English Sound Structure

Erratum: Intelligibility of chimeric locally time-reversed speech: Relative contribution of four frequency bands [ JASA Express Lett. 1(6), 065201 (2021)]

“…Based on factor scores extracted from correlation coefficients between power fluctuations in critical-band filtered speech , they examined relationships between the factor scores and phonemic labels assigned to speech sentences. Nakajima et al (2017) found high correlation coefficients (0.82-0.87) between factor scores in one of the factors and the order of phonemic categories in the previously proposed sonority scales (de Saussure, 1916;Harris, 1994;Selkirk, 1984;Spencer, 1996). Specifically, the factor that was closely related to the second lowest frequency band (540-1700 Hz), i.e., the mid-low factor (Nakajima et al, 2017), produced factor scores that were correlated best with the sonority scales.…”

“…Nevertheless, controversy regarding the concept of sonority continues (e.g., Parker, 2012b;Rahilly, 2016). For example, the consonant /s/ shows conspicuous behavior that does not fit into sonority scales in Indo-European languages as well as in other languages (Goad, 2016), the sonority scales proposed by phoneticians are slightly different from each other (e.g., de Saussure, 1916;Harris, 1994;Selkirk, 1984;Spencer, 1996), and the arguments about the concept of sonority tend to be circular (Rahilly, 2016).…”

Danish, Estonian, English: Variations on a theme

“…They are privative in nature and their number is usually small (single-digit number), though the exact number of elements employed differ by researcher. Useful overviews can be found in Harris (1994), Harris & Lindsey (1995), as well as Backley (2011).…”

“…Section 3 presents a formal analysis of the representation of length in English and Estonian oxytones. This analysis will be couched within the framework of Government Phonology 2.0 (references to follow), an offspring of "classical" Government Phonology (Kaye & Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1985;Kaye 1990;Charette 1991;Harris 1994). We will then look at the representation of stød in Danish, showing how the same structures used for English and Estonian can help us make sense of stød, while still accounting for the areas where there are differences between the three languages.…”

/r/-sandhi in the speech of Queen Elizabeth II

“…Other approaches assume that underlying coda /r/ is present but that /r/-deletion operates before a consonant or pause (e.g. Mohanan 1986, Harris 1994). Yet other accounts claim that both rules (/r/-insertion and /r/-deletion) coexist in the synchronic phonology of varieties (e.g.…”