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Feature Geometry and Dependency: A Review
Abstract
A fundamental problem in phonological theory is the fact that processes often operate on consistent subsets of the distinctive features within a segment, like the features that characterize place of articulation. Recent research has responded to this problem by proposing a hierarchical organization of the features into functionally related classes, grouped under nodes of a tree structure. This 'geometry' resembles earlier theories that accomplish the same thing with multivalued features. This article reviews and expands the evidence for feature geometry. Within the segment, it is argued, the major dichotomy is between a Laryngeal node and a Place node. The manners of articulation--sonority, consonantality, nasality, and continuance--inhere in the segment itself rather than any of its subsidiary parts. Within the Place node, the division is into major articulators, each with its own subordinate features. Evidence is drawn from processes of assimilation and debuccalization and from the assimilatory and dissimilatory effects of the Obligatory Contour Principle.
... In fact, various distinctions fall naturally into groups as mentioned before (major class features, cavity features, etc.). This grouping of features is not based so much on any similarity of articulatory or acoustic correlates as on the functional coherence of the feature groupings in particular act as a set in widely attested phonological processes (McCarthy, 1988). A geometry feature depicts the segregation of distinctive features onto different planes of phonological representation, called tiers. ...
... The coordination of gestures on the tiers is accomplished by association lines, which are links between the different levels. These lines are subjected to a single well-formedness constraint, the Line-Crossing Prohibition, in which no association lines between the same two autosegmental tiers may cross (McCarthy, 1988). Figure 4 shows the spreading of a geometry feature: ...
... The Root node then spreads to imply the spread of all features dominated by the Root node, which for sure covers the entire set of features. According to McCarthy (1988), the spreading of the Root node will indicate total assimilation, an impeccably justified process cross-linguistically, while delinking of the Root node will indicate the deletion of the segment. In this proposed model, two major class features [sonorant] and [consonantal] differ from all other features in one important aspect; they arguably never spread, delink, or exhibit OCP (Obligatory Contour Principle) effects independently of all other features. ...
The maN- and paN- are some affixes in Banjarese language that manifest the occurrence of homorganic nasal assimilation when forming allomorphs. But in some allomorphs, such as ma- and pa-, the nasal segment was completely deleted from the affixes. This study aims to provide a rational explanation for the deletion of the nasal segment in both allomorphs. A set of base words was retrieved from a dictionary, and respondents were chosen to recite each word as well as the derived word after it received the affixes. The ma- and pa- were formed as a result of each prefix being followed by a sonorant segment, both consonant and vowel. This is different from the Malay language, which only allows nasal segments to be deleted when a sonorant consonant follows them. This study is hoped to add some value to the previous studies as well as become a pioneer for upcoming studies.
... To account for the extent of observance of the OCP in NE, which is expected to be validated by the simple percentage calculations in this study, we will adopt the non-linear models: Autosegmental Theory (Goldsmith) and Grid Theory (Prince) together with Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky 1993). We adopt the first two theory because some type of OCP effects is assumed to be a primitive of the autosegmental theory, where the occurrence of adjacent identical elements are valid on any given tier (McCarthy 1988). We employ the last theory to account for constraints interactions militating against 'adjacency-identity problems' attested in the two Englishes, bearing in mind the assumption that the OCP is a primitive of autosegmental theory has been challenged (Boersma 1998), (Frisch et al. 2004). ...
... We will, therefore, show that the combination of similar juncture consonants in the examples above results in the merger or absorption of the first consonant to the second one, a process we assume here to be fusion (see Crystal, 2008). Accordingly, we will argue that the rule that conflates the heteromorphemic sequence, /t#t/ /d#d/ and /g#g/ in the respective consonant sequences in English speech is enforced by the OCP to avoid its violation, a phenomenon that validates the fact the OCP is a condition on adjacent identical elements (McCarthy 1988;Yip 1988). ...
... Engaging fifty educated speakers from Nigeria in reading and recording sessions, we carried out a test on the following English rules: /ɪ/-insertion rule in genitive forms, Yod Insertion Rule, and Geminate Stress Avoidance Rule, and Consonants Fusion rule operating at phrasal boundary. The stratification of the data into the two, the ones conforming to native pronunciation, and the ones deviating from the native norm is, on the one hand, to help us establish the fact the OCP is inviolable, as suggested in the literature on native phonologies (McCarthy 1988;Yip 1988), and on the other hand, to help us establish the fact the principle is violable Goldsmith (1976), Odden (1988Odden ( , 2013, Boersma (1998) and Frisch et al (2004). Importantly, we expect that the two factors would help our understanding of how the OCP functions in both the native and non-native phonologies. ...
Yip (1988) shows that, in English, the insertion of /ɪ/ between coronal sibilants, e.g., /s/ and /z/ in plural nouns like /fɒksɪz/ foxes, /tæksɪz/ taxes, etc. and the prohibition of geminate stress, as in *thirˈteen ˈmen is motivated by the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP). She argues that /ɪ/-epenthesis and geminate stress avoidance are triggered in the language to satisfy the OCP, which prohibits adjacent identical elements in phonological representation. In this study, we show that the OCP also explains why: (i) English inserts /ɪ/ between coronal sibilants in genitive forms, ruling out */rəʊz(z) pɜ:s/ ‘Rose’s purse’, (ii) the language drops yod after post-alveolars, /ʧ/, /ʤ/ and /ʃ/, ruling out */ʧju/, ‘chew’, */ʤju/ ‘Jew’, and (iii) it disallows heteromorphemic geminate consonants, e.g., /t # t/ by making them undergo fusion, /t/. This study investigates the extent of applying these native English OCP-motivated rules in Nigerian English (NigE) based on the data gathered from fifty educated NigE speakers. Results of the frequency count and constraint-ranking in this study showed that the OCP-based native English rules in NigE could be inviolable (56.48%) or violable (43.52%). We argue that the frequency of NigE violation of the OCP is in part determined by the complex nature of the sequential combinations of English identical features and the NigE speakers’ level of competence in English usage.
... It has been well been established in the literature that the OCP occurs in many natural languages; Arabic (McCarthy, 1988), Latin (Kenstowicz, 1994;Torre, 2003) and Japanese (Yip, 1988) are just a few examples. Arabic prohibits the occurrence of two identical adjacent consonants in the root (McCarthy, 1988). ...
