It is well known that both bursts and formant transitions serve as separate cues to the place of articulation of initial stop consonants. In Vietnamese, final voiceless stop consonants/p, t, k/are unreleased （i.e., p...It is well known that both bursts and formant transitions serve as separate cues to the place of articulation of initial stop consonants. In Vietnamese, final voiceless stop consonants/p, t, k/are unreleased （i.e., produced without an audible burst）. This provides an opportunity to study these final stop consonants and to compare their characteristics with those of the corresponding initial stop consonants. As unreleased final consonants have not been previously studied, this paper analyses the Vowel-Consonant （VC） and Consonant-Vowel-Consonant （CVC） productions in terms of the transition duration, the starting formant transition values and the slopes of the VC transitions. Measurements have shown that in the same preceding vowel contexts, the 3 final stop consonants/p, t, k/are always clearly differentiated by at least one of the 3 slopes of Fl, F2 or F3. In perception tests, synthesized consonant C in the context/a/-C are recognized as/p/, or/t/, or/k/when the slopes of the/a/-C transition ofF2 and F3 are varied. It means that slopes of the VC transition are an important parameter that allows Vietnamese distinguishing the 3 final voiceless stop consonant/p, t, k/in Vietnamese language. These final stop consonants can also be differentiated in the locus equation space. The study also pointes out that the effects of the final consonants on either long vowels or short vowels. The results explain why Vietnamese can not pronounce the short vowels in isolation.展开更多
This paper argues in favor of an Optimality Theory(OT)constraint hierarchy governing the phonotactics of nasal+obstruent clusters in English.The paper shows that in careful speech English has a strong tendency favorin...This paper argues in favor of an Optimality Theory(OT)constraint hierarchy governing the phonotactics of nasal+obstruent clusters in English.The paper shows that in careful speech English has a strong tendency favoring voiceless obstruents after nasals both in medial and coda positions,and retains a contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents,as supported by statistical data.Thus the paper proposes that,in English,the Optimality constraint IDENT-IO(ObsVce)dominates*NO.We also show that in English voiced coronal stops are retained post-nasally,whereas voiced peripheral(labial and velar)stops are deleted(or,rather,not permitted).To explain this phenomenon,the paper proposes that the markedness constraint VOICED-CODA ranks between MAX-COR and MAX-PER,and the constraints IDENT-IO(ObsVce)and*VOICED-CODA work in tandem to result in the deletion of peripheral voiced stops.It shows that the same constraint hierarchy also applies to nasal+non-stop obstruent clusters,i.e.clusters with fricatives and affricates,both medially and in final position.Finally,It is pointed out that as language is changing,this is reflected in a changing constraint hierarchy as well.If*VOICEDCODA and*NO become higher ranked,this would cause either devoicing or deletion of voiced obstruents in the coda,or it would cause obstruents after nasals to become voiced.Both processes are found in faster,informal speech styles and may reflect change in progress.展开更多
文摘It is well known that both bursts and formant transitions serve as separate cues to the place of articulation of initial stop consonants. In Vietnamese, final voiceless stop consonants/p, t, k/are unreleased （i.e., produced without an audible burst）. This provides an opportunity to study these final stop consonants and to compare their characteristics with those of the corresponding initial stop consonants. As unreleased final consonants have not been previously studied, this paper analyses the Vowel-Consonant （VC） and Consonant-Vowel-Consonant （CVC） productions in terms of the transition duration, the starting formant transition values and the slopes of the VC transitions. Measurements have shown that in the same preceding vowel contexts, the 3 final stop consonants/p, t, k/are always clearly differentiated by at least one of the 3 slopes of Fl, F2 or F3. In perception tests, synthesized consonant C in the context/a/-C are recognized as/p/, or/t/, or/k/when the slopes of the/a/-C transition ofF2 and F3 are varied. It means that slopes of the VC transition are an important parameter that allows Vietnamese distinguishing the 3 final voiceless stop consonant/p, t, k/in Vietnamese language. These final stop consonants can also be differentiated in the locus equation space. The study also pointes out that the effects of the final consonants on either long vowels or short vowels. The results explain why Vietnamese can not pronounce the short vowels in isolation.
文摘This paper argues in favor of an Optimality Theory(OT)constraint hierarchy governing the phonotactics of nasal+obstruent clusters in English.The paper shows that in careful speech English has a strong tendency favoring voiceless obstruents after nasals both in medial and coda positions,and retains a contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents,as supported by statistical data.Thus the paper proposes that,in English,the Optimality constraint IDENT-IO(ObsVce)dominates*NO.We also show that in English voiced coronal stops are retained post-nasally,whereas voiced peripheral(labial and velar)stops are deleted(or,rather,not permitted).To explain this phenomenon,the paper proposes that the markedness constraint VOICED-CODA ranks between MAX-COR and MAX-PER,and the constraints IDENT-IO(ObsVce)and*VOICED-CODA work in tandem to result in the deletion of peripheral voiced stops.It shows that the same constraint hierarchy also applies to nasal+non-stop obstruent clusters,i.e.clusters with fricatives and affricates,both medially and in final position.Finally,It is pointed out that as language is changing,this is reflected in a changing constraint hierarchy as well.If*VOICEDCODA and*NO become higher ranked,this would cause either devoicing or deletion of voiced obstruents in the coda,or it would cause obstruents after nasals to become voiced.Both processes are found in faster,informal speech styles and may reflect change in progress.
