This thesis examines existing theories of Spanish stress assignment in generative phonology and proposes an alternative theory that is more effective in predicting the surface representations of Spanish stress. Stress is characterized according to traditional textbook standards and examples are given (Chapter I). The current theoretical setting, especially the theories of James W. Harris, is then described (Chapter II). This writer's own theory, based upon an underlying distinction between tense and lax vowels, is delineated (Chapter III) and defended (Chapter IV). The new stress assignment rule--along with a rule of vowel laxing before a word boundary (#) and a rule of stress adjustment--shows stress in Spanish to be predictable and, therefore, not phonemic.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur un aspect phonétique qui s’inscrit dans trois domaines, la phonétique, la dialectologie et la sociophonétique arabes. Notre démarche, nos outils et nos analyses sont phonétiques par essence. Nous avons analysé la fréquence des trois premiers formants [F1, F2, F3] des voyelles cardinales brèves /i, u, a/ de l’arabe libyen de Tripoli (ALT) et nous avons alterné le contexte phonétique consonantique pharyngalisé / tˁ, sˁ, dˁ/ vs non pharyngalisé / t, s, d/ afin de vérifier l’impact de celui-ci sur la fréquence centrale des formants. Cependant, les résultats ainsi obtenus nous ont permis de comparer l’ALT à d’autres variétés populaires arabes modernes. Comme ils nous ont permis d’opérer des distinctions sociales fondamentales, comme celle du gender. Notre problématique articule la question de la réalisation de l’espace acoustique des voyelles en ALT avec le contraste consonantique de pharyngalisation, les patrons coarticulatoires qui en résultent ainsi que l’outil ‘équation de locus’ pour les révéler, tout cela dans une dimension de stratification sociale par le gender. Trois hypothèses de travail ont été présentées, la première sur la variation de l’espace vocalique et ses motivations, la deuxième sur la pertinence de l’utilisation de l’équation de locus et la troisième sur les distinctions liées au gender. Nos résultats, fondés sur l’analyse d’un corpus de mots trisyllabiques [C1V1- C2V2- C3V3] où C était soit une consonne pharyngalisée /s ˁ, t ˁ, d ˁ/, soit une consonne non pharyngalisée /s, t, d/, V étant une des trois voyelles brèves cardinales /i, u, a/, lu par dix locuteurs (6 hommes et 5 femmes) permettent de valider nos trois hypothèses : la variation des valeurs formantiques des voyelles, de l’espace acoustique et de la distance entre les deux premiers formants en fonction des trois facteurs : 1) le contexte consonantique (pharyngalisé vs non pharyngalisé) ; 2) la position prosodique (accentué vs inaccentué) ; et 3) la distinction sociale (homme vs femme). Notre travail a pu répondre positivement aux objectifs qui lui ont été assignés au départ : 1) sur le plan phonétique, donner un aperçu du système vocalique de l’ALT et de sa variation en fonction de la pharyngalisation ; 2) sur le plan dialectologique, répondre aux questions de la typologie dialectale arabe et le classement de l’arabe libyen, dialecte oriental vs dialecte maghrébin ; et 3) sur le plan sociophonétique, vérifier la profonde distinction sociale, parole de femme vs parole d’homme / This research focuses on a phonetic aspect that falls into three areas, phonetics, dialectology and Arabic sociophonetics. Our approach, tools and analysis are phonetic in nature. We analyzed the frequency of the first three formants [F1, F2, F3] of short cardinal vowels / i, u, a /of the Libyan Arabic of Tripoli (ALT) and we alternated the phonetic context of pharyngealized consonants / t ˁ, s ˁ , ˁ d / versus non pharyngealized / t, s, d / to verify the impact of the latter on the central frequency of formants. However, the results obtained have allowed us to compare the ALT to other popular varieties in modern Arabic. As they allowed us to make fundamental social distinctions, such as the gender. Our research problem deals with the issue of the realization of the acoustic space of vowels in ALT, in contrast with the consonant pharyngealization, the resulting co-articulatory patterns as well as the tool of 'locus equation' to reveal, all of this in a dimension of social stratification by gender. Three hypotheses were presented; the first was on the variation of the vowel space and its motivations, the second was on the appropriateness of using the locus equation and the third was related to gender distinctions. Our results, based on the analysis of a corpus of trisyllabic words [C1V1 C2V2-C3V3-] where C is either a pharyngalized consonant / s ˁ, ˁ t, d ˁ / or a non- pharyngalized consonant / s, t, d /, V is one of the three cardinal short vowels / i, u, a /, read by ten speakers (6 males and 5 females) to validate our three hypotheses. Changes in formant values of vowels, the acoustic space and the distance between the first two formants were based on three factors: 1) the consonantal context (pharyngalized vs. non- pharyngalized), 2) the prosodic position (stressed vs. unstressed), and 3) social distinction (male vs. female). Our study has been able to respond positively to the objectives assigned to it at the start: 1) on the phonetic level, it gives an overview of the vowel system of ALT and its variation with the pharyngealization 2) on the dialectological level, it answers questions from Arabic dialect typology and classification of the Eastern Libyan Arabic dialect vs Maghreb dialect and 3) on the sociophonetic level, it verifies the profound social distinction, woman's speech vs man's speech