... It has been well been established in the literature that the OCP occurs in many natural languages; Arabic (McCarthy, 1988), Latin (Kenstowicz, 1994;Torre, 2003) and Japanese (Yip, 1988) are just a few examples. Arabic prohibits the occurrence of two identical adjacent consonants in the root (McCarthy, 1988). For example, the root ktb "to wrote" is allowed, but a root like *ssm is not allowed. ...
... He attributes this phenomenon autosegmental spreading. In addition, McCarthy (1988) claims that the OCP does not only affect segments and supra-segmental features, but it also active between non-identical segments sharing a feature. Torre, 2003). ...
Previous studies show that second language (L2) learners of English sometimes produce the verb with proper past tense inflectional morphology as in help[t] and sometimes repair the cluster, as in helpø or hel[pəd]. Complicating matters, these studies focused on L2 learners whose native languages disallowed codas or had very restricted codas. Thus, it is difficult to tell whether any problems in producing past tense morphology are due to first language L1-transferred coda restrictions, or an inability to acquire the abstract feature of past tense. To rule out native language syllable structure interference, this paper aims to examine the production of the English regular past tense verb by Arabic L1 ESL learners, a language that allows complex codas. The paper also examines the role of a phonological universal, the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) that disallows two adjacent similar sounds, and its effect on learners’ production. The data come from twenty-two English as a Second Language (ESL) students at three levels of proficiency. The task was a sentence list eliciting target clusters in past tense contexts that violate manner in OCP: fricative + stop ([st], [ft]) vs. stop + stop ([pt], [kt]). Results show that L1 Arabic speakers have difficulty in producing past tense morphology, even though their L1 allows complex codas. Fricative + stop clusters are repaired (epenthesis/deletion) at a lower rate (low =25.71%, intermediate = 6.6%, high=11.11%) than stop + stop clusters (low=57.14%, intermediate = 40.27%, high=22.91%). The higher rate of repair is clear in stops + stop clusters suggesting that learners abide by phonological universals and prefer not to violate OCP. Finally, proficiency level has an effect on target-like production, as higher-proficiency learners produce past-tense morphology at a higher rate than lower-proficiency learners. Together, these results indicate that L1 transfer is not the only source of difficulty in the production of past tense morphology, and that the abstract feature of tense is problematic, particularly at the early stages of ESL development.
... This subset of the data is fully consistent with standard phonological treatments of assimilation. According to these, the place specification for the nasal is replaced by a copy of the place specification of the following obstruent (Chomsky and Halle, 1968) or, in the autosegmental view, the domain of the place specification of the obstruent extends via spreading to also encompass the nasal with concomitant delinking of the nasal's specification (Clements, 1981, McCarthy, 1988. However, when the obstruent trigger of nasal place assimilation was the dental [t "], Honorof's data indicated that the result of the assimilation is not a dental [n "]. ...
... To illustrate with the Turkish case above, the question is whether the continuous rounding activation is best described as a long, unitary gesture or as the result of the overlap of shorter gestures acquired by the individual phonemes that undergo the assimilation. If the unitary gesture characterization of the continuous activation is justifiable, it would provide tangible evidence for the spreading view of assimilation, namely, the view that sees assimilation as the extension of a feature over a domain that may span several phonemes (e.g., Clements, 1981, McCarthy, 1988. Despite its widespread acceptance in modern day phonology, no rigorous testing of this intuition has been undertaken. ...
The primitives of phonological theory—whether we call them features, elements, gestures, or by some other name—stand in some relation to phonetic reality. Although there is consensus about this, there seems to be little agreement about most of the specifics involved. How many features are there? Are they privative or binary? Do segments need to be specified for all features? This book brings together discussions and investigations touching on these pressing and central issues from phonologists working in different traditions ranging from Articulatory Phonology to ‘traditional’ Distinctive Feature Theory to Element Theory, instantiating a wide range of views on the phonological primitives, covering a wide range of methodologies and domains, including experimental work, fieldwork, language acquisition, aphasia, theory-internal concerns, and many more. Through this diversity, the book offers new insights both on the empirical and theoretical side of the primitives, as well as the commonalities and fundamental differences between the various approaches.
... Contour Principle (OCP). OCP is a constraint that mitigates against a sequence of segments that are alike (McCarthy, 1988). This constraint (defined in example (121) process of labial dissimilation (Kotzé and Zerbian, 2008). ...
... A sequence of identical features is disallowed (McCarthy, 1988) ...
Languages employ different repair strategies to maintain their preferred phonological
structures. This study examines repair strategies employed in Tshivenda to resolve vowel hiatus as well as to maintain the minimal Prosodic Word (PWord) size. To do so, evidence was collected from previous academic works (Poulos, 1975, 1990; Westphal, 1946), dictionaries, articles and descriptive grammars, learning handbooks, as well as educational YouTube videos.
In Tshivenda nominals, a sequence of two adjacent vowels (vowel hiatus) is resolved by means of glide formation, secondary articulation, and vowel elision. In verbs, however, vowel hiatus is maintained. Evidence gleaned from the imperative, passive, and reduplicated forms suggest that Tshivenda maintains a minimally disyllabic Prosodic Word structure. Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky, 2004) and its sub-theory, Co-Phonology Theory (Inkelas and Zoll, 2007), were employed as the main theoretical frameworks to analyse the data. Further insights were gleaned from Feature Geometry (Clements and Hume, 1995). Thus, this study aims to present a comprehensive account of vowel hiatus resolution and minimality effects in Tshivenda.
The structural features of Tshivenda are compared to those of other Bantu
languages to situate it within the broader field of Bantu phonology, thereby providing a small but significant contribution to Southern Bantu phonological typology.
... Consequently, a process can belong to one of three major process groups: insertion, elision, and assimilation. Since they exert different phonetic effects, phonological accounts distinguish between categorical (e.g., Clements, 1985;McCarthy, 1988) and gradient types of processes (Browman and Goldstein, 1990;Barry, 1992). Assimilatory processes illustrate the gradient type as a change from sound A to sound B, which may involve intermediate stages, be incomplete, and leave a phonetic trace. ...
