The over-estimation of distance for self-voice versus other-voice

Self-related stimuli are important cues for people to recognize themselves in the external world and hold a special status in our perceptual system. Self-voice plays an important role in daily social communication and is also a frequent input for self-identification. Although many studies have been conducted on the acoustic features of self-voice, no research has ever examined the spatial aspect, although the spatial perception of voice is important for humans. This study proposes a novel perspective for studying self-voice. We investigated people’s distance perception of their own voice when the voice was heard from an external position. Participants heard their own voice from one of four speakers located either 90 or 180 cm from their sitting position, either immediately after uttering a short vowel (i.e., active session) or hearing the replay of their own pronunciation (i.e., replay session). They were then asked to indicate which speaker they heard the voice from. Their voices were either pitch-shifted by ± 4 semitones (i.e., other-voice condition) or unaltered (i.e., self-voice condition). The results of spatial judgment showed that self-voice from the closer speakers was misattributed to that from the speakers further away at a significantly higher proportion than other-voice. This phenomenon was also observed when the participants remained silent and heard prerecorded voices. Additional structural equation modeling using participants’ schizotypal scores showed that the effect of self-voice on distance perception was significantly associated with the score of delusional thoughts (Peters Delusion Inventory) and distorted body image (Perceptual Aberration Scale) in the active speaking session but not in the replay session. The findings of this study provide important insights for understanding how people process self-related stimuli when there is a small distortion and how this may be linked to the risk of psychosis.

Does tvátpitāraḥ = εὐπάτωρ?

A standard comparison in Indo-European linguistics equates Vedic tvátpitāraḥ ‘having you as father’ and Ancient Greek compounds in -πατωρ, e.g., εὐπάτωρ ‘having a good father, lineage’. Many scholars describe this equation as resulting from “Internal Derivation”: the second-member of the compound would exhibit amphikinetic inflection, internally derived from a noun with hysterokinetic inflection. This paper reassesses the philological evidence for the long-vowel forms of Vedic -pitār-. Because the long-vowel forms are confined to one Vedic school (Taittirīyans), it is argued that the short-vowel forms such as -pitar- reflect the inherited Indic vowel length in these compounds. Following this reassessment, I question to what extent the second-members of possessive compounds (e.g., Gk. -πατωρ) reflect an “amphikinetic” paradigm. I argue that the forms are “amphikinetic” only to the extent that they show an o-grade suffix in Greek, and that defining such second-members as amphikinetic both overgenerates (predicts unattested forms) and undergenerates (fails to predict attested accents).

Personvārdi Nīcas pagasta Verbeļu kapu piemiņas zīmju uzrakstos

The linguistic landscape of Verbeļi Cemetery in Nīca municipality was researched, analyzing the use of personal names in memorial inscriptions. As the oldest inscriptions of the memorial were from 1874, the possible time of the cemetery’s establishment is the end of the 19th century. The cemetery belongs to an open type, which means that burials are still carried out there. The research material covers the period from 1874 to 2020. 133 cemetery burials were recorded; 124 of them are identifiable memorial signs. The study analyzes various trends in the use of personal names and peculiarities of spelling, as well as extensions of the anthroponymic formula like a woman’s surname before the wedding inscripted on the monument (Anna Bumbulis born Verbelis, Ilze Paipa born Rāva); inclusion of the person’s middle name (Jānis Voldemārs Pundiks, Austra Maiga Ģelze). The frequency of the anthroponymic formula (name, surname in Latvian) or deviations from this norm was studied: surname written before the name (Nāģis Miķelis, Pāvils Zelma); the use of feminine surnames in masculine (Made Novads, Klibais Margrieta); female surnames without a suffix (Ilse Werbel, Anna Baschtik). The use of initials was also found in two cases. Surnames from other languages are one of the aspects that reveal the diversity of the linguistic landscape of the cultural environment of the cemetery: Russian-language-based surnames (Žuravļevs Osips, Zaharovs Pēteris); German-language-based surnames (Dzintars Šulcs, Ilze Maulics, Stenders Kārlis, Haralds Freibergs); Polish-language-based surnames (Vidopski Gunārs, Valija); Lithuanian-language-based surnames (Alfrīdas Dejus, F. Sergējus). Some ancient memorial inscriptions have retained unique historical evidence of writing traditions in old orthography, such as the long vowel writing, where a consonant follows the short vowel: - h-: -eh- < ē = Jehkab < Jēkabs. The influence of the German language can be seen, for example, in the spelling of letters, where three special letters or a set of specific letters indicate consonant softening: sch < š = Baschtik < Baštik. In the inscriptions, the tendency of partial anonymity was found: the family members are not named, but only the name of the family is mentioned: Piķu family. One surname in the masculine in singular or plural form unites two family members, for instance, husband and wife, father and son, etc.

