Using the Phonological Approach to Describe the Vocal System of the Russian Language in the Context of Russian-Spanish Language Contact

The article is devoted to the description of the vocal systems of different languages, considering the functional approach, based on the objective linguistic reality. Today the traditional approach used by research scientists is gradually losing the ability to identify effective models of the phonetic-phonological system of the language, which significantly affects the productivity and research results. The rapid development of new directions of science, the evolution of the language system and all its sublevels indicates the need to adjust the traditional principles of describing phonetic-phonological systems of different languages and imposes special requirements on the relevance, productivity, adequacy and compliance of such descriptions with objective reality. The article analyzes the system of vowels from a phonological point of view - a general classification of vowels through the prism of phonological systematics of meaningful oppositions - considering the articulatory base of the language and the modern orthoepic norm, their changes in the flow of speech, an inextricable connection with consonantism and the prosodic organization of the word. This system is more productive and relevant for solving the problems of modern linguistics. The approbation of the vocal system of the Russian language, obtained within the framework of the corrected approach to the description of systems, is carried out in conditions of language contact, since the problems of language contact are interconnected with the main tasks of the theory of language in the framework of the comparative historical description and comparison of languages. Phonetic interference, together with a foreign accent, is a consequence of the contact between the native language and the target language. Phonetic interference, being an integral part of linguistic contact, causes a violation of the sound side of the language of foreigners. After analyzing the descriptions of the vocal systems of the Spanish and Russian languages, made within the framework of the adjusted functional approach, it is possible to highlight the main features of the Spanish accent in the pronunciation of Russian vowel sounds, and the analysis of the practical material confirms all the selected features and demonstrates the high efficiency of the above approach. The results of this work can be used in various theoretical courses, as well as to create systems for automatic synthesis and speech recognition.

Phonetic Mastering of Arabic Words With Long Vowels in the Turkic Languages

The purpose of our article can be characterized as a scientific review of the vocal system of the Kyrgyz language against the background of Turkic phonology and the patterns of development of the vocal paradigm, the transformation and evolution of long vowels in the historical context (influence of the Arabic language) of Central Asia. Analyzing all data related to the long vowels’ changes in the above-mentioned language and the transformations based on Arabic borrowings. Also, subjected to a detailed analysis of the graphic influences from the side of Arabic graphics in relation to Kyrgyz phonology and linguistic facts about the transformation of Arabic tokens during adaptation in a foreign language context. Nevertheless, to explain the areal features of the Kyrgyz language on the scale of Central Asia. To demonstrate (on the example of archaic words, religious lexicon terms) the stages and patterns of the historical development of the vocal system of a given language in a comparative and cognitive plan. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to identify and describe the patterns of development of quantum phonetics, phonosemantic features of long vowels of Kyrgyz lexemes and phonemes on the one hand, and Arabic guttural and posterolinguistic connectives on the other hand. Kyrgyz and Arabic are multisystem languages. The Arabic language, in a typological sense, is inflectional and belongs to the Semitic group, at the same time, according to some scholars, the Kyrgyz is an agglutinative language and has Altai origin. It is well known that the phonetic spectrum and their variable language palette of the Arabic language is very diverse. In phonetic terms, the Arabic language has a widely developed system of consonant phonemes, on the other hand, the likelihood of the phonomorphological and phonosemantic function of vowels in the Kyrgyz language is quite high too. As part of our research, we tried to identify the seven positions of long vowels in the Arabic language, and in parallel to this show the transformations of Arabic sounds based on the internal phonetic laws of the Kyrgyz language. Consequently, the Arabic long vowels in the process of adaptation in the Kyrgyz language environment, to a certain extent, retained their quantitative character (quantum coefficient) in comparison with other Turkic languages of Central Asia.

Articulatory peculiarities of the Baraba-Tatar phoneme о /ʊ̇/ (on MRI data)

The paper aims to describe the articulatory traits of the Baraba-Tatar phoneme o /ʊ̇/ by the somatic methods. The method used is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Eighteen Barabian tomograms comprising o-type articulation have been described and analyzed according to the technique adopted in the V. M. Nadelyayev’s Laboratory of Experimental-Phonetic Researches (Institute of Philology SB RAS). The text provides only general observations and conclusions, with a full description of all tomograms given in three tables. The experimentalphonetic analysis of the Baraba-Tatar tomograms of the vowel o allowed the author to draw several conclusions. There is a variability of the o-type tunings in Barabian, the most typical being the central-back narrow labialized ejective realization. Though it is very narrow and is phonetically transcribed as /ʊ̇/, it is acoustically perceived as o. While producing the sound o, the oral and pharyngeal cavities become very small, producing the effect of tension. Additional narrowing occurs between the soft palate and the tongue back as well as between the upper teeth and the lower lip, thus preventing the airflow from free release. The lip position is also unusual: instead of protruding forward, the upper lip moves back, tightly covering the upper teeth to produce an interesting acoustic effect. To sum up, further investigation of all vocal system units of Baraba-Tatar is needed to draw ultimate conclusions about the typological belonging of the language under consideration.

