Ioana Chitoran Ioana Chitoran Dartmouth College, USA L Lezgi in the typological i i th t l i l context of vowel devoicing context of vowel devoicing Conference on Caucasian Languages MPI, Leipzig, 13-15 May 2011 MPI, Leipzig, 13 15 May 2011
Work in collaboration with: Work in collaboration with: • Khalil Iskarous , Haskins Laboratories & University of Southern California, USA y f f , • Egidio Marsico, Laboratoire “ Dynamique du L Langage”, CNRS, Lyon, France ” CNRS L F 2
Goal of today’s talk Goal of today s talk • To examine a well-documented process of vowel loss in Lezgi vowel loss in Lezgi • To propose vowel devoicing (VDev), b based on acoustic and perceptual evidence d i d l id 3
Outline Outline 1. A typology of Vdev phenomena 2 Th 2. The relevant data in Lezgi l d i L i 3. The interpretation of acoustic evidence 4. The interpretation of perceptual evidence 5 Implications for sound change 5. Implications for sound change 4
Outline Outline 1. A typology of Vdev phenomena 2 Th 2. The relevant data in Lezgi l d i L i 3. The interpretation of acoustic evidence 4. The interpretation of perceptual evidence 5 Implications for sound change 5. Implications for sound change 5
Most common conditions for VDev Most common conditions for VDev In a C 1 VC 2 sequence In a C 1 VC 2 sequence a. Predominantly high vowel a. Predominantly high vowel b. At least one voiceless consonant (especially voiceless fricatives and aspirated stops) voiceless fricatives and aspirated stops) c. Unstressed/unaccented vowel d U d. Unrounded vowel d d l Cho 1993, Gordon 1998, Chitoran & Marsico 2010 6
Some examples: Some examples: Quebec French Quebec French tisse ['tis] ‘s/he weaves’ ti tissu [t i 'sy] [ i ' ] ‘fabric’ Turkish tüfek [t y 'fek] ‘rifle’ Japanese Japanese [ ɕ ikíso ] ‘pigment’ [ [s ɯ tér ɯ́ ] té ́ ] ‘to throw’ 7
Properties Properties • VDev is phonetically common • Highly variable: within and across • Highly variable: within and across languages and speakers • Distinguish positional (word phrase utterance final) • Distinguish positional (word-, phrase-, utterance-final) vs. non-positional devoicing (Chitoran & Marsico 2010) • Often reported as a particular manifestation of vowel reduction or deletion . 8
Vowel devoicing database (Chitoran & Marsico 2010) Th Three main sources: i 1. Gordon 1998 (55 languages) 2. UPSID 451 ( Maddieson 1984; Maddieson & Precoda 1990) 3 Addi i 3. Additional data from approximately 100 languages l d f i l 100 l (grammars and articles) We retained 39 languages with devoicing . 9
Genetic and geographic distribution of the sample h l 10
Non-positional devoicing is more common Of the 39 languages: • Positional devoicing only 12 • Non-positional devoicing only 22 • Both types of devoicing Both types of devoicing 5 5 11
Phonetic accounts Phonetic accounts Non-positional VDev is understood as an p assimilatory process • Aerodynamic voicing constraint (Ohala 1983) • Aerodynamic voicing constraint (Ohala 1983) – Insufficient transglottal pressure differential – Narrow constriction of high V impedes air flow g • Glottal gesture overlap (e.g., Jun & Beckman 1993) – Absence of stress shortens V, increasing overlap Absence of stress shortens V increasing overlap between C 1 and C 2 – Glottal opening gesture of C may extend over the V gesture gesture 12
Outline Outline 1. A typology of VDev 2 Th 2. The relevant data in Lezgi l d i L i 3. The interpretation of acoustic evidence 4. The interpretation of perceptual evidence 5 Implications for sound change 5. Implications for sound change 13
The Lezgi facts g • High vowels [i, y, u] disappear in pre-stress position, after a voiceless obstruent – “syncope / reduction / deletion” d i / d l i ” • May be perceived as secondary articulations on C1 C1 Uslar 1896, Talibov 1980, Kodzasov 1990, Haspelmath 1993 - Daghestan dialect Babaliyeva 2007 - Azerbaijan dialect 14
Morphological alternations Morphological alternations Monosyllabic roots Monosyllabic roots absolutive singular absolutive singular absolutive plural absolutive plural (root stress) (no root stress) sík sík’ s i k’ ár s i k - ár ‘fox’ ‘f ’ t ʃ h úf t ʃ h u f - ár ‘cloud’ t h úp h t h úp h t h u p t h u p - ár ár ‘ cannon ’ t ʃ h y k w - ér t ʃ h ýk h ‘flower’ All data from Azerbaijan dialect 15