<p>The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, this study sought to capture second semester language students’ auditory perception of German vowels. Secondly, this study sought to investigate the effectiveness of direct pronunciation instruction in enhancing learners’ perception and consequent production of German vowels. Vowels were selected to be analyzed in this study, as they are the nucleus of words (Derwing, Thomson, Foote, & Munro, 2012). Front rounded vowels in German were given particular attention, as they do not exist in English, and they frequently pose as a challenge for native English-speakers to learn (O’Brien & Fagan, 2016, Hall, 2003). </p> <p>This study was conducted at a large midwestern U.S. university. The project consisted of 47 participants which were divided into experimental and control groups. Throughout the duration of the study, students were administered a biographical survey, and a pre- and post-test which consisted of a listening identification exercise and speaking assessment. Participants in the test group were also offered a lesson on the German phonemic system as it relates to German vowels. Upon the completion of the study, the data analyzed did not yield any significant results. Students’ scores on the perception and production exercises taken from both the pre- and post-tests remained largely stagnant. This was true for the test scores taken from the experimental and control groups. Though the study outcomes did not produce the hypothesized results, they do underscore the need for long-term explicit pronunciation instruction in the language classroom. </p> <br> <p> </p>

Esta dissertação apresenta uma análise fonológica segmental da língua Urubu Ka\'apor, baseada em dados coletados no ano de 2008 e 2011, bem como os resultados obtidos com a análise acústica dos sons vocálicos presentes no inventário fonético da língua. Essa língua é falada no Estado do Maranhão (Brasil) descrita como pertencente à família linguística Tupi-Guarani - tronco Tupi (RODRIGUES, 1986). O povo Ka\'apor vive na Terra Indígena (T.I.) Alto Turiaçu e há uma estimativa de 1541 pessoas compondo a população Ka\'apor (IBGE,2010). Em relação à análise fonética proposta neste trabalho, o parâmetro acústico utilizado para a caracterização da qualidade vocálica foi os valores dos Formantes, que são as ressonâncias criadas no trato vocal, a partir dos pulsos de ar que passam pelas cordas vocais, provocando vibração. As frequências dos três primeiros formantes (F1, F2, F3) são suficientes para a identificação das vogais e, de modo geral, a maior parte delas pode ser corretamente identificada apenas com os dois primeiros formantes (LADEFOGED, 2001, p.33). Os dados utilizados nesta análise são itens lexicais gravados com colaboradores adultos, do sexo masculino. E para a medição dos valores dos formantes, utilizou-se o software Praat, no qual é possível visualizar, no espectrograma, os formantes das vogais e obter seus valores de frequência. A partir de tais valores, é possível analisar o movimento de dispersão das vogais, caracterizando o espaço acústico ocupado por cada série de segmento. Com isso, pretende-se que a análise acústica das vogais da língua Ka\'apor auxilie na descrição das características fonéticas desses sons, bem como na análise fonológica da língua (KAKUMASU, 1986; CALDAS, 2009; LOPES, 2009). A análise proposta neste trabalho confirma a existência das seguintes qualidades vocálicas [a, ã, &#603;, &#603;&#771;, i, &#297;, &#616;, &#596;, &#596;&#771;, u, &#361; ] / This dissertation presents a segmental phonological analysis of the Urubu Ka\'apor language based on data collected in the years 2008 and 2011, as well as the results obtained with the acoustic analysis of vowel sounds present in the phonetic inventory of the language. This language is spoken in the state of Maranhão (Brazil) described as belonging to the Tupi-Guarani linguistic subfamily - Tupi family (RODRIGUES, 1986). The Ka\'apor people live in the Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land. There are an estimated number of 1541 Ka\'apor people (IBGE, 2010). In relation to the phonetic analysis proposed in this work, the acoustic parameter used for the characterization of vowels quality was the values of the Formants, which are the resonances created in the vocal tract, from the air pulses that pass through the vocal cords, causing vibration. The frequencies of the first three formants (F1, F2, F3) are sufficient to identify the vowels and, in general, most of them can be correctly identified only with the first two formants (LADEFOGED, 2001, p.33). The data used in this