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Phonological and Phonetic Asymmetries of Cw Combinations A

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Phonological and Phonetic Asymmetries of Cw Combinations A Phonological and Phonetic Asymmetries of Cw Combinations A Dissertation Presented by Yunju Suh to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Stony Brook University August 2009 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Yunju Suh We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Marie K. Huffman – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics Ellen Broselow Professor, Department of Linguistics Christina Y. Bethin Professor, Department of Linguistics Edward Flemming Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School ______________________ Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Phonological and Phonetic Asymmetries of Cw Combinations by Yunju Suh Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Stony Brook University 2009 This thesis investigates the relationship between the phonological distribution of Cw combinations, and the acoustic/perceptual distinctiveness between syllables with plain C onsets and with Cw combination onsets. Distributional asymmetries of Cw combinations discussed in this thesis include the avoidance of Cw combinations in the labial consonant context and before rounded or back vowels, and the preference for contrastive labialization on velar consonants. Following the claim that the phonetic salience of phonological contrasts should be taken into account in the explanation of typologically common co-occurrence restrictions (Kawasaki 1982, Flemming 1995, et seq.), I focus on showing that the salience of the contrast between CV and CwV syllables is a major factor in the asymmetric distribution of Cw combinations, with supporting evidence from acoustic and perception experiments. The results of a study on the C-Cw comparison in Korean and Spanish show that the acoustic difference between plain C and Cw combination is weaker in contexts where Cw iii combinations are avoided. In addition, cross-linguistic comparison reveals that the phonetic status of the /w/ component—a glide consonant or a secondary labialization— affects the acoustic distinctiveness of a Cw combination relative to the plain C counterpart. Perception experiment results confirm that the degree of acoustic distinctiveness between CV and CwV syllables in different consonant and vowel contexts is reflected in the strength of perceptual cues to the contrast. Based on the findings from the experimental studies, I propose an analysis of the Cw asymmetries within the Dispersion Theory of Contrast (Flemming 1995, et seq.). The asymmetric distribution of Cw combinations emerges because the contrast between CV and CwV is allowed only when they are separated by sufficient perceptual distance. Optimality-Theoretic interaction between such requirements on perceptual distance (minimal distance constraints) and constraints governing the preservation of contrast gives rise to the asymmetries in the distribution of Cw combinations observed in languages like Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese and Dan. I compare the current analysis with an alternative identity avoidance (OCP) analysis, and argue that the former is superior in terms of both descriptive and explanatory adequacies. I also show the parallel between the distributional asymmetries of Cw and Cj combinations, and extend the Dispersion-Theoretic analysis to the Cj distribution for languages like Ukrainian. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………….. vii List of Tables ……………………………….……………………………………….…… ix Acknowledgements ..…………………………………………………………………….. x Chapter 1. Phonological and phonetic aspects of Cw asymmetries ..………………... 1 1.1 Phonological asymmetries of Cw combinations …………………………………….. 2 1.1.1 Consonant place and vowel asymmetries ………………………………….. 2 1.1.2 Consonant place and Cw status asymmetries ……………………………… 9 1.2 Relationship between phonetic salience of /w/ and Cw phonological asymmetries .. 11 1.2.1 Consonant place and vowel ……………………………….……...…..…….. 11 1.2.2 Consonant place and the status of /w/ …………………………………….. 13 1.3 Theoretical background …………………………….……………………….………… 13 1.3.1 Dispersion Theory of Contrast …………………………………………… 13 1.3.2 Dispersion-Theoretic analysis of the distribution of Cw combinations ….. 15 Chapter 2. Acoustics of Cw combinations and the C-Cw contrast ….……………... 19 2.1 Acoustic cues to the C-Cw contrast ……………………………………………….... 19 2.2 Methods …………………………………………………………………………….. 21 2.2.1 Language choice …………………………………………………….…….. 21 2.2.2 Recording and stimuli …………………………………………………….. 21 2.2.3 Analysis ………………………………………………………………….... 23 2.3 Results ……………………………………………………………………………… 24 2.3.1 Duration of vocoid ………………………………………………………... 