Language and cluster-specific effects in the timing of onset consonant sequences in seven languages

Pouplier, Marianne; Pastätter, Manfred; Hoole, Phil; Marin, Ştefania; Chițoran, Ioana; Lentz, Tomas O.; Kochetov, Alexei

doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2022.101153

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…As mentioned in Section 3.1, this is not what is predicted by either hypothesis but is an exact reversal of the pattern predicted by H1 (see Figure 6 left, above). Of further interest is that the values of constriction duration overlap are negative across all sonority shapes; the uniformity suggests that this may be a language-wide timing pattern, which is consistent with the findings of Pouplier et al (2022).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Sonority sequencing and its relationship to articulatory timing in Georgian

Crouch¹,

Katsika²,

Chițoran³

2023

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

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This work asks how the syllable as a unit is delimited in space and time. To do this we bring together two theoretical approaches to the syllable: a sonority-based approach which emphasizes spatial organization, and the coupled oscillator model (Nam, Goldstein & Saltzman 2009) which emphasizes temporal organization. Many languages present challenges to these theories, and here we focus on Georgian, which is problematic for both approaches, as Georgian permits onset clusters of up to seven consonants and of any sonority shape. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between gestural overlap and sonority shape in Georgian via electromagnetic articulography. Drawing on data from three speakers, we examine gestural overlap in two-consonant onsets that vary in sonority shape and order of place of articulation. Using two measures of gestural overlap, we find (i) long lag between consonant gestures, which we suggest is language-specific and (ii) that lag is largest in sonority rises and smallest in sonority falls. These results suggest that neither phonemic recoverability nor a hierarchical effect of increasingly open constrictions is the primary motivator behind inter-consonantal timing. Instead, the high degree of overlap in sonority falls ensures their tautosyllabic parse, which would otherwise be threatened by intrusive vocoids. Thus, we argue that recoverability of the syllable as a unit is the major motivating factor behind the timing patterns observed, and that syllables emerge not solely from either spatial or temporal properties, but from the interplay of the two.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Sonority sequencing and its relationship to articulatory timing in Georgian

Crouch¹,

Katsika²,

Chițoran³

2023

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

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“…Thus, all three possible scenarios have been observed across different languages: cue enhancement of more difficult clusters in Tsou, no difference based on cluster difficulty in Russian, and less cue enhancement in more difficult clusters in Tashlhiyt. Indeed, there is much work outlining how onset cluster production is highly cross-linguistically variable (e.g., Pouplier et al, 2022). Exploring how listener-oriented speaking styles influence onset cluster production and perception across different languages is an avenue that future work can explore this issue more extensively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clear speech in Tashlhiyt Berber: The perception of typologically uncommon word-initial contrasts by native and naive listeners

Zellou

Lahrouchi

Bensoukas

2022

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Tashlhiyt Berber is known for having typologically unusual word-initial phonological contrasts, specifically, word-initial singleton-geminate minimal pairs (e.g., sin vs ssin) and sequences of consonants that violate the sonority sequencing principle (e.g., non-rising sonority sequences: fsin). The current study investigates the role of a listener-oriented speaking style on the perceptual enhancement of these rarer phonological contrasts. It examines the perception of word-initial singleton, geminate, and complex onsets in Tashlhiyt Berber across clear and casual speaking styles by native and naive listeners. While clear speech boosts the discriminability of pairs containing singleton-initial words for both listener groups, only native listeners performed better in discriminating between initial singleton-geminate contrasts in clear speech. Clear speech did not improve perception for lexical contrasts containing a non-rising-sonority consonant cluster for either listener group. These results are discussed in terms of how clear speech can inform phonological typology and the role of phonetic enhancement in language-universal vs language-specific speech perception.

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“…In spite of the general agreement that voiced and voiceless aspirates have similar timing of spread-glottis gestures relative to the consonantal constrictions they are coordinated with, there is substantial cross-linguistic and cross-talker variation in the timing and coordination of these gestural complexes (see, e.g., Hoole & Bombien 2017; Pouplier et al. 2022), which is also modulated by prosodic factors such as phrasing and prominence (Bombien, Mooshammer, Hoole & Kuehnert 2008; Hoole, Bombien, Kühnert, & Mooshammer 2009; Bombien 2011; Hoole & Bombien 2017). More generally, it is well documented in the literature that speech rate and prosodic structure modulate the production and acoustics of contrasts involving aspiration (see Beckman, Helgason, McMurray & Ringen 2011; Krivokapić 2014; Kim, Kim & Cho 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voiced aspirates with mixed voicing in Yemba, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon

Faytak,

Steffman

2023

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

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Using electroglottography and acoustic measures, we characterize the strength and quality of voicing in voiced aspirated and unaspirated consonants (stops, fricatives, and approximants) in Yemba (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon). We show that the Yemba voiced aspirates exhibit mixed voicing: modal voicing during the consonant constriction, but voiceless aspiration after release. Breathy or whispery phonation extends slightly into consonant constrictions preceding, and across the entire duration of vowels following, aspiration; this non-modal phonation extends further into prenasalized consonants. Mixed voicing has typically been excluded from the possible range of laryngeal–supralaryngeal coordinative patterns in consonants, and is thought to be unattested in the world’s languages; most previous work on this topic assumes that non-modal phonation after voiced consonant release is breathy-voiced. However, we argue that Yemba voiced aspirates differ from more commonly studied breathy-release aspirates only in the settings of some gestural parameters: the late glottal spread gesture is larger in magnitude and more resistant to coarticulation, yielding consistently devoiced aspiration which may even be more perceptually recoverable compared to breathiness.

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Language and cluster-specific effects in the timing of onset consonant sequences in seven languages

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

Sonority sequencing and its relationship to articulatory timing in Georgian

Sonority sequencing and its relationship to articulatory timing in Georgian

Clear speech in Tashlhiyt Berber: The perception of typologically uncommon word-initial contrasts by native and naive listeners

Voiced aspirates with mixed voicing in Yemba, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon

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