Phonetic correlates of vowel-less syllables in Berber Cécile Fougeron & Rachid Ridouane LPP –...

Phonetic correlates of vowel-less syllables in

BerberCécile Fougeron & Rachid Ridouane

LPP – Paris 3 CNRS

19, rue des Bernardins75005 Paris

Cécile Fougeron & Rachid Ridouane

Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia – Barcelona 2005

In Tashlhiyt Berber (TB), it is claimed that ANY consonant can be syllabic even a voiceless stop (Dell & Elmedlaoui 1985, 1988, 2002, Prince & Smolensky 1993, Zec 1995, Clements 1997).

Examples Voiced fricative : /t-sbt/ [ts.bt] « you paint » Voiceless fricative : /t-sti/ [ts.ti] « she chooses » Voiced stop : /t-gra/ [tg.ru] « she takes » Voiceless stop : /t-kti/ [tk.ti] «she remembers»

Looking for Phonetic correlates of voiceless Syllables in TBCécile Fougeron & Rachid Ridouane

Tashlhiyt Berber: A case studyPhonetics and Phonology in Iberia 2005

2. Are these long consonant sequences organized into syllables?

(in which even voiceless stops may serve as nuclei).

1.Do long voiceless, vowel-less sequences exist?(underlyingly and at the surface)


Is /tk/ a well formed syllable in TB?

Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia 2005

Absence of voicing and of schwa vowels in underlyingly voiceless sequences was shown in Ridouane (2003) through:

acoustic,fiberscopic,photoelectroglottographic andphonological analyses.

Particular data attested in TB were dealt with: ks ‘to feed on’ sf ‘to fade away’ t-kf ‘it is dried’ t-ft-t=stt ‘you rolled it (fem)’ t-ss-kf-t=stt ‘you dried it (fem)’


Voiceless, vowel-less syllable in TB


Illustration of the states of the glottis during the production of

[tsskft] « you dried » by R_R

1. Native linguist intuitions (e.g. Elmedlaoui, Boukous, Jebbour, Ridouane).

2. Some morphologically governed alternations (e.g. Imperfective gemination) are captured by assuming the

syllabification of consonant sequences. (Dell & Elmedlaoui 1988, 2002, Jebbour 1995, 1996).

3. Versification (syllabification in word sequences sung to a tune).

(Jouad 1983, Dell & Elmedlaoui 2002).

See Coleman (1996, 1999, 2001 for a different view)


Evidence for syllable organization


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

L H L L L H L L L L H

a. r zm di wu li nus lû da u d dig

b. mq qar tn tk si ar di sn tnt tl ab

c. ha nur gi n ki nam sa u la ks sab

d. i at nu ks sa bis da i ra way yâd

e. i at sl la ni wa tu ks i di bidd

f. mn wa du st ti nat tu kan nt m ad

• Rrays M. Albnsir (70ies)** The text is available on the website : www.azawan.com

CV


Versification: an example


• Assignment of nuclear status is determined mainly by the relative sonority of the elements in the sequence.

Ex. /t-sti/ [ts.ti] « she chose »/ngn/ [n.gn] « we slept »

• The sonority requirement is not, however, sufficient (the prohibition against complex codas, hiatus avoidance).

E.g. i.sa.wl although [l] is less sonorous than the semi-vowel.


How is a sequence syllabified?

Syllable types : CV, CVC, CC, CCC

See Dell & Elmedlaoui (2002)



Question 1

1. Do obstruent syllabic consonants display acoustic or articulatory properties that distinguish them from their non syllabic counterparts?

• Syllabic consonants are said to be longer than their non-syllabic counterparts(Price 1980, Clark & Yallop 1995, but see Toft 2002 for different results)

• Syllabic consonants are also commonly interpreted as sequences of +C, where schwa occupies the syllable nucleus (see Coleman 1996, 1999, 2001 for TB).



Previous work

• Browman et al. (1998) addressed the same questions using EMMA:

Consonant gestures bearing an onset-nucleus relation are more

strongly bonded than a heterosyllabic sequence.

2. Does the syllable structure of the vowel-less sequences translate into particular organizational properties of articulatory gestures?

Question 2Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia 2005

1. Syllabic consonants may not necessarily surface with additional acoustic or articulatory make-up (compared to their non-syllabic counterparts).

