The stability of phonological features within and across segments
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Maria-Josep Solé
Abstract
This paper argues that the articulatory-acoustic stability of phonological features may be affected not only by concurrent features, but also by features in adjacent segments which may coincide in time due to coarticulatory overlap. Specifically, the paper illustrates how frication may be endangered by concurrent and coarticulatory nasality. We review aerodynamic and acoustic evidence showing that fricatives tend to be impaired and become unstable with co-occurring nasalization. Then we examine the stability of fricatives when they come in contact with nasality in adjacent segments. An experiment is described where aerodynamic and acoustic data were obtained for fricative + nasal sequences at slow and fast rates. The results show that anticipatory velophrayngeal opening during the acoustic duration of the fricative vents the high oral pressure required for audible frication, thus providing support for the claim that the same physical principles disfavoring the combination of frication and nasality within a segment are at play when these features combine across segments. It is argued that the instability of frication when combined with nasalization may be at the origin of a number of phonological patterns.
Abstract
This paper argues that the articulatory-acoustic stability of phonological features may be affected not only by concurrent features, but also by features in adjacent segments which may coincide in time due to coarticulatory overlap. Specifically, the paper illustrates how frication may be endangered by concurrent and coarticulatory nasality. We review aerodynamic and acoustic evidence showing that fricatives tend to be impaired and become unstable with co-occurring nasalization. Then we examine the stability of fricatives when they come in contact with nasality in adjacent segments. An experiment is described where aerodynamic and acoustic data were obtained for fricative + nasal sequences at slow and fast rates. The results show that anticipatory velophrayngeal opening during the acoustic duration of the fricative vents the high oral pressure required for audible frication, thus providing support for the claim that the same physical principles disfavoring the combination of frication and nasality within a segment are at play when these features combine across segments. It is argued that the instability of frication when combined with nasalization may be at the origin of a number of phonological patterns.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
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Part 1: Segments and processes
- Detection of liaison consonants in speech processing in French 3
- Patterns of VCV coarticulatory direction according to the DAC model 25
- The stability of phonological features within and across segments 41
- Pre- and postaspirated stops in Andalusian Spanish 67
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Part 2: Prosodic structure
- Variation in the intonation of extra-sentential elements 85
- Voicing-dependent cluster simplification asymmetries in Spanish and French 109
- The phonetics and phonology of intonational phrasing in Romance 131
- Disentangling stress from accent in Spanish 155
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Part 3: Acquisition of segmental contrasts and prosody
- On the effect of (morpho)phonological complexity in the early acquisition of unstressed vowels in European Portuguese 179
- The perception of lexical stress patterns by Spanish and Catalan infants 199
- Logistic regression modelling for first and second language perception data 219
- Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages 237
- Subject Index 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Part 1: Segments and processes
- Detection of liaison consonants in speech processing in French 3
- Patterns of VCV coarticulatory direction according to the DAC model 25
- The stability of phonological features within and across segments 41
- Pre- and postaspirated stops in Andalusian Spanish 67
-
Part 2: Prosodic structure
- Variation in the intonation of extra-sentential elements 85
- Voicing-dependent cluster simplification asymmetries in Spanish and French 109
- The phonetics and phonology of intonational phrasing in Romance 131
- Disentangling stress from accent in Spanish 155
-
Part 3: Acquisition of segmental contrasts and prosody
- On the effect of (morpho)phonological complexity in the early acquisition of unstressed vowels in European Portuguese 179
- The perception of lexical stress patterns by Spanish and Catalan infants 199
- Logistic regression modelling for first and second language perception data 219
- Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages 237
- Subject Index 259