analysis are lexical items recorded with adult male speakers. The Praat software was used for the measurement of the formant values. By this software it is possible visualize spectrogram\'s vowels, the formants of the vowels and to obtain their frequency values. From these values, it is possible to analyze the dispersion movement of the vowels, characterizing the acoustic space occupied by each segment series. Thus, it is intended that the acoustic analysis of Ka\'apor vowels helps in the description of the phonetic characteristics of these sounds, as well as in the phonological analysis of the language (KAKUMASU, 1986; CALDAS, 2009; LOPES, 2009). The analysis proposed in this work confirms the existence of the following vocalic qualities: [a, ã, &#603;, &#603;&#771;, i, &#297;, &#616;, &#596;, &#596;&#771;, u, &#361;]

Esta dissertação tem como objeto as vogais médias postônicas não-­finais do Português Brasileiro, especificamente a emergência das formas altas [] e [] e das médias-­baixas [] e [], estas últimas especificamente em dialetos do nordeste. Por meio do arcabouço teórico da Geometria de Traços, buscou-­se analisar os motivadores fonológicos que estão correlacionados à emergência de cada uma das formas das vogais. A principal hipótese que se buscou verificar foi se a emergência das vogais [] e [] na posição postônica não-­final, classificadas na literatura como resultantes de alçamento vocálico, está condicionada a correlatos fonológicos, tendo em vista que até então não se conseguiu encontrar um padrão que pudesse formalizar uma regra. Além disso, buscou-­se investigar se a emergência das formas médias-­baixas [, ] na postônica não-­final poderia ser formalizada por regra. Para tanto, realizou-­se um experimento de leitura de palavras em duas localidades, São Paulo e São Luís. A amostra foi constituída por 40 informantes com idades entre 20 e 30 anos, 20 de cada localidade. Os dados foram transcritos após uma verificação acústica de medição de formantes e posteriormente codificados para que testes estatísticos fossem aplicados. Com base nos resultados obtidos, observou-­se que (i) a emergência das formas altas se correlacionou à presença de uma vogal alta na átona final que compartilhasse o mesmo ponto de articulação que o da postônica não-­final, isto é, coronal para [] e labial para []; e que (ii) a emergência das médias-­baixas se correlacionou à presença da vogal dorsal, ou seja, da vogal baixa na átona final. Para a formalização de ambas as regras, faz-­se necessário assumir a proposta de Wetzels (2011) a respeito da neutralização como um mecanismo de mudança do valor do traço que garante a distinção em outro contexto. Entretanto, para que se pudesse capturar o fato de, para a emergência das vogais altas, além do traço de abertura, haver também correlação com o ponto de articulação da átona final e de que a produção das médias-­baixas é garantida pelo traço [aberto3], ambas as regras devem ser assimilatórias: do nó vocálico para as altas [, ] e do traço [+aberto3] para as médias-­baixas [, ]. / This thesis focuses on non-­final post-­tonic mid-­vowels, specifically, the emergence of the high [, ] and low-­mid vowels [, ], the latter characteristic of northeastern dialects. Based on the theoretical framework of Feature Geometry, it was intended to study the phonological motivators that are correlated with the emergence of each vowel form. The main hypothesis verified was if the emergence of [] and [] in non-­ final post-­tonic context, classified in the literature as a result of vowel rising phenomenon, is subject to phonological correlates, considering that up to this point no known study had found a pattern that could formalize a rule. In addition, it was intended to investigate whether the emergence of the low-­mid forms [, ] in non-­final post-­tonic context could also be formalized by rule. Therefore, a word reading experiment was ran in two cities, São Paulo and São Luis. The sample consisted of 40 informants, who were men and women aged between 20 and 30 years, 20 from each locality. Data were transcribed after an acoustic analysis of formant measurement and subsequently coded for statistical analysis. Based on the results, it was found that (i) the emergence of the high vowels was correlated with the presence of a high word final vowel that also shared the same place of articulation as the one in the non-­final post-­tonic context, i.e., coronal to [] and labial to []; and (ii) the emergence of mid-­low was correlated with the presence of the dorsal vowel, therefore, low vowel in word final position. To formalize both rules, it is necessary to assume Wetzels (2011) proposal that neutralization is a mechanism by which contrastive feature values are replaced by their opposite values. However, in order to capture the fact that, for the emergence of the high vowel, besides the open feature, theres also an association to the place of articulation of the word final vowel and that the production of mid-­low is guaranteed by the feature [open3], both rules should be assimilatory: the vocalic node for the high [, ] and the [+open3] feature to low-­ mid [, ].

