In this thesis I will be concerned with linking the observed speechsignal to the configuration of articulators.Due to the potentially rapid motion of the articulators, the speechsignal can be highly non-stationary. The typical linear analysistechniques that assume quasi-stationarity may not have sufficienttime-frequency resolution to determine the place of articulation.I argue that the traditional low and high-level primitives of speechprocessing, frequency and phonemes, are inadequate and should bereplaced by a representation with three layers: 1. short pitch periodresonances and other spatio-temporal patterns 2. articulatorconfiguration trajectories 3. syllables. The patterns indicatearticulator configuration trajectories (how the tongue, jaws, etc. aremoving), which are interpreted as syllables and words.My patterns are an alternative to frequency. I use shorttime-domain features of the sound waveform, which can be extractedfrom each vowel pitch period pattern, to identify the positions of thearticulators with high reliability. These features are importantbecause by capitalizing on detailed measurements within a single pitchperiod, the rapid articulator movements can be tracked. No linearsignal processing approach can achieve the combination of sensitivityto short term changes and measurement accuracy resulting from thesenonlinear techniques.The measurements I use are neurophysiologically plausible: theauditory system could be using similar methods.I have demonstrated this approach by constructing a robust techniquefor categorizing the English voiced stops as the consonants B, D, or Gbased on the vocalic portions of their releases. The classificationrecognizes 93.5%, 81.8% and 86.1% of the b, d and gto ae transitions with false positive rates 2.9%, 8.7% and2.6% respectively.

Nesta dissertação, analisamos um fenômeno encontrado entre as consoantes líquidas, classe fonológica que agrupa as consoantes laterais e vibrantes. Nos contextos de ataque complexo e coda silábica pode ocorrer a substituição de uma líquida por outra. Estudamos neste trabalho a realização de uma líquida vibrante por uma líquida lateral, como, por exemplo, a realização de [ πραντα ] por [ πλαντα ] e denominamos este fenômeno de Rotacismo. Usamos os pressupostos teóricos da Teoria dos Traços Fonológicos Distintivos para retratar a problemática representacional das líquidas nas línguas, adotando uma proposta para ilustrar o rotacismo. Também fazemos uso da Teoria da Variação laboviana para analisar dados de fala, descrevendo a realização do fenômeno e seus possíveis fatores condicionadores. Apresentamos neste trabalho evidências de registros do rotacismo em gramáticas históricas, em trabalhos descritivos e em alguns textos de português antigo com o objetivo de atestar o caráter persistente do fenômeno na história da língua portuguesa. Como resultados da nossa pesquisa em dados de fala, constatamos que o rotacismo é uma regra variável que depende do contexto silábico em que ocorre e que está condicionada por fatores sociais, como a escolaridade e a faixa etária. Estes resultados revelam um padrão de realização característico de variação estável para o ambiente de ataque complexo. Em relação à Teoria dos Traços Distintivos, adotamos um modelo geométrico para representar o rotacismo como o desligamento do traço lateral do segmento em um nó organizador SV (Spontaneous Voice). / In this dissertation, we analise a phenomenon found in liquid consonants, a phonological classhood that groups lateral and rhotic consonants. In the contexts of complex onset and silabic coda, a substitution of a liquid for another one may occur. We studied, in this paper, the realization of a rhotic liquid from a lateral liquid, such as, for instance, the realization of [ πραντα ] from [ πλαντα ] and we named this phenomenon Rhotacism. We used the theoretical approaches of the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features to picture the representational problematic of the liquid ones in the languages, adopting a proposal to ilustrate the rhotacism. We also applied the Linguistic Variation Theory in order to analize the speech data, describing the realization of the phenomenon and its possible conditioning factors. We present, in this study, evidence of the registration of rhotacism in historical grammars, in descriptive papers and in some texts written in old Portuguese aiming at certificating the persistent character of this phenomenon in the history of Portuguese. As a result of our research in the speech data, we verified that rhotacism is a variable rule, which depends on the silabic context in which it occurs and that is conditioned to social factors such as schooling and age. These results reveal a characteristic realization pattern of the stable variation to the environment of complex onset. Concerning the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features, we adopted a feature geometry to represent the rhotacism as the breaking off from the lateral feature of the segment into an SV (Spontaneous Voice) organizing node.

This paper offers a short report on an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the syllabification of single intervocalic consonants in the Arabic dialect of Sakaka city. This study aimed at investigating how intervocalic consonants of different sonority profiles are treated in the dialect of Sakaka City. Thirty monolingual male participants were recruited voluntarily in this study. Participants’ judgments were elicited using a metalinguistic word blending task with pairs of disyllabic nonwords of the structure ꞌCVCVC + ꞌCVCVC, where stress was on the first syllable only throughout the data. All phonemes involved in this structure are in conformity with Arabic phonotactics. In addition, the intervocalic consonants under examination belonged to four sonority levels; glides ([j] and [w]), liquids ([r] and [l]), nasals ([m] and [n]) and obstruents ([s] and [b]). The low vowel [a] was the only vowel used in this structure. Unlike many works of this nature, ambisyllabicity and word minimality effects were blocked in this complete word task. Although the investigation shed light on several important universal rules of syllabification, sonority profile of intervocalic consonants was the overriding preference in this blending task. That is, glides, liquids and nasals were parsed in coda position by the majority of participants whereas obstruents were parsed in onset position. However, the effects of other universal principles of syllabification such as Maximal Onset Principle and stress placement were minimized. The study concluded that the Split Margin Hierarchy adopted showed a strong preference for coda parse with high sonority consonants and onset parse with low sonority ones, thus adding further support to the abstractness of the syllable as a higher prosodic constituent and the discreteness of phonemes in the human speech stream. Keywords: Arabic dialect, Sakaka city, Optimality Theory, intervocalic consonants, nonwords, ambisyllabicity, minimality effects, Split Margin Hierarchy, sonority, Maximal Onset Principle, stress, syllable, speech stream.

