UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics Title The Phonetics and Phonology of the Timing of Oral and Glottal Events Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1mx3m19m Author Kingston, John Publication Date 1985 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Phonetics and Phonology of the Timing of Oral and Glottal Events By John Clayton Kingston A.B. (University of Chicago) 1976 M.A. (University of Chicago) 1977 C.Phil. (University of California) 1983 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Linguistics in the GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BERKELEY Approved: ...U.U....UUU /L Chairman .... ___ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Phonetics and Phonology of the Timing of Oral and Glottal Events By John Clayton Kingston Abstract During voiced stops, the larynx is lowered to expand the oral cavity — to facilitate voicing — , while during voiceless stops the larynx remains relatively high in the neck. Hombert, Ohala, and Ewan (1979) argue that lowering the larynx during a voiced stop reduces the vertical tension on the vocal folds and thereby lowers the fundamental fre- • quency of the following vowel. This work examines the con­ tribution of vertical movement of the larynx to the manipu­ lation of intraoral air pressure during the articulation of ejectives and to the perturbation of the fundamental fre­ quency of neighboring vowels. I show that the amount of larynx movement which occurs during ejectives is too snail to account for the extreme elevation of intraoral air pressure which is characteristic of this class of stop. Furthermore, larynx raising during ah ejective does not always increase the rate of vocal fold vibration of a following vowel. It appears, in fact, that the fundamental frequency of a vowel following a stop of any kind is not predictable from the height of the larynx during the stop or its direction of movement. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ii Finally, phonetic and phonological evidence is presented which shows that glottal articulations are "bound" to the stop release, though in continuants, where no audible release occurs, no binding takes place. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of contents Chapter 1 1 The coordination of oral and glottal events 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Manipulation of intraoral air pressure 9 1.3 Perturbation of fundamental frequency after stops 19 1.4 Articulatory binding 23 Notes 25 Chapter 2 28 The effect of larynx movement on Po 2.1.1 Introduction 28 2.1.2 The utility of larynx movement as a mechanism for changing Po 29 2.2 Po measurements during Tigrinya stops 38 2.2.1 Methods 38 2.2.1.1 Instrumentation and data sampling 39 2.2.1.2 Data reduction 40 2.2.1.3 Establishing a reference point for larynx height 43 2.2.1.4 Format of data presentation 45 2.2.1.5 The speakers 46 2.2.1.6 The words recorded 47 2.2.2 The results 48 2.3 Modelling Tigrinya stops 65 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv 2.3.1 Introduction 65 2.3.2 Input parameters for the model 65 2.3.3 Results of the modelling 70 2.3.3.1 Simulations of voiceless stops and ejectives 71 2.3.3.2 Simulations of ejectives with a smaller glottal area 99 2.4 Summary 114 Notes 115 Chapter 3 116 Fo perturbations and larynx height 3.1 Introduction 116 3.2 Fo perturbations by oral and glottalic stops 123 3.2.1 Phonological developments from these perturbations 123 3.2.2 Athabaskan tonogenesis 135 3.2.2.1 Introduction 135 3.2.2.2 The case for tone reversal 138 3.2.2.3 The phonetics of constriction 145 3.2.2.3.1 Introduction 145 3.2.2.3.2 A phonetic explanation for the evolution of opposing tones frcm the same source 151 3.2.3 Mechanisms for perturbing Fo 157 3.2.3.1 Perturbation by oral stops 157 3.2.3.2 Perturbation by ejectives 163 3.2.3.3 Perturbation by implosives 173 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3.3 Larynx movement and Fo perturbation in Tigrinya 176 3.3.1 Introduction, materials and methods 176 3.3.1.1 The speakers 176 3.2.1.2 Vocabulary recorded 177 3.3.1.3 Analysis procedures 177 3.3.2 The results 179 3.3.2.1 Speaker T1 180 3.3.2.2; Speaker T2 192 3.3.2.3 Speaker T3 201 3.3.4 Larynx movement and Fo perturbations after nasals and glottal stop 211 3.3.5 Comparison, surtmary, and discussion 219 3.4 Correlations between