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar quais são os contextos que permitem ou bloqueiam o processo de alçamento vocálico das vogais médias pré-tônicas, tal como em caf[] caf[e]teria, mas não *caf[e]zinho. Assumiu-se a análise de Wetzels (1991, 1992, 1995), que propõe que este alçamento neutraliza as vogais médio-baixas através do desligamento do traço [aberto3]. Neste trabalho foram checadas três hipóteses, a saber, se a vogal seguinte a vogal médio-baixa influencia no alçamento da mesma, se o tipo de sílaba resultante da derivação influencia no alçamento ou bloqueio das vogais médias e, por fim, se a morfologia exerce influência neste fenômeno. De acordo com os dados do corpus desta dissertação, dentre as hipóteses perseguidas, a morfologia que demonstrou ter maior influência na escolha do processo de alçamento ou bloqueio das vogais médio-baixas. As outras hipóteses foram parcialmente confirmadas. Na hipótese da influencia da vogal seguinte na neutralização vocálica foi comprovado que este exerce influência, no entanto ela não ocorre pelo processo de harmonia e desarmonia. Já na hipótese da influência da sílaba resultante, apenas o contexto CVCCVC é capaz de bloquear a neutralização vocálica, enquanto os contextos que resultam CV são inertes ao processo. Os dados deste trabalho confirmaram a hipótese de Lee (1995) sobre a propriedade dos sufixos de bloquear o alçamento vocálico, e esta tese inova ao propor um estudo mais profundo dos sufixos aumentativos a fim de inseri-los a estes sufixos. Nesta tese também apresenta-se evidências de que a classificação proposta por Mateus e dAndrade (2000) de sufixos avaliativos e z-avaliativos não se mostrou aplicável aos dados do português brasileiro. / This dissertation aims to analyze the contexts that allow or block the process of vocalic raising of pretonic mid vowels as in caf[] caf[e]teria (coffee coffee bar) but not in *caf[e]zinho (small cup of coffee). It was assumed the approach proposed by Wetzels (1991, 1992, 1995), which argues that this vocalic raising neutralizes the mid/low vowels because of a disconnection of the trace [open3] In this work, three hypotheses are checked: 1) if the vowel that follows a midlow vowel has some influence on the vocalic raising of the second vowel; 2) if the type of syllable that results from the derivation has some influence on the raising or on the blocking of mid vowels; and, finally, if the morphology plays some role on this phenomenon. After analyzing the data and following the three hypotheses, it was noted that the morphology has great influence on the choice between raising and blocking the process of the mid low vowels. The other two hypotheses were partially confirmed. The hypothesis that predicts the influence of the following vowel on vocalic neutralization was proved, however it does not occur because of the process of vocalic harmony and disharmony. The hypothesis regarding the influence of the resultant syllable was partially confirmed too; it was seen that in the context of CVCCVC the vocalic neutralization is blocked, whereas in the contexts with CV as a result this blocking process does not occur. Moreover, the analysis of the data confirmed the hypothesis followed by Lee (1995) on the role played by the suffixes on blocking the vocalic raising. The study conducted for this dissertation innovates for proposing a deeper study about augmentative suffixes and for presenting evidences that the classification proposed by Mateus & dAndrade (2000) does not explain what happens in the morphology of Brazilian Portuguese.

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 264-270. / by Ursula Gisela Goldstein. / Sc.D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 185-192. / by Marcia Ann Bush. / Ph.D.

Increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are entering the US (US Census Bureau, 2011) and are learning American English (AE) as a second language (L2). Many may experience difficulty in understanding AE. Accurate perception of AE vowels is important because vowels carry a large part of the speech signal (Kewley-Port, Burkle, & Lee, 2007). The relationship between native language and L2 vowel inventories causes some vowels to be more difficult to perceive accurately than others (Best & Tyler, 2007). The present study examined the patterns with which early and late Spanish-English bilingual adults assimilate AE vowels to their native vowel inventory and the accuracy with which they discriminate and identify the vowels. Early bilingual listeners demonstrated similar perceptual assimilation patterns to late bilingual listeners, but judged AE vowels as less Spanish sounding than did late learners. Additionally, discrimination and identification accuracy of L2 vowels improved with early age of L2 acquisition. However, early bilingual listeners’ vowel perception was not native-like. Certain AE vowels (/ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /æ/) were difficult to discriminate and identify. Perceptual assimilation patterns predicted categorial discrimination accuracy, an outcome posited by the Perceptual Assimilation Model-L2 (Best & Tyler, 1997).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-09-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:09:20Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 carmo_mc_me_sjrp.pdf: 502429 bytes, checksum: c68a94dd50864db21d7a7619eca3b43d (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O presente trabalho descreve as vogais médias pretônicas dos verbos na região do município de São José do Rio Preto, noroeste do Estado de São Paulo. Algumas dessas vogais sofrem o processo fonológico de alçamento, por meio do qual as vogais médias /e/e/o/ são realizadas, respectivamente, como /i/e /u/, como em d[i]s[i]nvolvendo e c[u]nheço. Como corpus de pesquisa, são utilizadas dezesseis entrevistas do Banco de Dados IBORUNA, resultado do Projeto ALIP – Amostra Lingüística do Interior Paulista (IBILCE/UNESP – FAPESP 03/08058-6). São analisadas amostras de fala espontânea de informantes do sexo feminino que apresentam: (i) Ensino Superior completo ou em andamento; e (ii) uma das seguintes faixas etárias: de 16 a 25; de 26 a 35; de 36 a 55; e acima de 56 anos. A análise é realizada segundo os princípios da Teoria da Variação e da Mudança Lingüística, com a utilização do pacote estatístico VARBRUL, bem como da Fonologia Autossegmental, representada pelo modelo da Geometria de Traços. Como resultado geral, tem-se que alçam 16% das 2455 ocorrências de vogal pretônica /e/ e 10% das 2147 ocorrências de vogal pretônica /o/. Todas as ocorrências são analisadas em relação a uma variável social e a dez variáveis lingüísticas, utilizando-se o VARBRUL. Dos resultados estatísticos, obteve-se que a variável lingüística altura da vogal da sílaba subseqüente à sílaba da pretônica-alvo é a mais relevante à aplicação do alçamento, tanto para /e/, quanto para /o/. Observa-se que, no corpus desta pesquisa, todas as ocorrências de pretônicas alçadas podem ser explicadas: (i) pela harmonização vocálica, em que a vogal sofre o alçamento pela influência de uma vogal alta presente na sílaba seguinte à da pretônica-alvo, como em acr[i]ditar; e/ou (ii) pela redução vocálica, em que a vogal alça pela influência da(s)... / This work describes the pretonic medial vowels of the verbs in the region of the city of São José do Rio Preto, northwest of São Paulo State. In these vowels, the phonological process of vowel raising can be found. Through this process, the medial vowels /e/ and /o/ are pronounced, respectively, as /i/ and /u/, in words like d[i]s[i]nvolvendo and c[u]nheço. The corpus of this research is formed of sixteen interviews of the Banco de Dados IBORUNA, a result of the ALIP Project – Amostra Lingüística do Interior Paulista (IBILCE/UNESP – FAPESP 03/08058-6). Spontaneous speech samples – of female informants that: (i) had been attending University or that had already finished it; and (ii) belonged to one of the following age-bands: 16 to 25; 26 to 35; 36 to 55; and over 56 years – are analyzed. The analysis is made under the perspective of: (i) the Theory of Linguistic Variation and Change, by using the statistical package VARBRUL; and (ii) the Autosegmental Phonology, represented by the Feature Geometry model. The general result is that 16% of the 2455 occurrences of pretonic vowel /e/ and 10% of the 2147 occurrences of pretonic vowel /o/ are raised. All the occurrences are analyzed in relation to one social variable and to ten linguistic variables, using VARBRUL package. The statistical results evinced that the height of the vowel of the syllable which is contiguous to the syllable of the pretonic vowel is the most relevant variable concerning the application of the vowel raising process, both to /e/ and to /o/. It is observed that, in the corpus of this research, all the occurrences in which the pretonic vowels are raised can be explained by: (i) a process of vowel harmonization, through which the vowel is raised by the influence of a high vowel in the syllable which is adjacent to the syllable of the pretonic vowel, as acr[i]ditar; and/or (ii) vowel reduction, through which... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)