Session Prosody VIII:Prosody VIII: Quantity and Duration
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| Prosody VIII-1 |
The tonal component in perception of the Estonian quantity
Pärtel Lippus, Department of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, University of Tartu Karl Pajusalu, Department of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, University of Tartu Jüri Allik, Department of Psychology, University of Tartu Paper File |
| This paper studies the role of the pitch cue for perceiving the Estonian quantities. In addition to the importance of the tonal component we investigate the differences in native vs. learned discrimination of the quantities. Perception tests were carried out with manipulated natural speech stimuli on a group of Estonian native speakers and a group of non-native Estonian speakers. The test results show that for Estonian listeners F0 is a vital cue to the perception of Q3. This indicates that the Estonian quantity system is a binary distinction on two levels, where the distinction between short and long is perceived on the basis of durational ratios, but for the distinction of long and overlong, the pitch cue is needed. The results of the non-native group show that they have learned to focus on the duration of the stressed syllable whereas F0 does not affect their perception of quantities. | |
| Prosody VIII-2 |
QUANTITY DISTINCTION IN THE HUNGARIAN VOWEL SYSTEM -- JUST THEORY OR ALSO REALITY?
Katalin M´ady, Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, LMU Munich Uwe D. Reichel, Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, LMU Munich Paper File Additional Files |
| Hungarian vowel system involves 14 vowels that correspond to seven vowel pairs each differentiated by quantity. However, there are phenomena that suggest that for low, middle and high vowels a separate evaluation of the quantity opposition is necessary. In order to test this, we conducted a perception test, in which vowels were to be identified by native listeners. Outcomes: Low vowels, for which short and long realisations differ in quality, i.e. in openness, were seldom identified incorrectly. For high vowels, duration was not obviously regarded as a crucial cue for identification by the subjects, while they were not clearly differentiated by the speaker. Middle vowels showed a mixed behaviour. The fact that vowel quantity distinction in Hungarian is only maintained where there is a perceivable quality difference shows that the role of quantity is not as dominant as it has been regarded for long. | |
| Prosody VIII-3 |
Vowel duration, compression and lengthening in stressed syllables in Italian
John Hajek, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne Mary Stevens, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne Georgia Webster, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne Paper File |
| The focus of this study is on temporal organization, specifically of vowel duration, in stressed syllables in (standard) Italian. We investigate possible compression effects on the duration of stressed vowels according to wordposition (final, penult and antepenult) and syllable type (open vs. closed) in this language. Our results show predicted shortening in some contexts, e.g. closed syllables, and antepenultimate position, but not in all tested contexts. Compression effects do not surface in a fully linear fashion, with complications arising in word-final position where competing tendencies towards lengthening and shortening are found to co-occur. | |