Phonation type contrasts and tone in Chichimec

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Phonetics
• Acoustic phonology

Background:

• Chichimec, an Otomanguean language, exhibits a two-tone system (high, low) and a three-way phonation contrast (modal, breathy, creaky).
• Previous research suggests independent use of tone and phonation, but detailed acoustic realization, especially concerning timing and gender, requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the acoustic realization of modal, breathy, and creaky vowels in Chichimec.
• To examine the timing of phonation within non-modal vowels.
• To analyze the production of tone in conjunction with different phonation types.

Main Methods:

• Acoustic analysis using cepstral peak prominence and spectral tilt measures.
• Examination of phonation timing within vowel segments.
• Analysis of fundamental frequency (F0) contours across tones and phonation types.

Main Results:

• Phonation type contrasts show gender-specific acoustic differences.
• Non-modal phonation is predominantly realized in the latter half of breathy and creaky vowels, not the middle.
• Tone is maintained across all phonation types, with a notable F0 decline in women's creaky vowels.

Conclusions:

• Acoustic findings support phonological accounts of laryngeal complexity in Chichimec.
• The timing of non-modal phonation is a key feature, differing from previous reports.
• Gender interacts with acoustic realization of phonation types.