Phonetic Variation and Acoustic Distinctive Features: A study of four general American fricatives PDF
Preview Phonetic Variation and Acoustic Distinctive Features: A study of four general American fricatives
PHONETIC VARIATION AND ACOUSTIC DISTINCTIVE FEATURES JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA edenda curai CORNELIS H. VAN SCHOONEVELD STANFORD UNIVERSITY SERIES P R A C T I CA XII 1964 MOUTON & CO. LONDON • THE HAGUE • PARIS PHONETIC VARIATION AND ACOUSTIC DISTINCTIVE FEATURES A Study of Four General American Fricatives by CLARA N. BUSH STANFORD UNIVERSITY 1964 MOUTON & CO. LONDON • THE HAGUE • PARIS © Copyright 1964 Mouton & Co., Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers. Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Publishers, The Hague. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study is a direct result of the interests and questions fostered by the teaching of Professor Dorothy A. Huntington. Its theoretical development, its design, its instrumentation, and its final form all owe much to her vital interest in her field, her insatiable search for interrelationships among concepts, and her conspicuous willingness to give freely of her time and energy to her students. Grateful appreciation is due Professor Virgil A. Anderson for his unfailing support and for his extremely helpful criticisms, and Professor Ruth H. Weir for her continued interest, for her valuable suggestions, and for her critical appraisal from the linguistic point of view. Finally, the encouragement and support so wholeheartedly given by Dr. Joseph A. Miksak and by Griffith Richards proved to be fully as important as the willing and valuable assistance they repeatedly provided. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 5 I. INTRODUCTION 11 A. Genesis of the Problem 11 B. Statement of the Problem 12 C. Plan of the Study 13 II. BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM 15 A. The Distinctive Feature Theory 15 B. The Specification of Phonemes in Terms of Distinctive Features . .. 19 C. The Specification of the Distinctive Features 19 III. PROCEDURES 27 A. Selection of Stimuli 27 B. Formulation of Stimulus Items 30 C. Speakers 31 D. Instrumentation 32 E. Preparation of Stimulus Items 33 F. Acoustic Analysis 34 1. Procedure in graphical recording 35 Sound spectrograph 35 Preparation of stimuli for intensity level recorder 37 Intensity level recorder 38 G. Preparation of Graphical Records for Measurement 39 H. Acoustic Measures from Sonagrams 43 I. Acoustic Measures from Intensity Level Records 43 J. Treatment of Raw Data 44 IV. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 45 A. Introduction 45 B. The Distinctive Feature Tense/Lax 47 1. Amount of energy 47 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Obtained measures (for the consonants and consonant oppositions as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 47 Comparison measures (for the consonant cognates and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 55 2. Spread in spectrum 61 Obtained measures (for the consonants and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 62 Comparison measures (for the consonant cognates and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 70 3. Duration 78 Obtained measures (for the consonants and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 79 Comparison measures (for the consonant cognates and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel category, and pooled vowels) 86 4. Duration of the preceding vowel 91 Obtained measures (for the stressed vowels as a function of the following consonant, the vowel category, and the following consonant category) 92 Comparison measures (for the stressed vowels as a function of the following consonant cognates, the vowel category, and the following consonant opposition) 99 Obtained measures (for the unstressed vowel as function of the following consonant, the subsequent stressed vowel opposition, and the intervening consonant opposition) 104 Comparison measures (for the unstressed vowel as a function of the following consonant cognates, the subsequent stressed vowel oppo- sition, the intervening consonant opposition, and the subsequent stressed vowels) 108 C. The Distinctive Feature Grave/Acute 113 1. Percentage of energy (200c-lkc) 114 Obtained measures (for the consonants and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel opposition, and pooled vowels) 115 Comparison measures (for the consonant cognates and consonant opposition as a function of the adjacent vowel, vowel opposition, and pooled vowels) 126 D. Summary 132 1. Tense/Lax :/f/vs./v/and/9/vs./6/ 132 Amount of energy 132 Spread in spectrum 133 TABLE OF CONTENTS 9 Duration 133 Duration of the preceding vowel 134 2. Grave/Acute: /f/ vs. /0/ and /v/ vs. /&/ 135 Percentage of energy (200c-lkc) 135 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 137 A. The Tense/Lax Feature 138 1. Duration of the preceding vowel 139 B. The Grave/Acute Feature 140 C. Implications for the Distinctive Feature Theory 141 D. Incidental Findings 142 E. Summary 143 APPENDIXES A. Note on the Transcription System 144 Comparative Transcription Systems 145 B. Forms 146 Instructions to Speakers 146 Sample Recording Form 147 C. Supplementary Tables 148 BIBLIOGRAPHY 154
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