As duration of determiner the increases, naturalness ratings decrease. Suggesting decreased duration is an important phonetic cue to grammatical word reduction.
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Projects
Prosody, coarticulation, and coherence with Melissa Redford (University of Oregon, United States of America). This project examines the interaction of prosody and coarticulation, and the perceptual coherance of grammatical words. The aim of this project is to understand typical development of speech planning, with applications in atypical development of speech rhythm. Another goal of this project is to understand how the coarticulation and speech planning for complex segments develops over time. |
The phonetics and phonology of sibilant fricatives with Marzena Żygis (Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Germany) and Xuan Guan (University of Oregon, USA).
We are examining the acoustic characteristics of sibilants in the cross-linguistic context to determine how contrast is maintain between different places of articulation and how that factors in to the different phonological behaviours of sibilant fricatives across languages. Currently we are working on a cross-linguistic project sibilants in Hindi, English, Malayalam, and Mandarin.
We are also working on a the sibilant inventory of Queyu, a Sino-Tibetan language. Queyu has a rich sibilant inventory, boasting a three-way place contrast and aspirated variants of the vioceless series of fricatives.
We are examining the acoustic characteristics of sibilants in the cross-linguistic context to determine how contrast is maintain between different places of articulation and how that factors in to the different phonological behaviours of sibilant fricatives across languages. Currently we are working on a cross-linguistic project sibilants in Hindi, English, Malayalam, and Mandarin.
We are also working on a the sibilant inventory of Queyu, a Sino-Tibetan language. Queyu has a rich sibilant inventory, boasting a three-way place contrast and aspirated variants of the vioceless series of fricatives.
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Lateral vocalization with Marzena Żygis (Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Germany).
We are interested in the process of lateral vocalization and the interaction between clear and dark laterals and syllable position across languages. Currently, work is underway examining the relationship between the articulation of the Brazilian Portuguese lateral, /l/, and the different observable syllable effects that result in vocalization. Future work is aimed at an acoustic study of Lower Sorbian. |
SSANOVA plot of a Brazilian Portugese speaker's articulation of /l/ (red), a vocalized lateral (green), and a velar glide (blue). Tongue tip is on the right.
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Maintaining nasal contrasts in Queyu with Xuan Guan (University of Oregon, USA).
Queyu maintains a rare contrast between voiced and voiceless nasal segments. We are looking at the acoustic and perceptual factors that contribute not only to their maintenance but to the typological rarity of this contrast.
Implications for Stress in Tsilhqut’in with Alessandro Jaker (University of Toronto, Canada).
Tsilhqut’in is a tonal language with contrastive vowel length. However, previous work on related languages suggests
there may also be a stress contrast. This research explores the possibility that there is a language which has contrastive tones and contrastive stress patterns.
Queyu maintains a rare contrast between voiced and voiceless nasal segments. We are looking at the acoustic and perceptual factors that contribute not only to their maintenance but to the typological rarity of this contrast.
Implications for Stress in Tsilhqut’in with Alessandro Jaker (University of Toronto, Canada).
Tsilhqut’in is a tonal language with contrastive vowel length. However, previous work on related languages suggests
there may also be a stress contrast. This research explores the possibility that there is a language which has contrastive tones and contrastive stress patterns.
Mean F2 and F3 of participant identification of /w, ɹ, l, j/ for both speakers of Mandarin and English.
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The production and perception of liquids with Jessamyn Schertz (University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada) and M. Irfana (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, India).
We are examining the link between the acoustic-perceptual characteristics of liquids in a cross-linguistic context. The aim of the study is to understand what listeners are perceiving when they hear liquids. The larger aim is to understand the acoustic-perceptual cues and how those shape phonological inventories. |
