Phonetics of Mono Lake Northern Paiute medial stops

Reiko KataokaSSILA annual meetingJanuary 5, 2007

Introduction: Language Area

adapted from: Early Indian tribes, Cultures and Linguistic Stocks-Western U.S. U of Texas (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/early_indian_west.jpg)

No

rth

ern

Pai

ute

Mono

Southern Paiute

Chemehuevi

Panamint

Shos

hone

Kawaiisu

Ute

Comanche

Western Numic

Research

Interest: Mono Lake Northen Paiute (MLNP)Three-way contrast in medial obstruents

(fortis, voiced fortis, lenis)

Problem: Existence of the three-way contrast has been long recognized; however, phonetic properties of each sound are not well understood.

Goal: Identify acoustic properties that make fortis, voiced fortis, and lenis as distinctive type of sound.

Background: MLNP consonant Inventory (UCB Field Methods Class: Fall 2005-Spring 2006)

Bilabial Alveolar Velar L-velar Glottal

Stop: p/bb/b t/dd/d k/gg/g kw/ggw/gw ’

Fricative: s/z h

Affricate: ts/ddz/dz

Nasal: mm / m nn / n

Glide: y w

Background: MLNP consonant Inventory (UCB Field Methods Class: Fall 2005-Spring 2006)

Bilabial Alveolar Velar L-velar Glottal

Stop: p/bb/b t/dd/d k/gg/g kw/ggw/gw ’

Fricative: s/z h

Affricate: ts/ddz/dz

Nasal: mm / m nn / n

Glide: y w

Background: MLNP consonant Inventory (UCB Field Methods Class: Fall 2005-Spring 2006)

Bilabial Alveolar Velar L-velar Glottal

Stop: p/bb/b t/dd/d k/gg/g kw/ggw/gw ’

Fricative: s/z h

Affricate: ts/ddz/dz

Nasal: mm / m nn / n

Glide: y w

Background: MLNP consonant Inventory (UCB Field Methods Class: Fall 2005-Spring 2006)

Bilabial Alveolar Velar L-velar Glottal

Stop: p/bb/b t/dd/d k/gg/g kw/ggw/gw ’

Fricative: s/z h

Affricate: ts/ddz/dz

Nasal: mm / m nn / n

Glide: y w

Language Material and Data

Description: Audio in Berkeley Language Center (BLC)

BLC ID: LA114 Collector: Margaret Wheat Depositor: Sidney MacDonald Lamb Year: 1950-52 Speaker: AS (75) born in Mill City, lived in

the Stillwater and Fallen area Token used: mono-morphemic noun, 2 or 3

syllables-long, clear signal throughout (179 tokens)

For Statistics: 2-syllable words; CVVCV, CVCCV, or CVCV form; medial stop/affricate (87 tokens)

Segmentation (V, H, C, VOT, V) [ t a kk a ]

[ aa ɣ a ]

V H C VOT V

V C V

750 ms

(Hz)5000

0

Lenis-VCV

Fortis -VCV

Examples

Lenis Fortis V-fortis

paabi [paabi] opo [oppo] tɨbba [tɨbba] ‘brother’ ‘kettle’ ‘mouth’

aadɨ [aaɹɨ] puta [putta] tɨhɨdda[tɨhɨɟɟa] ‘bow’ ‘arm’ ‘deer’

aaga [aaɣa] taka [takka] kɨggɨ [kɨggɨ] ’crow’ ‘arrowhead’ ‘leg’

Auditory impressions

Liljeblad (1950, 1966), Nichols (1974), Thornes (2003) Often mentioned parameters

Duration: fortis > lenis Voicing: fortis - voiceless; lenis - voiced Manner: lenis - continuant; fortis - stop

Canonical fortis = long voiceless stop Canonical lenis = short voiced continuant

*But great deal of free variation

Characteristics accompanying fortis Preaspiration & Preglottalization Abrupt vowel-stop transition

Instrumental Studies

Waterman 1911 (physiological data)Fortis has twice longer closure duration than

lenisNP lenis does not have pre-voicingVowels have final aspiration before fortis

Babel 2006 (acoustic data)Closure duration: fortis > voiced fortis > lenis

Acoustic evidence 1: consonantal duration

V-fortis

Fortis

Lenis

[takka]

[toɣaa]

[paggwi]

