An acoustic-phonetic underspecificationaccount of Marshallese vowel allophony

Abstract Marshallese exhibits systematic restrictions in the distribution of its phonetic vowels; surface variation along the front-back dimension is contextually determined by the secondary articulations associated with the surrounding consonants in CVC contexts. An underspecification account of this vowel allophony is considered in which the absence of phonological front-back features associated with the vowels persists phonetically. The vocalic F 2 trajectory associated with the hypothetically underspecified front-back features is phonetically derived without reference to a vocalic F 2 target by interpolation between surrounding consonantal targets across a partially underspecified vowel in an acoustic model. Experiments are described which test the predictions made by the phonetic underspecification account and the feasibility of an alternative fully specified account. The results are argued to support the phonetic underspecification account of Marshallese vowel allophony.

[1]  Janet B. Pierrehumbert,et al.  Phonological and phonetic representation , 1990 .

[2]  Ian Maddieson,et al.  Vowels of the world''''s languages , 1990 .

[3]  P. Ladefoged.  A course in phonetics , 1975 .

[4]  Louis Goldstein,et al.  Gesture, Segment, Prosody: “Targetless” schwa: an articulatory analysis , 1992 .

[5]  Takaji Abo,et al.  Marshallese-English Dictionary , 1977 .

[6]  Patricia A. Keating,et al.  Phonetic representations in a generative grammar , 1990 .

[7]  John-Dongwook Choi,et al.  WPP, No. 82: Phonetic Underspecification and Target Interpolation: An Acoustic Study of Marshallese Vowel Allophony , 1992 .

[8]  S. Manuel,et al.  The role of contrast in limiting vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in different languages. , 1990, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[9]  J. Laver.  A Tribute to Peter Ladefoged , 1991, Journal of the International Phonetic Association.

[10]  P. Keating.  Underspecification in Phonetics , 1988, Phonology.

[11]  Marie K. Huffman,et al.  Nasals, nasalization, and the velum , 1993 .

[12]  Carol A. Fowler,et al.  Coarticulation and theories of extrinsic timing , 1980 .

[13]  B. W. Bender.  Marshallese Phonemics: Labialization or Palatalization? , 1963 .

[14]  W. Foley.  The Papuan Languages of New Guinea , 1986 .

[15]  Louis Goldstein,et al.  Towards an articulatory phonology , 1986, Phonology.

[16]  A. Cohn.  Phonetic and phonological rules of nasalization , 1990 .

[17]  P. Ladefoged.  Phonological features and their phonetic correlates , 1972 .

[18]  Peter D. Eimas,et al.  Perspectives on the study of speech , 1981 .

[19]  Gunnar Fant,et al.  Acoustic Theory Of Speech Production , 1960 .

[20]  D. Broad,et al.  Formant-frequency trajectories in selected CVC-syllable nuclei. , 1970, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[21]  François Xavier Nicolas Zewen.  The Marshallese language : a study of its phonology, morphology, and syntax , 1977 .

[22]  W. S. Allen,et al.  On one-vowel systems , 1964 .

[23]  Diana Archangeli,et al.  Aspects of underspecification theory , 1988, Phonology.

[24]  C. Fowler.  A Relationship between Coarticulation and Compensatory Shortening , 1981, Phonetica.

[25]  Barbara F. Grimes.  Ethnologue Languages of the World , 1988 .

[26]  F. Newmeyer.  Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey , 1989 .

[27]  Leigh Lisker.  The pursuit of invariance in speech signals , 1983 .

[28]  John‐Dongwook Choi,et al.  An acoustic study of Kabardian vowels , 1991, Journal of the International Phonetic Association.

[29]  J. Heath.  The languages of kinship in Aboriginal Australia , 1982 .

[30]  K. Stevens,et al.  Primary Features and Their Enhancement in Consonants , 1989 .

[31]  Fredericka Bell‐Berti,et al.  Phonological underspecification and speech motor organisation , 1991, Phonology.

[32]  K. Harris,et al.  A Temporal Model of Speech Production , 1981, Phonetica.

[33]  Edith A. Moravcsik,et al.  Universals of human language , 1978 .

[34]  J. Catford.  Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus , 1977 .

[35]  L Saltzman Elliot,et al.  A Dynamical Approach to Gestural Patterning in Speech Production , 1989 .

[36]  Patricia A. Keating,et al.  Papers in Laboratory Phonology: The window model of coarticulation: articulatory evidence , 1990 .

[37]  Daniel Jones,et al.  The Phonetics of Russian , 1969 .

[38]  S. Blumstein,et al.  Invariant cues for place of articulation in stop consonants. , 1978, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[39]  S. Öhman.  Coarticulation in VCV Utterances: Spectrographic Measurements , 1966 .

[40]  B. J. Winer.  Statistical Principles in Experimental Design , 1992 .

[41]  K N Stevens,et al.  On some issues in the pursuit of acoustic invariance in speech: a reply to Lisker. , 1985, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[42]  K. Stevens,et al.  Development of a Quantitative Description of Vowel Articulation , 1955 .