2. BUT, their syllabic status could translate into particular properties related to their perceptual ‘recoverability’, (i.e. their preservation within the consonant sequence):

– by showing specific pattern of stability in their phonetic properties (e.g. by being less variable across multiple repetitions or across speech rates)

– by showing specific pattern of coordination with adjacent consonants. • the position and the relationship between the elements of a vowel-less syllable would

be predicted to surface in a particular shaping of articulatory patterns (as shown in different languages and for more classical syllable structures).


Phonetics and Phonology in Iberia, Papi 2005

Our hypothesis…

To test this hypothesis, the articulatory characteristics of vowel-less syllables will be

examined by looking at the linguopalatal articulation of consonant

sequences, using Electropalatography (EPG 3)

A technique showing the evolution of linguopaltal contact over time & space



Our hypothesis tested



Design of experiment

1 & 2:• quantitative value of the property measured

• stability of this property, i.e. variability of the measurement across the 12 repetitions.

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

2. Coordination patterns:• C2-C3 coordination (N.O vs C.O)

• C1-C2 coordination (O.N vs N.C)


Procedure and results

1. C2 Properties:• Presence of schwa vowel (1), Durational (2),

Spatial (3), and Dynamic (4) properties of C2.

Properties of C2 (nucleus vs. non

nucleus)

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

Question: Are nucleus consonants realized as a / +C/ sequence? (Coleman, 1996, 2001)


(1) Presence of schwa before C2 nucleus

t g n

Occurrence of schwa vowel before C2

onset in /t-gn/ “she slept”

Measurements: frequency of occurrence of ‘schwa’ (vowel-like voiced periods and/or formant structure) before C2.

Occurrence of schwa is not conditionned by the syllabicity of C2:

1. Occurrence of schwa before /g/ nucleus is less frequent than before /g/ onset or coda.

2. /k/ nucleus is never preceded by a vocoid.

Results

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

01 02 03 04 05 06

Nucleus Coda Onset

C2 = /k/ C2 = /g/

tk.ti tk.sa tk.nu tg.za tg.nutg.Dink.ti nk.sa nk.nu ng.za ng.nu

ng.Di*n.kt n.ks *n.kn *n.gz n.gn n.gD

Fre

quen

cy o

f oc

curr

enc

e

of s

chw

a be

fore

C2

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

Question: Are nucleus consonants longer than their non-nucleus counterparts? (Price 1980)


(2) Durational properties of C2

Measurements:1. Duration of C2 acoustic hold (i.e. without burst)

& its variability across repetitions

2. Duration of C2 linguopalatal closure & its variability across repetitions

–Syllabic consonants are not longer than their non syllabiccounterparts: onset or coda. –They are not more stable in duration neither (same

variability)

No significant differences were found in acoustic or articulatory durations of C2 depending on

syllabic status.

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

Results

Question: Are nucleus consonants articulated differently (allophones, strengthening )? => do they differ from their non-syllabic counterparts in terms of size or location of the linguopalatal contact area?


(3) Spatial properties of C2

Measurements:1. Frequency of occurrence of consonants with or

without a full velarclosure on the EPG profile.

Lack of complete back closure:=> closure is more posterior (not visible on the

palate)=> the stop is lenited

0

20

40

60

80

100

01 02 03 04 05 06items

%

Nucleus Coda Onset

Nucleus consonants are more frequently produced with a visible full velar closure compared to onsets or codas (esp. for /k/).

C2 = /k/ C2 = /g/

% of realizations with full velar closure

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

Results 1

Measurements:2. For the cases showing full velar closure, differences in the amount of linguopalatal contact in the velar region as function of C2 status?

1.C2 nucleus is not articulated with a greater amount of contact than C2 coda or onset.

2.No consistent difference in the variability across repetitions

were observed neither.

Defined velar region

Results 2

Question: Do nucleus consonants differ in the dynamic properties of their articulatory movements?

In Articulatory Phonology, vocalic gestures are specified with a smaller stiffness (i.e. take longer to reach their target) than consonant gestures.

Will syllabic consonants behave as vowels?

Recall that we are not dealing with articulatory movements per se.

