THE PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS OF NASAL OBSTRUENT SEQUENCES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graudate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Anastasia Kay Riehl January 2008 1 ©2008 Anastasia Kay Riehl 2 THE PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS OF NASAL-OBSTRUENT SEQUENCES Anastasia Kay Riehl, Ph.D. Cornell University 2008 This dissertation explores the relationship between the phonological patterning of nasal-obstruent sequences (NC sequences) and their phonetic realizations. I argue that there are distinct NC patterns in the phonology, specifically unary segments (such as prenasalized stops) vs. clusters, and that these patterns are reflected in the phonetics. The data for these investigations come primarily from phonological and phonetic studies (both acoustic and aerodynamic) collected through fieldwork on four Austronesian languages—Tamambo and Erromangan of Vanuatu, and Pamona and Manado Malay of Indonesia. Clear cases of prenasalized stops, in languages like Fijian, and clusters, in languages like English, provide ample evidence for different phonological NC entities, despite the fact that some languages are more difficult to classify. I propose a methodology for determining the status of an NC, which separates the often-conflated issues of tautosyllabicity and unary segmenthood. Grouping NC-types along two principle divisions—unary vs. cluster, and voiced vs. voiceless obstruent—I argue that only six of sixteen possible patterns (combining 0-4 NC types) are attested. The unattested cases are attributed to two factors: the lack of prenasalized voiceless stops, and the lack of contrasting unary vs. cluster NCs of the same voicing specification. An investigation of phonetic properties of NC sequences, including total NC duration, duration of a preceding vowel, and degree of nasalization in a 3 preceding vowel, reveals that total duration does correlate with phonological NC structure while the other two factors do not. Data on the relative nasal- oral timing of NC sequences reveals interesting similarities across the types: voiced NC sequences, NC sequences with a voiceless stop, and NC affricates each have distinct realizations, regardless of phonological status. Not only are phonological NC patterns reflected in the phonetics, but the phonetic realizations also have important consequences for the phonology. The phonetic characteristics of unary vs. cluster NCs—both their differences and similarities—are argued to explain gaps in the phonological patterns. Phonological representations of NCs are proposed that crucially include both prosodic and segmental structure, as well as being consistent with the phonetic facts. These representations have implications for other reported types of partially nasal segments. 4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Anastasia Riehl was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1971 to Kay and Richard Riehl, and graduated from George Washington Senior High School in Cedar Rapids in 1989. She received a bachelor’s degree in English, summa cum laude, from the University of Iowa in 1993, and a master’s degree in linguistics from the same institution in 1996. She entered the graduate program in linguistics at Cornell University in 1999. In 2003, she was awarded a fellowship from the Fulbright Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program to undertake fieldwork in Indonesia and Vanuatu. iii This book is dedicated to my speakers. Thank you for sharing your language and friendship. Buku ini saya dedikasikan pada penutur-penutur asli yang memberi masukan pada saya. Terima kasih banyak sudah membagi pengetahuan bahasa dan pertemanan yang tidak akan pernah saya lupakan. Mi dediketem buk ia i go long olgeta we oli givhan long mi, mo oli serem lanwis blong olgeta. Tank yu tumas long gudfala hat blong yufala evriwan. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this dissertation and pursuing this degree has been a great privilege, and one that would not have been possible without excellent mentors, generous institutions providing funding, interested speakers, supportive friends and family, and countless others. I feel extremely lucky, and forever grateful, to all of those who have played a role in making this possible. I would like to begin by thanking my special committee. My advisor, Abby Cohn, has been a great mentor, from the first year of my graduate program to my last. She has consistently offered excellent advice and guidance that I truly came to rely on, steering me in interesting directions when I was not sure where I was headed, and offering invaluable feedback on drafts of this work. I feel very fortunate to have had her as my advisor. Amanda Miller has been a great help to me in the phonetics lab, and has always been generous with her time and positive feedback. John Wolff sparked my interest in Indonesia–one that will be with me now for a lifetime, assisted me in making fieldwork contacts, and offered his insights on Austronesian. Draga Zec was a great font of knowledge on any phonological topic I tossed her way, and