Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-6bnxx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-21T07:27:06.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Guaraní Voiceless Stops in Oral versus Nasal Contexts: An Acoustical Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2009

Rachel Walker
Rachel Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Grace Ford Salvatori 301, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1693, USA. e-mail: rwalker@usc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This acoustic study investigates voiceless stops in Guaraní that are described as transparent to nasal harmony. Voiceless stops in oral versus nasal contexts are examined in relation to theoretical issues of locality and phonetic implementation. First, the oral/nasal and voicing properties of the stops are considered in connection to proposals in phonological theory that feature spreading produces strictly continuous spans of a spreading property. The stops are discovered to display the acoustic attributes of voiceless oral obstruents; no evidence of nasal airflow energy was observed during closure nor was the closure fully voiced. These results suggest that strict continuity of a spreading featural property is not always found in the phonetic output. Second, the timing of the voicelessness is addressed. Interestingly, the duration of voicelessness of the stops [p, t] remains the same across oral/nasal environments, although the voiceless interval shifts to persevere longer into the following vowel in nasal contexts. The velar stop does not exhibit an increased perseverance of voicelessness after closure release—it displays the longest VOT of all places of articulation, and its VOT remains unaffected by oral/nasal context. It is suggested that incorporating a notion of conflicting realizational requirements in models of phonetic implementation is important in interpreting these results.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , June 1999 , pp. 63 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abacus Concepts. (1989). SuperAnova. Abacus Concepts, Inc., Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
Bell-Berti, F. (1993). Understanding velic motor control: Studies of segmental context. In Huffman, M. & Krakow, R., , R. (editors), Phonetics and phonology, 5, Nasals, nasalization, and the velum, 63–85. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Browman, C. & Goldstein, L. (1986). Towards an articulatory phonology. Phonology Yearbook 3, 219–252.Google Scholar
Browman, C. & Goldstein, L. (1989). Articulatory gestures as phonological units. Phonology 6, 201–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browman, C. & Goldstein, L. (1990). Tiers in articulatory phonology, with some implications for casual speech. In Kingston, J. & Beckman, M., (editors), Papers in laboratory phonology I: Between the grammar and physics of speech, 341–376. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrd, D. (1996a). A phase window framework for articulatory timing. Phonology 13, 139–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrd, D. (1996b). Influences in articulatory timing in consonant sequences. Journal of Phonetics 24, 209–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, G.N. (1976). Neutral vowels in Hungarian vowel harmony: An autosegmental interpretation. NELS 7, 49–64.Google Scholar
Cohn, A. (1990). Phonetic and Phonological Rules of Nasalization. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA. [Distributed as UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics 76.]Google Scholar
Cohn, A. (1993a). The status of nasalized continuants. In Huffman, M. & Krakow, R., (editors), Phonetics and phonology, 5: Nasals, nasalization, and the velum, 329–367. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cohn, A. (1993b). Nasalization in English: Phonology or phonetics. Phonology 10, 43–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer-Jørgensen, E. (1964). Sound duration and place of articulation. Zeitschrift für Phonetik Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 17, 175–207.Google Scholar
Flemming, E. (1995). Vowels undergo consonant harmony. Paper presented at the Trilateral Phonology Weekend, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Gafos, A. (1996). The Articulatory Basis of Locality in Phonology. Doctoral dissertation, Johns Hopkins University. [Published 1999, Garland, New York.]Google Scholar
Gafos, A. (1997). A cross-sectional view of s, ∫, and θ. In K. Kusumoto (editor), NELS 27, 127–141.Google Scholar
Gerfen, H. J. Jr., (1996). Topics in the Phonology and Phonetics of Coatzospan Mixtec. Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Gregores, E. & Suárez, J.A.. (1967). A Description of Colloquial Guaraní The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, B. (1995). A phonetically-driven, optimality-theoretic account of post-nasal voicing. Paper presented at the Tilsburg Derivationality Residue Conference.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. & Stivers, T.. (In progress). The phonetics of postnasal voicing. Ms., UCLA.Google Scholar
Huffman, M.K. (1989). Implementation of Nasal: Timing and Articulatory Landmarks. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA. [Distributed as UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics 75.]Google Scholar
