Voice onset time and beyond: Exploring laryngeal contrast in 19 languages

Abstract

In this special collection entitled Marking 50 Years of Research on Voice Onset Time and the Voicing Contrast in the World’s Languages, we have compiled eleven studies investigating the voicing contrast in 19 languages. The collection provides extensive data obtained from 270 speakers across those languages, examining VOT and other acoustic, aerodynamic and articulatory measures. The languages studied may be divided into four groups: ‘aspirating’ languages with a two-way contrast (English, three varieties of German); ‘true voicing’ languages with a two-way contrast (Russian, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, two Iranian languages Pashto and Wakhi); languages with a three-way contrast (Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer, Yerevan Armenia, three Indo-Aryan languages, Dawoodi, Punjabi and Shina, and Burushaki spoken in India); and Indo-Aryan languages with a more than three-way contrast (Jangli and Urdu with a four-way contrast, and Sindhi and Siraiki with a five-way contrast). We discuss the cross-linguistic data, focusing on how much VOT alone tell s us above the voicing contrast in these languages, and what other phonetic dimensions (such as consonant-induced F0 and voice quality) are needed for a complete understanding of laryngeal contrast in these languages. Implications for various issues emerge: universal phonetic feature systems, effects of language contact on linguistic levelling, and the relation between laryngeal contrast and supralaryngeal articulation. The cross-linguistic VOT data also lead us to discuss how the distribution of VOT as measured acoustically may allow us to infer the underlying articulation and how it might be approached in gestural phonologies. The discussion on these multiple issues sparks new questions to be resolved, and provide indications of where the field may be best directed in exploring laryngeal contrast in voicing in the world’s languages.

Acoustic properties of singleton and geminate ejective stops in Tsova-Tush

“…As noted above, in addition to aspirated and ejective stops, Tsova-Tush has voiced stops (/b d g/, which were not analyzed in this study. Some of the parameters measured here (especially VOT in the negative dimension [6] and duration of the preceding vowel) are certainly relevant to the contrast in voicing. An additional study including voiced stops would be revealing, especially if designed such that the target consonants were to follow both phonemically long and short vowels.…”

Linguistic and Psychological Aspects of Universal Sound Symbolism Studies

“…Sound symbolism within one separate language is a real driving force. It is widely studied in the contexts of phonetics by such researchers as P.Olejarczuk and M.Baese-Berk [6] who study acoustic processes in the Komo language; T.Cho and G. Docherty devoting their research to exploring laryngeal contrast in 19 languages [7]. The problem of sound perception is touched upon in J.Caberelli's works [8].…”

Estonian geminate plosives: some durational characteristics

“…The closure lengthens the most. Differences in burst phase may include longer duration and higher intensity that manifests as aspiration (Cho et al 2002(Cho et al , 2019. Longer articulation time is accompanied by larger contact areas and more density between articulators.…”