The article reports the results of a study on the perception of reduced forms by non-native users of English. It tests three hypotheses: (i) reduced forms with context are recognized more accurately and faster than reduced forms without context; (ii) gradient reduction is perceived less robustly than the categorical one; and (iii) subjects with musical background perceive reduced forms better than those without. An E-Prime study on 102 Polish learners of English was implemented, comparing participants’ accuracy and reaction times with a control group of 14 native speakers. The study was corpus-based and used 287 reduced forms from a corpus of Lancashire. The results indicate that (i) lexical context and phone density significantly affect perception, (ii) the category of reduction process (gradient or categorical) is irrelevant, and (iii) musical background only partially impacts non-native perception.
... Features are hieratically assorted into class nodes as root and a set of features that share the parent node (Kenstowicz, 1994). Several proposals were yielded to represent the major class features whether they are directly associated to the root node (e.g., Sagey 1986) or they occur within the root model (e.g., Schein and Steriade, 1986;and McCarthy, 1988). ...
The present study discusses some phonological processes of segmental harmony in Algerian Wadi Souf dialect. The data were collected from natural recorded speech of fifty native speakers of this dialect. Moreover, one of the researchers added some examples since she is a native speaker of this dialect. This research adopts the non-linear phonological theory. The findings showed that this theory can provide an adequate analysis for segmental harmony. It is also found that non-adjacent sibilants can spread the feature of anteriority bi-directionally. The anterior sibilants /z/ and /s/ spread the feature [+anterior] to the non-anterior sibilant /ʒ/, and it is realized as [z]. Moreover, raising and fronting vowel harmony occurs in both CaCi:C adjectives that are realized as CiCi:C and the imperfect prefix of jaCCiC and jaCCi verbs that are realized as jiCCiC and jiCCi. Raising and rounding vowel harmony occurs in the imperfect prefix of jaCCuC tri-consonantal verbs that are realized as juCCuC.
... For example, avoidance of consonants sharing a major place in a CVC sequence (e.g., *pVm) often underapplies to identical consonants (e.g., pVp), even though they meet the featural description of the banned sequence. The classic autosegmental explanation of this reversal is that identical consonants are not subject to phonological restrictions on two feature-sharing segments because they are underlyingly a single featural representation linked to two positions in the string (Goldsmith, 1976;McCarthy, 1988). Another proposal made in the literature is that words containing identical consonants are not underattested as much as those containing nonidentical feature-sharing consonants because they are made more distinct from other words in the lexicon by virtue of the underattestation of nonidentical but similar consonants (Graff, 2012). ...
To date, research on wordform learning biases has mostly focused on language-dependent factors, such as the phonotactics and neighborhood density of the language(s) known by the learner. Domain-general biases, by contrast, have received little attention. In this study, we focus on one such bias-an advantage for string-internal repetitions-and examine its effects on wordform learning. Importantly, we consider whether any type of segmental repetition is equally beneficial for word recall, or whether learning is favored more or only by repeated consonants, in line with previous research indicating that consonants play a larger role than vowels in lexical processing. In Experiment 1, adult English speakers learned artificial CVCV words containing either a repeated consonant (e.g., /sesu/, "c-rep"), a repeated vowel (e.g., /sepe/, "v-rep"), or dissimilar consonants and vowels (e.g., /sepu/, "no-rep"). Recall results showed no advantage for v-reps but higher accuracy for c-reps compared to no-reps. In Experiment 2, participants performed a label preference task with the same stimuli. The results showed dispreference for both c-reps and v-reps relative to no-reps, indicating that the results of Experiment 1 are independent of wordlikeness effects. These outcomes reveal that there is a form-learning bias for words with identical consonants but not for words with identical vowels, suggesting that a domain-general advantage for repetitions within strings is modulated by a language-specific processing bias for consonants.
... Although the present study does not attempt to elucidate all details of PF gemination phenomena, I proposed above that the earlier gemination stage in (3a) affects flat or near-flat sonority SCCs whose segments match in their value of [±sonorant] (obstruent-obstruent, obstruent-sibilant, nasal-nasal), while the two segments of obstruent-sonorant clusters targeted by the subsequent stage of gemination bear opposite values for this feature and exhibit a non-negligible rising sonority contour across the cluster. The influence of matching or mismatching values of [±sonorant] provides additional support for the relevance of the MAX(ROOT) constraint proposed above, as [±sonorant] is typically posited to be a root feature in feature geometry (Clements 1985, McCarthy 1988, Blevins 1994, van Oostendorp 2005. If the root node is salvaged in output via the Manner change in early French unharmonic obstruent-sonorant clusters Isogloss 2023, 9(1)/14 31 MAX(ROOT) constraint, a change in the value of [±sonorant] is unexpected, likely further enforced by IDENT-IO(SONORANT), higher-ranking yet. ...
This diachronic constraint-based analysis details shifting reflexes in Proto-French (PF) and early Old French (OF) (approximately 2nd-12th centuries) towards the repair of underlying obstruent-nasal clusters, especially where the obstruent is coronal, as well as phonotactically dispreferred /tl, dl/. In earlier PF, deletion and gemination prevail, with gemination broadening scope from flat-sonority clusters to some obstruent-sonorant clusters, including /dl/ and variably obstruent-nasal. Late PF /dn/ assibilates to [zn], avoiding a suboptimal syllable-contact sonority contour, with the end result of both processes finalizing a broader coda obstruent ban before OF. Early OF ecclesiastic loanwords from Latin re-introduce underlying medial obstruent-nasal and /tl, dl/ clusters, with the cluster-final sonorant undergoing the novel repair of rhotacization (/n/ or /l/ " [r]), representing an extension of manner change seen in earlier spirantization and assibilation in the native lexicon. The unified optimality-theoretic analysis identifies and argues for a multi-stage shift in the prioritization of constraints governing the intersecting deletion, gemination, spirantization, assibilation, and rhotacization processes, and their interaction with syllabification, sonority, and phonotactics.
... In nonlinear phonological accounts (e.g., Bernhardt & Stemberger, 1998;McCarthy, 1988), features are described as acting/developing independently but also as subject to interactions arising from dominance relationships within prosodic and feature hierarchies. Retention of [+s.g] in segmental mismatch patterns shows the development of [+s.g.] as an independent feature (generally early-acquired feature: Table 2). ...
