Tesis sobre el tema "Tone (Phonetics) Metrical phonology"

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-199).
Only very few phonological processes are reported to be conditioned by stress. There are two major patterns of stress-sensitive processes: segments are lengthened under stress, and vowels become louder. Two other phonological patterns are reported in the presence of stress, although they don't seem to enhance prominence of the stressed position: the preservation of segmental contrast and the enhancement of acoustic properties of the releases in stress-adjacent consonants. The main question of this dissertation is why there are so few segmental processes that show sensitivity to stress. Why are the major segmental processes affecting consonants (e.g. place assimilation, nasalization and voice neutralization) not sensitive about whether their trigger or target is in a stressed position? The analysis of prosodic conditioning presented here has three components: First every stress-conditioned process is enforced by a markedness constraint requiring the perceptual prominence of a metrically strong position. Languages use two strategies to implement this prominence: increasing the duration of the stressed position, or increasing the perceptual energy of the stressed vowel. Second, increasing the loudness of the stressed vowel has side-effects on the realization of stress adjacent stop releases, which result from the subglottal mechanisms used to produce the increase in loudness. These side-effects constitute the small class of stress-conditioned segmental alternations which are not directly enhancing the prominence of the stressed position. Third, both the effects of prominence requirements and the side-effects of prominence enhancement on the phonetic realization of segments in stressed positions may affect the perceptual distinctiveness between contrasting sounds in stressed positions: if the perceptual distinctiveness between contrasting sounds is decreased in a stressed position, contrast neutralization might arise. If the perceptual distinctiveness between contrasting sounds is increased in a stressed position, stress-conditioned contrast preservation might arise. Contrast preservation in stressed positions is therefore not an effect of Positional faithfulness; it emerges as the indirect consequence of prominence enhancement. The set of segmental features which may be targeted by stress-sensitive processes is extremely limited since it is restricted to those features which can be affected by one of three processes: duration, loudness and effects of raised subglottal pressure on stop releases.
by Maria Giavazzi.
Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xxiv, 297 p. ; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-297).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-295).
This dissertation concerns both phonetic and phonological aspects of tone mapping in various Chinese languages. The central issue addressed is the role of contrast and positional prominence and neutralization in the realization of tone. The inventory of tonal contrasts constrains the outputs of contextual neutralization as well as the location of pitch targets in phonetic implementation. Two prominent phonological positions in the tone sandhi domain are distinguished: peripheral (initial and final) positions and metrically strong positions. Input tones occupying different prominent positions in the input are preserved in the output; their realization in the output can be determined by the location of stress. A typology of diverse patterns of tone preservation and realization emerge from the interaction of positional faithfulness and positional markedness constraints. The research findings reported here have implications for both phonetics and phonoloy.
by Zhiqiang Li.
Ph.D.

This thesis uses acoustic measurements as a basis for the phonological analysis of the interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure in Kera (a Chadic language). In both tone spreading and vowel harmony, the iambic foot acts as a domain for spreading. Further evidence for the foot comes from measurements of duration, intensity and vowel quality. Kera is unusual in combining a tone system with a partially independent metrical system based on iambs. In words containing more than one foot, the foot is the tone bearing unit (TBU), but in shorter words, the TBU is the syllable. In perception and production experiments, results show that Kera speakers, unlike English and French, use the fundamental frequency as the principle cue to 'Voicing" contrast. Voice onset time (VOT) has only a minor role. Historically, tones probably developed from voicing through a process of tonogenesis, but synchronically, the feature voice is no longer contrastive and VOT is used in an enhancing role. Some linguists have claimed that Kera is a key example for their controversial theory of long-distance voicing spread. But as voice is not part of Kera phonology, this thesis gives counter-evidence to the voice spreading claim. An important finding from the experiments is that the phonological grammars are different between village women, men moving to town and town men. These differences are attributed to French contact. The interaction between Kera tone and voicing and contact with French have produced changes from a 2-way voicing contrast, through a 3-way tonal contrast, to a 2-way voicing contrast plus another contrast with short VOT. These diachronic and synchronic tone/voicing facts are analysed using laryngeal features and Optimality Theory. This thesis provides a body of new data, detailed acoustic measurements, and an analysis incorporating current theoretical issues in phonology, which make it of interest to Africanists and theoreticians alike.

