Adaptive Dispersion Theory and Phonological Vowel Reduction in Russian

Abstract

Russian exhibits a rich pattern of phonological vowel reduction, by which some vowel contrasts are neutralized in unstressed syllables. Recent work in phonology suggests a mechanism by which phonetic vowel reduction - compression of the overall vowel space due to target undershoot - might lead to patterns like Russian. Presenting acoustic data from 9 speakers of Russian, we use Euclidean distance measures, measures of F1-F0 and F2-F1, and Bayesian classification to provide a basic picture of how the overall vowel space, as well as the distribution of vowels, change as stress is reduced. We are particularly interested in whether contraction of the vowel space in unstressed positions is primarily due to raising, and in whether contrasting pairs of vowels are evenly spaced within and across contexts. Our results provide qualified support for the first hypothesis, but largely do not support the hypothesis of equal spacing, in particular across contexts. Of additional interest, we find that some impressionistically described neutralizations are incomplete.

Speech rhythm: a metaphor?

“…Similarly, the Russian pronunciation of 'Gorbachëv' as has a progressive rise in vowel prominence rather than alternation. Here, the vowel in the immediately prestress position, , is the neutralization of /a/ and /o/, but in other unstressed positions the realization is further midcentralized to , which is also shorter than the pre-stress realization (according to [73]) in non-palatalizing environments, and no longer, at least, in palatalizing environments.…”

Gradient clash, faithfulness, and sonority sequencing effects in Russian compound stress

“…We will refer to this type as final stress -the only context where stress is not final is in the instrumental plural, with the suffix [-am j i], where stress falls on the penult. The forms in (4) demonstrate another well-known feature of Russian phonology, unstressed vowel reduction (Crosswhite 1999;Barnes 2004;Padgett and Tabain 2005;Gouskova 2010 …”

The phonology of boundaries and secondary stress in Russian compounds

“…Table 1 Non-pretonic unstressed Pretonic Stressed Vysotskij (1973) 58 (49%) 80 (68%) 118 (100%) Barnes (2004) 25 (29%) 68 (79%) 86 (100%) Padgett & Tabain (2005) 40 (47%) 59 (59%) 85 (100%) It is well-known that dialects differ both in the quality and duration of the pretonic vowel (Bethin 2006;Kasatkina & Shchigel' 1996;Al'muxamedova & Kul'sharipova 1980;Stroganova 1973). In the standard dialect, which is the focus of this article, the pretonic vowel may or may not be shorter than the stressed vowel, but it is considerably longer than other unstressed vowels.…”