16.3, Diss: Phonetics: Jaakkola: 'Lexical Quantity ...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-3. Mon Jan 10 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.3, Diss: Phonetics: Jaakkola: 'Lexical Quantity ...'

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1)
Date: 01-Jan-2005
From: Toshiko Jaakkola < toshiko.jaakkola at helsinki.fi >
Subject: Lexical Quantity in Japanese and Finnish


-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 10:29:12
From: Toshiko Jaakkola < toshiko.jaakkola at helsinki.fi >
Subject: Lexical Quantity in Japanese and Finnish


Institution: University of Helsinki
Program: Department of Phonetics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2004

Author: Toshiko Isei Jaakkola

Dissertation Title: Lexical Quantity in Japanese and Finnish

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics

Subject Language(s): Finnish (FIN)
                     Japanese (JPN)


Dissertation Director(s):
Antti Iivonen

Dissertation Abstract:

Despite the fact that Finnish and Japanese differ from each other typologically,
remarkable similarities between them can be heard. The most obvious common
phonetic feature may be the linguistically distinctive quantity in both vowels
and consonants. In the present study I investigated the similarities and
differences of lexical quantity in Finnish and Japanese. So far, no large
systematic phonetic comparative study on these two languages exists.

As background, I discuss the sound systems of each language, including segments,
phonotactics, syllable structures, as well as rhythm and timing issues, all
being closely related to quantity. The major experiments were concentrated on
production and perception of quantity: (1) the segmental, syllabic and word
durational ratios of bisyllabic nonsense words with /C1V1(V1)C1(C1)V1(V1)/
structure (2-5 moraic words) were measured and (2) using synthetic speech
stimuli, the perceptual boundary ranges in equivalent structures were compared
and correlated with three fundamental frequency and intensity patterns in order
to observe their influence on quantity perception. In addition, I conducted
perception tests on the Finnish /(C)VnC1(C1)V/ structure with the Japanese
speakers, and compared the durational ratios of the nasal consonant in the
/CV-n/N-C1(C1)V/ structure both in isolation and a sentence. I also discuss the
durations of /h/ in Japanese and the Finnish /hV/ and /CV1hCV2/ structures. In
each experiment, the syllable concept was used for both languages, but the
'linearity' or 'isochronicity' based on the Japanese mora hypothesis was also
taken into consideration.

In Chapter 3, utilising the structure /C1V1(V1)C1(C1)V1(V1)/, the results showed
that (1) the segmental ratios were smaller in Finnish, and the durational
variations were relatively narrower and more stable in Finnish than in Japanese;
(2) in both languages, the segmental durations depended not only on the syllable
structure but also on the syllable position in the word; (3) both languages
showed similar stepwise patterns in increasing ratios, but Japanese showed
greater linearity (isochronicity), according to the number of syllables/morae,
regardless of the number of phonemes, while Finnish showed a greater dependence
on the number of phonemes within the comparable syllable structure; (4) the
segmental durational ratios within the word showed negligible differences
between the languages. In Chapter  4, I used the short/long vowels/consonants in
/C1V1(V1)C1(C1)V1(V1)/  and created stimuli with 8 types of syllable structure
and variable prosodic patterns. The results revealed that (1) the Japanese
perceptual boundary ranges were shorter in duration, but the Finnish
counterparts were more stable in differentiating between short/long segments;
(2) the Finnish reached the minimum durational point of long vowels and
consonants in less time than the Japanese, but the Finnish had wider
prosodically conditional variations than the Japanese; (3) the word structural
differences had more effect than the prosodic conditional differences in
differentiating short segments from long segments in both Finnish and Japanese.
In Chapter 5, the findings were that (1 ) the Japanese mostly perceived the
Finnish /CVnC1(C1)V/ as trimoraic words in both listening and transliteration;
(2) the durations of /n/ were much shorter in the /CVnCCV/ structure than in
/CVnCV/ in Finnish, and (3) the durational patterns showed similarities in
/CV-n/N-CV/ for both Finnish and Japanese. In Chapter 6, /h/ was defined as an
approximant, not as a fricative. The duration of the Japanese /h/ was longer
than in Finnish, but the durations of /h + V/ were similar in both languages.
The Finnish /CV-h-CV/ did not show an  isochronic durational pattern.





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