The theory proposed in this thesis, Phonological Pitch, concerns the representation and behavior of the tone feature. It is a formally simple phonological theory constrained by a set of explicit extragrammatical principles. Phonological Pitch contains two major grammatical mechanisms. First, tone is represented with a single multivalued feature (Pitch) whose value can range from 1 to n, where n is a language-specific number with no universal upper limit. Second, the Contiguity Hypothesis states that tone groups in rules must always form contiguous sets, though these groups can vary from rule to rule. Phonological Pitch can be so simple because the power of the grammatical theory is constrained with independently necessary extragrammatical factors. Specifically, limits on the number of tone levels arise from learnability and perceptual constraints, which can be precisely formalized, that also play a role in nonlinguistic domains. Similarly, the Contiguity Hypothesis is derived from psychoacoustic constraints on discriminating between acoustically similar pitches. Other perceptual and physiological constraints explain patterns in the typology of contour tones and in the interactions of tone with other features. The empirical support for Phonological Pitch includes the following. First, languages are attested with as many as five distinct tone levels, and the number of languages with n tone levels gradually decreases as n increases, rather than dropping off abruptly at some point. An analysis using learnability and perceptual constraints can explain this gradual drop better than a universal grammatical upper limit. Second, tone rules can transpose sets of tones up or down by a fixed interval, a fact which is easier to formalize with a single multivalued feature than with a set of binary features. Third, tone groups do not form universal natural classes nor groups with noncontiguous tones, as other tone theories predict. Fourth, tone interacts not only with laryngeal features like voicing, but also with nonlaryngeal features like vowel height, and both the existence and relative rarity of tone-vowel height interactions imply that understanding tone interactions requires reference to extragrammatical physiological factors.

In clear and lively prose that avoids jargon, the author carefully and systematically examines the many kinds of subtly nuanced words or word-pairs of everyday discourse such as 'and'-'but', 'before'-'ere', 'Chinese'-'Chink', and 'sweat'-'perspiration', that have proven resistant to truth-conditional explanations of meaning.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1108/thumbnail.jpg

It is well-known that the early assignment of prominence in sequences like THIRteen MEN vs. thirTEEN, (defined as the Rhythm Rule, or post-lexical stress shift), is an optional phenomenon. This dissertation examines some of the factors that encourage the application of stress shift in English and how it is phonetically realised. The aim is to answer two sets of questions related to why and how stress shift occurs in English: 1a) Does prosodic boundary strength influence stress shift? 1b) Does the adjacency of prominences above the level of the segmental string encourage stress shift? 2) How is stress shift realized? a) Is stress shift only a perceptual phenomenon? and b) Which syllables, if any, change acoustically when stress shift is perceived? To answer these questions, four experiments were designed. The first three experiments test whether the strength of the prosodic boundaries before and after the target word (e.g., canteen) influence stress shift. The effect of the strength of the left-edge prosodic boundary was investigated by comparing perceived stress patterns of the target (e.g., canteen) as produced in isolation where it is preceded by an utterance- and a phrase- initial prosodic boundary (the Isolated condition) with its rendition when embedded in a frame sentence (e.g., Say canteen again) where the left prosodic boundary before canteen is weaker (the Embedded condition). Results show a very clear tendency towards late phrasal prominence on the final accentable syllable (e.g., -teen in canteen) in the Embedded condition while in the Isolated condition this pattern appeared in less than half of the targets, showing that the stronger left boundary increased the incidence of stress shift. Two more experiments manipulated the strength of the boundary to the right of the target (#) respectively by changing the syntactic parse of the critical phrase (e.g. canteen cook) in sequences like (1) and by manipulating constituent length as in (2). Results showed that the syntactic manipulation significantly affected the strength of the prosodic boundary between the clashing words which was stronger in (1b) relative to (1a), and