Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops in Indic Languages
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Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References The phonetics and phonology of four-way stops in Indic languages A general overview Md Jahurul Islam Department of Linguistics The University of British Columbia Feb. 17, 2021 Brac University, Dhaka Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 1/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 2/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Background Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 3/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Stop sounds I Stop sounds are attested in almost all the languages in the world. I I They are relatively easy to make. Even children tend to produce stop sounds before other consonants. I they often start their babbling with [dadada] Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 4/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Stop contrasts in world languages I A language can have many dierent combinations of stop sounds. I Hawaiian is known for just one category of stop. I On the other hand, Beja (spoken in Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea) has been reported to have a six-way contrast. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 5/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Stop contrasts in world languages I Here's a quick list of attested contrasts in world languages. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 6/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Stop contrasts in Indic languages I Indic languages are known for a rich set of four-way stops. I In most of these systems, there are sixteen stop sounds that are distributed across four places and four manners of articulations. I The contrasts are achieved primarily via voicing and aspiration dierences. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 7/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Stop contrasts in Indic languages I Some Indic languages with the four-way stop series Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 8/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Bangla stops h */p / is often realized as a bilabial fricative (F) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 9/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Today's talk Today's talk I Today, I will discuss how four-way stop sounds are described in linguistics, focusing on: I their phonetic properties (both articulatory and acoustic), and I their phonological representations via distinctive features I And, we will review how traditional descriptors tends to fall short in capturing the voiced-aspirate category Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 10/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 11/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Articulation of stops I I The general mechanism for producing stop sounds is fairly simple It involves two basic steps I make a complete-closure of the airow while the velar port remains closed I as the air pressure behind the closure grows, release the stop I Additional gestures can help produce dierent types of stops: I vocal fold vibrations I wide-open vocal folds Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 12/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Articulation of stops Source: Ladefoged (1971:10) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 13/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Articulation of stops Behavior of the vocal folds in stop sounds (Davis, 1994:190) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 14/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Articulatory congurations in stop sounds Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 15/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Acoustics of stop sounds Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 16/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Stop sounds in speech signals Stop vs. fricative: [ata-asa] I A stop sound has a closure duration, seen as silence in speech signal I The closure duration is followed by a burst (when the closure is released) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 17/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Stop sounds in speech signals h Unaspirated vs. aspirated stop: [ka-k a] I Time between the release and the voicing onset is called Voice Onset Time (VOT) (Lisker & Abramson, 1964) I VOT is longer in aspirated stops Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 18/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Stop sounds in speech signals Voiceless vs. voiced stop: [ta-da] I VOT is negative in voiced stops Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 19/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Stop sounds in speech signals VOT in Hindi stops (Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011:156) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 20/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues Stop sounds in speech signals Bangla stop categories in waveform: Unasp Asp pa PV pha PV ba Asp bha 2.744 0 Time (s) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 21/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Acoustic cues VOT in dierent categories Source: Schwarz et al. (2019) Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 22/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Segmental features Phonology of stop sounds Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 23/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Segmental features Featural representations I Four-way stop sounds are phonologically represented via two laryngeal features: I [voice] I [Spread glottis (SG)] I These two features are grounded into the phonetics of the sounds; e.g., I /b/ has a feature [voice] since it is produced with prevoicing I /ph / has a feature [SG] since it is produced with wide-open glottis Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 24/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Segmental features Featural representations Using binary features in four-way stops (Davis, 1994; Lombardi, 1991) Stop category Phonetic Features Voiceless-unaspirate [p] [−voice, Voiceless-aspirate h [p ] [−voice, Voiced-unaspirate [b] [+voice, Voiced-aspirate h [b ] [+voice, Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops −spread +spread −spread +spread glottis] glottis] glottis] glottis] 