larynx height and Fo 223 Notes 235 Chapter 4 245 Articulatory binding 4.1 Introduction 245 4.2 Distribution of distinctive glottal features 253 4.2.1 Klamath 254 4.2.1.1 Constraints on the distribution of consonants in Klamath 254 4.2.1.2 Consonant clusters and syllabification in Klamath 261 4.2.1.2.1 Word-initial clusters 262 4.2.1.2.2 Word-final clusters 265 4.2.1.2.3 Medial clusters 272 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vi 4.2.1.2.4 Suninary of the discussion of consonant clusters 292 4.2.1.3 Vowel deletion and uniform syllabification 294 4.2.3 Variations on the theme 306 4.2.3.1 The structure of Cambodian onsets 306 4.2.3.2 An apparent difficulty — Attic Greek 313 4.2.3.3 A second apparent difficulty — Preaspiration in Icelandic and Southern Paiute 316 4.3 The nature of glottalized sonorants 319 4.3.1 Glottalized sonorants in Wakashan 320 4.3.2 Glottalized sonorants in Yokuts 331 4.4 Athabaskan tonogenesis revisited 353 4.4.1 The underlying representation of constriction 353 4.4.2 Conclusion 366 Notes 368 Chapter 5 334 Sunmary and conclusion References 398 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements While writing a dissertation, one feels quite alone, iirmersed so deep in the problems one is working out that external events are only sensed dimly, if at all. It is only once the work is done that it becomes possible to real­ ize that the work couldn't have gotten done without consid­ erable help from others. I'd like to thank them here. First, my colleagues in the Phonology Laboratory at Berkeley: Haruko Kawasaki, Mariscela Amador, Michelle Caisse, Margot Peet, Lynn Araujo, and Nick Earaclas all helped bring this work to a finish; first, by listening and commenting helpfully to me as I talked, probably endlessly, about it, and then as the going got harder toward the end, tolerating my nearly complete monopoly of the lab. I wish I were still in the lab so I could return the kindness. Steve Pearson held the position of technician in the lab while this work was being done, but he did far more to bring it to completion than just make sure that the machines all worked. None of the physiological data could even have been collected if he hadn't rebuilt the thyroumbrometer and figured out a way to sample and analyze the data obtained Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v i i i from it. But Steve's contribution goes far beyond instru­ ments and software. Much of my thinking about what the data means and what can or cannot be said about it is the fruit of many long conversations with Steve, where most often I would have come to him with scxne technical problem or another, and he would make sure I didn't go away until I thoroughly understood both the problem and its solution. The members of my committee, Johanna Nichols, Donca Steriade, and John Ohala, must all have wondered at one point or another whether I would ever pull all the strands together and submit a dissertation. These acknowledgements were purposely not written, in fact, until the word proces­ sor had spat out the last page of the text, so that I would not thank them for their patience prematurely. They contri­ buted much more than simply patience, however. Johanna Nichols always listened carefully to any of the great variety of things that I came to talk to her about, and was able to pull together facts about Caucasian languages to support or demolish an idea I had. I am just sorry that these languages got such short shrift in the final product. Donca Steriade insisted that I think about the ways in which my understanding of the phonetics of glottalized consonants would determine their phonological behavior. The lengthy Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. reproductionFurther prohibited without permission. exploration of the formal properties of glottalized con­ sonants in the fourth chapter is a direct product of many long conversations with her and many of its insights are properly hers. Finally, from the beginning of my graduate career at Berkeley, John Ohala has been the kind of mentor that I needed. When I first started out I had little more than a collection of enthusiasms to work with. Through John's gentle but persistant guidance, I gradually acquired seme knowledge to go with them. As a model of how a phonoi- ogist should practice his craft, John is without peer.