Incomplete neutralization of the voicing contrast in word-final obstruents in Russian: Phonological, lexical, and methodological influences

Kharlamov, Viktor

doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2014.02.002

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Several studies find small, but systematic differences in ostensibly neutralized word-final stops in German (Port et al, 1981;Port & Crawford, 1989;Charles-Luce, 1985;Kleber et al, 2010). Similar observations concerning near-neutralization have been made for voicing in Catalan (Dinnsen & Charles-Luce, 1984) and Russian (Kharlamov, 2014). Roettger et al revisit this phenomenon in German, paying attention to potential methodological confounds, and confirm the presence of a small, but nevertheless significant near-neutralization effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Whence the fuzziness? Morphological effects in interacting sound changes in Southern British English

Strycharczuk

Scobbie

2017

Laboratory Phonology

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The fronting of the high-back /uː/ and /ʊ/, as currently seen in Southern British English (SBE), is a rare opportunity to study two similar sound changes at different stages of their phonetic development: /uː/-fronting is a more advanced change than /ʊ/-fronting. Since the fronting in both vowels is restricted from applying before a following final /l/ (e.g., in words like fool or pull), we can exploit the difference in the phonetic advancement of /uː/ and /ʊ/-fronting to illuminate the nature of 'fuzzy contrasts' affecting vowel+/l/ sequences in morphologically complex words. As recent results show that /uː/-fronting is partially limited in fool-ing (but not in monomorphemes like hula), we ask whether similar morphological constraints affect /ʊ/ followed by /l/ (e.g., bully vs. pull-ing). Simultaneously, we consider the question of what phonological generalization best captures the interaction between vowel fronting, /l/-darkening, and morphological structure. We present ultrasound data from 20 speakers of SBE representing two age groups. The data show that morphologically conditioned contrasts are consistent for /uː/+/l/, but variable and limited in size for /ʊ/+/l/. We relate these findings to the debate on morphology-phonetics interactions and the emergence of phonological abstraction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Whence the fuzziness? Morphological effects in interacting sound changes in Southern British English

Strycharczuk

Scobbie

2017

Laboratory Phonology

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“…This suggests that such differences are not the result of a specific articulatory goal but more likely a by-product of various automated processes taking place during lexical access and speech planning, such as automatic co-activation of morphologically related forms (Ernestus and Baayen 2006;Goldrick and Blumstein 2006;Winter and Röttger 2011;Röttger et al 2014). This seems especially likely considering the generally small magnitude of production differences in incomplete neutralization studies, such as the vowel duration differences of 3.5 ms in Warner et al (2004) or the consonantal duration differences of 5 ms in Kharlamov (2014). During perception of non-laboratory speech, listeners also normally have access to non-acoustic (e.g., syntactic, semantic) cues to the voicing setting of the consonant, which further diminishes the importance of partially neutralized differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Production data from languages with final devoicing, including German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Polish, and Russian, often show reliable differences between the surface forms of phonologically voiced versus voiceless obstruents (e.g., Chen 1970;Charles-Luce 1985;Port and O'Dell 1985;Slowiaczek and Dinnsen 1985;Tieszen 1997;van Rooy et al 2003;Piroth and Janker 2004;Smith et al 2009;Dmitrieva et al 2010;Rӧttger et al 2011;Kharlamov 2014;Röttger et al 2014). This phenomenon is traditionally referred to as 'incomplete neutralization', and it tends to affect the acoustic parameters of consonantal duration, glottal pulsing, and preceding vowel duration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, incompletely neutralized differences are also known to be motivated in production by speakers' exposure to orthographic representations during word-reading tasks and inclusion of minimal pairs among the stimuli (among others, Fourakis and Iverson 1984;Mascaró 1987;Jassem and Richter 1989;Manaster Ramer 1996a, Manaster Ramer 1996bWarner et al 2004;Warner et al 2006;Iverson and Salmons 2011;Kharlamov 2014). For example, Fourakis and Iverson (1984) found incompletely neutralized differences in German in the tokens elicited during a word-reading task but not in the items recorded during an oral task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Fourakis and Iverson (1984) found incompletely neutralized differences in German in the tokens elicited during a word-reading task but not in the items recorded during an oral task. Kharlamov (2014) reported that robust differences in glottal pulsing between phonologically voiced versus voiceless stops and fricatives in Russian were found during word-reading but not picture-naming/word-guessing, and when the list of test items contained minimally-contrasting word pairs (e.g., /kot/ 'cat'~/kod/ 'code') but not when such pairs were excluded. This shows that both orthography and lexical competition can affect the production of voicing in obstruents, likely by increasing speakers' awareness of the situational importance of voicing and encouraging the production of prominent acoustic differences between voiced and voiceless obstruents in the parameter or parameters relevant for a given language (e.g., glottal pulsing for Russian speakers, segmental duration for German speakers).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perception of incompletely neutralized voicing cues in word-final obstruents: The role of differences in production context

