[Sealang-l] The Southeast Asian Sesquisyllable (thesis and review)

[Doug Cooper]

 From Becky Ann Butler:
Deconstructing the Southeast Asian sesquisyllable: a gestural account

Review: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/11803 (James Kirby)
e-thesis: http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/36006/1/bbt24.pdf

Abstract from http://hdl.handle.net/1813/36006
This dissertation explores a purportedly unusual word type known as the
sesquisyllable, which has long been considered characteristic of mainland
Southeast Asian languages.

Sesquisyllables are traditionally defined as 'one and a half' syllables, or
as one major syllable preceded by one minor syllable, which is phonologically
reduced in terms of segmental inventory, prosodic prominence and syllable
shape. The goal of the dissertation is to deconstruct the notion of the
sesquisyllable via empirical acoustic investigation of the minor syllable,
the results of which are interpreted in light of Articulatory Phonology.

These results show that purported sesquisyllables can be reanalyzed as two
different types of words: (i) monosyllables with word-initial consonant
clusters that have excrescent transition states and (ii) maximally disyllabic
iambs. I argue that only the latter of these two should be considered a
sesquisyllable.

The dissertation begins with a description of the cross-linguistic properties
of sesquisyllables. Based on these characteristics, I propose both a
structural/prosodic model of the sesquisyllable and an articulatory model of
the minor syllable, which focuses on mid central (schwa-like) vocalic
elements. Throughout the dissertation I maintain that an integrated
phonological approach which relies on both of these models is necessary to
adequately account for the sesquisyllable.

My analysis is supported by phonetic evidence from three purportedly
sesquisyllabic languages: Khmer, Bunong (Mnong) and Burmese. Minor syllable
"vowels" in Khmer are shown to be excrescent transition states whose voicing
is dependent on neighboring consonants, while minor syllable vowels in Bunong
are determined to be phonological. I also present a pilot study of Burmese
trisyllabic 'extended sesquisyllables' which broadens the scope of word types
that might be considered sesquisyllables. The dissertation concludes with a
discussion of how the disyllabic nature of sesquisyllables suggests that
prosody and articulation might further be integrated in terms of oscillation.