Disyllabic roots Disyllabic roots No stress alternation k h i táb k táb k h i táb - ar k táb ar ‘book’ book t h y k w én t h y k w én - ar ‘shop’ t h u p’ál h ’ál t h u p’ ál - ar h ’ ál ‘ring’ t ʃ h u k’úl t ʃ h u k’úl - ar ‘knife’ Can be reflected in orthography: ktab, ktabar, Qsar (Qusar) (for more examples see Haspelmath 1993: 36) 16
Outline Outline 1. A typology of VDev 2 Th 2. The relevant data in Lezgi l d i L i 3. The interpretation of acoustic evidence 4. The interpretation of perceptual evidence 5 Implications for sound change 5. Implications for sound change 17
Qualitative acoustic description Qualitative acoustic description Data from 7 speakers recorded in Azerbaijan f p j During the vowel portion: – No periodic voicing No periodic voicing – Unclear formant structure – Strong frication noise Strong frication noise t ʃ h u k’úl t ʃ h u k’úl E Examples: l ‘k if ’ ‘knife’ s i k’-ar ‘fox’ pl. 18
[t ʃ h u k’úl] [ ʃ ] ‘knife’ f [ … a # t ʃ h u k’ u l # s…] 19
[s i k’-ar] ‘fox’ pl. [ ] f p [ s i k’ a r ] 20
Presence of a vocalic gesture Presence of a vocalic gesture Evidence from secondary labialization of (non-labial) C2 • Voiced C1 – variable labialization lytk h e ~ lytk h w e lytk e lytk e ‘boat’ boat ʁ ut – ar ~ ʁ ut w – ar ʁ ud ‘fist’ • Voiceless C1 – more systematic labialization • V i l C1 r t ti l bi li ti n singular plural (more regular) k h u k’ w – ar k’uk’ k’ k’ k h u k’ w ‘ ‘peak’ k’ t h y t w – er tyd ‘throat’ t ʃ h y k w – er t ʃ h yk h ʃ y ʃ ‘flower’ f 21
Acoustic evidence Acoustic evidence (Chitoran & Iskarous 2008) (Chitoran & Iskarous 2008) • Hypothesis: If V gesture is still present � similar fricative-V coarticulation patterns will be found in both stress coarticulation patterns will be found in both stress contexts. Comparison of DFT spectra of [s] preceding C i f DFT t f [ ] di stressed and unstressed V sík’ – s i k’ár vs. sút h – s u tár vs. sáf – safár ‘fox’ f ‘measure of land’ f ‘sieve’ 22
Local spectral properties Local spectral properties • Data from 7 speakers Data from 7 speakers • Two windows extracted from each fricative: - 2/3 into [s] (40 ms) - last 1/3 of [s] (40 ms) Differences among [i y u] are visible in the Differences among [i,y,u] are visible in the energy between 4 and 9 kHz 23
Energy between 4 - 9 kHz, averaged across f frequency [sík] [sikár] [sík] [sikár] [sáf] [safár] [sút] [sutár] 24
Results Results • Coarticulation patterns in [sik’, sut h ] (full V) are similar to those in [s i k’ar s u tar] V) are similar to those in [s i k ar, s u tar] (non-full V) • Suggests presence of V gesture in both S f V i b h stressed and unstressed contexts 25
Acoustic duration of [s] Acoustic duration of [s] • Hypothesis: Hypothesis: If V is present but devoiced, [s] will be longer before non-full Vs (s u p-ar, s u t-ar) longer before non full Vs (s p ar, s t ar) than before full Vs (saf-ar, sal-ar, sam-ar) • Interpretation: Interpretation: The longer [s] duration corresponds to the devoiced vocalic portion, visible as devoiced vocalic portion, visible as increased frication due to a highly constricted V gesture g 26
[s] duration (ms) is longer before [u] (non-full V) than before [a] (full V) h b f [ ] 250 200 150 [su] 100 100 [sa] 50 0 sp1 sp1 sp2 sp2 sp3 sp3 sp4 sp4 sp5 sp5 sp6 sp6 27
Outline Outline 1. A typology of VDev 2 Th 2. The relevant data in Lezgi l d i L i 3. The interpretation of acoustic evidence 4. The interpretation of perceptual evidence 5 Implications for sound change 5. Implications for sound change 28
Perception Perception Hypothesis: Hypothesis: • If the V gesture is present in the stressed environment only: environment only: – coarticulation effects on the fricative should be present only in that environment be present only in that environment – the identification rate for the V should be higher in the stressed environment higher in the stressed environment (cf. Beckman & Shoji 1984 for Japanese) 29
Experiment Forced choice identification F d h i id ifi i • Stimuli – [s] excised from real Lezgi words, Sti li [ ] i d f l L i d in stressed and unstressed context s (ík’), s (út h ), s (áf) h s ( i k’ár), s ( u tár), s (afár) i • Three response choices: p “si”, “su”, “sa” • Participants: Native speakers of French (11) • Participants: Native speakers of French (11), Japanese (9), Lezgi (2) 30
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