25/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Segmental features Featural representations I A more sophisticated approach is to use unary features, as proposed by the theory of Laryngeal Realism (Iverson & Salmons, 1995; Honeybone, 2005; Beckman et al., 2013) I In this approach, only the presence of a feature is marked; no information of the absence of a feature is required. I Thus, stops are said to be `specied' for the features as below: Stop category Phonetic Features Voiceless-unaspirate [p] [Ø] Voiceless-aspirate h [p ] [spread glottis] Voiced-unaspirate [b] Voiced-aspirate [b ] Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops h [voice] [voice, spread glottis] 26/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References ... Issues with voiced-aspirates Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 27/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Issues with voiced-aspirates I Now, the features for the categories except the voiced-aspirate perfectly align with their phonetic properties. I E.g., I /b/ has prevoicing, so it is marked with [voice] feature I /ph / has aspiration, so it is marked with [SG] feature I /p/ is left without a laryngeal feature since it has no prevoicing or aspiration I h But, the case of /b / has some potential issues Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 28/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Issues with voiced-aspirates I h h First, using an [SG] feature indicates that both /p / and /b / share the same/comparable property of aspiration I This is actually not the case (we'll see it in a moment). I Second, using a [voice] indicates that the prevoicing too is the same/comparable h between /b/ and /b / I This is also questionable. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 29/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Issues with voiced-aspirates h a/ and /d ” h a/ Comparing aspiration in /” t I The two aspiration intervals are qualitatively dierent Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 30/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Issues with voiced-aspirates h Prevoicing in /b/ vs. /b / I h The duration of prevoicing in /b/ and /b / has been reported to be consistently dierent (Lisker & Abramson, 1964; Schiefer, 1989; Berkson, 2013) I It has also been suggested that the prevoicing in voiced-aspirates is qualitatively dierent from plain-voiced stops (still unexplored, I think). Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 31/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Issues with voiced-aspirates What can be an alternative then? I The aspiration duration in voiced-aspirates have long been described to have breathy phonation (Ladefoged, 1971; Schiefer, 1989; Beckman et al., 2013; Khan & Esposito, 2011) I Instead of using a combination of [voice] and [SG] introducing a single feature [breathy] might be an option I The advantage of this approach is that the feature [breathy] is more grounded into phonetics. I It can also oer some simplications to the featural specication models as it relates to the typology of stops sounds (which would the subject of a separate discussion, of course). Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 32/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References ... To summarize... Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 33/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References To summarize... I Prevoicing and aspiration are the cues used to describe stop sounds I Positive and negative VOT are used to capture the stop contrasts I The phonological representation of four-way stop contrasts involve the use of the features [voice] and [spread glottis] I h The /p/, /p / and /b/ categories are straightforward in terms of their featural representations I However, ... Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 34/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References To summarize... I h The /b / category is a challenging: I VOT theory cannot capture /bh / I the combination of [voice] and [spread glottis] is also problematic I a proposal for a [breathy] feature can be more appropriate in terms of phonetic grounding Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 35/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Thank You! Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 36/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Ahn, Sang-Cheol & Gregory K Iverson. 2004. Dimensions in Korean laryngeal phonology. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 13(4). 345379. Beckman, Jill, Michael Jessen & Catherine Ringen. 2013. Empirical evidence for laryngeal features: Aspirating vs. true voice languages. Journal of Linguistics 49(02). 259284. Berkson, Kelly Harper. 2013. Phonation types in Marathi: An acoustic investigation: University of Kansas dissertation. Davis, Katharine. 1994. Stop voicing in Hindi. Journal of phonetics 22(2). 177193. Honeybone, Patrick. 2005. Diachronic evidence in segmental phonology: The case of obstruent laryngeal specications. The internal organization of phonological segments 319. 317351. Iverson, Gregory K. & Joseph C Salmons. 1995. Aspiration and laryngeal representation in Germanic. Phonology 12(03). 369396. Khan, S. D. & C. M. Esposito. 2011. Breathiness contrasts in consonants and vowels: a comparative study of Gujarati and White Hmong. ICPhS XVII. 1721. Ladefoged, Peter. 1971. Preliminaries to linguistic phonetics. Chicago, USA: University of Chicago Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=VqEXghQ-ow0C. Ladefoged, Peter & Keith Johnson. 2011. A course in phonetics. Canada: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 6th edn. Lisker, Leigh & Arthur S Abramson. 1964. A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word 20(3). 384422. Lombardi, Linda. 1991. Laryngeal features and laryngeal neutralization: University of Massachussetts dissertation. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 36/36 UBC Background Phonetics of stops Phonology of stops Voiced-aspirates Conclusion References Masica, Colin P. 1993. The indo-aryan languages. Cambridge University Press. Schiefer, Lieselotte. 1989. `Voiced aspirated' or `breathy voiced' and the case for articulatory phonology. Forschungsberichte 27. 257278. Schwarz, Martha, Morgan Sonderegger & Heather Goad. 2019. Realization and representation of Nepali laryngeal contrasts: voiced aspirates and laryngeal realism. Journal of Phonetics 73. 113127. Md Jahurul Islam Phonetics and phonology of four-way stops 36/36 UBC