The feature [+spread glottis] ([+s.g.]) denotes that a speech sound is produced with a wide glottal aperture with audible voiceless airflow. Icelandic is unusual in the degree to which [+spread glottis] is involved in the phonology: in /h/, pre-aspirated and post-aspirated stops, voiceless fricatives and voiceless sonorants. The ubiquitousness of the feature could potentially affect the rate and process of its acquisition. This paper investigates the development of [+s.g.] in Icelandic, both in general and in a range of contexts, in a cross-sectional study of 433 typically developing Icelandic-speaking children aged two to seven years. As a feature, [+s.g.] is acquired early in Icelandic, although specific sound classes lag behind due to other output constraints. Children reach mastery of [+s.g.] by age three except in word-initial post-aspirated stops and voiceless nasals. Findings are interpreted in light of the literature on the feature and its development.
... The parameters were based on features used in the classification of consonants by the International Phonetic Association (2007). While there are many alternative featural descriptions (e.g., see Hall 2001;McCarthy 1988), such a list of articulatory phonetic features ensures a theory-neutral description of consonants and their clustering, as much as this seems feasible. ...
The present study focuses on German word-initial consonant clusters and asks whether feature-based phonotactic preferences correlate with patterns of type and token frequencies in present-day usage. The corpus-based analyses are based on a comprehensive list of such clusters, representing current usage, and on a number of feature-based phonotactic preferences. Correlating the variables by means of a correlation analysis and a regression analysis leads to a number of observations relevant to the general topic of featural-segmental structures versus usage. First, out of eighteen correlations between (raw and logarithmic) type and token frequencies, and preferred feature patterns, only one significant correlation was found. Second, a regression analysis led to similar results: out of thirteen variables tested, only two contribute to logarithmic type and token frequencies. Only a limited set of cluster properties investigated in the present paper constitutes a relevant predictor of frequency measures. The study thus demonstrates, in accordance with other recent evidence, that preferred phonetic/phonological structures and their usage frequency constitute two separate domains for which distributions may not have to coincide.
... Following Leben (1973), Goldsmith (1976), such duplication of Hs in (8a) and (b) violates the OCP, a constraint which prohibits adjacent identical tones. However, if we assume that the OCP is a primitive of AP (McCarthy 1986(McCarthy , 1988, and that the H.H, H.H.H sequences are simply multiply-linked H tone, the occurrence of successive Hs in the grammar can then be simplified as a singleton H tone, as long as the OCP violations are avoided. This assumption will then explain the OT treatment of (8a & b) in (9) and (10) In view of the ranking in (9), the same analytical procedure-cum-constraint ranking will account for the form in (8b, i), and others in the series, as (10) depicts: ...
https://rupkatha.com/v15n202 Full-text PDF https://rupkatha.com/V15/n2/v15n202.pdf Abstract Ùrhòbò is a southwest Edoid language spoken in southern Nigeria. Its tonal patterns have been studied, but from a descriptive perspective, which, from a theoretical standpoint, potentially limits the understanding that tonal deviations from underlying forms are essentially due to resolutions of conflicts between some competing constraints. This study adopts the Optimality Theory (OT) to reveal the competing universal constraints: IDENT-T, MAX-T; NoFUSION; LINEARITY; DISASSOC; ALIGN-R CONTOUR; OCP; SPECIFY-T; *FLOAT; and NoCONTOUR. The study shows that these constraints crucially govern the Urhobo tonal patterns such as (i) downstep; (ii) single multiply-linked high (H) tone; (iii) single multiply-linked low (L) tone; (iv) boundary H.H and L.L tones fusion; (v); H-tone preservation; (vi) LH-tone preservation; (vii) floating H tone; and, (viii) final HL contour tone. Moreover, it highlights two Ùrhòbò-specific tonal alternations listed in (v) and (vi), which exhibit preservation of H and LH tones at the expense of L tone, post-lexically. Consequently, it proposes four markedness constraints NoH.L-T, NoL.H-T, NoH.LH-T, and NoL. to explain the preservation effects. Our findings support phonologists' view that, crosslinguistically, universal (and language-specific) constraints are those that motivate tonal deviations from input forms in tone languages, and that minimally marked tonal outputs are the result of markedness dominance over faithfulness.
... This study is cast within the framework of Feature Geometry Phonology propounded by phonologists such as Clements (1985), Sagey (1986), Halle (1989), McCarthy (1988), Clements and Hume (1995) and others. In a non-linear phonological model, features in the FG are organised in a hierarchical tree of one sort or the other. ...
This paper discusses nasalisation and nasal assimilation in Akan, a Kwa (Niger-Congo) language. The paper demonstrates that nasalisation and nasal assimilation in Akan can be local, homorganic (partial), or total. The underlying voiced alveolar nasal /n/ surfaces with the initial consonant of the following stem to be realised as a homorganic or nasal sound. The paper shows that among the three major dialects of Akan (Fante, Asante, and Akuapem), Fante exhibits only place (homorganic) assimilation, while Asante and Akuapem demonstrate both places (homorganic) and manner assimilation. Moreover, the paper establishes that nasalisation and nasal assimilation in Akan is adjacent, partial, complete (total), bidirectional, and either regressive or reciprocal. Nasalisation and nasal assimilation in Akan occur mainly in the domains of stems, compound words, plural formation, negation, imperative, and reduplicative constructions. This paper therefore contributes to the typology of consonant-consonant (C-C) assimilations that occur in Akan: nasal place assimilation and consonant nasalisation. We formalise our discussions within the theoretical framework of Feature Geometry (FG) Phonology.
... The type of degradation also dictates the influence of various cognitive systems on recognition performance. Section 2. It is thought that these sequences of sequential phonemic units are used to store words in memory, and that there is a hierarchical structure to this storage (Clements, 1985;McCarthy, 1988;Halle and Stevens, 1971). This mapping is a highly non-linear process, as a change in the phonemic content of a word constitutes a new word, but a change in the raw acoustic cues does not necessarily constitute a new word (for example, words can be spoken with different pitches, intensities or accents without changing the word perceived by the listener). ...