The present study aims to investigate the production of the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ of Saudi Arabian speakers of English in view of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. The linguistic aspect focuses on the role of the position of the sound in words, initial and final, and the distribution of errors per word in view of more and less familiar words. The extra-linguistic factors include participants' lengths of stay in the US and their ages and the potential influence these may have on the accuracy of pronouncing the target sound /v/. The total number of the subjects is 20 (10 male and 10 female), and their ages range between 20 and 35, with Mean age 27. Data is elicited through participants' reading of a word list with the target sound in initial and final position. The data coding is performed through spectrographic analysis and rater judgments. The analysis employs descriptive statistics, a dependent t-test used to compare production errors between initial and final position, and correlation analyses through which subjects' length of stay in the US and age are correlated with their total number of errors in both word positions. The findings show that word-final position is more difficult in pronouncing the phoneme /v/ than word-initial position. In addition, when the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ is mispronounced, it is substituted with the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/. Also, the correlation analysis shows that the longer the subjects have stayed in the USA, the more accurate their pronunciation of the target sound is (and vice versa). A significant correlation is also found between age and accuracy of pronunciation, as the younger subjects have more accurate pronunciation. The results of this study provide empirical evidence in support of several language acquisition theories, such as Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (Lado, 1957), Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman, 1977) and Language Transfer Theory (Gass & Selinker, 1994), all of which claim the influence of learners' first language on their second language. In the context of this study, the substitution of the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ with its voiceless counterpart /f/ can be attributed to the fact that /f/ is the only labiodental fricative phoneme in the Arabic language.

Nesta dissertação, analisamos um fenômeno encontrado entre as consoantes líquidas, classe fonológica que agrupa as consoantes laterais e vibrantes. Nos contextos de ataque complexo e coda silábica pode ocorrer a substituição de uma líquida por outra. Estudamos neste trabalho a realização de uma líquida vibrante por uma líquida lateral, como, por exemplo, a realização de [ πραντα ] por [ πλαντα ] e denominamos este fenômeno de Rotacismo. Usamos os pressupostos teóricos da Teoria dos Traços Fonológicos Distintivos para retratar a problemática representacional das líquidas nas línguas, adotando uma proposta para ilustrar o rotacismo. Também fazemos uso da Teoria da Variação laboviana para analisar dados de fala, descrevendo a realização do fenômeno e seus possíveis fatores condicionadores. Apresentamos neste trabalho evidências de registros do rotacismo em gramáticas históricas, em trabalhos descritivos e em alguns textos de português antigo com o objetivo de atestar o caráter persistente do fenômeno na história da língua portuguesa. Como resultados da nossa pesquisa em dados de fala, constatamos que o rotacismo é uma regra variável que depende do contexto silábico em que ocorre e que está condicionada por fatores sociais, como a escolaridade e a faixa etária. Estes resultados revelam um padrão de realização característico de variação estável para o ambiente de ataque complexo. Em relação à Teoria dos Traços Distintivos, adotamos um modelo geométrico para representar o rotacismo como o desligamento do traço lateral do segmento em um nó organizador SV (Spontaneous Voice). / In this dissertation, we analise a phenomenon found in liquid consonants, a phonological classhood that groups lateral and rhotic consonants. In the contexts of complex onset and silabic coda, a substitution of a liquid for another one may occur. We studied, in this paper, the realization of a rhotic liquid from a lateral liquid, such as, for instance, the realization of [ πραντα ] from [ πλαντα ] and we named this phenomenon Rhotacism. We used the theoretical approaches of the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features to picture the representational problematic of the liquid ones in the languages, adopting a proposal to ilustrate the rhotacism. We also applied the Linguistic Variation Theory in order to analize the speech data, describing the realization of the phenomenon and its possible conditioning factors. We present, in this study, evidence of the registration of rhotacism in historical grammars, in descriptive papers and in some texts written in old Portuguese aiming at certificating the persistent character of this phenomenon in the history of Portuguese. As a result of our research in the speech data, we verified that rhotacism is a variable rule, which depends on the silabic context in which it occurs and that is conditioned to social factors such as schooling and age. These results reveal a characteristic realization pattern of the stable variation to the environment of complex onset. Concerning the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features, we adopted a feature geometry to represent the rhotacism as the breaking off from the lateral feature of the segment into an SV (Spontaneous Voice) organizing node.