Huffman, M.K. (1993). Phonetic patterns of nasalization and implications for feature specification. In Huffman, M. & Krakow, R. (editors), Nasals, Nasalization, and the Velum. Phonetics and Phonology. 5, 303–327. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Keating, P. (1988). Underspecification in phonetics. Phonology 5, 275–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, P. (1990). The window model of coarticulation: Articulatory evidence. In J. Kingston & M. Beckman (editors), 451–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, J. (1990). Articulatory binding. In Kingston, J. & Beckman, M. (editors). Papers in Laboratory Phonology I: Between the Grammar and Physics of Speech. 406–434. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, J. & Diehl, R.L.. (1994). Phonetic knowledge. Language 70, 419–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (1993). A Course in Phonetics. (Third edition). New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. & Maddieson, I.. (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Layer, J. (1994). Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1990). Explaining phonetic variation: A sketch of the H & H Theory. In Hardcastle, W.J. & Marchal, A., (editors), Speech Production and Speech Modelling, 403–439. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisker, L. & Abramson, A.S.. 1964. A cross language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word 20, 384–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, J. (1994). On coronal ‘transparency’. Paper presented at the Trilateral Phonology Weekend, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Ní Chiosáin, M. & Padgett, J.. (1993). Inherent V place. Report no. LRC-93–09, Linguistics Research Center, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Ní Chiosáin, M. & Padgett, J.. (1997). Markedness, segment realization, and locality in spreading. Report no. LRC-97–01, Linguistics Research Center, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Ohala, M. & Ohala, J.J.. (1991). Nasal epenthesis in Hindi. Phonetica 48, 207–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohala, J.J. & Ohala, M.. (1993). The phonetics of nasal phonology: theorems and data. In M. Huffman & J. Krakow (editors), 225–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohala, J.J., Solé, M.-J., & Ying, G.. (1998). The controversy of nasalized fricatives. Paper presented at the ICA-ASA Joint Meeting, Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Padgett, J. (1995). Feature classes. In J.N Beckman, L. Walsh Dickey & S. Urbanczyk, (editors), University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers: Papers in Optimality Theory 18, 385–420.Google Scholar
Pater, J. (1996). *NC. In K. Kusumoto (editor), NELS 26, 227–239.Google Scholar
Pater, J. (1999). Austronesian nasal substitution and other NÇ effects. In Kager, R., van der Hulst, H. & Zonneveld, W. (editors), The Prosody-Morphology Interface, 310–343. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierrehumbert, J. (1980). The Phonology and Phonetics of English Intonation. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Piggott, G.L. (1988). A parametric approach to nasal harmony. In van der Hulst, H. & Smith, N. (editors), Features, Segmentals Structure and Harmony Processes, 131–167. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Rivas, A.M. (1974). Nasalization in Guaraní. Ms., MIT.Google Scholar
Rivas, A.M. (1975). Nasalization in Guaraní. In E. Kaisse & J. Hankamer (editors), NELS 5, 134–143.Google Scholar
Shaw, P. (1991). Consonant harmony systems: The special status of coronal harmony. In Paradis, C. & Prunet, J.-F. (editors), The Special Status of Coronals. Phonetics and Phonology. Volume 2, 125–157. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Silverman, D. (1995). Phasing and Recoverability. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Smith, B. L. (1978). Effects of place of articulation and vowel environment on ‘voiced’ stop consonant production. Glossa 12, 163–175.Google Scholar
Umeda, N. (1977). Consonant duration in American English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 61, 846–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vago, R. M. (1976). Theoretical implications of Hungarian vowel harmony. Linguistic Inquiry 7, 242–263.Google Scholar
Walker, R. (1996). Transparent obstruents undergo nasal harmony. Paper presented at the Northwest Linguistics Conference, University of Washington.Google Scholar
Walker, R. (1998). Nasalization, Neutral Segments, and Opacity Effects. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz. [To appear, Garland, New York.]Google Scholar
Walker, R. & Pullum, G.K.. (1999). Possible and impossible segments. Language 75, 764–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westbury, J. (1983). Enlargement of the supraglottal cavity and its relation to stop consonant voicing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 74, 1322–1336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westbury, J. & Keating, P.. (1986). On the naturalness of stop consonant voicing. Journal of Linguistics 22, 145–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whalen, D. H. & Beddor, P.S.. (1989). Connections between nasality and vowel duration and height: Elucidation of the Eastern Algonquian intrusive nasal. Language 65, 457–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R. (1996). Consonant Clusters and Cue Preservation in Tsou. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar