Phonetic and Phonological Aspects of Geminate Timing

ISBN-13: 9780415937603 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 275 str.

William Hallett Ham

Opis

This work examines the timing of geminates in Bernese (a Swiss-German dialect), Hungarian, Levantine, Arabic, and Madurese (an Austronesian language of Indonesia). These languages differ as to whether vowel length is underlyingly contrastive, whether long vowels may precede germinates, and whether non-medial geminates are allowed. Two questions of primary interest are in what ways these phonological differences influence phonetic duration, and how germinates are integrated into the overall timing strategies of the languages. Based on acoustic studies of the four languages, the author argues that differences in germinate timing are ultimately correlated with whether a language is syllable- or mora-timed, such that geminates in the former type are typically shorter. This observation is accounted for in a model of geminate timing which integrates phonetic and phonological factors with both syntagmatic and heirarchical influences. Other topics addressed include the moraic theory of geminates, weightless geminates and word-final geminates.

Spis treści

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations List of Symbols 1 Introduction 2 General Methodology 3 Bernese 4 Cross-language Study: Phonological Overview 5 Cross-language Study: Acoustic Investigations 6 Suprasegmental Timing 7 An Integrated Timing Model Appendix 1. Bernese Word List Appendix 2. Levantine Word List Appendix 3. Hungarian Word List Appendix 4. Maudrese Word List References Index

O autorze

William H. Ham