Volume 25, Issue 2

It is well known that Paul Menzerath has achieved results of importance in phonetics. His comments on the conception of phonetics have, however, remained unknown until now; he was, with his views and opinions, ahead of his time and may be well considered as modern even in our days.

Having brought forward a new theory of auditory perception (Phonetica, vol. 14, 1966, and vol. 17, 1967), the author presents some new arguments sustaining that theory. Moreover, he finds a simple and accurate mathematical relation between the numbers of ‘just noticeable differences in intensity’ and the subjective loudness of sound, for 4,000 and 10,000 cps; whereas that relation is altered for 1,000 and 7,000 cps by a phenomenon of loss of auditory sensitivity from the threshold of hearing, which disappears at the average levels of intensity. That consideration seems to confirm once more the author’s hypothesis: low, average, and high frequencies are perceived by the brain as different sound ‘qualities’ which may be compared in every respect to the three fundamental hues of colour perception by the eye.

The systematic phonemes of the Hindi spoken in Suriname are described in terms of their distinctive features. The language appears to be more simply describable by use of a feature system including syllabic instead of vocalic . The feature consonantal is also found to be non-distinctive in this description. The necessity of a distinction between primary phonetic features ( such as consonantal and vocalic ) and primary systematic phonemic features ( such as syllabic ) is suggested. Marginal phonemes of Sarnami Hindustani, reflecting characteristics of the Hindi of India, are briefly described.

The purpose of this research was to study the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) levels of young Polish males and compare them with similar populations of US males. To this end 103 Polish university students read a standard passage which was recorded and analyzed for SFF. The mean SFF level for this population was approximately 138 Hz, a value somewhat higher than that for 157 US male university students. Since there was also a size difference between the two populations, this factor was tested and found not to relate to SFF. Possibly the differences between the two groups relate to crosscultural factors.