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The Phonology of Aspiration in Icelandic: a Gesture-Based Approach

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THE PHONOLOGY OF ASPIRATION IN ICELANDIC: A GESTURE-BASED APPROACH A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Linda Heimisdóttir August 2015 c 2015 Linda Heimisdóttir ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE PHONOLOGY OF ASPIRATION IN ICELANDIC: A GESTURE-BASED APPROACH Linda Heimisdóttir, Ph.D. Cornell University 2015 This dissertation examines aspirated consonants in Icelandic from several an- gles, including dialectal variation, language acquisition, and diachronic develop- ment. The main question addressed pertains to the articulatory organization of these consonants, more specifically how the relationship between laryngeal speech gestures and the oral gestures they are produced in tandem with can best be un- derstood and represented in phonological terms. We propose an analysis of glottal gestures as subordinate speech gestures tied to oral head gestures and show how the coordination between these two types of gestures is determined by phonolog- ical constraints. We pay special attention to preaspirated stops in Icelandic and discuss how children’s early acquisition of these stops compared to postaspirated stops sheds a light on patterns of articulatory coordination. Icelandic is ideal for examining the coordination of glottal gestures because it is rich in laryngeal contrasts. Its two main dialects, the Northern Dialect (ND) and the Southern Dialect (SD), differ primarily in the degree of aspiration on word-internal stop consonants. We present an analysis of these dialectal patterns, where variation in aspiration is explained in terms of the timing of glottal gestures relative to oral ones, we discuss the history of these differences from various angles, and propose sociolinguistic reasons for why they have occurred. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Linda Heimisdóttir was born in the town of Akureyri in northern Iceland in 1984 but moved to a suburb of the capital city, Reykjavík, at the age of two. At the age of sixteen she began junior college at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík where she majored in classic languages. It was there where her interest in linguistics first awoke while attending a year-long introductory course in synchronic and diachronic linguistics. After graduating from junior college summa cum laude in 2004 she moved on to doing an undergraduate degree at the University of Iceland in Icelandic linguistics and literature, with a minor in Latin. Upon finishing her B.A. in 2008 she was offered the opportunity to move to Ithaca NY and teach a course in Old Norse at Cornell University for one year while attending classes at the Department of Linguistics as a non-degree student. She liked the department so much that she decided to stay at Cornell and apply for the Ph.D. program in linguistics, where she began her graduate studies in the fall of 2009. After completing her Ph.D. Linda will be moving to Portland OR to live with her husband and (hopefully) start her linguistics career. iii To Bishu, for his unconditional love and support iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is only fitting that I begin this section by acknowledging Draga Zec who has been my advisor since the end of my first year as a Ph.D. student at Cornell. She has taught me so much about phonology and academic writing, about how to structure presentations and abstracts, and how to solve problems. She has made me a better linguist and for that I will always be grateful. I am also indebted to my minor committee members. Sam Tilsen has provided me with invaluable feedback on all things phonetics and statistics, and he has devoted himself to making the Cornell Phonetics Lab a better and more fun work environment, an effort much appreciated by all of his students. Michael Weiss has been a pleasure to interact with and I have learned a lot about historical linguistics from him. Other faculty members at the Linguistics Department have always been supportive and approachable when I have come to them for advise and for that I thank them. I would never have ended up at Cornell in the first place had it not been for my undergraduate professor and mentor, Guðrún Þórhallssdóttir. I was completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Iceland when the position of an Old Norse instructor became available at Cornell, a position normally filled by an Icelandic graduate student as per the terms of the late Willard Fiske, the donator of the Fiske Icelandic Collection, the largest collection of Icelandic literature in North America. Guðrún, herself a graduate of Cornell University, reached out to me and encouraged me to apply for the position, and it was because of her support and faith in me that I took the plunge and set out for the adventure that my stay at Cornell has turned out to be. I have no words to express how grateful I am to Guðrún for setting me on this path. I would also like to thank another Cornell alumnus, Haraldur Bernharðsson, who taught me my very first linguistics course in junior college (and awoke my interest in the field!) and later became my v undergraduate thesis advisor. Besides doing a stellar job of advising me on my thesis during my last year of undergrad, Haraldur was an endless source of good advice regarding my upcoming stay in Ithaca and my new job there as an Old Norse instructor. While on the topic of Old Norse, I’d like to give a special thank you to the Old Norse reading group that I have been a part of ever since I first came to Cornell. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to read and learn about Old Norse every week from Tom, Oren, Patrick, Xan, Binna, and many other previous members. I will miss those gatherings. My years at Cornell have been the best years of my life. Here I have grown as a person, a linguist, a friend, and a partner. I met my husband Bishu during my very first week in Ithaca and a few months later we started our relationship. Bishu has always been my biggest cheerleader and I am looking forward to many more years with such a loving and supportive partner. Our friends from the international TA program at Cornell, Leifur, Milena, Manasi, and Sarabjeet, made my first year in Ithaca unforgettable. I have had the good fortune of getting to know several amazing people during my stay here, each of whom has contributed to my life in a meaningful way. I am grateful to Shion for showing me how to lift weights (often a welcome distraction during more stressful times) and for teaching me so much about life and academia. Julie has been a trusted friend since my first year at Cornell and her constant presence in my life has proved to me that great friendships transcend geographical boundaries. I’ve had so many good times with my girlfriends, Anca, Natalia, and MJ, both in Ithaca and on our various travels. I couldn’t have asked for better colleagues or friends. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of a tight-knit community of graduate students at the linguistics department. Not only have I benefited from my colleagues’ insights on my work, but I have shared some great times with them outside of work at house parties, vi picnics, the Big Red Barn, the Chapter House, and various other places. Last but certainly not least of my Ithaca friends, Corey and Adam have understood me in a way nobody else can and for that I am grateful. I have been fortunate enough to not just have support locally in Ithaca but also from my friends and family back home in Iceland. Ever since I was a little girl, my parents have supported me in every decision I have made, whether it was personal or academic. They have never put pressure on me to follow a certain path in life and have always shared in my joy over various achievements on my way to this point, my graduation from Cornell. I am lucky to have such great parents and a great family, many of whom have visited me in the US and opened their homes to me and my various travel partners when I have gone back to Iceland. Two Icelandic friends in particular, Elva and Rannveig, have remained close to me over the years despite our physical distance. Although sometimes far between, our conversations over Skype always leave me rejuvenated and mindful of the most important things in life, love and friendship. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch . iii Dedication . iv Acknowledgements . .v Table of Contents . viii List of Tables . xi List of Figures . xiv 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Goals . .1 1.2 Background . .1 1.3 Overview . .7 2 The Phonological Structure of Icelandic 11 2.1 Introduction . 11 2.2 Sound Inventory . 12 2.2.1 Vowels . 12 2.2.2 Consonants . 13 2.3 Syllable Structure . 17 2.4 Dialectal Differences . 24 2.4.1 Native phonology . 25 2.4.2 Loanwords . 30 2.5 Foot Structure . 32 2.6 Final Remarks . 39 3 Phonetic Study 41 3.1 Introduction . 41 3.2 Previous Studies . 42 3.2.1 Acoustic studies . 42 3.2.2 Other phonetic studies . 56 3.3 Present Study . 58 3.3.1 Methodology . 58 3.3.2 Results for word-initial stops . 64 3.3.3 Results for intervocalic stops . 69 3.3.4 Preaspirated stops . 78 3.3.5 Comparison of all intervocalic stops . 83 3.3.6 Clusters of sonorant + stop . 85 3.3.7 [s]+stop clusters . 96 3.3.8 Acoustic data and articulatory gestures .
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