affected the incidence of stress shift, which was higher in (1a) relative to (1b). The length manipulation also affected the rate of stress shift, which was significantly higher in the phrase with the shorter word, e.g., soups (2a) relative to phrase with the longer word, e.g., supervisors (2b). (1) Example from the Syntax Experiment a. Who is the canteen (#) cook these days? (Pre-modifier + Noun) b. How do the canteen (#) cook these days? (NP + VP) (2) Example from the Length Experiment a. It should include the canteen (#) soups again. (Shorter constituent) b. It should include the canteen (#) supervisors again. (Longer constituent) Whilst we knew from the literature that the grouping of the clashing words within one Intonational Phrase (IP) encourages stress shift, results from the Syntax and Length experiments indicate that this (i.e., the phrasing of the clashing words within same IP) is not sufficient condition for the occurrence of stress shift, and that fine-grained degrees of boundary strength below the Intonational Phrase can drive changes in prominence pattern. The fact that higher rates of stress shift (and associated significant acoustic changes) were driven by manipulations of constituent length --for sequences with the same syntactic structure-- provides support for the idea that prosodic (rather than syntactic) boundaries directly influence stress shift. The fourth experiment tests the definition of stress clash in English in cases like fourteen candles where the two main lexical prominences are strictly adjacent along the time dimension, in fourteen canoes where the prominences are not adjacent in time, but adjacent at the higher levels of the metrical hierarchy, and in fourteen canteens where the main lexical prominences are not adjacent, and do not clash. This experiment highlighted and resolved an unacknowledged disagreement about what clash status sequences with one weak intervening syllable (e.g., fourTEEN caNOES). The fourTEEN caNOES type were shown to behave like metrically clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANdles) in attracting stress shift, and differently from the non-metrically-clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANTEENS) in discouraging it. These results provide empirical support for the Standard Metrical Theory (e.g. Selkirk, 1984; Nespor & Vogel, 1989) claim that 1) stress clash matters in triggering stress shift and that 2) stress clash in English is defined at the higher prosodic levels and not restricted to the level of the segmental string as indirectly assumed in a growing body of research (e.g., Vogel, Bunnel & Hoskins, 1995; Tomlinson, Liu & Fox Tree, 2014). Along with the establishment of prosodic boundary strength as one of the predictors influencing stress shift, another important contribution of the thesis is providing empirical evidence that the English Rhythm Rule is not solely a perceptual phenomenon and that it is associated with acoustic correlates. The main correlates of perceived stress shift consistently appearing across experiments is the decrease in the duration of the main lexical prominence of the target (e.g., -teen in canteen) and the increase of fundamental frequency and Sound Pressure Level peaks and on the initial syllable (e.g., canin canteen), when followed by a main clashing phrasal prominence. The acoustic analysis shows that the first accentable syllable also contributes in the perception of stress shift. This latter result does not lend support to the deletion formulation of the Rhythm Rule (Gussenhoven, 1991) which stipulates that the impressions of stress shift are solely associated with changes of prominence in the last accentable syllable of the target (e.g. -teen in canteen). Along with the determination of the acoustic correlates of perceived stress shift in English, the present research 1) indicates that fine-grained gradations of prosodic boundary strength can influence stress shift, 2) shows that while stress clash can increase the incidence of stress shift, stress shift can take place even in environments completely free of stress clash, and 3) provides evidence that stress clash should not be construed simply as the concatenation of two main lexical prominences along the time dimension.

This dissertation presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of aspects of the intonation and prosody of an Australian polysynthetic language, Bininj Gun-wok (BGW; also referred to as Mayali). The theoretical framework is autosegmental-metrical phonology, as adapted to the description of intonation by Pierrehumbert (1980); Bruce (1977) and others. The analysis focuses principally on two dialects, Kuninjku and Manyallaluk Mayali (MM), with some reference to the Kunwinjku, Kune, Gun-Djeihmi and Kundedjnjenghmi dialects.

South Kyungsang Korean is spoken in the southeastern part of Korea. The critical problems in analyzing this language are the substantial inconsistency among authors concerning tonal descriptions, and the typologically unusual tone alternation patterns, which have consequently led to vague tonal contrasts and conflicting data. Given that the majority of earlier studies on this language have been based on transcription data, there is limited physical evidence concerning these issues. This research therefore presents the phonetic realization of tonal contrasts, based on F0 production and perception experiments. It was found that there are three distinct tone classes in monosyllabic roots, and they are different in F0 height, syllable duration, and the timing of F0 peak and fall both in unsuffixed words and in suffixed words. It has been suggested, based on this acoustic evidence, that South Kyungsang Korean has three different tone contrasts in monosyllabic roots, e.g., M, H, and R, and that the different tone alternation patterns of these three tone classes in suffixed words might be the reflection of the phonetic implementation of each tone class. This work provides not only new basic facts of South Kyungsang Korean tonology, but also another way of understanding tone targets and tone alternation patterns. While clarifying the complications in a particular language, the findings in this work also contribute to debated topics of modern intonational research, concerning such as phonological and linguistic units in the F0 continuum, the temporal alignment of F0 features with segmental strings, and perception of tonal contrasts.

Young infants can discriminate a great variety of speech sounds both native and nonnative in their language environment. The focus of the perceptual reorganisation research to date has been on infants’ discrimination of nonnative segments, in particular, consonants and vowels. In tone languages (eg. Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai) phonemic distinctions are signalled not only by consonants and vowels, but also by lexical tone – consisting of variations in fundamental frequency (pitch) and related features. Although such languages are spoken by over half the world’s population, the development of lexical tone perception has been relatively neglected. This thesis addresses whether perceptual reorganisation occurs for tone in infancy. Overall, the results of experiments conducted support the hypotheses and the existence of perceptual reorganisation for tone in infancy, similar to that for consonants and vowels. Implications of the results for speech perception development theories, “tone space”, tone acquisition, and early word learning are discussed, and future studies relating to these issues suggested.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

本文主要探讨苏州话的连续变调，研究范围限定为音译词和复合词这两类多音节词。通过对苏州话语料的详细考察，本文总结出苏州话多音节词连读变调存在三层变调行为：（i）首音节尽量保留原调;（ii）第二个音节的变调与首音节的单字调有关;（iii）其余音节负载一个低平调.
本文针对舒声调为首音节的多音节词的变调规律，回答了如下问题：（i）苏州话连续变调为何存在三层变调行为，而非两层或者四层？（ii）首音节保持原调的变调行为及它较高的负载声调的能力是由什么决定的？（iii）其余音节所负载的变调是如何决定的？
经过分析，我们将苏州话的变调域确认为韵律词，其内部结构如下：每个韵律词的头两个音节构成一个左重双拍音步，剩余的音节不构成音步因而直接被韵律词所管辖。由此苏州话的三层变调行为可以通过这三类音节在韵律词中的不同地位来解释，即：（i）首音节是左重双拍步中的强音节; （ii）第二个音节是左重双拍步中的弱音节; （iii）其余音节因不属于音步而被韵律词直接管辖。
基于对苏州话韵律结构的分析，本文以优选论为框架从理论上统一解释苏州话的连续变调。首先忠实性制约条件“禁止删除强音节单字调和“禁止强音节单字调变化 解释了首音节尽量保留原调的变调行为。其次，“禁止复杂仄调“，“禁止升调“和“禁止弱音节负载仄调这些简约性制约条件解释了现今苏州话连读变调模式中不允许出现复杂仄调，升调和非首音节仄调的现象。再次，“尾音节连接低调解释了连读变调后韵律词尾音节所负载的低平调。
本文通过对音译词和复合词的分类考察，补充了前人对苏州话连读变调现象的描述。而且在以往理论研究的基础上，本文论证了苏州话的连读变调是由它的韵律结构所决定的，由此补足了苏州话变调现象的理论解释。最后，本文对苏州话的分析也进一步印证了韵律结构的层级关系和韵律单位是人类语言所共有的，但韵律单位的构建在不同语言中则各有不同。
This thesis presents an optimality-theoretic account of Suzhou tone sandhi from a prosodic perspective. By investigating transliterations and compounds, we find a three-way distinction of tone sandhi behavior within a tone sandhi domain: (i) the initial syllable has the ability to retain its citation tone; (ii) the second syllable carries a sandhi level tone related to the citation tone in the initial syllable; and (iii) the remaining syllables carry a low level tone.
Focusing on the tone sandhi patterns with initial long tones, we answer the following research questions: (i) what determines the existence of a three-way distinction of tone sandhi behavior, rather than a two-way or four-way one? (ii) what determines the tone stability and the greater tone-bearing ability of the initial syllable? and (iii) how are the sandhi tones in the non-initial syllables determined?
The tone sandhi domain in Suzhou Chinese is identified as the prosodic word, which contains a single left-headed binary foot and unfooted syllables. The three-way distinction is then captured by the three prosodic states in a prosodic word: (i) the strong syllable in the left-headed binary foot within the prosodic word, (ii) the weak syllable in this foot, and (iii) the syllables which are unfooted and immediately dominated by the prosodic word.
Based on the analysis of Suzhou prosodic structure, our account of Suzhou tone sandhi is formulated within the framework of Optimality Theory. First, ranking the positional faithfulness constraints with reference to strong syllables higher than the context-free faithfulness constraints guarantees the tone stability of the initial syllables. Second, the undominated markedness constraints which require no complex contour tone and no rising tone trigger contour tone reduction and tone redistribution. Another undominated markedness constraint which requires no contour tone in weak syllables ensures no contour tones in a weak syllable, i.e. a non-initial syllable in Suzhou Chinese. Third, the final low level tone in the sandhi patterns is determined by the markedness constraint which requires low tone assignment in the rightmost syllable of a prosodic word.
This thesis complements the descriptive studies on Suzhou tone sandhi, by adding the data of transliterations and investigating compounds according to the morphological relations. It also confirms the idea in previous theoretical studies on Chinese languages that prosodic structure governs tone sandhi, including the tone stability in strong syllables and the greater tone-bearing ability of strong syllables. This thesis further corroborates the idea in Prosodic Phonology that the prosodic hierarchy and its constituent are universal, though the precise shape of the constituent are language-specific.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Shi, Xinyuan.
"November 2012."
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstracts also in Chinese.