Nesta dissertação, analisamos um fenômeno encontrado entre as consoantes líquidas, classe fonológica que agrupa as consoantes laterais e vibrantes. Nos contextos de ataque complexo e coda silábica pode ocorrer a substituição de uma líquida por outra. Estudamos neste trabalho a realização de uma líquida vibrante por uma líquida lateral, como, por exemplo, a realização de [ πραντα ] por [ πλαντα ] e denominamos este fenômeno de Rotacismo. Usamos os pressupostos teóricos da Teoria dos Traços Fonológicos Distintivos para retratar a problemática representacional das líquidas nas línguas, adotando uma proposta para ilustrar o rotacismo. Também fazemos uso da Teoria da Variação laboviana para analisar dados de fala, descrevendo a realização do fenômeno e seus possíveis fatores condicionadores. Apresentamos neste trabalho evidências de registros do rotacismo em gramáticas históricas, em trabalhos descritivos e em alguns textos de português antigo com o objetivo de atestar o caráter persistente do fenômeno na história da língua portuguesa. Como resultados da nossa pesquisa em dados de fala, constatamos que o rotacismo é uma regra variável que depende do contexto silábico em que ocorre e que está condicionada por fatores sociais, como a escolaridade e a faixa etária. Estes resultados revelam um padrão de realização característico de variação estável para o ambiente de ataque complexo. Em relação à Teoria dos Traços Distintivos, adotamos um modelo geométrico para representar o rotacismo como o desligamento do traço lateral do segmento em um nó organizador SV (Spontaneous Voice). / In this dissertation, we analise a phenomenon found in liquid consonants, a phonological classhood that groups lateral and rhotic consonants. In the contexts of complex onset and silabic coda, a substitution of a liquid for another one may occur. We studied, in this paper, the realization of a rhotic liquid from a lateral liquid, such as, for instance, the realization of [ πραντα ] from [ πλαντα ] and we named this phenomenon Rhotacism. We used the theoretical approaches of the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features to picture the representational problematic of the liquid ones in the languages, adopting a proposal to ilustrate the rhotacism. We also applied the Linguistic Variation Theory in order to analize the speech data, describing the realization of the phenomenon and its possible conditioning factors. We present, in this study, evidence of the registration of rhotacism in historical grammars, in descriptive papers and in some texts written in old Portuguese aiming at certificating the persistent character of this phenomenon in the history of Portuguese. As a result of our research in the speech data, we verified that rhotacism is a variable rule, which depends on the silabic context in which it occurs and that is conditioned to social factors such as schooling and age. These results reveal a characteristic realization pattern of the stable variation to the environment of complex onset. Concerning the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features, we adopted a feature geometry to represent the rhotacism as the breaking off from the lateral feature of the segment into an SV (Spontaneous Voice) organizing node.

M.A. (African Languages) / The phonological system of Zulu does not tolerate consecutive vowels in one word while, with specific conditions, only certain consonant combinations and consonant-vowel combinations are permissible. Morphonological adjustments such as glide insertion, vowel coalescence and semi vocalization are therefore utilized to avoid the accumulation of vowels. Where consonants are brought together by morpheme combinations, morphonological adjustments such as nasalization occur to avoid the impermissible consonant groups. Adjustments such as palatalization are the result of the impermissible combinations of certain consonants and (one or more) vowels and/or semivowels. This study aims at analysing some known morphonological phenomena in Zulu from a generative-phonological point of view. It involves mainly the construction and formulation of a number of morphonological rules for Zulu within the framework of the transformational generative (T.G.) phonology. The study is purely introductory and does not claim that all relevant material has been fully analysed and exhausted. The point of departure is that of Chomsky and Halle in their Sound Patterns in English (SPE). Chapter one defines the concept of phonological processes, states the conditions for acceptable phonological rules and supplies definitions of features employed to describe the segments of Zulu. Chapter two identifies the underlying segments of Zulu, i. e. vowels, consonants, "impure" consonants (so-called liquids) and semi-vowels. Characteristics of the underlying segments are presented in a table. Through the formulation of redundancy rules those features of segments which systematically correspond with other features are eliminated and lexical versions of the underlying segments are determined. In chapter three the processes of glide vowel coalescence which relate to insertion, semi vocalization an impermissible series of vowels are discussed and summarized in rules.

In the field of child language acquisition, in particular phonological acquisition, many have queried the role played by perception. The present study was undertaken to examine the perception of some speech sounds by children in the process of phonological development. Perception of the group of sounds known as fricatives was examined in a group of subjects aged 3;0 to 4;11. Pairs of nonsense syllables were presented to eight subjects in an AX paradigm. Results were examined for each fricative pair in terms of mean error rate. Some discussion of individual subjects was also included. Results showed that children find it more difficult to discriminate between some pairs of fricatives than others. In particular, the three voiced/voiceless minimal pairs: [sə-zə, ʃə- ʒə, fə-və] were found to be significantly more difficult to discrjurdnate than other pairs of fricatives. Findings were for the most part in agreement with the results of other similar studies. In addition, methodological problems inherent to the nature of the investigation were encountered and discussed. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

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