Syllable weight, vowel length and focus in Lebanese Arabic

Research on a variety of languages has shown that vowel duration is influenced by phonological vowel length as well as syllable structure (e.g., Maddieson, 1997). Further, the phonological concept of a mora has been shown to relate to phonetic measurements of duration (Cohn, 2003; Hubbard, 1993; Port, Dalby, &amp; O'Dell, 1987). In Levantine Arabic, non-final closed syllables that contain a long vowel have been described as partaking in mora-sharing (Broselow, Chen, &amp; Huffman, 1997; Khattab &amp; Al-Tamimi, 2014). The current investigation examines the effect of vowel length and syllable structure on vowel duration, as well as how this interacts with durational effects of prosodic focus. Disyllabic words with initial, stressed syllables that were either open or closed and contained either a long or a short vowel wereexamined when non-focused and in contrastive focus. Contrastive focus was associated with longer words and syllables but not vowels. Short vowels were shorter when in a syllable closed by a singleton but not by a geminate consonant, while long vowels were not shortened before coda singletons. An analysis is proposed whereby long vowels followed by an intervocalic consonant cluster are parsed as open syllables, with the first consonant forming a semisyllable (Kiparsky, 2003), while long vowels followed by geminate consonants partake in mora-sharing (Broselow, Huffman, Chen, &amp; Hsieh, 1995). The results also indicate compensatory shortening for short vowels followed by a singleton coda.

Enregisterment eines /r/-Allophons?

In the study presented in this paper the use of a specific linguistic non-standard feature of German by 100 speakers representing three generations was analysed. The speakers originate from 25 different locations within the Middle Franconian dialect formation covering the middle-western parts of Germany. The feature analysed is the realisation of the Standard German phoneme /r/ as a voiceless velar or uvular fricative [x, χ] when following a short vowel and preceding a coronal obstruent. The comparison of how frequently the speakers use [χ] in different communicative contexts results in the observation of three types of speakers (i. e., [χ] users): The first type are dialect speakers mostly of the older generation (60 years and above) who use the variant in a traditional manner, namely when aiming at producing their best way to pronounce Standard German. According to these speakers [χ] forms part of the Standard German pronunciation norm. The second type is mainly represented by middle aged speakers (45–55 years) who use the feature in nearly all communicative contexts except when they have a dialect competency and are asked to produce their “strongest dialect”. Finally, the third type of speakers are mainly young people (17–23 years) who do not have any dialect competence. These speakers only use [χ] when they are asked to produce their “strongest dialect” and/or when they are talking to friends. On the basis of these results it is argued that, between these types of speakers and the generations they represent, a re-evaluation of the feature has taken place that may be classified as enregisterment, because speakers of the third type seem to use [χ] indexically in order to signal familiarity with their interlocutors on a interpersonal-social level.

Из восточнославянской лексики: русск. диал. алынья ; блр. ЛахазваЛахазва; русск. диал. обазуритьобазурить(ся ), обазулитьобазулить(ся ), блр. абазурыцца

From East Slavic Vocabulary: Russ. dial. alynĭâ ; Bel. Lahazva ; Russ. dial. obazuritĭobazuritĭ(sâ ), obazulitĭobazulitĭ(sâ ), Bel. abazuryccaabazurycca. This article presents an etymological analysis of three East Slavic lexical i tems. Russ. dial. alynĭâ‘cow’ reflects PSl [* olni olnĭji ‘doe’ but omitted the regular metathesis in the initial ol - and eliminated the closed syllable by developing a secondary extra extra-short vowel; this phenomenon is known in some peripheral Slavic diale cts. TheBelarusian hydronym Lahazva is derived from the rare anthroponymic stem by means of the formant -va (< *-ū, -ъve ). Russian and Belarusian dialectical verbs obazuritĭobazuritĭ(sâ ), obazulitĭobazulitĭ(sâ ), abazurycca are prefixial( prefixial(-postfixal)formations from the verb verbs bazuritĭbazuritĭ, bazulitĭbazulitĭ(sâ ), many of whose meanings are close to those of the verbs in discussion.