Hearing aid and cochlear implant users struggle to understand speech in noisy places, such as classrooms and busy workplaces, with their performance typically being significantly worse than for normal-hearing listeners. This thesis details development of two new methods for improvement of speech-in-noise performance outcomes. The first addresses shortcomings in current techniques for assessing speech-in-noise performance and the second proposes a new intervention to improve performance. Chapters 3 and 4 present modifications to a new electrophysiological assessment method, using the temporal response function (TRF), for prediction of speech-in-noise performance. The TRF offers information not provided by behavioural speech-in-noise measures (the gold standard for speech-in-noise research and clinical assessment), which may be used for automated intervention fitting and further analysis of the mechanisms of speech-in-noise performance. Alterations to methodology for applying the TRF are proposed, which may provide the groundwork for further development of the TRF as a method for assessing speech-in-noise performance. Chapters 5 and 6 investigate the efficacy of a new intervention to improve speech-in-noise performance in cochlear implant users by providing missing sound-information through tactile stimulation on the wrists. This section focuses on developing and testing initial prototype devices that could rapidly be adapted for real-world use. These prototypes represent the first step towards the realisation of a wearable device, with accompanying results demonstrating the potential for their use in improving speech-in-noise performance. This thesis highlights two techniques that could be further developed for assessing and enhancing speech-in-noise performance, and outlines future steps to be taken for the realisation and combination of these techniques for improved treatment of the hearing impaired.
... No voicing assimilation occurs stem-internally either. However, this is due to the fact that the phonotactics of Arabic forbid homorganic consonants that share the same place of articulation from co-occurring immediately next to each other stem-internally (Greenberg, 1950;McCarthy, 1986McCarthy, , 1988McCarthy, , 1994. Thus, ill-formed words such as *madtab and *ʕagkab do not exist as they are ruled out by Arabic well-formedness constraints. ...
Numerous studies on Arabic linguistics make reference to the phonological word (PW) as a constituent that serves as the domain for various phonological phenomena, however, there is no clear and precise definition in the Arabic linguistics literature of what actually constitutes as a PW and whether it consists of just the bare morphological stem or whether it includes affixes as well. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the status of this phonological constituent in Najdi Arabic (NA), a variety of Arabic spoken in Najd, located in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Affixation and other phonological processes are thoroughly investigated to examine how they interact with the stem in an attempt to give an accurate and precise definition of the domain of the PW. Using syllabification and stress placement as reliable diagnostic tools, in addition to other phonological processes, it is concluded that the PW in NA consists of the morphological stem including all affixes (i.e. prefixes and suffixes, both inflectional and derivational) and functions words (e.g., prepositions). Evidence that supports this conclusion stems from the fact that the stem plus affixes comprise the domain for syllabification and the stress assignment rules as well.
... Since the development of Clements' (1985) model of feature geometry, various modifications to this model were proposed through subsequent research in this area. One of the leading proposals is assuming that the major class features [consonantal] and [sonorant] form the root of the feature tree (McCarthy 1988, Halle 1992, Kenstowicz 1994, among others). A second important development introduced by McCarthy (1988) is dispensing with the manner and the supralaryngeal nodes. ...
The present study analyzes the phonological processes that verbal nouns (VNs) undergo in the course of their derivation from triconsonantal weak verbal stems in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The VNs that are targeted in the study comprise all the instances of VNs which are listed under triconsonantal weak verbs in the corpus-based dictionary mucdʒam ʔalluɣah ʔalcarabijjah ʔalmuca:sira h‘Dictionary of Modern Arabic Language’. The 1222 targeted VNs are arranged into tables in accordance with their 35 morphological patterns and the X-slot and the feature geometry models of nonlinear phonology are utilized for analyzing their derivation from their verbal stems. One of the main findings of the study is that forming VNs from triconsonantal weak verbs follow a regular derivational pattern which involves applying the ablaut and metathesis rules to their verbal stems and the addition of specific affixes to them. This finding enables refuting the general hypothesis that deriving VNs from triconsonantal weak verbs is irregular in the sense that various morphological patterns and no specific rules are employed for their derivation.
... Autosegmental phonology breaks down segments into component parts or features (Goldsmith 1976), and provides mechanics for putting these component parts together (Clements 1985, Sagey 1986, McCarthy 1988, Archangeli & Pulleyblank 1994. Two of the claims of autosegmental phonology are that features can exist completely independently of a segment in surface or underlying representation and that there are morphemes comprised solely of a feature. ...
Fungwa marks the diminutive by fronting non-high vowels of nominal roots and the augmentative by backing non-high vowels of nominal roots. The root-vowel mutation is considered to be an effect of diminutive and augmentative morphemes which have [―back] and [+back] features as their phonetic exponents. The form–meaning association of the morphemes is consistent with the pattern of sound-size symbolism in various languages. Thus Fungwa presents categorical and deterministic evidence for sound-size symbolism. To account for the realisation of the featural affixes, I assume featural correspondence constraints. Given that the featural affixes are not realised on high vowels, I argue that the realisation of the featural affixes involves a prominence-based licensing condition.
... In accordance with Richness of the Base (ROTB; Smolensky 1996), there are no a priori restrictions on the composition of these phonological items: they can contain any combination of phonological nodes and be fully specified on all levels, underspecified for certain features, or consist of only a single node. The inventory of phonological nodes contains prosodic nodes (see below), place and constriction nodes, and root nodes (McCarthy 1988;Clements and Hume 1995). ...
This paper offers a phonological account of various ways in which reduplication interacts with independent processes in Lakota: transparent application in the case of cluster simplification, overapplication in the case of palatalization, and underapplication in the case of vowel mutation. I argue that all three patterns follow from phonological optimization rather than morpheme-specific constraints on the reduplicant or on other morphemes, and that the co-existence of divergent patterns is compatible with such a phonological analysis. Local application is the default pattern, while overapplication receives a cyclic explanation. For underapplication, which is the most recalcitrant pattern in Lakota, I offer an account in terms of Trigger Poverty, a concept which denotes an imbalance between the number of triggers and the number of potential targets created by copying. Trigger Poverty is likely to be a more general abstract source of underapplication beyond Lakota. This paper thus contributes to the discussion of modularity in phonology by presenting evidence that identity effects in reduplication can be epiphenomenal.