EPG = measure of contact between the tongue and the palate, does not show the movement of the tongue.

The articulatory events considered can be related, but are not identical, to the ones observed with movement tracking techniques.


(3) Dynamic properties of C2

Measurements:• ‘stiffness’: time from the onset of contact in the

velar region (‘velar movement onset’) to the frame with maximum contact (‘velar target’)

onset

max

time

slope

• ‘velocity’: slope of the evolution in the contact profile (‘velar movement’) from onset of contact to maximum of contact


(3) Dynamic properties of C2

C2 Coda or Onset

C2 Nucleus

Higher stiffness and velocity is opposite to what would be expected if nucleus consonants were to share vowel properties.

(same displacement)

slope

– The slope of the ‘movement’ is sharper for nuclei (velocity is higher).

vs.

Results

time

– The time taken to reach the ‘target’ is shorter for nuclei than for onsets or codas (stiffness is higher)

(this is comparable to Browman et al.’ (1998) results for nucleus /r/)

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

Patterns of coordination between consonants

Measurements:1. absolute latencies, i.e. delay between particular

acoustic or articulatory events (‘onset of epg closure’, ‘onset of contact’ in the velar or alveolar regions)

2. amount of overlap between velar and adjacent alveolar consonants

3. variability of these measurements across repetitions


Coordination b/w nucleus and adjacent CsQuestions:

Does the pattern of coordination between adjacent consonants differ according to the syllabic status of C2?– Absolute latencies: are articulatory events of the nucleus

consonant aligned later in time relative to the adjacent consonants?

– Amount of overlap: are nuclei less overlapped by adjacent consonants?

– Variability: is the articulatory timing between nucleus and adjacent consonants more stable across repetitions?

Contact profile: % of contact over time in specific regions

ms.C1 overlap

Sequence overlap (C1+C2)

C1 C3Alveolar region

C2

Velar region

C1 closure overlap

C1-C2 overlap: time during which EPG contact occur in both velar and alveolar regions (i.e. the front articulation of C1 co-occur with the back

articulation for C2.

Illustration (C1-C2 coordination)

%

ms.

C1 C3Alveolar region

C2

Velar region

C2 overlap

Sequence overlap (C2+C3)

C2 closure duration

C2-C3 overlap: time during which EPG contact occur in both velar and alveolar regions (i.e. the front articulation of C3 co-occur with the back

articulation for C2.

Contact profile: % of contact over time in specific regions

Illustration (C2-C3 coordination)

C2 . C3

C2 . C3

• Less overlap between a Nucleus and a following Onset

[Nucleus . Onset] [Coda . Onset]

(holds for ‘C2 overlap’ and ‘C2closure overlap’)

vs.


C2-C3 coordination - ResultsC1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

[Nucleus . Onset] vs. [Coda . Onset]

• More stability in temporal alignment between a Nucleus and a following Onset: less variability across repetitions in the delay between ‘onset of contact in velar region’ for C2 and ‘onset of contact in alveolar region’ for C3.

C2 . C3

C2 . C3 [Nucleus . Onset] [Coda . Onset]

vs.

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

[Nucleus . Onset] vs. [Coda . Onset]

C2-C3 coordination – Results (cont.)

C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N

C1 C2

C1 C2

• Greater delay between events in the [Onset+Nucleus] sequence: ‘onset of contact in velar region’ & ‘onset of EPG closure’ for C2 nucleus start later relative to C1.

[Onset+Nucleus] [Nucleus+Coda]

vs.


C1-C2 coordination – Results

[Onset+Nucleus] vs. [Nucleus+Coda]

• More overlap within the [Onset+Nucleus] sequence.

C1 C2

C1 C2

vs.

(holds for ‘C1 overlap’, ‘C1closure overlap’, ‘sequence overlap’)

n C2t C2

longer C1

longer C1 in the [Onset+Nucleus] condition (where C1 is a /t/)


C1-C2 coordination – Results (cont.)C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N


C1 C2

C1 C2

• Less variability in overlap (i.e. tighter coordination) within the [Onset+Nucleus] sequence: less variability in the 3 overlap measurements across repetitions when C2 is nucleus


vs.

