This thesis is concerned with the description of Yulu, a language which has not previously been subjected to modern linguistic analysis. Thus this thesis has two important aspects. Firstly, however remote a Language, its description adds a valuable contribution to linguistic knowledge. Secondly, its description tests the validity of linguistic theories in general and the theory used in this work in particular; as a linguist should not only be able to describe one universal but any number of parallel universes of speech-phenomena, namely different languages or dialects or even idiolects. Since the theory has been instrumental in describing the phonological system of Yulu in a consistent and adequate manner, it has once again proved its usefulness as a 'general' linguistic theory. The theory applied is that of Professor J. W. F. Mulder and is a sub-component of his 'Axiomatic Functionalist Linguistics'. This thesis is divided into three parts. Part I, dealing with the theoretical background, comprises twelve chapters, of which the first four provide an introduction to the basic principles of axiomatic functionalism. The remaining eight chapters introduce the theoretical notions of phonological theory and analysis as practised by axiomatic functionalists. Chapter I deals with the axiomatic functionalist principle of maintaining a strict distinction between the linguistic theory, linguistic descriptions, and the speech-phenomena and also with the basic criteria for evaluating both the linguistic theory and linguistic descriptions. Chapter II, dealing with the 'hypothetico-deductive Method', explains the philosophical principles underlying the axiomatic functionalist approach, Chapter III deals with 'The origin and scope of the theory'. Chapter IV explains the definition of 'language' as "a semiotic system with a 'double articulation'" (Mulder 1968). Chapter V covers 'The domain of phonology'; Chapter VI 'The notion "phoneme" as defined in axiomatic functionalism'; Chapter VIII 'The "abstract" approach to phonology'; Chapter VIII is concerned with 'Identity and distinctive function of a phoneme'; Chapter IX with 'Phonematics'; Chapter X with 'Neutralization' and 'archiphoneme'; Chapter XI with 'phonemes and their realizations (allophony)'; and Chapter XII with 'Phonotactics’. Part II, consists of one basic chapter, and is intended to give general background information about Yulu - the language whose phonological analysis we are concerned with in this thesis. Part III, dealing with the actual phonological analysis consists of five chapters. Chapter I deals with 'The phonemes of Yulu and their realizations'; Chapter II 'Neutralization' and 'Concord'; Chapter III 'Classificatory calculus in Yulu'; Chapter IV 'Phonotactic distribution in Yulu'; and Chapter V 'The tones of Yulu'.

This work presents a preliminary analysis of the phonology of Kakua, an endangered language of the Kakua-Nukak family (formerly classified as Makú). Kakua is spoken by approximately 300 people living in the Vaupés region of the Amazon rain forest, in northwest Amazonia, Eastern Colombia. This analysis is based on data collected with Kakua speakers from the village of Wacará, a settlement of approximately 120 people, living along the basin of Caño Wacará, located between the Querarí and the Vaupés Rivers, to the east of Mitú, close to the Colombia-Brazil borders. The phonological inventory of Kakua includes five vowels and seventeen consonants. Kakua also presents contrastive prosodic features of nasalization and an inventory of three contrastive tones. Kakua phonology presents various interesting typological features from both areal and cross-linguistic perspective. The work presented here is a first attempt to provide a better illustration of a little-known endangered language of Amazonia. / text

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how phonetic complexity influences the accuracy and rate of speech production in adults who do (AWS, N=15) and do not stutter (AWNS, N=15). Target words were characterized according to high phonetic complexity (HIPC) and low phonetic complexity (LIPC), and were controlled for lexical influences such as word frequency and neighborhood density. It was hypothesized that if phonetic complexity influenced speech production, there would be a difference in reaction time and accuracy for AWS during the HIPC condition. Method: Participants produced two rounds of 40 target words corresponding to specific line drawings, during a confrontational naming task. Speech reaction time (SRT) was recorded from initial presentation of picture, and fluency and accuracy of production were coded for each target. Results: There was no significant difference in SRT according to HIPC and LIPC for either AWS or AWNS. AWS participants had slower SRT recorded compared to AWNS for all conditions tested. There was no relationship found between HIPC and increased moments of disfluency. Accuracy of target word production decreased during LIPC words. Conclusion: Phonetic complexity does not affect rate or fluency of speech production for either AWS or AWNS. While there is no difference in phonetic complexity measures, AWS are consistently slower than AWNS across both groups of target productions. Increased errors for both groups on LIPC target words may indicate a motor component to accuracy of speech production. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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