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Underlying voicing in Majorcan Catalan word-final stop-liquid clusters
Daniel Recasens1, Aina Espinosa, Antoni Solanas
1Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Spain. daniel.recasens@uab.es
Phonetica
|January 22, 2005
Summary
Phonetic voicing in Majorcan Catalan word-final clusters shows that liquids (/l/, /r/) are often voiceless. Voicing is maintained for stops, but varies by speaker and cluster type, impacting sound change theories.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics
- Linguistics
- Phonology
Background:
- Investigates phonetic voicing in Majorcan Catalan word-final clusters.
- Focuses on stops followed by liquids (/l/, /r/).
- Examines the maintenance of underlying stop voicing.
Purpose of the Study:
- Determine how phonetic voicing is preserved in specific word-final clusters.
- Analyze the phonetic realization of stops and liquids in these clusters.
- Understand the role of voicing in Majorcan Catalan phonology.
Main Methods:
- Electropalatography and acoustic analysis.
- Data collected from five Majorcan Catalan speakers.
- Examination of word-final stop+/l/ and stop+/r/ clusters.
Main Results:
- Voicing for /l/ is present only during the preceding stop; /r/ is always voiceless.
- Speakers vary in maintaining stop voicing distinctions and production strategies.
- Voicing is robust in nasal-stop-/l/ clusters for some, but less so for others.
- Stop voicing is cued by closure duration and vocal fold vibration, or closure duration alone.
Conclusions:
- The typical Catalan word-final devoicing does not apply to Majorcan Catalan tautosyllabic stop-liquid clusters.
- Phonetic voicing can affect the stop alone or both the stop and the liquid.
- Findings have implications for understanding sound change processes.