Working Papers in Linguistics: Volume 50 (July 1997)

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Papers from the Linguistics Laboratory. Edited by Kim Ainsworth-Darnell and Mariapaola D'Imperio


Front Matter
pp. i-x
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Perception of Consonant Clusters and Variable Gap Time
Cahill, Mike pp. 1-10
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Near-Merger in Russian Palatalization
Diehm, Erin; Johnson, Keith pp. 11-18
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Breadth of focus, modality and prominence perception in Neapolitan Italian
D'Imperio, Mariapaola pp. 19-39
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The Northern Cities Shift in the Heartland? A Study of Radio Speech in Columbus, Ohio
Keiser, Steve Hartman; Hinskens, Frans; Migge, Bettina; Strand, Elizabeth A. pp. 41-68
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Syntactically-Governed Accentuation in Balinese
Herman, Rebecca pp. 69-99
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The auditory/perceptual basis for speech segmentation
Johnson, Keith pp. 101-113
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Production and perception of individual speaking styles
Johnson, Keith; Beckman, Mary E. pp. 115-125
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Japanese ToBI Labelling Guidelines
Venditti, Jennifer J. pp. 127-162
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A cross-linguistic study of diphthongs in spoken word processing in Japanese and English
Yoneyama, Kiyoko pp. 163-175
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    Front Matter (Volume 50, July 1997)
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07)
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    Perception of Consonant Clusters and Variable Gap Time
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Cahill, Mike
    In every case in which measurements of labial-velar stops [kp, gb] have been made, it has been found that the labial and velar gestures are not strictly simultaneous, but rather that the velar gesture slightly precedes the labial one (thus [kp] and not [pk]). One possible explanation for this is that [kp] is more perceptually salient than [pk]. This paper reports an attempt to test this hypothesis by observing listeners' identifications of [apka] and [akpa] with variable gap times inserted between the consonantal onset and release. The results showed that [apka] was more readily identified than [akpa], effectively showing that perceptual salience cannot be invoked to explain the ordering of velar and labial gestures in labial-velar stops.
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    Near-Merger in Russian Palatalization
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Diehm, Erin; Johnson, Keith
    This study investigates the palatalized consonants of Russian in environments which prove difficult for second language learners of Russian. To this end, we conducted a production and a perception study. In the production experiment, native and nonnative speakers demonstrated different patterns of contrast. Results of the perception experiment are surprising because the nonnative speakers were able to distinguish more phonetic contrasts than native speakers. The native-speakers' performance provides supportive evidence of a 'near merger', where a contrast is maintained in production but lost in perception.
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    Breadth of focus, modality and prominence perception in Neapolitan Italian
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) D'Imperio, Mariapaola
    This study explores the notions of "nuclear stress", "accent placement" and "breadth of focus" in the Neapolitan variety of Italian. The predictions of standard generative theories about their interrelationships are tested through a perceptual study employing statements and questions with varying focus structure. The results show that broad focus statements are more ambiguous than late narrow focus ones as to the extraction of intended focus pattern. Broad focus questions are, in turn, less ambiguous than broad focus statements for the same purpose. The results suggest the importance of the role of accent type differences.
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    The Northern Cities Shift in the Heartland? A Study of Radio Speech in Columbus, Ohio
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Keiser, Steve Hartman; Hinskens, Frans; Migge, Bettina; Strand, Elizabeth A.
    Variation in vowel height and diphthongal/monophthongal character of the vowels /æ/ and /a/ are studied in the speech of two speakers from central Ohio in order to measure their participation in the sequence of vowel system changes commonly referred to as the Northern Cities Shift (Labov, 1994). The data were gathered from radio shows for which the speakers served as announcers. Determinations of vowel height and diphthongal nature of vowels were made by auditory judgment of the researchers and were correlated with acoustic measurements of F1 and F2 frequencies. The results suggest that the vowel system of the central Ohio dialect is undergoing change, but are inconclusive as to whether this change indicates participation in the Northern Cities Shift. Detailed analyses of social and linguistic factors correlated with the tensing and raising of /æ/ are offered.
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    Syntactically-Governed Accentuation in Balinese
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Herman, Rebecca
    In Balinese there is a consistency of alignment between F0 peaks and particular syntactic positions such as "final syllable of the head of the phrase" or "final syllable of the phrase." This becomes apparent from F0 measurements taken from sentences recorded from a Balinese speaker which include measurements from sentences with different syntactic constructions and different length words in each syntactic position. Thus, the placement of F0 peaks in Balinese is not distinctive and in fact, there is no word-level accentuation in Balinese. Rather, placement of F0 peaks occurs at the phrasal level and hence serves a delimitative function.
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    The auditory/perceptual basis for speech segmentation
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Johnson, Keith
    Language is temporal in two ways. Words and sentences occur in time, each utterance having a beginning and end. But, also the learner's experience of language occurs over time, the items that are crucial for defining linguistic structure are experienced over the course of years. These two observations are addressed in an exemplar model of phonological learning and word recognition. Major features of the model are described and its operation is illustrated in two simulations.
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    Production and perception of individual speaking styles
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Johnson, Keith; Beckman, Mary E.
    As explanation of between-speaker differences in speech production moves beyond sex-and age-related differences in physiology, discussion has focused on individual vocal tract morphology. While it is interesting to relate, say, variable recruitment of the jaw to extent of palate doming, there is a substantial residue of arbitrary differences that constitute the speaker's "style". Style differences observed across a well-defined social group indicate group membership. Other style differences are idiosyncratic "habits" of articulation, individual solutions to the many-to-many mapping between motoric and acoustic representations and to the many different attentional trading relationships that can exploit the typical patterns of redundant variation in independent acoustic correlates of any minimal contrast. Perceptual studies of social style differences suggest that perceptibility depends upon the task and upon the hearer's own group membership. The few studies of idiosyncratic differences suggest that speakers perceive each others' productions in terms of their own habits. Thus, perceptual compensation for speaker differences must go beyond mere vocal tract normalization. A promising route for describing how listeners compensate for the arbitrary variation of style is an instance-based (or exemplar) model of speech perception in which the distribution of exemplars is heavily weighted by instances of the speaker's own productions.
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    Japanese ToBI Labelling Guidelines
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Venditti, Jennifer J.
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    A cross-linguistic study of diphthongs in spoken word processing in Japanese and English
    (Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics, 1997-07) Yoneyama, Kiyoko
    This paper investigates the proper treatment of diphthongs in Japanese and English in terms of spoken word processing. Three phoneme-monitoring experiments were conducted with three different groups of language users: Japanese monolinguals, English monolinguals and semi-bilingual Japanese speakers of English; both English and Japanese materials were used. The results showed that English monolinguals treat diphthongs as single units during language processing, while Japanese monolinguals treat them as two separate units. The processing of Japanese and English diphthongs by semi-bilingual Japanese speakers of English is also discussed.