... assimilations) have been formulated, e.g. feature geometry (Clements 1985, McCarthy 1988, Gussenhoven -Jacobs 1998. ...
The paper is concerned with the approaches currently used in the description and analysis of speech continuum and speech variation. The main goal of the paper is to offer a brief overview of parametric, segmental, and gestural approaches used in phonetics and phonology, and, at the same time, to show how these three approaches are interrelated and interdependent.
This paper provides a phonological analysis of the onset /ŋ/ ↔ /∅/ merger in Hong Kong Cantonese (HKC). What is particularly challenging for a formal analysis here is that the insertion and deletion of [ŋ] can occur in the same environment, since a sound normally does not allow two contrasting operations in the same environment (McCarthy 2003). The current study employs an analysis using a probabilistic constraint-based grammar (Goldwater et al. 2003), by proposing that [ŋ] is a placeless consonant at the onset position. Thus, [ŋ] is inserted placelessly and gets its place from the following vowel. Insertion of other sounds can thus be excluded by penalizing place insertion.
These are the slides for my GLOWing lecture on Dec 15, 2023. The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVpwRvNjloQ I present conventional wisdom on some points of phonology and offer an outlandish and idiosyncratic alternative. For example, I argue that minimal pairs and contrast play no rule in phonological grammars (although these notions are in the phonologist's toolkit for *discovering* phonological grammars); I argue that assimilation should not be accorded any special role in phonology; and I claim that constraint satisfaction approaches are only relevant for modeling artifacts like circuit design and sudoku, but not to scientific enterprises like understanding natural objects like language.
It has been proposed that there are cognitive biases in language learning that favour certain patterns over others. This study examines the effects of such bias factors on the learning of the phonology of proper nouns. I take up the phenomenon of compound voicing in Japanese surnames. The results of two judgment experiments show that, while Japanese speakers replicate various kinds of statistical regularities in existing names, they tend to extend only phonologically motivated patterns to novel names. This suggests that phonological naturalness plays a role even in the learning of a highly faithful category of words, namely proper nouns, and provides evidence for the relevance of learning biases in synchronic grammar.
This study examines phonological and phonetic properties of ATR contrasts in the vowel system of Akebu (Kwa). The sum of descriptive evidence, including vowel harmony, vowel distribution in nonharmonising contexts, vowel reduction and typological and etymological considerations, indicates a rare vowel inventory with an ATR contrast in front/back vowels but a height contrast in the three redundantly [−ATR] central vowels /ᵻ, ә, a/. This analysis was checked against four common acoustic metrics of ATR: F1 and F2 frequencies, spectral slope and F1 bandwidth size (B1). As expected, the results for the last three metrics were variable across speakers and vowel types, and are therefore inconclusive. The results for F1 were consistent but do not distinguish between ATR and vowel height. Two results nonetheless suggest the [−ATR] status of central vowels: they occupy the same belt of F1 frequencies and show the same position of observed overpredicted B1 values as front and back [−ATR] vowels.
The paper describes syllable structure that is characteristic of Sɛlɛɛ, a Kwa language spoken in some parts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Premised on the Moraic Phonology (Hayes, 1989), the paper accounts for the application of the syllable as phonological processes conditioned by morphological and phonological domains based on the primary data available. The paper suggests that the language has eighteen (18) consonant segments and sixteen (16) vowel segments and postulates that the alveolar stop [d] and the lateral [l] are contrastive segments. Sɛlɛɛ has a syllable weight of CV-light and CVː-heavy as the name of the language [sɛlɛː] suggests.
Nominal pluralization in Ekegusii involves combinations of the base with the noun class prefixes. However, little is known about the morphophonemic alternations in nominal pluralization. This study investigated the phonological processes involved in nominal pluralization so as to formulate the phonological constraints within the Transderivational Antifaithfulness theoretical Framework. A descriptive research design was employed to collect, analyze and describe data. The researcher generated a list of 32 plural nominals; at least two plural nominals from each noun class and identified speakers of Ekegusii in Kisii County who verified the data as acceptable. Sample data were obtained from each noun class through purposive sampling, analysed, coded into semantic classes and explained using Anti- Faithfulness Theory provided in Optimality Theory. Findings show that noun Class prefixes induce vowel deletion, alternation, lengthening, consonant mutation and deletion and they occur to simplify articulation and meet the open syllable structure requirements of Ekegusii. The phonological changes mark the winning candidates which satisfy Transderivational Anti-Faithfulness constraints which enforce violation of the related faithfulness constraints.
Elements, Government, and Licensing brings together new theoretical and empirical developments in phonology. It covers three principal domains of phonological representation: melody and segmental structure; tone, prosody and prosodic structure; and phonological relations, empty categories, and vowel-zero alternations. Theoretical topics covered include the formalisation of Element Theory, the hotly debated topic of structural recursion in phonology, and the empirical status of government.
In addition, a wealth of new analyses and empirical evidence sheds new light on empty categories in phonology, the analysis of certain consonantal sequences, phonological and non-phonological alternation, the elemental composition of segments, and many more. Taking up long-standing empirical and theoretical issues informed by the Government Phonology and Element Theory, this book provides theoretical advances while also bringing to light new empirical evidence and analysis challenging previous generalisations.
The insights offered here will be equally exciting for phonologists working on related issues inside and outside the Principles & Parameters programme, such as researchers working in Optimality Theory or classical rule-based phonology.
In dieser Dissertation wird erstmalig eine wirklich psycholinguistische Untersuchung von sog. Protowörtern durchgeführt. Anhand dieser relativ unbekannten Wortklasse wird in dieser Arbeit die Feinkörnigkeit und frühe Aktivität des Sprachproduktionssystems belegt, die einer neurowissenschaftlich-reduktionistischen sowie einer rein artikulatorisch orientieren Analyse entgehen muss. Insofern findet sich hier auch eine aktuelle Darstellung des modular nativistischen Forschungsansatzes.
This book is linguistics research about the phonetics, morphology, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of Caribbean Colombian Spanish from descriptive, dialectology, and sociolinguistics perspectives.
