Evidence and characterization of a glide-vowel distinction in American English

Abstract

This study tests whether native speakers of American English exhibit a glide-vowel distinction ([j]- [i]) in a speech elicitation experiment. When reading sentences out loud, participants' pronunciations of 4 near-minimal pairs of pre-existing lexical items (e.g., Eston [iə] vs. pneumon [jə]) exhibit significant differences when acoustically measured, confirming the presence of a [j]- [i] distinction. This distinction is also found to be productively extended to the production of 20 near-minimal pairs of nonce words (e.g., Súmia → [sumiə] vs. Fímya → [fimjə]), diversified and balanced along different phonologically relevant factors of the surrounding environment. Multiple acoustic measurements are compared to test what aspects most consistently convey the distinction: F2 (frontness), F1 (height), intensity, vocalic sequence duration, transition earliness, and transition speed. This serves the purpose of documenting the distinction's acoustic phonetic realization. It also serves in the comparison of phonological representations. Multiple types of previously proposed phonological representations are considered along with the competing predictions they generate regarding the acoustic measurements performed. Results suggest that the primary and most consistent characteristic of the distinction is earliness of transition into the following vowel, with results also suggesting that the [j] glide has a greater degree of constriction. The [j] glide is found to have a significantly less anterior articulation, challenging the application of a representation based on place or articulator differences that would predict [j] to be more anterior.

An Acoustic Study of Sandhi Vowel Hiatus in Luganda

“…It was found that intensity and F1 in the initial interval of i#V and jV# was lower than in the full high vowel in i#, indicating that the tongue body position was higher in i#V and jV# than in i#. It has been argued that semivowels have lower F1 and lower intensity than corresponding vowels (Jaggers, 2018; Maddieson & Emmorey, 1985; Myers & Hansen, 2005), so this finding is compatible with the claim in the literature that the high vocoid in i#V and jV# is a glide [j]. But it is also compatible with this vocoid being a high vowel with a higher target than the corresponding monophthong.…”

“…The greater degree of constriction results in lower intensity for the glide than for the corresponding vowel (Myers & Hansen, 2005). Differences in degree of stricture would also be reflected in F1, which is significantly lower in the glide than the corresponding high vowel in Amharic, Yoruba, and Zuni (Maddieson & Emmorey, 1985), Finnish (Myers & Hansen, 2005), and English (Jaggers, 2018). If the high vocoid in i#V and jV# is a glide, it would be expected to have lower intensity and F1 than the high vowel in i#.…”

A Synchronic and Historical Look at Aklanon Phonology

“…To describe DAR, this study focused on formant frequency, vocalic duration, and acoustic intensity (cf. Jaggers, 2018). Vocalic context was taken into consideration to see variation in behavior.…”

“…The interaction of an introduced [DORSAL] /j/ and pre-DAR [CORONAL] /l/ could have led to assimilation based on the need to perceptually and articulatorily "recalibrate" or reanalyze (see Bybee, 2015) both approximants as they started to overlap in the inventory during the initial period of sound change. Keating (1988in Jaggers, 2018 argues that [j] is both [DORSAL] and [CORONAL], which can explain for this tendency to velarize. On another note, Browman and Goldstein (1995) argue that the tip (coronal) and back (dorsal) of the tongue are mechanically interconnected such that "in initial position, the tongue tip and the tongue dorsum gesture are roughly synchronous, whereas word-finally, the wider tongue dorsum constriction precedes the narrower tongue-tip closure" (ibid, p. 2).…”