19.653, Diss: Phonetics/Phonology: Dutta: 'Four-way Stop Contrasts in Hindi...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-19-653. Wed Feb 27 2008. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 19.653, Diss: Phonetics/Phonology: Dutta: 'Four-way Stop Contrasts in Hindi...'

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1)
Date: 27-Feb-2008
From: Indranil Dutta < idutta at illinoisalumni.org >
Subject: Four-way Stop Contrasts in Hindi: An acoustic study of voicing, fundamental frequency and spectral tilt

 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:32:42
From: Indranil Dutta [idutta at illinoisalumni.org]
Subject: Four-way Stop Contrasts in Hindi: An acoustic study of voicing, fundamental frequency and spectral tilt
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Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2007 

Author: Indranil Dutta

Dissertation Title: Four-way Stop Contrasts in Hindi: An acoustic study of
voicing, fundamental frequency and spectral tilt 

Dissertation URL:  http://indranildutta.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/thesis_body.pdf

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
                     Phonology

Subject Language(s): Hindi (hin)


Dissertation Director(s):
Jennifer S Cole
Chilin Shih
José Ignacio Hualde
Hans Henrich Hock

Dissertation Abstract:

In this dissertation, results from an acoustic phonetic study of the four stop types in 
Hindi: voiced stops (VS), voiced aspirated stops (VAS), voiceless stops (VLS) and 
voiceless aspirated stops (VLAS) are reported. The 'Standard View' on the distinction 
between VS and VAS proposes that the voiced aspirated stops are VS with a breathy 
murmured release and this release feature is sufficient to make the contrast between the 
VS and VAS. Evidence from studies on the duration of voicing and effect of manner of 
articulation on the fundamental frequency (f0) of the following vowel in Hindi questions the
characterization proposed by the standard view. This study through an examination of 
durational properties of stop closure, voicing during closure and aspiration following these
stops provides evidence against the standard view.

Both VAS and VS have been shown to lower f0 of the following vowel. It has also been 
shown that the VAS lower f0 even further. This evidence suggests that f0 perturbations 
can be reliable acoustic cues for stop identification. The goal of this dissertation is to 
understand not only the magnitude of the f0 perturbations but also the extent of this 
effect in the following vowel.

Spectral intensity analysis of contrasting breathy and modal vowels in Gujarati, !Xóõ and 
languages which make use of the breathy and modal phonation type as contrastive 
features provide a background against which spectral analysis of the breathy/murmured 
release following VAS can be conducted to test the assumptions of the standard view. 
Spectral analysis based on four measures of spectral intensity of the vowel following the 
stops indicate that the breathiness following the VAS permeates into a sizeable portion of
the vowel. Comparisons between durations of breathiness spread and voiceless 
aspiration also show that voiceless aspiration is shorter in duration than the duration of 
breathiness characterized by the difference in spectral intensity between the VAS and the
unaspirated stops (VS, VLS).

Based on these analyses, I argue that the stop distinctions in Hindi are best understood 
as a cumulative effect of several acoustic cues, in contradistinction to previous 
accounts, including the standard view. 





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