Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and diachronic aspects

269 Pages·2002·5.84 MB·English

by  Pétur Helgason

Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages
Synchronic and diachronic aspects
Pétur Helgason
PhD dissertation
Department of Linguistics
Stockholm University
November 2002

Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages
Synchronic and diachronic aspects

Pétur Helgason

PhD dissertation
Stockholm University
Department of Linguistics
November 2002
PhD dissertation
November 2002
Department of Linguistics
Stockholm University
106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

© Pétur Helgason
ISBN 91–7265–535–6
Cover Design: Christine Ericsdotter and Pétur Helgason.
Front cover map: Evropa Recens Descripta by Guiliemo (Willem) Blaeu, 1649.
Back cover map: Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis, by Frederik De Wit, 1660.
Printed by Akademitryck AB, Edsbruk 2002
Abstract
Preaspiration—the production of glottal friction at the juncture of a vowel
and a consonant—appears to be typologically rare but is an areal lin-
guistic feature of Northwestern Europe. This study contains a survey of
the known geographical spread of preaspirated stops, their phonological
distribution and phonetic expressions in some Nordic dialects. The study
also suggests a reconstruction of the phonetics of the Proto-Nordic stop
contrasts based on synchronic data as well as a more general framework of
historical sound change.
Following an introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 deals with the definition
and typology of preaspiration presenting a global overview of the known
geographical spread of preaspiration. The apparent rarity of preaspiration
is considered. Proposed, perceptually based explanations of this rarity are
evaluated.
Chapter 3 offers a fairly detailed account of the known areal spread of pre-
aspiration in Europe. Stop systems of several dialects in which preaspira-
tion occurs are analysed in terms of voicing conditions. These analyses are
based mainly on descriptions provided in the dialectological literature.
Chapter 4 presents data on durational variation and other phonetic patterns
of stop production in Central Standard Swedish, Tórshavn Faroese, Gräsö
Swedish and Western Åland Swedish. The results reveal a greater degree
of phonetic variation than has been assumed to date. In particular, speak-
ers of Central Standard Swedish are shown to use preaspiration as a regu-
lar feature in their voiceless stop production.
In Chapter 5, finally, the results of the data analysis are used in an attempt
to reconstruct the phonetic expression of stop contrasts in Proto-Nordic. It
is argued that Proto-Nordic stop production was largely similar to the stop
production of today’s Central Standard Swedish. As regards phonological
structure, however, the Proto-Nordic stop contrasts appear to have been
largely preserved in all dialects considered. This conclusion is found to be
compatible with an expansion/contraction (E/C) model of historical sound
change.