Nowadays the main stream in the most fields of linguistics including phonology is minimalism and redundancy removing, which derives from the principle of the economy of language. The advent of under specification theory in the late 19th century can be considered as the beginning of redundancy removing in the domain of phonology. During recent decades different versions of under specification such as Radical Under specification, Contrastive Specification and Modified Contrastive Specification (MCS) have been presented. Modified Contrastive Specification (MCS), which is the finding of Toronto Phonology School is based on Contrastive Hypothesis in which a contrastive hierarchy is applied to specify the contrastive features. It is believed that only contrastive features are specified in phonological representations and redundant values never exist in underlying representations. This paper aims to present a novel analysis of total assimilation process in terms of the manner of articulation in consonant clusters having the structures of –st and –zd in Persian which is an active process in phonology of Persian. Working within the framework of the MCS, through drawing a contrastive hierarchy for phonological features, this paper leads to this conclusion that the feature [continuant] in Persian consonants is a contrastive feature so by spreading this feature, the coronal stops /t/, /d/ assimilate to fricatives /s/ and /z/ respectively. To represent contrast and markedness in this system, we have proposed a contrastive hierarchy of [son] > [lab] > [cont]> [voiced] for consonants involved in the process of total assimilation in Persian.
Abstrak Makalah ini bertujuan menilai semula representasi fitur segmen vokal bahasa Kerinci berdasarkan teori fonologi autosegmental. Kajian ini merupakan suatu bentuk kajian kes yang menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dalam menganalisis data. Data kajian diperoleh melalui kaedah kepustakaan, pemerhatian dan temu bual dengan bantuan instrumen seperti buku catatan, borang soal selidik dan alat perakam. Responden kajian merupakan sepuluh orang penutur Kerinci dialek Semerap yang tinggal di Kampung Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat, Selangor. Data kajian akan ditranskripsi dalam bentuk ejaan, transkripsi fonemik dan transkripsi fonetik dengan menggunakan simbol-simbol yang terdapat dalam sistem International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Data kajian juga akan dianalisis menggunakan geometri fitur model Halle (1992). Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahasa Kerinci mempunyai enam segmen vokal bertaraf fonem, iaitu /i, e, a, ə, u, o/, manakala [ɛ, ɔ] merupakan segmen terbitan yang masing-masing mempunyai fitur distingtif atau ciri-ciri pembeza yang tersendiri. Dapatan menunjukkan vokal [ɛ, ɔ] tidak berstatus sebagai fonem dalam bahasa Kerinci kerana tidak menepati kriteria yang perlu ada pada suatu segmen bertaraf fonem, iaitu kehadirannya boleh diramal melalui rumus fonologi, tidak bersifat ekonomi, tidak menepati keselarasan pola dan mempunyai lingkungan penyebaran yang terhad dalam kata. Dari segi implikasi, kajian ini dapat memberi penilaian semula terhadap fitur distingtif segmen vokal bahasa Kerinci berdasarkan teori
This chapter examines both complete and partial vowel-vowel assimilation across consonants in Yoruba (Niger-Congo). The study looks at cross-consonantal spreading in vowel harmony, in the prefix [o − ní] and suffix [ni], in DORSAL and LABIAL-DORSAL consonants, in ideophones, and in loanwords. We propose that spreading through CORONAL [n/l] on the one hand, and through [r] on the other, are cases of complete VOCALIC assimilation. In all other cross-consonantal spreading, we propose that they can be captured as “single feature spread”.
Expressing syllable weight by moras leads to two problems. First, there are languages, such as Wolof, with long vowels and geminates, which both make a syllable bimoraic, but where only long vowels, but not geminates, count as heavy for stress. Second, there are languages in which closed syllables are light for stress, but heavy for segmental modifications (laryngeal metathesis in Cayuga and degemination in Chugach Alutiiq). It is argued that a two-layered mora model is not required and that a straightforward Harmonic Serialism is able to directly express that laryngeal metathesis and degemination make an unstressed syllable light.
Este artigo discute o subsistema pretônico vocálico do português de São Tomé, deslindando o inventário dos segmentos e suas características acústicas, bem como o processo de alçamento que atinge essas vogais.
Seguindo o referencial teórico da Geometria de Traços e usando dados coletados in loco, a partir da análise, propõe-se que na posição pretônica o quadro apresenta seis vogais: [i, e, a, ə, o, u]. A descrição acústica (sobretudo a duração e os formantes) corrobora o quadro proposto e o alçamento, processo desvinculado da harmonia vocálica de traço [ATR] ou mesmo do traço de altura [aberto 2]. Este estudo permitiu conhecer um aspecto da fonologia de uma variedade de português ainda pouco estudada, podendo abrir caminho para novas pesquisas.
This paper investigates gradient markedness of word-initial consonant clusters in present-day Standard German. Markedness is determined on the basis of a phonotactic principle referred to as Net Auditory Distance. This study expands on previous analyses involving the principle by investigating which wellformedness indices implemented in the principle account best for corpus-based frequencies of consonant clusters. These indices encompass auditory distances pertaining to the manner of articulation, place of articulation and the sonorant/ obstruent distinction. Linear regression modelling involving several types of distances as independent variables has revealed a positive correlation between type frequency and only one of the indices. More specifically, type frequency increases with an increase in the sonority distance between two adjacent consonants within a cluster. This finding suggests that a well-defined distribution of sonority distances constitutes a relevant phonotactic primitive and motivates the core structure of clusters available in German.
This study investigates the hypothesis that marked sounds are more likely to be gaps in a sound inventory. A gap is defined as an absence of an [α voice] stop or fricative when the [−α voice] counterpart exists. Different formulations of markedness are tested and evaluated on whether they label the gaps as more marked than attested sounds. Results show an overall success of markedness based on typological attestedness of sounds in labeling gaps as more marked. However, the success of markedness based on aerodynamics and cross-linguistic phonological processes is limited to stops and fricatives, respectively. Analyses also show that gaps in attested inventories are more likely to be marked than gaps from randomized artificial inventories. This discrepancy between attested and artificial inventories shows how markedness, feature economy, and symmetry interact in shaping sound systems of human languages.
