The present study examines the articulation and acoustics of the typologically rare and understudied ‘whistled' fricative sound in Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language. Using ultrasound imaging and video recording, we examine the lingual and labial articulation of the whistled fricative. For the acoustic analysis, we employ the multitaper spectral analysis, which ensures reliable spectral estimates. The results revealed an interplay between multiple articulators involved in the production of the sound: the retroflex lingual gesture and the narrowing of the lower lip toward the upper teeth. Acoustically, the spectra of the whistled fricative are more peaked and compact than the acoustically similar palatoalveolar fricative, and the differences manifest themselves most clearly in two acoustic parameters, dynamic amplitude (Ad) and M2 (variance). The acoustic differences are also manifested in F2 and F3 in the surrounding vowels. Additionally, the ‘whistled' fricative in Xitsonga is not quite whistled, contrary to the label given to the sound in previous studies. Building on the current articulatory and acoustic results, we discuss two different aerodynamic models for the whistled fricatives in Southern Bantu languages and conclude that the whistled fricative in Xitsonga is best characterized as a retroflex segment accompanied by weak whistling.

The present study reports a novel case where a simple one-to-one category mapping may develop into a systematic one-to-two mapping over the course of second language acquisition. We examined the split in category mapping of the Mandarin unaspirated stops conditioned by tone by Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese (e.g. Mandarin /ta35/ to Korean lenis [ta] vs. Mandarin /ta55/ to Korean fortis [t’a]). Korean L2 learners and naïve listeners participated in identification tasks in which f0 contours of Mandarin words containing unaspirated stops with short-lag VOTs were digitally manipulated. In word-initial position, learners showed a near-categorical perception from lenis to fortis as f0 increased, while most stimuli were identified as fortis by naïve listeners. The effect of f0 was much smaller in word-medial position, but the group difference remained the same, confirming the two groups’ differential use of phonetic cues for stop identification. Taken together, a substantial reorganization of perceptual cues, namely the promotion of f0 concurrent with significant underweighting of VOT cues, seems to have taken place during L2 acquisition. The findings were discussed with reference to PAM-L2 whereby the knowledge of the L2 phonological system along with particular phonetic properties of the L2 sounds may have driven a perceptual regrouping of the L2 stop categories.

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This study examined contrastive effects of neighboring tones that give rise to a systematic asymmetry in stop perception. Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese and naïve listeners labeled voiceless unaspirated stops preceded or followed by low or high extrinsic tonal context (e.g., maLO.pa vs. maHI.pa) either as lenis (associated with a low F0 at the vowel onset) or as fortis stops (with a high F0). Further, the target tone itself varied between level and rising (e.g., maLO.paLEV vs. maLO.paRIS). Both groups of listeners showed significant contrastive effects of extrinsic context. Specifically, more lenis responses were elicited in a high tone context than in a low one, and vice versa. This indicates that the onset F0 of a stop is perceived lower in a high tone context, which, in turn, provides positive evidence for lenis stops. This effect was more clearly pronounced for the level than for the contour tone target and also for the preceding than for the following context irrespective of linguistic experience. Despite qualitative similarities, learners showed larger effects for all F0 variables, indicating that the degree of context effects may be enhanced by one’s phonetic knowledge, namely sensitivity to F0 cues along with the processing of consecutive tones acquired through learning a tone language.