26 2.3.2 Formants ……………………………………………………….………….. 27 2.3.2.1 F1 at vocoid onset ………………………………………………. 28 2.3.2.2 F2 at vocoid onset ………………………………………………. 30 2.3.2.3 F2 change ………………………………………………………. 34 2.3.3 Consonant release noise spectral properties ....…………………………… 40 2.3.3.1 Stop burst spectral peak location frequency ……………………. 43 2.3.3.2 Intensity difference between mid- and high-frequency in stop burst spectra …………………………………………………………… 47 2.3.3.3 Fricative noise spectral center of gravity ……………….………. 51 2.4 Summary and discussion …………………………………………………………… 54 2.4.1 Consonant place effect on the CV-CwV contrast ………………………… 54 2.4.2 Vowel effect on the CV-CwV contrast …………………………………… 55 2.4.3 Language effect on the CV-CwV contrast ……………………………….. 56 Chapter 3. Perception of the labialization contrast ………………………………… 59 3.1 Perceptual correlates of prevocalic glide and the implications for the CV-CwV contrast ……………………………………………………………………………. 59 v 3.2 Methods ……………………………………………………….……………..……... 61 3.2.1 Stimuli ……………………………………………………………………. 61 3.2.2 Participants ……………………………………………………………….. 62 3.2.3 Procedure ………………………………………………………………….. 62 3.3 Results …………………………………………………………………………...…. 63 3.3.1 Vocoid stimuli ……………………………………………………………. 64 3.3.1.1 d prime ………………………………………………………….. 64 3.3.1.2 Response time …………………………………………………… 67 3.3.2 Burst stimuli ……………………………………………………………… 68 3.3.2.1 d prime ………………………………………………………….. 68 3.3.2.2 Response time …………………………………………………… 69 3.3.3 Summary and discussion ………………………………………………… 70 3.4 Relative strength of formant transition and burst frequency cues to the CV-CwV contrast ………………………………………………………………….…………. 71 3.4.1 Formant transition cues for the labialization contrast ……………………. 72 3.4.2 Burst noise frequency cue for the labialization contrast …………………. 73 Chapter 4. A Dispersion-Theoretic analysis of the distribution of Cw combinations …………………………………………………………………………….... 76 4.1 Contrast dispersion and the asymmetries in labialization …………..……………… 76 4.1.1 Perceptibility scales of labialization contrast …………………………….. 77 4.1.2 Korean ……………………………………………………………………. 78 4.1.3 Mandarin ………………………………………………………………….. 81 4.1.4 Cantonese ……………………………………………….………………… 84 4.2 An alternative analysis: feature identity avoidance ………………………………… 85 4.2.1 Korean ……………………………………………………………………. 86 4.2.2 Mandarin ………………………………………………………………….. 90 4.3 Interaction of contrast dispersion and articulatory gesture coordination in Cw combinations ………………………………………………………………………. 91 4.4 Interaction of contrast dispersion and articulatory gesture coordination in Cj combinations ………………………………………………………………………. 97 4.5 An additional complex case: Ponapean labialized labials ………………………… 104 4.6 The role of distinctiveness scales in the loanword adaptation of Cw clusters in Korean ……………………………………………………………………………………... 105 4.7 Summary …………………………………………………………………………… 107 Chapter 5. Conclusion .…………………………………………………….…………. 109 References ……………………………………………………………………………. 111 vi List of Figures Figure 2.1 Sample spectrograms of the Korean and the Spanish Ca and Cwa syllables ….. 24 Figure 2.2 Mean duration of vocoids of the Korean and the Spanish CV and CwV syllables …………………………………………………………………….………. 27 Figure 2.3 Stylized F2 trajectories of Ka and Kwa, and the estimation of F2 difference between them in lenis and fortis contexts ……………………………………… 28 Figure 2.4 Mean F1 at vocoid onset of the Korean CV and CwV syllables ………….... 29 Figure 2.5 Mean F1 at vocoid onset of the Spanish Ce and Cwe syllables ….…………. 29 Figure 2.6 Mean F1 at vocoid onset of the Spanish Ca and Cwa syllables ….…………. 30 Figure 2.7 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Korean fortis-initial Ce and Cwe syllables ..... 31 Figure 2.8 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Korean fortis-initial Ca and Cwa syllables …. 31 Figure 2.9 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Korean fortis-initial Cʌ and Cwʌ syllables .… 32 Figure 2.10 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Spanish Ce and Cwe syllables ….………… 32 Figure 2.11 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Spanish Ca and Cwa syllables …….……… 33 Figure 2.12 Mean F2 at vocoid onset of the Korean and the Spanish Cwa and Cwe syllables ………………………………………………………………………… 34 Figure 2.13 Sample spectrogram of Spanish twe …………….………………………… 35 Figure 2.14 Sample spectrogram of Korean t'we …….………………………………… 35 Figure 2.15 Mean F2 change in frequency, from the onset to a later point in the Korean fortis-initial Ce and Cwe syllables ……………………………………………... 37 Figure 2.16 Mean F2 change in frequency, from the onset to a later point in the Korean fortis-initial Ca and Cwa syllables ……………………………………………... 37 Figure 2.17 Mean F2 change in frequency, from the onset to a later point in the Korean fortis-initial Cʌ and Cwʌ syllables ……………………………………………... 38
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