Phonetic structure in Yoloxóchitl Mixtec consonants

Abstract

While Mixtec languages are well-known for their tonal systems, there remains relatively little work focusing on their consonant inventories. This paper provides an in-depth phonetic description of the consonant system of the Yoloxóchitl Mixtec language (Oto-Manguean, ISO 639-3 code xty), a Guerrero Mixtec variety. The language possesses a number of contrasts common among Mixtec languages, such as voiceless unaspirated stops, prenasalized stops, and a strong tendency for words to conform to a minimally bimoraic structure. Using a controlled set of data, we focus on how WORD SIZE and WORD POSITION influence the acoustic properties of different consonant types. We examine closure duration, VOT, and formant transitions with the stop series, spectral moments with the fricative series, the timing between oral and nasal closure with the prenasalized stop series, and both formant transitions and qualitative variability with the glide series. The general effect of WORD SIZE is discussed in relation to work on POLYSYLLABIC SHORTENING

Disentangling the Effects of Position and Utterance-Level Declination on the Production of Complex Tones in Yoloxóchitl Mixtec

“…At the word-level, onset consonants in word-final syllables were lengthened relative to onset consonants in word-initial syllables. This finding mirrors that of previous research (DiCanio et al, 2018, 2019) showing that word-medial position (the onset of stressed syllables) is the locus of stress-related lengthening in YM. While we generally predict that stress will be realized via vowel lengthening, languages for which there is contrastive vowel length may illustrate distinct patterns.…”

“…First, onset consonants in word-final syllables were longer relative to those in penultimate syllables. Like the results in Experiment 1, this mirrors findings in DiCanio et al (2018, 2019) showing that word-medial position (the onset of stressed syllables) is the locus of stress-related lengthening in YM. Unlike Experiment 1, there does not appear to be an effect of utterance position on onset duration.…”

“…Methodologically, it also appears that stress-related lengthening is robust across different recording procedures. It is found in words under narrow, contrastive, and broad focus in response to questions following a short narrative (DiCanio et al, 2018), in responses to repetition tasks elicited by native and non-native speakers (DiCanio et al, 2019, Experiment 1), and here, in spontaneous speech. While repetition tasks might result in an exaggeration of the degree of prosodic lengthening, they do not seem to influence the underlying phonetic pattern for YM speakers.…”

“…9 Moreover, root-final syllables are also the locus of a greater number of vowel contrasts, such as the contrast between oral and nasal vowels and between mid and high back vowels. Finally, final syllables are also typically lengthened relative to non-final syllables (DiCanio et al, 2018, 2019). Together, these phenomena suggest that root-final syllables are stressed in YM.…”

Proposal for superscript diacritics for prenasalization, preglottalization and preaspiration

“…Ratliff (2015) describes the various historical developments of original prenasalized consonants in the languages of Mainland South East Asia, noting that across languages these consonants are now variably NˌC, NC, N C, N C or plain voiced C. Overall, then, there is a possible argument from correspondences: prenasalized consonants often correspond to voiced stops, which are clearly unitary segments. Similarly, they may correspond to nasal stops: DiCanio et al (2018) describe an alternation in Yoloxóchitl Mixtec where NC is an allophone of N before oral vowels. Since N is a unit, its allophone NC is considered a unit as well.…”