Yeyi Clicks: Acoustic Description and Analysis
-
Abstract
Yeyi has the largest known inventory of click sounds in the Bantu language family. It is now entering a moribund state, and this paper documents a variety of acoustic and distributional details of the clicks found in the speech of 13 Yeyi speakers by presenting sound inventories, spectrograms, palatograms, and related acoustic data. The durations of the closure and release phases of the clicks were measured, and an analysis demonstrates that the two duration measures together are statistically able to distinguish the dental, alveolar, palatal, and lateral clicks from one another. A second quantitative study examines the discriminability of the four click places using solely the anterior burst power spectra, as parametrized using the first four spectral moments. The places of articulation are found to be moderately well classified by this means. The patterns of interspeaker variation affecting the clicks are also documented, and these are found to accord rather well with the classification errors made by the optimal classifier using the anterior burst spectra.
verified
References
1 Boersma, P.; Weenink, D.: Praat software manual (University of Amsterdam, 2002).Search in Google Scholar
2 Donnelly, S.S.: Phonology and morphology of the noun in Yeeyi; BA diss. University of Cape Town (1990).Search in Google Scholar
3 Forrest, K.; Weismer, G.; Milenkovic, P.; Dougall, R.N.: Statistical analysis of word-initial voiceless obstruents: preliminary data. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 84: 115–123 (1988).10.1121/1.396977Search in Google Scholar
4 Fulop, S.A.; Dobrovolsky, M.: An instrumental analysis of Sharchhop obstruents. Ling. Tibeto-Burman Area 22.1: 59–70 (1999).Search in Google Scholar
5 Gnanadesikan, R.: Methods for statistical data analysis of multivariate observations; 2nd ed. Wiley & Sons, New York 1997).10.1002/9781118032671Search in Google Scholar
6 Gowlett, D.F.: The parentage and development of Lozi. J. Afr. Lang. Ling. 11: 127–149 (1989).10.1515/jall.1989.11.2.127Search in Google Scholar
7 Gowlett, D.F.: Aspects of Yeyi diachronic phonology; in Haacke, Elderkin, Namibian languages: reports and papers. Namibian African Studies, vol. 4, pp. 235–263 (Köppe, Cologne 1997).Search in Google Scholar
8 Jongman, A.; Wayland, R.; Wong, S.: Acoustic characteristics of English fricatives. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 108: 1252–1263 (2000).10.1121/1.1288413Search in Google Scholar
9 Kohler, K.J.: Phonetic explanation in phonology: the feature fortis/lenis. Phonetica 41: 150–174 (1984).10.1159/000261721Search in Google Scholar
10 Köhler, O.: Observations on the Central Khoisan language group. J. Afr. Lang. 2: 227–234 (1963).Search in Google Scholar
11 Ladefoged, P.: Instrumental techniques for linguistic phonetic fieldwork; in Hardcastle, Laver, The handbook of phonetic sciences (Blackwell, Oxford 1997).Search in Google Scholar
12 Ladefoged, P.; Maddieson, I.: The Sounds of the world’s, languages (Blackwell, Oxford 1996).Search in Google Scholar
13 Ladefoged, P.; Traill, A.: Clicks and their accompaniments. J. Phonet. 22: 33–64 (1994).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30266-9Search in Google Scholar
14 McLachlan, G.J.: Discriminant analysis and statistical pattern recognition (Wiley & Sons, New York 1992).10.1002/0471725293Search in Google Scholar
15 Nelson, D.J.: Cross-spectral methods for processing speech. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 110: 2575–2592 (2001).10.1121/1.1402616Search in Google Scholar
16 Ohly, R.: The position of the Subiya language in Caprivi. Afrika Übersee 77: 105–127 (1994).Search in Google Scholar
17 Ord, J.K.: The discrete Student’s t distribution. Ann. math. Statistics 39: 1513 (1968).10.1214/aoms/1177698133Search in Google Scholar
18 Rom, D.M.: A sequentially rejective test procedure based on a modified Bonferroni inequality. Biometrika 77: 663–666 (1990).10.1093/biomet/77.3.663Search in Google Scholar
19 SAS software manual (SAS Institute, 2002).Search in Google Scholar
20 Sommer, G.: Ethnographie des Sprachwechsels: Sozialer Wandel und Sprachverhalten bei den Yeyi (Botswana). Sprachkontakt in Afrika, vol. 2 (Köppe, Cologne 1995).Search in Google Scholar
21 Sommer, G.; Vossen, R.: Schnalzwörter im Yei (R. 41). Afrika Übersee 75: 1–42 (1992).Search in Google Scholar
22 Sommer, G.; Vossen, R.: Linguistic variation in Siyeyi; in Traill, Vossen, Biesele, The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens, pp. 407–479 (Köppe, Cologne 1995).Search in Google Scholar
23 Sommer, G.; Vossen, R.: Language gain and language loss: the spread of Setswana in Ngamiland; in Batibo, Smieja, Botswana: the future of minority languages, pp. 129–151 (Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2000).Search in Google Scholar
24 Stuart, A.; Ord, J.K.: Kendall’s advanced theory of statistics, vol. 1 (Arnold, London 1994).Search in Google Scholar
25 Traill, A.: Phonetic and phonological studies of !Xóõ Bushman (Buske, Hamburg 1985).Search in Google Scholar
26 Traill, A.: Click replacement in Khoe; in Vossen, Keuthmann, Contemporary studies on Khoisan, vol. 2, pp. 301–320 (Buske, Hamburg 1986).Search in Google Scholar
27 Vossen, R.: Patterns of language knowledge and language use in Ngamiland, Botswana. Bayreuth African Studies Series, vol. 13 (Bayreuth 1988).Search in Google Scholar
© 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Paper
- Yeyi Clicks: Acoustic Description and Analysis
- Cues for Perceived Pitch Register
- Speech Characteristics of Monozygotic Twins and a Same-Sex Sibling: An Acoustic Case Study of Coarticulation Patterns in Read Speech
- Further Section
- Publications Received for Review
- Index autorum Vol. 60, 2003
- Contents Vol. 60, 2003
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Paper
- Yeyi Clicks: Acoustic Description and Analysis
- Cues for Perceived Pitch Register
- Speech Characteristics of Monozygotic Twins and a Same-Sex Sibling: An Acoustic Case Study of Coarticulation Patterns in Read Speech
- Further Section
- Publications Received for Review
- Index autorum Vol. 60, 2003
- Contents Vol. 60, 2003
