Regarding s-aspiration

 Hi Prof. Ohala,
Here are my comments/questions from the last class, thanks!
Comments/Questions #7 - August 1:
I was just wondering if you could clarify a point from the last class.
I had asked about language contact induced sound change (as in the case of the ‘s’
to /h/ or nothing in Latin American Spanish).  You mentioned that you thought it
was a process that had already begun and that was further solidified by
contact,but I am not sure if this is what you meant.  I was under the impression that
African language structure (both phonological and morpho-syntactic) was the
reason that these varieties of Spanish as well as Brazilian Portuguese have
this  alteration > in addition to several others.  Do you think that it could be the
contact with  these African languages that caused the change?  or must it have been
something that was already in motion?  I tend to believe that it was language
contact that induced this specific change, but I am interested in your
thoughts on the matter.

Jill Thorson

Jill,

I have no opinion (or background of facts) to be able to say whether the
contact situation of NW Spanish and Port. being assimilated by African
slaves had anything to do with the 's-aspiration' sound change.  The same
phenomenon is not unknown in other languages that did not have that
particular contact situation as a possible cause (& that's why I cited
Greek and Latin cases, too).  My point -- which was Widdison's point -- is
that there is (or could be) a phonetic causal factor, too.  One should
check the Widdison paper to see if he addresses these issues:  (Google
'Widdison' and 's-aspiration').

JJO 

Here links to two of Widdison's paper on this topic:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B09lW9XhoFydMGFkOTRiMGEtNmE3OC00MGYwLTg0NzctMmQ3MDc1OTM0ZGRh&hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B09lW9XhoFydM2EzN2MxNmMtMzMyZi00NzUyLWJmMTAtZGZkMzI3ZDBjM2M3&hl=en_US 

you tube videos illustrating relation between standing waves and resonance

This doesn't substitute for a complete exposition on resonance and its origin from standing waves, but this video does illustratre how a practical  demonstration -- readily available on You Tube -- can illustrate the concepts once they have been introduced in a class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7-PDF6Vzc&feature=related

slides from week of 25 July

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydNWZiZTg0MmYtMThmMC00Y2I4LWJjNDItYjA5Y2Y2NzdmMWFh&hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydZWZkYzFmYTItOWZkMS00MDM5LTk0MmUtNjA4YjFiN2Q4ZGE0&hl=en_US

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydOWM4NjIxZDAtNWNiZS00YjA4LWE3ZDEtYjU5OGVkNGUwMTI5&hl=en_US

Clarification re 'velar softening'

> Hi Professor Ohala,
> In lecture on Tuesday, you demonstrated how a velar stop [k]
> sounded very similar to a [t] when you filtered out the mid
> frequency is filtered out.  Is this what happens in speech?
> Does that mid-frequency get filtered out to the listener?  Is
> there something that makes it particularly susceptible to
> that?  Since it doesn't seem like an all too uncommon change.
> Do you know if this is similar to what happened in English?  I
> was told there was some sort of change, and words like 'chin'
> in English are 'Kinn' in German and that that was a regular
> sound change in an earlier stage.  Did the [k] first become a
> [t] and then an affricate?  Or how does the alveolar affricate
> come about or is theorized to come about?
> Thank you!
> Stephanie

Stephanie,

Some good questions.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify.

It is not so much that in natural speech there is some process which
filters out the mid-frequency peak but rather that through inattention,
perhaps masking noise, etc., this spectral peak can be missed.  (And keep
in mind the mid-frequency spectral peak is primarily found ONLY when the
velar stop is released into a high front vowel; it is not the same with
other vowels.)  Crucial to my story is that this spectral peak is pivotal
to the differentiation of /ki/ from /ti/ and that if it is overlooked the
percept is that of /ti/.  You are right that the development of /ti/ to
/tshi/ (the affricated version) is a separate, subsequent, change. (I
explained earlier how aerodynamic factors can lead to turbulence when air
is forced at high velocity through a narrow constriction such as is
created in the transition between /t/ and /i/.)   And we find some cases
of this change that just involve change of place and do not involve
affrication.

JJO

Assignment 2

Phonetic Alchemy:  turing a velar stop into an apical stop

Here is a wav file of me saying ‘ski’.  If you want, you can also use a file of any other native speaker of Am. English saying ‘ski’ (make sure you retain frequencies up to c. 10 kHz).

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydNWU3ZDI0ZTktODZiNS00MmU3LWE2OGItMTk3MTUxZDlmZDJm&hl=en_US

1.        1.  Remove all of the /s/ up to the burst.  (What does it sound like?  Are you surprised?  It should be a voiceless unaspirated velar stop.)

2.      . Make a separate file of the burst up to the point where the vowel starts (evident as the start of periodicity).

3.        Apply a stop band filter to the burst (filter from 1500 to 4500 Hz; for a female voice you may have to have slightly higher limits; the idea is to filter out the mid-frequency peak in the burst spectrum).

4.    Substitute this filtered burst for the original burst.  What does it sound like?  (One listening strategy is to listen to it repeatedly and then to see if you could convince yourself it is /ti/ or /ki/).

Report your results by 2 August.

slides from 21 July

phonotactics   
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydMzc4ZjJhMTQtNzM0YS00ODliLTllZDQtYmRmNDljYzgxOGZj&hl=en_US

labial-velars + spontaneous nasalization
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B09lW9XhoFydMWE1OTE1MjQtODVkNS00NjNkLTgwZTAtNDA2MTUzMjMyM2I4&hl=en_US

Caisse's 1988 dissertation

For those who requested a link to the 1988 dissertation of Michelle Caisse (who presented evidence that phonetic influences on vowel duration are additive whereas phonological effects are multiplicative), here it is:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B09lW9XhoFydYjBjNzliMzUtNTVkNi00YTE5LWEyZDktYWUzODExNjc2YzJh&hl=en_US