How, where and when authentic traditions of Jaw Harp music of Siberia and the Far East have been forming. Part 3: The influence of the materials for manufacturing, their availability and the history of their manufacturing technologies on the acoustic properties of Jaw Harp and tonal organization of its music

This article completes the series dedicated to the methodology of research of the vocal system of Jaw Harp’s articulation within the surviving indigenous traditions of Siberia and the Far East. This last part introduces and examines the relation between the tonal organization of Jaw Harp music and the material of Jaw Harp’s making. The acoustic properties of five most common materials (grass, bamboo, wood, bone, and metal) are discussed in relation to specific traits of Jaw Harp music in the context of the archaeological evidence for a possible timeline of human mastering of the principal manufacturing technologies while taking into consideration the general availability of necessary raw materials throughout the Holocene in Northeastern Eurasia. The authors introduce a novel concept of spectral texture, instrumental for the analysis of timbre-oriented forms of music (such as Jaw Harp music). The results of such analysis are cross-examined against the available data on paleoclimatic conditions in a geographic area of distribution of each of the principal Jaw Harp constructions. This new multi-disciplinary approach enables the authors to infer two pan-regional traditions: Jaw Harps made of metal versus Jaw Harps made of organic materials. Each of these traditions is characterized by its own tonal model, preferred types of musical texture, semantic sphere of use, the area of geographic distribution, and the general vector of historic spread. The new proposed methodology can be applied to other musical instruments that are commonly manufactured from different materials.

Binuclear vowels in the Shor language and the languages of Siberia

The Shor language and Siberian languages, in varying degrees, feature the echoes of the ancient state of the languages. Thus, in our opinion, the remnants of the ancient system implemented in binuclear vowels are traced in the vocal system. We define binuclear vowels as laryngeal-ligamentous sounds of a complex formation consisting of three components. In the initial and final phonation, qualitatively homogenous (homogeneous) (over)short vocal nuclei are found, with a glottal consonant (depending on the language: a deaf explosive bow, a deaf slit, a sonorous slit, a vocalized slit) being between them (in the medial). The accompanying additional feature is the obligatorily pharyngalization. All components form one syllable, ensuring their phonetic integrity, unity. Their phonological property is a fundamental non-separability into three phonemes, i.e., the absence of a morphemic seam, confirming their monophonemicity. Two types of interrupted vowels are recorded in the languages under consideration: primary and secondary, with the first related to the historical past, the second resulting from the loss of guttural consonants such as “g”, “ӊ”. In addition, in the Surgut dialect of the Khanty language and in Baraba-Tatar, two subgroups were distinguished in the group of discontinuous vowels: 1) long interrupted vowels of complete formation; 2) long interrupted vowels of incomplete formation, with the latter having heterogeneous nuclei with the absence of a morphemic seam between the components.

Solfeggio and Partimento

The chapter outlines the way solmization has been described as a “vocal” system at odds with the “keyboard” system of figured bass (partimento). It investigates the relation between melody and bass in solfeggio, especially in terms of imitative counterpoint, and proposes a synthesis between them. It surveys the historical evidence for solmizing figured and unfigured accompaniments and asks what this might tell us about the functions of the bass. Two solfeggi by the celebrated partimento master Fedele Fenaroli are examined in an attempt to shed light on this obscure feature of eighteenth-century practice.

An exploration of Menzerath's law in wild mountain gorilla vocal sequences

Menzerath's law, traditionally framed as a negative relationship between the size of a structure and its constituent parts (e.g. sentences with more clauses have shorter clauses), is widespread across information-coding systems ranging from human language and the vocal and gestural sequences of primates and birds, to the building blocks of DNA, genes and proteins. Here, we analysed an extensive dataset of ‘close-call' sequences produced by wild mountain gorillas ( Gorilla beringei beringei , no. individuals = 10, no. sequences = 2189) to determine whether, in accordance with Menzerath's law, a negative relationship existed between the number of vocal units in a sequence and the duration of its constituent units. We initially found positive evidence for this but, on closer inspection, the negative relationship was driven entirely by the difference between single- and multi-unit (two to six unit) sequences. Once single-unit sequences were excluded from the analysis, we identified a relationship in the opposite direction, with longer sequences generally composed of longer units. The close-call sequences of mountain gorillas therefore represent an intriguing example of a non-human vocal system that only partially conforms to the predictions of Menzerath's law.

Reply to Ravignani and Kotz: Physical impulses from upper-limb movements impact the respiratory-vocal system

Reply to Ravignani and Kotz: Physical impulses from upper-limb movements impact the respiratory-vocal system