Voice

About: Voice is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2393 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56637 citations.

Synchronic patterns of Tuscan phonetic variation and diachronic change: Evidence from a dialectometric study

Abstract: A careful investigation of synchronic patterns of linguistic variation with underlying linguistic features can lead to important insights into the comprehension of diachronic phonetic processes. In this article, we showed that the method of spectral partitioning of bipartite graphs applied to synchronic dialectal data can effectively and reliably be used to investigate diachronic processes, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between synchronic variation and diachronic change. This was illustrated through a case study carried out on Tuscan dialects, focusing on so-called Tuscan 'gorgia', a lenition process consisting of the spirantization of stop consonants. In particular, from a quantitative analysis of the sound correspondences involving voiceless and voiced stops, we tracked the evolution of the spirantization phenomenon in several respects. First, we tracked spirantization geographically, across Tuscany from the influential center of Florence to the peripheral areas. Second, we tracked it phonologically, from voiceless to voiced stops, and within each voicing class from velars to dentals and then to bilabials. Finally, we tracked it demographically, with young speakers using the most innovative sound correspondences more than old speakers. The fact that these results are in line with the literature on the topic of Tuscan 'gorgia' demonstrates the potential of the method of spectral partitioning of bipartite graphs with respect to the reconstruction of diachronic processes starting from diatopically distributed synchronic dialectal data.

An effect of phonetic environment on voicing control mechanisms during stop consonants

Abstract: There are abundant data which show the vocal folds to be abducted during closure for intervocalic /p,t,k/ in American English. Vocal‐fold abduction during such stops is reliably indicated by a rapid rise in intraoral pressure following oral occlusion. Recent recordings of intraoral pressure during an adult male English‐speaker's productions of labial and alveolar stops in a variety of environments suggest, however, that vocal‐fold abduction is characteristic only for voiceless stops which precede vowels. Synchronous recordings of intratracheal pressure showed during the closures of stops in all environments that the driving pressure for speech remained appreciably greater than atmosphere. But, during the closures for voiceless stops occurring initially in certain medial consonant clusters, and utterance finally, intraoral pressure generally did not rise above atmosphere. These facts together suggest that /p,t/ in these latter environments were voiceless by virtue of interruption of transglottal flow at the glottis. [Work supported by NSF grant BNS 77‐07686.]

Additive effects of phonetic distinctions in word learning

Abstract: While infants have been demonstrated to be sensitive to a wide variety of phonetic contrasts when tested in speech discrimination tasks [Eimas et al. (1971) et seq.], recent work [Stager and Werker (1997)] has shown that following habituation to a word–object pairing, infants of 14 months fail to notice when the place of articulation of the initial consonant is switched [b/d]. Using the same procedure, the present study has found that infants do not respond to a change in voicing [b/p]. They do, however, notice a switch between dissimilar words [lɪf/nim]. One interpretation of these findings is that 14‐month‐olds do not encode either place or voice distinctions in lexical representations, so that words differing in only these features are treated as identical. To test this hypothesis, the effect of combining featural contrasts is currently being investigated by examining whether infants do respond to a change in both place and voice [d/p]. If there is such an additive effect, the contrasts must be represented. This would entail that an explanation for the failure to distinguish words differing in only a single feature should invoke processing factors, rather than representational ones.

Voicing in Spanish to English Spelling Knowledge Transfer.

Abstract: A study investigated spelling error patterns in native Spanish-speaking students of English as a Second Language to determine the degree to which errors can be attributed to phonological patterns. Specifically, i' examined (1) which spellings can be attributed to differences in voicedness of consonants, and (2) whether the voicedness can be used to identify a progression of spelling strategies that characterize Spanish-influenced English spelling. Subjects were 47 secondand third-grade children in a transitional bilingual education program just beginning to receive English instruction. Spelling proficiency in English and Spanish was pre-tested with 18-word developmental spelling tests, then weekly spelling samples were collected over 20 weeks. Five new words incorporating key spelling features were included with regular spelling words each week. Patterns of individual phonemes and corresponding spelling were analyzed. Results indicate that whatever conceptual knowledge children had of the spelling system in their native language was applied to English. The need to attend to voicedness in English spelling, not an issue in Spanish, remained problematic for students. A sequence of four spelling strategies was identified and implications for classroom spelling instruction are drawn. Analysis results are appended.(Contains 12 references.) (MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Lou Ferroli Rockford College 5050 E. State Rockford, Illinois 61108 815/226-4182 Timothy Shanahan University of Illinois at Chicago Voicing in Spanish to English Spelling Knowledge Transfer U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Once or EauCa,onal Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) is doCument 0.0 been reproduced as rece..ed Irom the Person or organaahon 0.9~Wa Pknor changt5 have been made to .rnprove reCOOCIOCNZtn CRIS Isty Pornts of 'new a OPenOnS Slated .0100 dorms went do nOt nOCIISSahly represent othc.at OERI pOsdrOn Or potcy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY LC) ceN-VMAi TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER tERICI Running Head: VOICING

Voiced stop prenasalization in two dialects of Greek

Abstract: This study examined the phonetic realization of voiced stops in the Cretan and Thessalonikan dialects of Modern Greek. Six males and six females of each dialect were recorded in a sentence-reading task. Duration and amplitude were measured to compare the degree of nasality of voiced stops to that of nasals in different phonetic contexts. Results showed that amplitude changes during the voicing bar of the voiced stops varied both within and across speakers. In some instances, there was consistently low amplitude throughout the voicing bar (characteristic of voiced stops), whereas in other instances, there was high amplitude at the closure onset followed by decreasing amplitude toward the burst (characteristic of prenasalization). By contrast, nasals had consistently high amplitude throughout the murmur. The mixed-effects models suggest that there were complex and interactive influences of dialect, gender, prosodic position, and stress in realizing prenasality in the voiced stops. In particular, Cretan male speakers showed the least clear tendency of prenasalization consistent with earlier impressionistic studies. Furthermore, productions of Cretan males showed less prenasalization than those of females in both prosodic positions. The procedures in this study can be used to describe prenasalization in other dialects or languages where prenasalization has been observed.