Ternary vowel length in Shilluk

Abstract

Ternary or three-level vowel length is typologically rare, and supporting evidence is limited. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the hypothesised case of this configuration in Shilluk. We first describe the role of vowel length in Shilluk phonology and morphology, and then report on an acoustic study in which minimal sets for vowel length (short, long, overlong) are measured for vowel duration, coda duration, vowel quality and fundamental frequency. Short, long and overlong vowels differ significantly and substantially in terms of vowel duration: 96% of the items can be classified successfully for vowel length on the basis of this measurement alone. Of the other measurements, only vowel quality is significant, and this effect is considerably smaller. The mean values for vowel duration – 68, 111 and 150 ms for short, long and overlong vowels respectively – are similar to those reported for ternary vowel length in Dinka.

Morae in Estonian. A reply to Natalja Kuznetsova’s paper “Estonian word prosody on the Procrustean bed of morae”

“…22a, Franconian accents as described by Köhnlein and Cameron (2019) in Fig. 22b, or Shilluk vowel overlength as interpreted after phonetic measurements by Remijsen et al (2019) in Fig. 22c.…”

Floating quantity in Shilluk

“…In both cases, if there is a length alternation in the stem vowel within the inflectional paradigm, then the vowel is overlong in the base form, and either short or long in the inflected forms (cf. Remijsen, Ayoker, & jørgensen 2019). This can be seen from comparing the vowel length alternation in the paradigm of ŋǒoom μ 'awl' with that in the paradigm of pʌ ʌʌt-ɔ 'bark'.…”

“…As seen from this template, the stem consists of a single closed syllable, and consonantal complexity is restricted to the onset, where a semivowel can follow another consonant. Moreover, the stem vowel can be short (v), long (vv), or overlong (vvv) (Remijsen, Ayoker, & jørgensen 2019).…”

“…Here as well, there is no salient difference in the duration of the stem vowel of the verb as a function of the presence (as in 14a) vs. the absence (as in 14b) of floating quantity in the preceding word. The fact that stem vowels do not lengthen as a function of floating quantity originating in a preceding word is perhaps not surprising, since in verbs, nouns, and adjectives alike, the duration of the stem vowel already has a high functional load, in that it expresses both lexical and morphological contrast (Remijsen, Ayoker, & jørgensen 2019 [pàaal μ á-dʌ k [knife:PL CRD-third 'three knives' Within the above-mentioned set of 324 suffixless plural nouns, seventy-two do not have the floating mora. Sixty of these have either a high or a mid tone.…”

“…3 Our transcription of Shilluk speech largely follows the IPA standard, except for vowel length and tone. In relation to vowel length, Shilluk has a ternary vowel length contrast (Remijsen, Ayoker, & jørgensen 2019), with short, long, and overlong vowels. We transcribe a long vowel using two identical vowel symbols in sequence (e.g.…”