C1-C2 coordination – Results (cont.)C1 C2 C3 O N . O N C . O N . O N


Contact profil in front and back regions, item 01

C1 nucleus

C2 coda

C3 onset

.

Condition« C2 coda »

/n k . t/

C1 onset

C2 nucle

us

C3 onset

.

Condition« C2 nucleus »

/t k . t/

The syllabicity of an obstruent in TB: • Does not translate into additional acoustic or

articulatory make-up: Among the properties examined, very few

differentiate nucleus consonants from their non-nucleus counterparts (differences in dynamic properties may be related to the nature of the preceding consonant)

• Neither does it translate into a particular stability

of the consonant properties across repetitions (contra to expectation).


Conclusion

The syllabicity of an obstruent in TB:

• Rather translates into specific patterns of coordination between this segment and the adjacent consonants:

1. evidenced by particular pattern of overlap and temporal alignment of articulatory events (phasing).

2. and more interestingly, by a more stable pattern of coordination (bonding).

Need to be confirmed by data from additional speakers…


Conclusion (cont.)

But importantly, our results echo those of Browman et al. 1998.

Back to our Hypo…

Delayed relative to C1 More stable relative to C3

Not less overlapped by C1,but stable overlap

Less overlapped by C3

Temporal alignment / Overlap pattern for C2 nucleus

The configurational properties of the vowel-less syllable (less overlap, longer delay between events and more stable

coordination) could contribute to the preservation of the perceptual cues of the syllabic consonant within the consonant sequence.

Thank you for your attention.

Coordination between tautosyllabic and heterosyllabic CsQuestions:

• When C1C2 or C2C3 are tautosyllabic: • Tighter (less variable) coordination within tautosyllabic

sequences vs. within heterosyllabic sequences.

C1C2 coordination in tautosyllabic vs. heterosyllabic seq.

- heterosyllabic [Nucleus.Onset] vs. - tautosyllabic [Onset+Nucleus] or [Nucleus+Coda]

C1 . C2 N . O

Tighter coordination (less variability), less overlap or more temporal delay within a tautosyllabic sequence.

tautosyllabic heterosyllabic

C1 C2 O N

C1 C2 N C

> delay between contact onsets

< variability in overlap (Closure overlap, Seq overlap & C1 overlap)

> delay between acoustic onset (burst/schwa…)

< overlap (Closure overlap)< variability in overlap (Closure

overlap)

C2C3 coordination in tautosyllabic vs. heterosyllabic seq.

- heterosyllabic [Nucleus.Onset] and [Coda.Onset] vs. - tautosyllabic [Onset+Nucleus]

C2 . C3 N . O

C2 . C3 C . O

C2 C3 O N

tautosyllabic heterosyllabic

> Overlap (Seq overlap, Closure overlap & C2 overlap)

< Delay in acoustic onset, closure onset but > in contact onset

> Variability in delay of contact onset and acoustic onset

< Delay in acoustic onset

Tightness of coordination within the tautosyllabic sequence is less apparent when looking at C2-C3 (due to cases comapred? E.g. constraint on [nucleus.onset] coordination??)

Acoustic transition between the Cs closures

i.e. delay between the acoustic onset of C2 hold and the acoustic offset of C1 hold, idem between C2 and C3. => include burst duration and possible ‘schwa’

C1 acousticoffset

C2 acousticonset

C2 acousticoffset

C3 acousticonset

C2-C1 C3-C2

eliminated (= vowel contact, shared contact)

Front region

Back region

Region definition

TB: the phonological system

Labial Dental Alv. Pal. Velar Uvular Pharyng. Laryng.

t !t k k° q q° b d !d g g° m n !n f s !s ! °

z !z ! ° h

w l !l y u i a

• 32 Cs , 2 SV & 3 Vs

i i

Steps of the DEA yamtkti• Seek [X][+low,+syll] & Build (ya)mtkti• Seek [X][-low,+syll] & Build (ya)mtk(ti)• Seek [X][-syll,+son,-nas] —• Seek [X][-syll,+son,+nas] —• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, +voi] —• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, -voi] —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,+voi] —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,-voi] & Build (ya)m(tk)

(ti)

The parsing of [in.na.yam.tk.ti]DEA

The final form is derived with /m/ assigned to a coda by a late adjunction rule, onsetless syllables being prohibited in non-initial position

