Vowel Duration and Consonant Voicing: a Production Study
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VOWEL DURATION AND CONSONANT VOICING: A PRODUCTION STUDY A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2020 Stefano Coretta School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents Abstract .................................... 5 Declaration .................................. 6 Copyright statement .............................. 7 Acknowledgements .............................. 8 I Introduction 11 1 The voicing effect and beyond 13 1.1 The voicing effect ............................ 17 1.2 Voicing as a physical property and as a linguistic category ...... 19 1.3 The voicing effect and other phonological and phonetic factors .... 24 1.4 On the phonologisation of the voicing effect .............. 26 1.5 One phenomenon, many explanations ................. 30 1.6 Beyond voicing ............................. 34 2 Rationale for the current research 36 2.1 Research questions ........................... 37 2.2 Language sample ............................ 40 2.3 Preview of results ............................ 46 3 Methods 51 3.1 Exploratory study of the voicing effect in Italian and Polish (Study I) . 52 3.2 Compensatory aspects of the effect of voicing on vowel duration in English (Study II) ............................ 59 3.3 Open Science .............................. 60 2 II Original publications 69 4 An exploratory study of voicingrelated differences in vowel duration as compensatory temporal adjustment in Italian and Polish [Paper I] 70 4.1 Introduction ............................... 71 4.2 Method ................................. 77 4.3 Results .................................. 85 4.4 Discussion ................................ 92 4.5 Conclusions ............................... 101 4.6 Sociolinguistic information of participants .............. 102 5 Temporal (in)stability in English monosyllabic and disyllabic words: In sights on the effect of voicing on vowel duration [Paper II] 104 5.1 Introduction ............................... 105 5.2 Methods ................................. 114 5.3 Results .................................. 119 5.4 Discussion ................................ 130 5.5 Conclusion ............................... 136 6 Longer vowel duration correlates with greater tongue root displacement: Acoustic and articulatory data from Italian and Polish [Paper III] 138 6.1 Introduction ............................... 139 6.2 Methodology .............................. 143 6.3 Results .................................. 149 6.4 Discussion ................................ 154 6.5 Conclusion ............................... 162 7 Modelling electroglottographic data with wavegrams and generalised ad ditive mixed models [Paper IV] 165 7.1 Introduction ............................... 166 7.2 Pilot study ................................ 169 7.3 Wavegram GAM analysis of vowels followed by voiceless vs voiced stops ................................... 173 3 7.4 Conclusion ............................... 176 III Discussion and conclusion 178 8 General discussion 179 8.1 A pluralist view ............................. 180 8.2 On crosslinguistic differences ..................... 190 8.3 Embracing variation and accepting uncertainty ............ 192 9 Implications and future research 194 IV Appendices 198 A Assessing midsagittal tongue contours in polar coordinates using gener alised additive (mixed) models 199 A.1 Introduction ............................... 200 A.2 Polar GAM(M)s ............................. 205 A.3 Comparing tongue root position in voiceless and voiced stops ..... 213 A.4 Conclusions ............................... 215 A.5 Data Accessibility Statement ...................... 216 B Bayesian metaanalysis of the voicing effect in English 223 C Crosslinguistic comparison of the voicing effect in English, Italian, and Polish 229 D Gesture onset timing of voiceless and voiced stops in Italian and Polish 233 E An informal analysis of number of speakers per phonetic study by year and endangerment status 236 Bibliography 240 61977 words 4 Abstract This dissertation focusses on the socalled “voicing effect”, by which vowels tend to be shorter when followed by voiceless stops and to be longer when followed by voiced stops, as exemplified by the English word pair bat vs bad. While the presence of this effect is crosslinguistically widespread, less is known about the source(s) of this phenomenon and competing accounts have been proposed over the decades. In this work, I draw from acoustic and articulatory data of Italian, Polish, and English and offer an overarching account of which aspects of the production of voiceless vs voiced stops, and vowel/consonant sequences in general, contribute to the emergence of the voicing effect. The results indicate that the voicing effect is the product of a mechanism of com pensation between the duration of the vowel and that of the following stop closure. The acoustic temporal relations of consonants and vowels observed in disyllabic (CV́CV) words of Italian, Polish, and English suggest that the duration of the interval between the release of the two stops is not affected by the voicing of the second stop. The release torelease interval has similar duration in words with a voiceless C2 and those with a voiced C2. Within this temporally stable interval, the timing of the closure onset (the VC boundary) determines the duration of both the vowel and the stop closure. Ultrasound tongue imaging and electroglottographic data of Italian and Polish fur ther show that the timing of the closure onset of voiced and voiced stops depends on articulatory factors related to the implementation of voicelessness and voicing. In par ticular, I argue that a delayed closure onset allows for enough tongue root advancement (known to facilitate voicing during closure) to be implemented during the production of the vowel in anticipation of the stop closure. Furthermore, glottal spreading typical of voiceless stops also can affect the timing of closure by anticipating the achievement of closure. These two factors, among other known factors, contribute to the observed pattern of short voiced closures and long preceding vowel duration, and, vice versa, long voiceless closures and short preceding vowel duration. 5 Declaration I declare that no portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in sup port of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 6 Copyright statement The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the ‘Copyright’) and s/he has given The Uni versity of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intel lectual property (the ‘Intellectual Property’) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (‘Reproductions’), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=24420), in any rele vant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 7 Acknowledgements Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo. A star shines on the hour of our meeting. —J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring I am for ever indebted to very many people, without whom I would not have seen the light at the end of this journey. A long journey that has witnessed bliss and sorrow, friends coming and parting, and lines of written words, over words, over words. But a joyful journey nonetheless, thanks to the cheer and comfort I was given by those who, in full or in good measure, walked next to me along such perilous path. Among these heroic figures, I wish to thank first and foremost my supervisors and mentors, Ricardo (Dr BermúdezOtero) and Patrycja (Dr Strycharczuk). With perpetual patience and kindness, they offered to me in countless occasions guidance and inspiration. I also wish to thank my colleagues, as well as friends, from the Division and the Pho netics Lab, to which I owe so much in terms of time, thoughts, and laughter. Thanks to Simone, for the numerous chats about academia and life, for his moral support, and for the unicornshaped mug he had his coffee from, which gave to our time spent together a note of candour and lightheartedness. Thanks to Andrea (Dr Nini), who taught me about matters of study and of daytoday living.