scholarly journals Which epenthetic vowel? Phonetic categories versus acoustic detail in perceptual vowel epenthesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. EL211-EL217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Guevara-Rukoz ◽  
Isabelle Lin ◽  
Masahiro Morii ◽  
Yasuyo Minagawa ◽  
Emmanuel Dupoux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Phonetic Categories ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

scholarly journals Resolving the Issue of the Target of Vowel Copy in Fijian Loanwords

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gakuji Kumagai
Keyword(s):  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Minimal Projection ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

English loanwords into Fijian undergo vowel epenthesis, as Fijian disallows coda consonants and consonant clusters. Vowel copy is an option for determining epenthetic vowel quality in loanword adaptation (Kumagai 2016a; Schütz 1978, 2004). The target of copy epenthesis seems to be either the preceding or following vowel of the epenthetic site. However, the choice of target vowel is indeterminate, as there is no vowel copy in Fijian native phonology. This paper offers a resolution to the problem by adopting an expanded version of prosodic projection theory (Martínez-Paricio 2012, 2013), in which feet are allowed to exhibit maximal/minimal projection. I propose Foot Condition, which requires the Foot[±max/±min] to circumscribe the vowel copy domain.

scholarly journals Vowel Epenthesis in Loanword Integration: A Study of English Consonant Cluster at Onset

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asad Habib ◽  
Arshad Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Feature Theory ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel ◽  
Phonological System

This study examines the process of vowel epenthesis used by the Punjabi speakers to integrate the English consonant cluster at onset position of the syllable. English and Punjabi are two different phonological system where English allows consonant cluster and complex consonants at onset while Punjabi only allows complex consonants. Hence for the integration of syllables with consonant cluster, Punjabi speakers have to insert a vowel to make the consonant configuration according to Punjabi phonotactics. The data for this study are collected from recordings of focus group discussions, interviews and video clips. The data are analyzed by using CV phonology and Distinct Feature theory. The results suggest that Punjabi speakers insert vowels to modify the English consonant clusters according to Punjabi phonological environment. Thus, they add another vowel node and resyllabify the consonant clusters. The mid central /ə/ vowel is the default epenthetic vowel while in some cases /e/ is also used before the consonant clusters.

scholarly journals Multiple Sources of Surprisal Affect Illusory Vowel Epenthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Whang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Signal ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Original Speech ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

Illusory epenthesis is a phenomenon in which listeners report hearing a vowel between a phonotactically illegal consonant cluster, even in the complete absence of vocalic cues. The present study uses Japanese as a test case and investigates the respective roles of three mechanisms that have been claimed to drive the choice of epenthetic vowel—phonetic minimality, phonotactic predictability, and phonological alternations—and propose that they share the same rational goal of searching for the vowel that minimally alters the original speech signal. Additionally, crucial assumptions regarding phonological knowledge held by previous studies are tested in a series of corpus analyses using the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese. Results show that all three mechanisms can only partially account for epenthesis patterns observed in language users, and the study concludes by discussing possible ways in which the mechanisms might be integrated.

scholarly journals Excrescent vowels in Lamkang prefix sequences

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-213
Author(s):  
Mary Burke ◽  
Shobhana Chelliah ◽  
Melissa Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Short Vowel ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

AbstractLamkang is a Trans-Himalayan language spoken in the Chandel District of Manipur, India by under 10,000 ethnically Naga people. Due to a complex person indexation system in Lamkang clauses, multiple prefixes with the shape C- are attached to a verb stem creating lexemes with the shape CCCCVC. To make such forms pronounceable, speakers insert super-short vowel-like segments between the C- prefixes. Combining acoustic analysis with speakers’ intuitions about syllable structure, we examine the nature of these segments, arguing that an accurate phonetic description of Lamkang vowels must include these super-short vowels, as well as long and short vowels, which are phonemically distinct. We call these super-short vowels excrescent, following the terminology discussed in Hall (2011. Vowel epenthesis. In Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth V. Hume & Keren Rice (eds.), The blackwell companion to phonology, 1576–1596. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0067: 1584). The excrescent vowel is a type of epenthetic vowel, sometimes also called “intrusive”, and is typified by its short duration and centralized quality distinct from lexical vowels. It is unstressed and has the phonetic effect of helping to transition between consonants. We show that the excrescent vowels in Lamkang have formant structures that barely resemble the characteristic formant profiles of the short and long vowels. While excrescent vowels are not contrastive, they are phonologically relevant because they have just enough sonority to form nuclei of CiVCii syllables where Cii is often ambisyllabic with the following syllable. The Lamkang data show that while any language-specific phonotactic constraints must reference the syllable, what constitutes a syllable must include the possibility of excrescent vowels as nuclei.

scholarly journals Gradual Vowel Epenthesis in Urban Hijazi Arabic

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Faisal M. Al-Mohanna
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Paradoxical Situation ◽  
Harmonic Serialism ◽  
Constraint Hierarchy ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

In this paper, vowel epenthesis in Urban Hijazi Arabic is analysed as a process of gradual structural build-up. Harmonic Serialism, a derivational framework of Optimality Theory, provides the theoretical foundation to illustrate the arguments. Rather than epenthesising an entire vowel all at once, featural structure progressively increases in successive steps. This accumulation continues until the required vowel quality is achieved. Specifically, the constraint hierarchy predicts high epenthetic vowels to occur in closed syllables and the low epenthetic vowel in open syllables. The same constraint hierarchy, however, is also expected to predict both gradual epenthesis and gradual deletion. In that regard, a seemingly paradoxical situation is created when the very same intermediate vowel quality is achieved through accumulation or attrition of featural structure. This particular vowel quality, in exactly the same environment, will have to continue gaining internal structure towards epenthesis or continue losing internal structure towards deletion. Eventually, identifying the path that the derivation takes to reach a certain vowel will help to resolve the issue.

scholarly journals English and Portuguese consonant clusters: contrasts and challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Madureira
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Speech Learning Model ◽  
Speech Learning

ABSTRACT Consonant clusters occur both in Portuguese and English. However, clusters are more productive in English than in Portuguese and there are sequences which are only found in English.This study focuses on the contrasts between American English and Brazilian Portuguese consonant clusters and on three strategies Brazilian learners tend to apply when producing them: adding the high front vowel (epenthesis) between the consonants in the clusters, discarding consonants, or introducing phonetic changes. The relevance of introducing English clusters to Brazilian learners of English is pointed out and discussed under the framework of the Speech Learning Model (SLM).

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