Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan

Algherese Catalan has the peculiarity of presenting an inserted [i] vowel across words in order to avoid certain consonant codas. In this study, we compare five acoustic features of this epenthetic segment (i.e., duration, intensity, and the three first formants) with those of lexical /i/ vowels, b...

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Main Authors: Jesús Jiménez, Maria-Rosa Lloret
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universitat de Barcelona 2015-06-01
Series:Estudios de Fonética Experimental
Subjects:
Online Access:http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/experimentalphonetics/article/view/44118
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author Jesús Jiménez
Maria-Rosa Lloret
author_facet Jesús Jiménez
Maria-Rosa Lloret
author_sort Jesús Jiménez
collection DOAJ
description Algherese Catalan has the peculiarity of presenting an inserted [i] vowel across words in order to avoid certain consonant codas. In this study, we compare five acoustic features of this epenthetic segment (i.e., duration, intensity, and the three first formants) with those of lexical /i/ vowels, both stressed and unstressed. The results indicate that the three vowels present differences only with respect to duration, F2 and, to a lesser extent, F3. The second formant values decline progressively from the lexical stressed vowels to the inserted unstressed segments, with lexical unstressed segments at an intermediate point. This gradation mirrors the relative prominence of each vowel. The differences in F2 between lexical stressed and unstressed vowels can be attributed to the shorter duration of the later segments. Lexical unstressed and inserted vowels, however, have an equivalent duration, challenging the idea that inserted vowels are more centralized due to their shorter duration. All in all, the data point to a double contrast: first, between lexical stressed and unstressed segments and, second, between unstressed segments.
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spelling doaj.art-8bc856ef40804ea09b82a52ffdace8d22023-12-21T11:49:37ZcatUniversitat de BarcelonaEstudios de Fonética Experimental1575-55332385-35732015-06-0124Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese CatalanJesús Jiménez0Maria-Rosa Lloret1Universitat de ValènciaUniversitat de Barcelona Algherese Catalan has the peculiarity of presenting an inserted [i] vowel across words in order to avoid certain consonant codas. In this study, we compare five acoustic features of this epenthetic segment (i.e., duration, intensity, and the three first formants) with those of lexical /i/ vowels, both stressed and unstressed. The results indicate that the three vowels present differences only with respect to duration, F2 and, to a lesser extent, F3. The second formant values decline progressively from the lexical stressed vowels to the inserted unstressed segments, with lexical unstressed segments at an intermediate point. This gradation mirrors the relative prominence of each vowel. The differences in F2 between lexical stressed and unstressed vowels can be attributed to the shorter duration of the later segments. Lexical unstressed and inserted vowels, however, have an equivalent duration, challenging the idea that inserted vowels are more centralized due to their shorter duration. All in all, the data point to a double contrast: first, between lexical stressed and unstressed segments and, second, between unstressed segments. http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/experimentalphonetics/article/view/44118acoustic phoneticscentralizationdurationepenthesisformant valuesvowels
spellingShingle Jesús Jiménez
Maria-Rosa Lloret
Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
Estudios de Fonética Experimental
acoustic phonetics
centralization
duration
epenthesis
formant values
vowels
title Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
title_full Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
title_fullStr Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
title_full_unstemmed Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
title_short Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan
title_sort prominence and centralization a two way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non labial high vowels in algherese catalan
topic acoustic phonetics
centralization
duration
epenthesis
formant values
vowels
url http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/experimentalphonetics/article/view/44118
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AT mariarosalloret prominenceandcentralizationatwowaycontrastbetweenlexicalandepentheticnonlabialhighvowelsinalgheresecatalan