Palatalization and intrinsic prosodic vowel features in Russian

Area of Science:

• Phonetics and phonology
• Acoustic phonetics
• Speech articulation

Background:

• Intrinsic prosodic features of vowels are universal phonetic properties.
• Consonant palatalization is a significant phonological process in many languages, including Russian.
• Understanding the interplay between consonant features and vowel properties is crucial for speech science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction between consonant palatalization and intrinsic prosodic features of vowels in Russian CVC syllables.
• To determine how palatalization influences fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration of vowels.
• To examine the role of articulatory parameters (vowel height, fronting) in this interaction.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of CVC syllables in Russian.
• Measurement of intrinsic fundamental frequency (IFO), intensity (I), and duration of vowels.
• Correlation analysis between consonant palatalization and vowel acoustic properties.
• Examination of vowel height and fronting modifications.

Main Results:

• The universal nature of intrinsic prosodic vowel features was confirmed in Russian.
• Consonant palatalization significantly affects vowel IFO, intensity, and duration in CVC syllables.
• Palatalization modifies vowel articulatory parameters, specifically vowel height and fronting.
• The findings provide evidence for both automatic and active control theories of intrinsic vowel features.

Conclusions:

• Consonant palatalization demonstrably influences intrinsic vowel prosody in Russian.
• Articulatory modifications of vowel height and fronting mediate the effect of palatalization.
• The results contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the control mechanisms of intrinsic vowel features.