Why does the word dcéra (‘daughter’) contain a long é?

The paper aims to explain the origin of the long é in the Slovak word dcéra ‘daughter’, which is the only word of the original lexical layer that has a long é in its root. Its length is difficult to explain by comparative Slavic accentology since relevant languages generally show a short vowel in this position. Another peculiarity of this word is the fact that é did not undergo the Central Slovak diphthongization that otherwise regularly occurs after c. The author offers a solution in the cultural influence of Czech, which Slovaks had been using as a written language for centuries. It is argued that the original Common Slavic word *dъťi had been lost in Slovak and replaced by a word *děvъka, while dcera was introduced into the Slovak vernacular through Czech religious texts. The initial Czech graphic cluster dc- had been realized as a geminated [cː] by Slovak priests, the pronunciation of which was interpreted as compensatory lengthening of the following vowel, and this length was subsequently phonologized. The lengthening of e and consequent phonologization could be linked to the spread of Czech printed books, so it must be posterior to the Central Slovak diphthongization.

The Ambiguity of the Relations between Graphemes and Phonemes in the Persian Orthographic System

In this paper, the degree to which Persian orthography deviates from transparency is quantified and evaluated. We investigate the relations between graphemes and phonemes in Persian, in which the writing system is not fully representative of the spoken language, mostly due to the omission of the short-vowel graphemes. We measure the degree of the Persian orthographic system transparency using a heuristic mathematical model. We apply the same measures to orthographic systems of other languages and compare the results to those obtained for Persian. The results show a relatively high degree of transparency in Persian when it comes to writing, but a low degree of transparency when it comes to reading. We also consider models that avoid the problems related to the short vowels in Persian and these models demonstrate a considerable decrease of the uncertainty in the Persian orthographic system.

Lenisering etter kort vokal: relikt-fenomen eller opphav?

The topic of the paper is a small group of Norwegian dialects where lenition of p, t, k into b, d, g in intervocalic and word-final position is limited to words characterized by a monomoraic, stressed syllable in Old Norse. These dialects are spoken in the easternmost local communities in Agder county, at the eastern margin of the South-Norwegian lenition areas where lenition hit all short oral stops irrespective of preceding vowel length. After the quantity shift had made all stressed vowels bimoraic, with rimes being either VV or VC, the distribution of the lenited plosives are after both long and short vowels (the main area) or after short vowels only (the eastern marginal area). Haslum (2004) argues that the limited distribution in the east ist the result of a reversal after long vowels only. While this cannot be refuted as a possibility, I argue below that it may also be the result of a two-stage process, whereby lenition after a short vowel has spread further than the generalized process.

Sooo Sweeet! Presence of Long Vowels in Brand Names Lead to Expectations of Sweetness

Throughout the history of languages, poets and writers have used linguistic tools to enhance euphony in their creations. One of the widely used tools to convey melody in any written (or spoken) creative art form is the use of long vowels. This paper examines the linkages between long (vs. short) vowel sounds and taste expectations of sweetness. Across four studies, we demonstrate that people expect products with brand names containing long vowels to taste sweeter than those including short vowel sounds. In studies 1 and 2, we demonstrate this association with the use of self-reported measures, and in studies 3 and 4, we employ indirect measures (implicit taste–shape correspondence and Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) paradigm) to show the effect holds at a subconscious level of processing. Previous research in this field has typically linked vowel position (high vs. low or front vs. back) with product or brand attribute expectations. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature in this field by demonstrating the importance of vowel length in sound symbolism, and more precisely, how it pertains to the taste continuum.