Kharlamov

2015

Laboratory Phonology

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Experimental data on final devoicing in languages such as German and Russian usually show that speakers produce incompletely neutralized acoustic differences between words ending in phonologically voiced versus voiceless obstruents (e.g., /kod/ 'code' vs. /kot/ 'cat' in Russian) and that listeners can use these differences to identify the underlying specification of final consonants at an above-chance level. The current study examines how the seemingly successful perceptual identification of voicing varies across stimulus items recorded in reading vs. non-reading procedures and with and without full minimal pairs present in the experimental list. Results of a series of identification tasks reveal that Russian listeners' identification responses are more in line with underlying voicing for the stimuli recorded during word-reading and with minimal pairs included among the experimental items. This shows that voicing judgments are strongly influenced by the acoustic differences produced when speakers encounter orthographic forms or lexical competition. At the same time, perceptual neutralization is also not complete for the items recorded without such exposure, which indicates that listeners' ability to recover underlying voicing is not limited to the production contexts involving written forms or minimal pairs.

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Vowel nasalisation in Scottish Gaelic: No evidence for incomplete neutralisation in initial mutation

Morrison

2020

Morphology

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The existence of incomplete neutralisation in connection with processes like final devoicing is well-known, but little work exists on typologically more uncommon morphological processes such as Celtic initial mutation. This paper reviews the small existing literature on incomplete neutralisation in initial mutation, showing that no convincing evidence has been found so far, and presents a new nasal airflow study on four speakers of Scottish Gaelic that adds to these negative results. Radical initial /p/ and /m/ in Scottish Gaelic are neutralised to [v] under the lenition mutation. Vowels following radical initial /m/ in Scottish Gaelic may display either categorical phonological nasalisation or gradient phonetic nasalisation. Nasal airflow in items with radical initial /p/ and /m/ is measured in order to determine whether the degree of vowel nasalisation after [v] in lenited forms is sensitive to the identity of the corresponding radical consonant. LME model comparison finds that only categorical phonological nasalisation, and not gradient phonetic nasalisation, may be subject to morphological conditioning. This is at odds with widespread existing findings for processes such as final devoicing, where the gradient phonetic properties of neutralised segments display sensitivity to paradigmatic effects. The absence of incomplete neutralisation in initial mutation is consistent with recent proposals that restrict the types of morphophonological processes that may bring about incomplete neutralisation to highly transparent, phonetically natural processes involving conflict between word-specific morphological pressures and language-wide phonotactic constraints. These findings can inform us about the structure of the mental lexicon and the derivation of morphologically complex forms.

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Incomplete neutralization of the voicing contrast in word-final obstruents in Russian: Phonological, lexical, and methodological influences

Cited by 39 publications

References 39 publications

Whence the fuzziness? Morphological effects in interacting sound changes in Southern British English

Whence the fuzziness? Morphological effects in interacting sound changes in Southern British English

Perception of incompletely neutralized voicing cues in word-final obstruents: The role of differences in production context

Vowel nasalisation in Scottish Gaelic: No evidence for incomplete neutralisation in initial mutation

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