An Ultrasound Investigation of Secondary Velarization in Russian by Natallia Litvin B.A., Minsk State Linguistic University, 2009 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Linguistics Natallia Litvin, 2014 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee An Ultrasound Investigation of Secondary Velarization in Russian by Natallia Litvin BA, Minsk State Linguistic University, 2009 Supervisory Committee Dr. Sonya Bird (Department of Linguistics) Supervisor Dr. John H. Esling (Department of Linguistics) Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Sonya Bird (Department of Linguistics) Supervisor Dr. John H. Esling (Department of Linguistics) Departmental Member The present study aims to resolve previous disputes about whether or not non-palatalized consonants exhibit secondary velarization in Russian, and if so what this corresponds to articulatorily. Three questions are asked: 1) are Russian non-palatalized consonants velarized or not? If so, 2) what are the articulatory properties of velarization? and 3) how is the presence or absence of secondary velarization affected by adjacent vowels? To answer these questions, laryngeal and lingual ultrasound investigations were conducted on a range of non-palatalized consonants across different vowel contexts. The results of the study show that 1) Russian non- palatalized consonants are not pharyngealized in the sense of Esling (1996, 1999, 2005), 2) /l/ and /f/ are uvularized, 3) /s/ and /ʂ/ can feature either uvularization or velarization. The study also shows that secondary articulations of Russian non-palatalized consonants are inherent rather than dependent on vowel context. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Background on velarization ........................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Velarization in contrast to palatalization ...................................................................... 4 2.2 Velarization vs. no velarization .................................................................................... 7 2.3 Velarization vs. pharyngealization vs. uvularization .................................................. 13 2.4 Velarization intrinsic to consonants vs. a result of adjacent vowels .......................... 18 2.5 Sources of disagreements ........................................................................................... 26 2.5.1 Velarization vs. no velarization ........................................................................... 26 2.5.2 Velarization vs. pharyngealization ...................................................................... 29 2.5.3 Intrinsic velarization vs. vowel effects ................................................................ 31 2.6 General summary ........................................................................................................ 33 2.6.1 Terminology used in our study ........................................................................... 35 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 39 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 39 3.1 Lingual ultrasound: stimuli ......................................................................................... 41 3.1.1 Consonants used ................................................................................................. 41 3.1.2 Frequency data and the choice of adjacent vowels ............................................. 42 3.1.3 Syllables used (CV vs. VCV) .............................................................................. 47 3.2 Participants ................................................................................................................. 48 3.3 Procedure ................................................................................................................... 49 3.4 Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 51 v 3.5 Laryngeal ultrasound: methodology ........................................................................... 62 3.5.1 Stimuli ................................................................................................................. 63 3.5.2 Participant............................................................................................................ 64 3.5.3 Procedure ............................................................................................................. 64 3.5.4 Analysis ............................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 68 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 68 4.1 Laryngeal ultrasound .................................................................................................. 68 4.2 Lingual ultrasound: /l/ ............................................................................................... 73 4.3 /f/ ................................................................................................................................ 75 4.4 /s/ ............................................................................................................................... 78 4.5 /ʂ/ ................................................................................................................................ 82 4.6 General results ............................................................................................................ 86 Chapter 5 ....................................................................................................................................... 88 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 88 5.1 Consonant effects and previous studies ...................................................................... 88 5.2 Our hypothesis and the actual results ......................................................................... 95 5.3 Vowel effects .............................................................................................................. 97 5.4 Limitations & future studies ...................................................................................... 99 Chapter 6 ..................................................................................................................................... 101 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 101 References ................................................................................................................................... 103 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 112 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 113 vi List of Tables Table 1. Classification of Russian consonant phonemes and allophones. ...................................... 5 Table 2. Type of change consonants undergo under the influence of palatalization ...................... 6 Table 3. The ranking of Russian two-letter combinations ............................................................ 45 Table 4. The ranking of Cj-/e/ syllables ........................................................................................ 46 Table 5. Stimuli used for laryngeal ultrasound ............................................................................. 63 Table 6. The location of the maximal tongue body