This paper examines the acoustic properties of Argentine Spanish fricatives and the spectral cues in recognition of these consonants. It was observed that [s] spectrally peaks around 5000 and 8000 Hx, [formula: see text] around 2500 and 5000 Hz, [f] around 1500 and 8500 Hz, [x] around 1000 and 4000 Hz and [ç] around 2000 and 4000 Hz. The perceptual importance of each of these spectral peaks was determined by filtering and synthesis experiments. With regard to the voice fricatives: [beta, ŏ, Y, Y, 3] the analysis showed periodic components with an F1 of similar frequency and a variable F2. Noise components with an F1 of similar frequency and a variable F2. Noise components were principally observed in [3]. Voiced fricatives proved to be shorter than voiceless ones. The analysis of fricatives in consonant-vowel syllables suggested that both the friction and vocalic portions may provide relevant acoustic cues. Tape-splicing experiments, designed to test this observation, showed that except for [x] and [Y], all Spanish fricatives were accurately identified by the friction portion alone. However, it was also observed that in transitionless syllables the vocalic portion affected the phonetic identification of the friction portion. This phenomenon pointed to the perceptual relevance of the transition in some combinations of fricatives and vowels.
Word order is the way in which languages establish the relationship between a verb and its arguments. The world's spoken languages have been classified into three major word orders: SOV, SVO, and VSO. As other word orders have also been identified, linguists have found it necessary to investigate and define the relevance of semantic (animate/inanimate, agent/patient) and pragmatic (topic/ comment) notions in order to determine their relevance to the ordering of elements. Different sign orders were tested in all of the possible combinations of noun and verb phrases and then verified in different text formats in order to classify the possible sign orders and analyze the influence of pragmatic and semantic notions. Deaf people from all over Argentina participated as informants. The intuition of native signers was also taken into consideration. The analysis of the corpus was completed with participant observation within the Deaf community and in different Deaf associations throughout Argentina. The canonical sign order in Argentine Sign Language was found to be SOV for sentences with transitive verbs and SV with intransitive ones. Sentences with modal verbs exhibit a different sign order. Variations of the canonical sign order occur according to various linguistic constraints and pragmatic purposes.
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