Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 227 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Elizabeth V. Hume, Dept. of Linguistics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-227).

Thesis (MA)--University of Montana, 2010. / Contents viewed on May 28, 2010. Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

Phonological interactions among sonorant sounds, and between sonorants and obstruents, are widespread in Romance languages. In this dissertation, I examine in detail such interactions in two dialects of Sardinian (Italo-Romance), Campidanese and Nuorese, showing that sonorant relationships differentiate the synchronic grammars of these dialects. The synchronic patterning of nasals and liquids, and how these two sonorant subclasses interact with obstruents, is significantly different between the two dialects. In particular, nasals trigger phonological nasalization of vowels and of the rhotic in Campidanese but not in Nuorese. The arguments for a phonological analysis of vowel nasalization in Campidanese are reviewed, expanded, and tested against an acoustic study. The historical traces of interaction between /n/ and /r/ in this dialect are linked to the synchronic rhotic nasalization process highlighted by an acoustic study of fieldwork data. In Nuorese, on the other hand, /n/ does not initiate phonological nasalization either of vowels or of the rhotic, and it is the target of total assimilation when followed by any segments but an oral stop. Nasals in the two dialects thus pattern in two very different ways phonologically: nasals are process triggers in Campidanese and process targets in Nuorese. The rhotic also shows distinct patterns in the two dialects, interacting with /n/ in Campidanese and with /s/ in Nuorese. The two dialects, with those asymmetries, thus display complementary sonorant patterns. I argue that a model able to capture such complementarity of patterns is the theory of the contrastive hierarchy (Dresher 2008). The Campidanese and Nuorese sonorant patterns, so radically different, lead one to question whether sonorants form a homogeneous phonological class cross-linguistically. Campidanese and Nuorese show that the make-up of such a class appears to be language-specific. Since the sonorant class is a universal class of sounds, its heterogeneity, in turn, questions the notion of phonological classhood at large. The data and the analysis presented in this dissertation thus feed the debate around phonological classhood. According to the theoretical model adopted in the present dissertation, the language-specific make-up of a class of sounds is all that can be labeled a ‘phonological’ class. Classes of sounds can be described in phonetic terms, but classes phonetically defined do not necessarily amount to phonological classes.

Phonological interactions among sonorant sounds, and between sonorants and obstruents, are widespread in Romance languages. In this dissertation, I examine in detail such interactions in two dialects of Sardinian (Italo-Romance), Campidanese and Nuorese, showing that sonorant relationships differentiate the synchronic grammars of these dialects. The synchronic patterning of nasals and liquids, and how these two sonorant subclasses interact with obstruents, is significantly different between the two dialects. In particular, nasals trigger phonological nasalization of vowels and of the rhotic in Campidanese but not in Nuorese. The arguments for a phonological analysis of vowel nasalization in Campidanese are reviewed, expanded, and tested against an acoustic study. The historical traces of interaction between /n/ and /r/ in this dialect are linked to the synchronic rhotic nasalization process highlighted by an acoustic study of fieldwork data. In Nuorese, on the other hand, /n/ does not initiate phonological nasalization either of vowels or of the rhotic, and it is the target of total assimilation when followed by any segments but an oral stop. Nasals in the two dialects thus pattern in two very different ways phonologically: nasals are process triggers in Campidanese and process targets in Nuorese. The rhotic also shows distinct patterns in the two dialects, interacting with /n/ in Campidanese and with /s/ in Nuorese. The two dialects, with those asymmetries, thus display complementary sonorant patterns. I argue that a model able to capture such complementarity of patterns is the theory of the contrastive hierarchy (Dresher 2008). The Campidanese and Nuorese sonorant patterns, so radically different, lead one to question whether sonorants form a homogeneous phonological class cross-linguistically. Campidanese and Nuorese show that the make-up of such a class appears to be language-specific. Since the sonorant class is a universal class of sounds, its heterogeneity, in turn, questions the notion of phonological classhood at large. The data and the analysis presented in this dissertation thus feed the debate around phonological classhood. According to the theoretical model adopted in the present dissertation, the language-specific make-up of a class of sounds is all that can be labeled a ‘phonological’ class. Classes of sounds can be described in phonetic terms, but classes phonetically defined do not necessarily amount to phonological classes.

This dissertation is an acoustic description of the phonemic inventory of Nez Perce [nez], a Penutian language of the United States. Acoustic work has been conducted on the consonants of Nez Perce, but no acoustic work has been conducted on the vowels or vowel harmony system. This work begins with an overview of the dissertation, language situation, and previous research. Following the introduction are chapters on ejectives and plain obstruents, plain and glottalized sonorants, vowels, vowel harmony, and the conclusion. Nez Perce has both plain and ejective stop series, a plain and ejective affricate series, and a plain fricative series. I examine these segments for acoustic correlates comparing them to previous research, other languages and current theory. The ejectives are described with f0, intensity, jitter, burst amplitude and VOT. I discuss fricatives in terms of spectra, duration, formant transitions, and moments. The timing and realization of glottalization on glottalized and plain sonorants is investigated. Segments are measured for duration and are visually and aurally inspected for variation of glottalization, realized using pitch, laryngealization, glottal stops, or a combination of these features. It is nearly always realized on the sonorant rather than before or after. Vowels are plotted and compared to previous phonological descriptions. The inventory is /i, æ, a, o, u/ rather than the canonical five-vowel system, leading to the description of the inventory as having a “gap” and not maximally contrastive. I suggest that if Nez Perce vowels are considered using a shifted axis then the vowels are maximally contrastive. The non-canonical vowel inventory leads to two seeming unrelated vowel harmony sets: dominant, /i, a, o/, and recessive, /i, æ, u/. The proposed shifted axis view becomes important for reanalyzing the vowel harmony to reconcile these unusual sets. Previous analyses have described Nez Perce vowel harmony as based on advanced tongue root (ATR). I investigated Nez Perce vowels for ATR acoustic correlates; however, the results provide evidence both supporting and not supporting an ATR analysis. I propose an alternate analysis for the vowel harmony based on the principle of maximal contrast, evidenced by the shifted axis model.

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