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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ix
1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................1
1.1 OVERVIEW.............................................................................................1
1.2 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................4
2 DEFINITION AND TYPOLOGY........................................................................11
2.1 DEFINING PREASPIRATION...................................................................11
2.2 LINKING PREASPIRATION AND SONORANT VOICELESSNESS..................17
2.3 NORMATIVE AND NON-NORMATIVE TRAITS.........................................21
2.4 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PREASPIRATION.......................23
2.5 HOW RARE IS PREASPIRATION?............................................................32
2.6 AUDITORY CONSTRAINTS AND THE RARITY OF PREASPIRATION...........35
3 PREASPIRATION IN NORTHWESTERN EUROPE...............................................43
3.1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................43
3.2 ICELANDIC............................................................................................46
3.2.1 Icelandic stop durations...............................................................50
3.2.2 The perception of Icelandic preaspiration...................................53
3.3 FAROESE...............................................................................................54
3.4 NORWEGIAN DIALECTS.........................................................................60
3.4.1 Jæren............................................................................................60
3.4.2 Gudbrandsdalen...........................................................................65
3.4.3 Trønder Norwegian......................................................................70
3.4.4 Senja............................................................................................72
3.5 SWEDISH DIALECTS...............................................................................73
3.5.1 Härjedalen and Northern Dalarna................................................73
3.5.2 Arjeplog.......................................................................................78
3.5.3 The Gräsö dialect.........................................................................79
3.5.4 Kökar and the Åboland archipelago............................................81
3.5.5 Central Standard Swedish (CSw)................................................86
3.6 NON-NORMATIVE PREASPIRATION IN SCANDINAVIA.............................89
3.7 TYNESIDE ENGLISH..............................................................................94
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3.8 CELTIC LANGUAGES..............................................................................95
3.8.1 Scots Gaelic.................................................................................95
3.8.2 Irish..............................................................................................98
3.9 SAAMI...................................................................................................99
3.10 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................103
4 PREASPIRATION – DATA.............................................................................105
4.1 METHOD............................................................................................105
4.1.1 Speech materials........................................................................105
4.1.1.1 Map-task data — CSw and Tórshavn Faroese......................106
4.1.1.2 SOFI data — Gräsö and Western Åland................................107
4.1.2 Segmentation and measurement criteria....................................107
4.1.3 A note on the graphical presentation of durational data............110
4.2 CENTRAL STANDARD SWEDISH (CSW)..............................................112
4.2.1 Method and subjects..................................................................112
4.2.2 Word-initial fortis stops.............................................................112
4.2.2.1 Data overview........................................................................112
4.2.2.2 Postaspiration duration..........................................................113
4.2.2.3 Preaspiration duration and sonorant voicelessness................116
4.2.3 Word-medial and word-final fortis stops...................................118
4.2.3.1 Data overview........................................................................119
4.2.3.2 Preaspiration duration............................................................120
4.2.3.3 Postaspiration duration..........................................................126
4.2.3.4 Phonetic variation in word-medial fortis stops......................127
4.2.3.5 Postsonorant fortis stops........................................................131
4.2.4 Comparison of word-initial and word-medial stops..................134
4.2.5 Postvocalic voiceless fricatives.................................................138
4.2.6 Word-initial lenis stops..............................................................139
4.2.7 Word-medial lenis stops............................................................142
4.2.8 Summary and discussion...........................................................145
4.3 TÓRSHAVN FAROESE.........................................................................146
4.3.1 Method and subjects..................................................................147
4.3.2 Word-medial and word-final postvocalic stops.........................147
4.3.2.1 Stop and context classification..............................................147
4.3.2.2 Data overview........................................................................151
4.3.2.3 Fortis vs. lenis........................................................................152
4.3.2.4 Preaspiration duration............................................................154
4.3.2.5 Postaspiration duration..........................................................160
4.3.3 Phonetic variation in Faroese preaspiration...............................161
4.3.4 Summary and discussion...........................................................168
4.4 THE NORTHERN GRÄSÖ DIALECT.......................................................169
4.4.1 Method and subjects..................................................................169
4.4.2 Fortis stops.................................................................................170
4.4.3 Lenis stops.................................................................................178
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4.4.4 Preaspiration duration — SWEDIA 2000 data..........................180
4.4.5 Summary and discussion...........................................................183
4.5 THE POSTASPIRATING DIALECTS........................................................184
4.5.1 Northern Icelandic.....................................................................185
4.5.2 Bjerkreim and Dalane................................................................188
4.5.3 Western Åland...........................................................................189
4.5.3.1 Method and subjects..............................................................190
4.5.3.2 Phonological distribution.......................................................191
4.5.3.3 Spectrographic examples.......................................................192
4.5.3.4 Duration measurements: overview........................................194
4.5.3.5 Duration measurements: results.............................................196
4.5.3.6 Summary and discussion.......................................................200
4.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...........................................................204
5 FROM OLD NORSE TO THE PRESENT...........................................................213
5.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................213
5.2 OLD NORSE STOP PRODUCTION..........................................................215
5.2.1 The ON fortes in earlier descriptions.........................................216
5.2.2 The Proto-Nordic fortis ~ lenis contrast: reconstruction...........223
5.3 WHERE DOES PREASPIRATION COME FROM?......................................228
5.4 E/C CHANGES....................................................................................232
5.5 SUMMARY.........................................................................................238
5.6 FINAL REMARKS................................................................................239

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