always encouraged me to keep in mind the bigger picture when tackling an issue. Many others at Cornell have provided support of various kinds over the years. I owe great thanks to Eric Evans in the phonetics lab, not only for his technical support, but his incredible patience and cheerfulness during the many hours he spent puzzling over issues with me. I would also like to thank Sue Hertz for insightful conversations about NCs, and Sheila Haddad and v Angie Tinti in the administrative office for good-naturedly helping me to navigate various bureaucratic issues. I am grateful to have been in a department with such a supportive, smart, and fun group of graduate students, and I am thankful to so many of them, either for joining me in contemplating linguistic issues or in amusing distractions, and in most cases both. Thank you in particular to Edith Aldridge, Johanna Brugman, Rebecca Daly, Tejaswini Deoskar, Rina Kreitman, Tanya Matthews, Marek Przezdziecki and Rob Young. Special thanks to Marc Brunelle for many helpful conversations and great travels, Andrew Joseph for generously translating various texts and always having available crash space, and Dan Kaufman for being a great resource for all things Austronesian and generally an excellent person to know. The fieldwork for this thesis was funded by a fellowship from the Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program and the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University. I also received funding from a number of other sources over the years—for graduate study, fieldwork, language study, and conference travel—from the Graduate School, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Southeast Asia Program, and Department of Linguistics, all at Cornell University, as well as from the Foreign Language and Area Studies Program through the U.S. Department of Education. I am enormously grateful to these institutions for providing me with the opportunity to pursue this degree and to have a number of incredible experiences that I surely would not have had otherwise. I was first introduced to linguistics as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, where I later returned to pursue a master’s degree in the subject. I am thankful to many in that department for a positive experience vi and one that motivated me to continue on in the field. I am especially grateful to Abigail Kaun, an inspirational teacher and good friend, for first getting me excited about phonology. I am also grateful for the guidance of Alice Davison, Jerzy Rubach, and Cheryl Zoll, and for the camaraderie of my fellow grad students, especially Oduntan Bode, Holly Gray, Catharine Schaff-Stump, and Karen Wood. Many people contributed to the success of my fieldtrips to Indonesia. Thank you to the Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Indonesian Institute of Sciences) for granting me research permission, Nelly Paliama of Fulbright Indonesia for guiding me through the bureaucracy in Jakarta with good humor, Weisje Lalamentik of Universitas Sam Ratulangi for initial sponsorship, and Djeinnie Imbang for support and assistance with countless matters during all of my trips to Manado. From the Pamona community, I am grateful foremost to my speakers for their time and interest in the project, and for sharing songs of Danau Poso. In addition, I thank Jefri Badjaj for his thoughtful and exceedingly reliable assistance, and the Mangille-Palele family—Ester, Amos, their children, and Ester’s parents Klaudius and Nika— not only for going out of their way (far out of their way!) to help me, but for many great conversations over kopi and lasting friendship. From the Manado Malay community, I am grateful to Olga Mottoh for her time and assistance, and especially to Tommy Panggere, not only for his help with the project, but also for his incredible thoughtfulness and for sharing his poetry. I am thankful to all of my Manado speakers for their patience and entertaining stories while we weathered technical difficulties together! Finally, I am greatly appreciative of the many friends who helped make Manado a second home. In addition to the above, I am indebted to my pals on the Boulevard, vii Oma Anna for island hospitality, Rudy Ruus for stories of mermaids, the Klub Bule research gang, Djeinnie Imbang and her family for relaxed afternoons, and especially Birgit Berg for countless adventures in Manado and beyond and for always having snacks. My fieldwork in Vanuatu would not have been possible without the generous assistance of many people. I would like to thank Ralph Regenvanu at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre for granting me permission to undertake research in the country and John Lynch at the University of the South Pacific for help with administrative issues at the front end. From the Tamambo community, in addition to my speakers, all of whom I had much fun getting to know, I am thankful foremost to Esmie Roy, for immediately accepting me as a sister, and for both assisting me with my project and for great kakae! I am also grateful to Esmie’s family for their warmth and generosity during my stay on Malo.