An Argument for Phonological Stress in French: the syntagm over contrast

It is standardly assumed that French does not have word-stress, rather it has phrase-level prominence. I will advance a number of arguments, many of which have appeared already in the literature, that cumulatively suggest that French roots are characterized by phonological prominence, even if this is non-contrastive. By prominence, I mean a syntagmatically distributed strength that has all the phonological characteristics of stress in other Romance languages. I will remain agnostic about the nature of that stress, eschewing the lively debate about whether French has feet, and if so what type, and at what level. The structure of the argument is as follows. French demonstrably has phonological word-final strength but one wonders what the source of this strength is. Positionally, the initial position is strong and, independently of cases where it is reinforced by other factors, the final position is weak. I will argue, based on parallels with other Romance languages, that French word-final strength derives from root-final phonological stress. The broader significance of this conclusion is that syntagmatic properties are enough to motivate underlying forms, even in the absence of paradigmatic contrasts (minimal pairs).

Penanda Klausa Adverbial Dalam Bahasa Angkola

An adverbial clause is a subordinate clause that serves to provide information on the main clause. The presence of an adverbial clause is not a must, but it can help create coherence in a discourse. This study aims to describe the markers of adverbial clauses in Angkola language. The method used is descriptive qualitative markers. Data collections are conducted by speaking, listening, and taking notes. The data in this study are adverbial clauses in Angkola language obtained from native Angkola speakers and also written sources obtained from Angkola language books. Data analysis was carried out by matching the data with the theory contained in the study, namely adverbial clause markers in Angkola language sentences. The results showed that there were five types of adverbial clauses in Angkola language, namely temporal clauses marked by the word dung 'after' and dompak 'when', conditional clauses marked by the word molo 'if', causal clauses (causal clause) which is marked by the word harana 'because', the purpose clause (purposal clause) which is marked by the word anso 'so that/so', and the concession clause (consessive clause) which is marked by the words bope 'although' and aha pe 'what ever'. The use of adverbial clauses can be found at the initial or final position in a sentence.

Development of production skills in the absence of precise phonolexical representations

The study investigates the relationship between lexical encoding and production in order to establish whether learners are able to produce a difficult contrast in words that they merged in their mental lexicon. Forty American English learners of Russian were tested on their production and lexical encoding of familiar and highly-frequent words with the plain/palatalized contrast in second language (L2) Russian. Results suggest that the relationship between phonolexical encoding and production is less straightforward than a simple mirror image and is strongly affected by the prosodic position of the target consonants. In word-final position, learners did not lexically encode the difference between plain and palatalized consonants but they strived to produce it, although not very successfully. In intervocalic position, learners’ ability to encode and produce words with the plain/palatalized contrast was more accurate than in word-final position, which was attributed to the ‘spelling trap’ effect. Since Russian orthography employs vowel graphemes to mark the plain/palatalized status of preceding consonants, it appears that learners relied on these assumed vowel differences to articulate complex palatalization gestures. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that L2 learners can produce a contrast that they have not yet lexically encoded.

Interesting Pausal Forms in the Speech of Muslims and Christians in Kufᵘr-Kanna

The aim of this paper is to describe the system of vocalic variants in pause pertaining to speakers of Arabic in Kufᵘr-Kanna (AKK) and in this regard to determine the features that characterize the AKK. As in Nazareth, the incidence of pauses in AKK varies and depends on the content, the listener and the speaker’s intentions. In AKK I detected pausal forms in the speech of middle-aged and elderly Muslims and elderly Christians. In addition to changes in consonants and vowel quality in their speech, in pausal position final syllables also undergo other modifications as compared to the contextual forms. Unlike in Nazareth, four further types were identified in AKK: (1) lengthening of short vowels in final position: ‑Cv > ‑Cv̄#, -CvC > -Cv̄C#; lengthening of normal and anaptyctic short vowels in final closed syllables: -CvC#; (2) devoicing of voiced consonants in word-final position; (3) glottalization after con­sonants and vowels in word-final position; and (4) aspiration: addition of (h) in pausal position where the word ends in long vowels. Key words: Arabic dialects – Pausal forms – Syllables – Long vowels – Short vowels – Christians and Muslims.

Yugan Khanty Phonetic Features Based on the Experimental Data

The paper deals with the phonetics of Yugan idiom of Surgut Khanty. The research is a part of the project aimed at describing Surgut Khanty phonetics. The Yugan idiom has significant differences from the Tromyegan idiom described before. The analysis is based on the data collected during the expedition to the settlement Ugut in 2019. The experimental part includes 130 words list read out three times by four native speakers from different traditional settlements on the Malyi Yugan river and on the Bolshoi Yugan river. The research was conducted using experimental techniques: Praat, Emu-SDMS software. The main technique was a formant analysis that deals with resonant frequencies in vowel spectra to obtain data on articulation features. Statistical evaluations and visualization were established via R programming language. We found differences between the Malyi Yugan river and the Bol’shoi Yugan river idioms. 12 vowel phonemes were found in the Malyi Yugan idiom. Compared to the Tromyegan system the phoneme /ɔ/ (traditionally /ȯ̆/) is absent. It was replaced by /ɛ/ (traditionally /ȧ̆/) or /o/ (traditionally /ŏ/). The phoneme u̇ described in previous literature on the topic disappeared and was replaced by /iː/. The Bolshoi Yugan vowel system includes these phonemes and also diphthongs [ui], [ɔɛ]. They appear after [k] where etimological u̇, ȯ̆ used to be. They probably are the realizations of the phonemes /iː/, /ɛ/ in the position after labialized k, which has become a phoneme. Non-initial [w] is reported to be specific Jugan feature and appears to have parallels in Tromyegan idiom too. It is an evidence for the rearranging of the Surgut idioms. In this pronunciation type /w/ is realized as a labial approximant in an initial position and after not-rounded vowels in a non-final position. After not-rounded vowels in a final position it comes as an initial-voiced fricative evoking preceding vowel diphthongization. After rounded vowels it is labiovelar [γʷ] or non-syllabic [ʊ] (before consonants). This pronunciation type is similar to the Tromyegan type, but it differs from the Pim type where /w/ comes as a labial approximant consistently. The disappearance of labial fricatives is a new phenomenon which has not been described properly. Territorial and social factors for this process are given. The Malyi Yugan speakers use lateral fricatives /ł/, /ʎ̥/ and the Bolshoi Yugan speakers replace it by /t/, /c͡c̦/. In the settlement Ugut where Bolshoi and Malyi Yugan natives contact in Russian-spoken environment both variants are used with t-pronunciation evaluated by speakers as new and declining from the ‘'right’ speech.