Acoustic evidence 2: manner and VOT

V-fortis

Fortis

Lenis

[takka] ‘arrowhead’

[toɣaa] ‘crow’

[paggwi] ‘fish’

no stop burst

clear burst

weak burst

smooth transition

voiceless period

abrupt transition

Consonantal duration (N = 87)

V-fortis: n=9

Fortis: n=21

Lenis: n=57

VOT2C2h1

79 ms

197 ms

243 ms

ANOVA: [ F (2, 84) = 147.29, P < 0.001 ] Scheffe: Fortis vs. V-fortis vs. Lenis

Converges to: Waterman 1911; Babel 2006

Manner and Voice Type and its frequency (n=87)

Medial Consonant

Realization of manner and voicing

Total

Continuant

No burst

Negative VOT

Positive VOT

Lenis 33 7 10 7(10.3ms)

57

Fortis 0 6 0 15(32.7ms)

21

Voiced fortis 0 2 0 7(19.8ms)

9

Total 33 15 10 29 87

With or without extra laryngeal involvementV C

no laryngeal involvement

V C

aspiration

V C

glottalization

V-fortis

[tɨhɨɟɟa]

‘deer’

Fortis: [takka] ‘arrowhead’

Lenis : [toɣaa] ‘crow’

Frequency of laryngeal involvement

Medial consonant

[h/Ɂ] at VC juncture?

TotalNo Yes

lenis 50 7 57

fortis 6 15 21

v_fortis 3 6 9

Total 59 28 87

Voice quality: from the last 30ms of [V1]

[ t a kk a ]

[ aa ɣ a ] V1 h1 C2 VOT2 V2

V1 C2 V2 30 ms

Lenis-VCV

Fortis -VCV

30 ms

Vowel spectra

H1

H2

A1

Rel

ativ

e A

mpl

itude

(d

B)

Frequency (Hz)

Schematic Representation of

Expected pattern

Frequency (Hz)

breathy

modal

glottalized

Rel

ativ

e A

mpl

itude

(d

B)

F1 F2 F3

Relative amplitude at H1, H2, & A1 (N=25)

0

5

10

15

20

25

H1 H2 A1

Rel

ativ

e am

plit

ud

e (d

B)

lenis

v-fortis

fortis

Point at frequency domainF1H2H1

n=13

n= 5

n= 7

ANOVA

H1-H2: F=1.35 (2, 22); p=0.27

H1-A1: F=3.84 (2, 22); p<0.05

Scheffe

fortis vs. lenis & v-fortis

11.1611.13

6.67

19.75

9.24

23.26

Summary

Consonantal duration:

fortis, voiced fortis > lenis Consonantal period = [h/Ɂ] + [C] Lenis: smooth VC transition Fortis: Preaspiration Voiced fortis: Preglottalization(?) VOT: fortis > voiced fortis

Implication 1: on the typology of fortis/lenis contrast

Ladefoged & Maddieson (1997)

Fortis: increased respiratory or articulatory effort in the production of the segment (Lenis: opposite)

Articulatory effort in MLNP fortis: use of laryngeal involvement at VC juncture

Locus of force exertion

Korean: CV, no word-final F/L contrast MLNP: VC, no word-initial F/L contrast

Implication 2: on the typology of stop

Rarity of long voiced stop due to Aerodynamic Voicing Constraints Ohala (1983)

Extra articulatory effort is required to maintain vocal fold vibration throughout the oral closure.

Phonological long voiced stop → phonetic voiceless unaspirated stop (e.g. MLNP voiced fortis)

Subtle difference in VOT between fortis and voiced fortis

Merger to fortis in other NP dialects

Implication 3: source of voiced fortis in MLNP

Possible scenarioVɁC > voiced fortis

Supporting evidenceFortis sonorant freely varies with [Ɂ C]

e.g. kwinna ~ kwiɁna ‘eagle’

mommogoni ~ moɁmogoni ‘women’

Acknowledgement

UC Berkeley Field Methods Class Andrew Garrett, Molly Babel, Erin Haynes, Michael Houser,

Fanny Liu, Nicole Marcus, Ruth Rouvier, Maziar Toosarvandani

Group of American Indian Languages (GAIL) Leanne Hinton, Donna Fenton, and audience members

Friends of Uto-Aztecan Tim Thornes, Christopher Loether

John Ohala, Ian Maddieson

Thank You!