syllables & rhythm Flashcards
what can we define syllables according to>
measure:
-chest pulses
-sonority hierarchy
-prominence
planning unit in speech production:
-motor control
chest pulses, (s,1951)
-each syllable as a contraction of the breathing muscles
-air is pushed out of the lungs
what is the sonority of a syllable:
-idea sonority (loudness) increases from beginning of syllable onwards & decreases from beginning of peak onwards
what is sonority?>
loudness relative to other segments (everything else held constant)
General trend of ‘sonority hierarchy’>
-vowels as MOST sonorous
-consonants as less
-stops as LEAST sonorous
sonority and explaining segment combinations>
-sonority explains why certain combinations are more common than others
>(e.g. ‘-mk’ vs ‘-pl’)
-[m] as more s than [k] so less likely than; pl as [p] is less s than [l]
exceptions to sonority & explaining segment combinations>
-‘spa’
>[s] as not very s; [p] as even less s; [a] as very s
>^inverse order
problems with sonority as a concept>
-many exeptions (spa)
-not possibly to accurately measure phonetically (abstract)
-arguments around s & syllable definitions are somewhat circular
prominence theory>
idea that certain elements of an utterance are more important than others & these correspond to prosodic units–>with this measured by a combination of ‘measurable’ acoustic parameters
acoustic parameters involved in ‘prominence theory’>
-amplitude
-spectral shape
-fundamental frequency
-periodicity (shape of wave, how periodic, how often repeats)
motor control theory (L&W,1994)>
-syllables as a planning unit in speech
>speakers ‘store’ commonly used combinations of speech production movments
>these occur in syllable sized chunks
so syllable ultimately as 1 of 2>
- some acoustic parameter we can measure
- a unit for storing speech info used in production
phonotactics=
which segments pattern in what order in a particular language
>(e.g. in eng: [ŋ] can only occur syllabl-finally)
syllable structure>
syllable as always having–>middle part of RHYME (+sometimes ONSET)
rhyme as–>always NUCLEUS (+sometimes CODA)
nucleus vs rhyme>
-nucleus as central segment of a syllable
-rhyme as core of a syllable consisting of NUCLEUS +CODA
what can a nucleus be phonetically?>
-usually is a vowel; can be a syllabic consonant
what is the symbol for syllable?>
[σ]
open vs closed syllables>
-open syllables= do NOT have a coda
-closed syllables=have a coda
E.g. of phonotactic in mandarin>
-syllables can only be closed BY a nasal, otherwise open
(i.e. /pa/ vs /xuan/)
cross-linguistic syllable tendencies occur in what 2 areas?>
- maxixmum onsets
- CV preference
maximum onset>
idea of making onset as long as legitimately can be then form a legitimate coda
CV preference=
cross-linguistic tendency for syllable structures to go (consonant–>vowel) (CV)
e.g. of lang that do have VC syllable structure as default
-Arrernte (central aussie)
rhythm=
organisation of prominent & less prominent units in time (‘units’ as syllables, vocal intervals or morae)
rhythm & isochronicity>
isochronous=patterns which occur at regular intervals in time
rhythm dichotomy>
every lang in world is spoken with 1 of 2 kinds of rhythm (disproven)
>syllable timed= all syllables of equal duration
>stress-timed= equal time between stressed syllables
syllable-timing & eng varieties>
-some varieties of eng have been described as more ‘syllable timed’ than others:
>multicultural long eng
>maori eng
(possibily due to lang contact with lang with different timing structures)
problems with rhythm dichotomy
-japanese & mora-timing
-experimental evidence for dichotomy
japanese & mora>
- idea a long syllable is 2 morae & a short one is 1 mora
- short vowel + long vowel= 3 morae
- japanese as more mora-timed than syllable or stress timed
rhythm as perceptual construct>
idea we may hear a more isochronous rhythm than actually exists
>B,1992> participants tapped more regularly than speech justified
rhythm as syllable structure>
-percevied rhythm may be to do with pattern of consonants & vowels in particular langs
>(e.g. ‘strengths’ as complex consonant cluster; spanish as generally less complex)
rhythm as continuum>
more stress timed<—>more syllable-timed
rhythm metrics>
-conclude that langs can be placed somewhere along a rhythm continuum
success of rhythm metrics>
-not very; inconclusive results from different metrics on same materials & different materials on same metrics
stress-syllable dichotomy & perception >
0little or no perceptual evidence that listeners can make this distinction
measuring using duration>
-idea duration of V/C–>to do with timing
-rhythm–>to do with repetion of strong and weak elements; each element as relying on time for these distinctions
rhythm vs timing>
-rhythm metrics ONLY consider timing
-in order than actually measure rhythm need to look at cycle of prominences in a lang
-tricky as: different langs have different conceptions of ‘prominece’