[yam.tk.ti]

Steps of the DEA yamtkti• Seek [X][+low,+syll] & Build (ya)mnkti• Seek [X][-low,+syll] & Build (ya)mnk(ti)• Seek [X][-syll,+son,-nas] —• Seek [X][-syll,+son,+nas] (ya)(mn)k(ti)• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, +voi] —• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, -voi] & Build —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,+voi] —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,-voi] —

The parsing of [in.na.ya.mnk.ti]

DEA

The final form is derived with /k/ assigned to a coda by a late adjunction rule, onsetless syllables being prohibited in non-initial position

[ya.mnk.ti]

Steps of the DEA yamnkt• Seek [X][+low,+syll] & Build (ya)mnkt• Seek [X][-low,+syll] & Build —• Seek [X][-syll,+son,-nas] —• Seek [X][-syll,+son,+nas] (ya)(mn)kt• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, +voi] —• Seek [X][-son, +cnt, -voi] & Build —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,+voi] —• Seek [X][-son,-cnt,-voi] (ya)(mn)(kt)

The parsing of [in.na.ya.mn.kt]DEA

• S+F+S+F+F+S+F+S+S+F+S+F+S+F+S

tsskftstt tfttstt “you rolled it and you dried it”

Figure 2. Audio signal and spectro of one repetition of [tfsxt] by A_R

Figure 1. Audio signal and spectro of one repetition of [sfqqst] by R_R

Acoustics

C1 onset

C2 nucleus

C3 onset

.

Condition« C2 nucleus »

/t k . t/

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

020 40 60 80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

260

280

Condition« C2 onset »

/n . k t/

C1 nucleus

C2 onset

C3 nucleus

.

e.g. /nk.t/ item 01, C2 nucleus, rep. 4

Example of EPG data

E.g. item 01, C2 coda

e.g. /nk.ti/ item 01, C2 coda, rep. 3

E.g. item 01, C2 onset

e.g. /nk.t/ item 01, C2 onset, rep. 8

e.g. absence of full velar closure, more posterior?

e.g. /nk.ti/ item 01, C2 coda, rep. 4 - NC

onset of back and front closuresi.e. delay between the onsets of the velar closure for

C2 and the onset of the alveolar closure for C3. Idem between C1 and C2.

onset of C2 velar

closure

onset of C3 alveolar closure onset Closure C3-C2

Seq 01 A N 4

onset of contact in back and front regions i.e. delay between the onsets of linguopalatal contact in

the velar region for C2 and the onset of contact in the alveolar region for C1. Idem between C2 and C3.

C1 C3

Front region

C2

Back region

Contact profile: % of contact over time in Front and Back regions

%

ms.

Onset FrontOnset Back

Onset Front

onset C2-C1 onset C3-C2

Agadir

The area where TB is spoken

• Important psycholinguistic and phonological facts contribute to place the syllable in the core of speech process.

- Ample justification has been presented showing that the syllable is an essential unit of phonological organization (Kahn 1976, Steriade 1982, Clements & Keyser 1983, etc.) see Kenstowicz 1994 for a review.



Syllable: a physical reality?

• However, the physical nature of the syllable is still something of a « terra incongnita » See Meynadier 2001 for a review

- Many authors from E.W. Scripture and A. Rousselot to Malmberg and Rosetti, consider the syllable as a psychological reality with no direct phonetic correlates. - Others (Sievers 1881, Stetson 1951, Kozhevnikov & Chistovich 1965) consider it as a physical unit… but the physical correlates are far from being uniform or direct.

• In this framework (Browman & Goldstein 1995), articulatory gestures are the elementary units of phonology. Syllables are defined as stable patterns of temporal organization

between these gestures.

• For e.g., Browman & Goldstein 1995 and Byrd 1996 have shown based on articulatory data from English that the

temporal relationships between consonant gestures differ, depending on whether the gestures constitute a

syllable.

Articulatory Phonology provides a way of thinking about the physical properties of syllables that leads to testable hypotheses

about syllabic organization (Browman & Goldstein 1995)



Syllable in Articulatory Phonology

Phonetic correlates of vowel-less syllables in Berber Cécile Fougeron & Rachid Ridouane LPP –...

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