The metrical foot has a long pedigree as a theoretical device in generative phonology (Liberman & Prince, 1977; Halle & Vergnaud, 1978; Selkirk, 1980; Hammond, 1984; Halle & Vergnaud, 1987; Idsardi, 1992; Hayes, 1995). While the motivations for foot structure are typically studied in terms of stress, this paper provides evidence from the principles of formal language theory (Chomsky, 1956; Hopcroft & Ullman, 1979) for foot-based analyses of non-stress processes. Though use of foot structure in these analyses is not novel (see Gonzalez (2018) for an overview) this paper contributes a precise characterization of what is at stake in terms of the computation of these processes when foot structure is present versus when it is not. This formal computational analysis indicates that feet have measurable implications for the predicted typology of these patterns. Thus, support is provided for a specific substantive phonological proposal based on the well-defined measures of complexity that formal language theory offers.
This paper focuses on the question of the representation of nasality as well as speakers’ awareness and perceptual use of phonetic nasalisation by examining surface nasalisation in two types of vowels in Bengali: underlying nasal vowels (CṼC) and nasalised vowels before a nasal consonant (CVN). A series of three cross-modal forced-choice experiments was used to investigate the hypothesis that only unpredictable nasalisation is stored and that this sparse representation governs how listeners interpret vowel nasality. Visual full-word targets were preceded by auditory primes consisting of CV segments of CVC words with nasal vowels ([tʃɑ̃] for [tʃɑ̃d] ‘moon’), oral vowels ([tʃɑ] for [tʃɑl] ‘unboiled rice’) or nasalised oral vowels ([tʃɑ̃(n)] for [tʃɑ̃n] ‘bath’) and reaction times and errors were measured. Some targets fully matched the prime while some matched surface or underlying representation only. Faster reaction times and fewer errors were observed after CṼC primes compared to both CVC and CVN primes. Furthermore, any surface nasality was most frequently matched to a CṼC target unless no such target was available. Both reaction times and error data indicate that nasal vowels are specified for nasality leading to faster recognition compared to underspecified oral vowels, which cannot be perfectly matched with incoming signals.
Old High German (OHG) differs from many other languages in that [w] does not stand in complementary distribution with [u], but rather it exhibits alternations with [o]. For example, the [o] in adjectives like gël[o] ‘yellow.nom.sg’ alternates with [w] in corresponding inflected forms (e.g. gël[w]es ‘yellow.gen.sg’). Based on extant data, we make three claims about OHG [w]. First, we use several analytical lenses – from phonotactics and etymology to sound patterning and feature composition – to argue that /w/ was an underlying consonant. This is surprising from the point of view of phonology since glides like [w] are usually assumed to be allophones of vowels. Second, we propose that OHG /w/ had the same height features as mid vowels. This accounts for the fact that /w/ neutralizes to [o] (and not [u]) in word-final position and also derives independent support from other OHG processes (namely primary umlaut). Finally, we show how the OHG data intersect with literature on the typology of glides and fail to fit naturally within that typology. Our findings place OHG glides into a seemingly unique category, the analysis of which not only broadens our understanding of OHG phonology, but also typological possibilities involved with derived and underlying glides.
Whether or not phonology has recursion is often conflated with whether or not phonology has strings or trees as data structures. Taking a computational perspective from formal language theory and focusing on how phonological strings and trees are built, we disentangle these issues. We show that even considering the boundedness of words and utterances in physical realization and the lack of observable examples of potential recursive embedding of phonological constituents beyond a few layers, recursion is a natural consequence of expressing generalization in phonological grammars for strings and trees. While prosodically-conditioned phonological patterns can be represented using grammars for strings, e.g., with bracketed string representations, we show how grammars for trees provide a natural way to express these patterns and provide insight into the kinds of analyses that phonologists have proposed for them.
calization of the lateral in syllabic coda provided French with forms that have rounded posterior vowels, such as /, / (cf. salvus > fr. saufs // ‘salvo’; pulmonem > poumon // ‘pulmão’), and rounded front ones, such as /, / (cf. filtrum > feutre // ‘feltro’; pul(i)cem > puce // ‘pulga’). The latter did not exist in the Latin vowel system; thus, they were unknown, unlike the former. In the diachronic context, this study focuses on the evolution of Latin forms bearing ‘l pinguis’, which resulted in French words with rounded vowels, either [- post] // or [+ post] //. This paper argues that one of the sources of rounded front vowels in French is the Latin sequence of vowel + lateral liquid in the medial position of the word. The explanation is provided with the support of Autosegmental Phonology, by the features that comprise the internal structure of the segments of the sequence. The corpus under study was collected in historical grammars, etymological dictionaries and historical compendia of French phonetics and phonology
We propose a model of phonological computation based on rules characterized by a small set of parameters. We focus on rules affecting segmental features. One parameter is the characterization of a class of initiator, INR, segments from which a linear Search is initiated. The TRM parameter specifies the class of segments that successfully terminate a Search. A third parameter is DIR, the direction of Search. Fourth, a rule contains specification of a CHANGE that maps input strings to output strings by replacing INPUT string segments with OUTPUT string segments. Fifth, the CHANGE can be subject to further CONDITIONs on TRM. The model can be understood as a theory of rule environments. We also consider possible extensions, such as various versions of nested Search. Immediate results include an understanding of segment opaqueness; the reduction of adjacency requirements in rules to a particular kind of opaqueness; and a characterization of 'icy targets' in terms of set-theoretic relations to the INR, TRM and CONDITION parameters of a rule.
This paper examines the dynamics of linguistic change in Madrid (Spain), exploring the ways in which values related to the dialect–standard dichotomy help explain them. The analysis focuses on the delateralization of the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ and the development of yeísmo (merger). Three concentric levels of dissemination of the innovation can be distinguished in Madrid: 1) the city center, where yeísmo seems to be stable and shows no variation; 2) the cities on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, which show variable yeísmo; and 3) the towns of the region, where there is the highest variability.
This analysis broadens the scope of the research to Vallecas, a neighborhood to the southeast of Madrid, where immigrants from rural Spain settled throughout the 20th century, to demonstrate the geographic and social sequence of change: rural towns in the region > peripheral urban communities > districts on the outskirts of Madrid > center of Madrid.
Inadequacies in the Sound pattern of English feature system, in the realm of unattained natural classes and unaccommodated contrasts, are shown; and alternative solutions to these problems are considered. One involves added features; the other involves the notational innovation of the 'complex symbol'.