STRANE DIREKTNE INVESTICIJE U AKTUELNIM USLOVIMA POSLOVANjA

The focus of the paper is the analysis of inflows and outflows of foreign direct investments in the Republic of Serbia in the current business conditions marked by a pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus and the measures that had to be taken as a result. Due to the contribution that foreign direct investments provide to the economic development of the country, the primary goal of the Republic of Serbia is to preserve a favorable investment climate and actively implementation of foreign investment attraction. After the declared pandemic, international economic flows are changed, and thus the movement of foreign direct investments, so their reduced inflow was recorded in the Republic of Serbia as well. Therefore, as a result of the research, the author expects forming a final position on the real benefits achieved through foreign direct investment for the Republic of Serbia in the current conditions compared to the costs of measures taken of epidemiological and economic nature.

Effect of tone sandhi on singing in Chaozhou dialect

The Chaozhou dialect is a branch of Southern Min Chinese with eight tones and a wealth of tone sandhi. In this paper we explore whether there is a tone-sandhi effect on melodic construction and tone realisation in Chaozhou song, using a corpus analysis and observational study. Outcomes from the corpus analysis show a strikingly higher rate of tone-melody matching in Sandhi dataset than that in Citation dataset. In the observational study, we found significant differences between sandhi form and citation form concerning tones /53/ and /21/, but no significant difference for tones /35/ and /213/. Results suggest that falling tones in the final position of a phrase tended to exhibit a larger contoural range, and that tones in non-final positions may be more affected by the pitches of tones that precede or follow them.

Speech Perception through Face Masks by Children and Adults

Face masks can cause speech processing difficulties. However, it is unclear to what extent these difficulties are caused by the visual obstruction of the speaker’s mouth or by changes of the acoustic signal, and whether the effects can be found regardless of semantic context. In the present study, children and adults performed a cued shadowing task online, repeating the last word of English sentences. Target words were embedded in sentence-final position and manipulated visually, acoustically, and by semantic context (cloze probability). First results from 16 children and 16 adults suggest that processing language through face masks leads to slower responses in both groups, but visual, acoustic, and semantic cues all significantly reduce the mask effect. Although children were less proficient in predictive speech processing overall, they were still able to use semantic cues to compensate for face mask effects in a similar fashion to adults.

Design of a Differential Safety Mechanism (DSM) Dedicated to the NSW Micromegas Wedges

The New Small Wheel Micromegas detector system for the Upgrade of ATLAS Muon Spectrometer is in the phase of integration and commissioning at the Laboratories BB5 and Building 191 at CERN respectively. In this framework, the produced modules are evaluated and tested at a Cosmic Ray Stand or at their final position on New Small Wheel. Providing gas mixture to the Micromegas Wedges, the static gauge pressure inside the detector’s layers must be kept below a nominal value around 3 mbar. Pressures above 10 mbar, due several reasons or gas line blocking, could cause serious damages in the detectors. In this work we describe the principle of operation and the design of a low cost intelligent unit, the “Differential Safety Mechanism”, dedicated to protect the Micromegas Wedges against unexpected slow or sudden increase of the static gauge pressure. The internal detailed structure, the simulation and the prototype tests of the DSM are presented analytically in this work.

Are the Player Selection Process and Performance Influenced by Relative Age Effect in Elite Women’s Handball?

The relative age effect (RAE) is a phenomenon present in team sports, but it does not influence each gender to the same extent. This study aimed to examine the RAE and its relation to performance in international women's handball competitions (2017/18 World Championships). The sample was composed of 1,096 female players distributed into three categories: youth or under 18 (n = 369); junior or under 20 (n = 328) and senior (n = 399). The teams were divided into four groups based on their final position (medalist, quarter-finalist, eight-finalist and bottom-eight teams). The birthdate distribution (trimesters and semesters) was analysed according to the competition category and the playing position. Differences between the expected and observed birthdate distribution were checked using the chi-square statistical test followed by the calculation of the odds ratio. The results revealed, by trimester, the presence of the RAE in the youth (x2(7) = 87.22; p < 0.001) and junior (x2 (7) = 33.12; p < 0.001) categories, with no impact on senior (p > 0.05). The effect size was relatively strong in the youth category (Vc = 0.48). By semester, the prevalence of the RAE was also found in the senior category (p < 0.05). According to the playing position, the RAE was especially detected in ‘goalkeeper’ (p < 0.01) and ‘centre-back’ (p < 0.05) positions, both in U-18 and U-20 categories. Surprisingly, this effect also appeared in the ‘back’ players in the senior category (p < 0.05). A prevalence of the RAE was identified in teams with a higher final position, but interestingly had a greater impact in the quarter-finalist teams (p < 0.001) than in the medalist teams (p < 0.01). The findings demonstrated that the RAE tends to decrease as the chronological age of players increases, demonstrating a strong presence according to collective performance in international women’s handball.