced Labials (/B, V/) in Changana

This article describes and analyses the frication of the voiced labial consonants (/b/ and /v/) in Changana, a Bantu language (S53, in Guthrie’s 1967-1971 classification). In the light of the autosegmental phonology (Leben 1973, 1978, 2006; 1973, Goldsmith 1976, 2004; Odden 1986) combined with the Feature Geometry theory, the article discusses phonological processes that turn voiced labials into labial-alveolar affricate [bz]. In this study, we assume that the process of hiatus resolution by gliding is the trigger of the alteration under analysis. That is, when derivative suffixes with low vowel (/a/) and the high front vowel (/i/) in the initial position are attached to words with rounded vowels (/o, u/) in final position in some morphological processes such as diminutivisation and locativisation, the results are undesirable sequences (hiatus). In order to resolve such hiatus, a series of phonological processes such as the turning of the rounded vowel in the word final position into labial-velar glide allowing the adjacency of voiced labials with labial glide which violates the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) takes place. The present study analyses the OCP using empirical Changana data collected both in the fieldwork supplemented by data from other sources including bibliographical and introspective data. The article is organised as follows. Firstly, it discusses the theoretical framework; secondly it analyses the Hiatus Resolution in Changana; thirdly, it analyses the data and lastly, it presents the main conclusions of the study.

Stem Alternation in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Classificatory Verbs: A Cognitive Semantic Account

This paper investigates the phenomenon of ‘classificatory verbs,’ i.e., a set of motion and positional verbs that show stem alternation depending on the semantic features of one of their arguments. The data is drawn mainly from Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì Multimedia Dictionary, Nicholas Welch’s field notes, and other documentary sources of the language. Tłı̨chǫ classificatory verbs are presented and analyzed in detail. The paper argues that Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì classificatory verbs belong to four semantic subclasses and that these subclasses show a decreasing degree of stem alternations related to argument classification. The inconsistency in stem alternation is triggered by the presence or absence of some semantic features that determine the number of stem allomorphs. Locative verbs are affected by the [COMFORT] feature, and the other three sets are influenced by [TRANSFER], [INITIAL AGENTIVE] and [FINAL AGENTIVE] features. Moreover, the paper outlines a semantic feature geometry that accounts for the observed regularities in classificatory verb stems and their possible variations intra- and cross-linguistically.