ABSTRACT --- p.I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.I
Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- OVERVIEW --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- PRELIMINARY: PHONETIC INVENTORIES OF SUZHOU CHINESE --- p.2
Chapter 1.3 --- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: OPTIMALITY THEORY --- p.6
Chapter 1.3.1 --- Basic principles --- p.6
Chapter 1.3.2 --- Conflicts between markedness and faithfulness --- p.9
Chapter 1.3.3 --- Alignment constraints --- p.9
Chapter 1.4 --- ORGANIZATION --- p.10
Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- INVESTIGATION OF TONE SANDHI PATTERNS IN SUZHOU CHINESE --- p.11
Chapter 2.1 --- DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES ON TONAL PHONOLOGY OF SUZHOU CHINESE --- p.11
Chapter 2.1.1 --- Citation tones --- p.11
Chapter 2.1.2 --- Tone sandhi --- p.15
Chapter 2.1.3 --- Interim summary --- p.21
Chapter 2.2 --- TONE SANDHI PATTERNS IN SUZHOU CHINESE: THE CURRENT INVESTIGATION . --- p.22
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Tone sandhi patterns in transliterations --- p.22
Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Tone sandhi patterns beginning with long tones --- p.23
Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Tone sandhi patterns beginning with short tones --- p.28
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Tone sandhi patterns in compounds --- p.32
Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- Tone sandhi patterns in compounds I: modification --- p.34
Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Tone sandhi patterns in compounds II: coordination --- p.38
Chapter 2.2.2.3 --- Tone sandhi patterns in compounds III: other morphological relations --- p.40
Chapter 2.2.2.4 --- Intra-variations in disyllabic compounds: [HL.L]~[HL.H] --- p.42
Chapter 2.2.2.5 --- Inter-speaker variations in compounds: [LL.H]~[LH.H] --- p.44
Chapter 2.2.2.6 --- Tone sandhi in a group of frequently used compounds --- p.46
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Tone sandhi in fast tempo --- p.50
Chapter 2.3 --- SUMMARY --- p.53
Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- PREVIOUS STUDIES OF TONE SANDHI IN CHINESE LANGUAGES --- p.57
Chapter 3.1 --- STUDIES OF THE REPRESENTATION OF TONE WITHIN THE SPE FRAMEWORK --- p.57
Chapter 3.1.1 --- Wang’s (1967) ground-breaking proposal of tone features --- p.58
Chapter 3.1.2 --- Woo’s (1969) proposal of decomposing contour tones --- p.59
Chapter 3.1.3 --- Yip’s (1980) proposal of two pitch heights in each register --- p.61
Chapter 3.1.4 --- Interim summary --- p.63
Chapter 3.2 --- STUDIES OF TONE SANDHI IN NORTHERN WU WITHIN THE METRICAL-AUTOSEGMENTAL FRAMEWORK --- p.64
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Duanmu’s (1990) moraic analysis of tone re-association in New Shanghai --- p.65
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Ao’s (1993) identification of tone sandhi domain in Nantong Chinese --- p.66
Chapter 3.2.3 --- Interim summary --- p.69
Chapter 3.3 --- STUDIES OF TONAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN OT FRAMEWORK --- p.71
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Jiang-King’s (1996) tone-syllable weight correlation in Northern Min --- p.71
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Zhang’s (2001) tone-duration correlation in typological survey --- p.73
Chapter 3.3.3 --- Interim summary --- p.74
Chapter 3.4 --- SUMMARY --- p.76
Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- AN OPTIMALITY THEORETICAL ACCOUNT OF TONE SANDHI IN SUZHOU CHINESE --- p.77
Chapter 4.1 --- IDENTIFYING THE TONE SANDHI DOMAIN --- p.78
Chapter 4.1.1 --- Identifying prosodic word as the tone sandhi domain --- p.78
Chapter 4.1.1.1 --- Brief introduction of the prosodic hierarchy --- p.78
Chapter 4.1.1.2 --- Prosodic categories relevant to Suzhou tone sandhi --- p.80
Chapter 4.1.1.3 --- Construction of prosodic word in Suzhou Chinese --- p.82
Chapter 4.1.2 --- Identifying morpho-syntactic unit as the tone sandhi domain --- p.86
Chapter 4.1.2.1 --- Inadequacy of identifying morphological unit as the tone sandhi domain --- p.89
Chapter 4.1.2.2 --- The relation between tone sandhi domains and morphological units --- p.91
Chapter 4.1.2.3 --- Mismatch between tone sandhi domain and syntactic unit --- p.93
Chapter 4.1.3 --- Interim summary --- p.95
Chapter 4.2 --- CONSTRAINTS ON SUZHOU TONE SANDHI PATTERNS --- p.96
Chapter 4.2.1 --- Constraints on the structure of the prosodic word --- p.96
Chapter 4.2.2 --- Constraints on tone retention --- p.99
Chapter 4.2.3 --- Constraints on contour tone prohibition --- p.101
Chapter 4.2.4 --- Constraint on tonal assignment --- p.102
Chapter 4.3 --- PREDICTING TONE SANDHI PATTERNS BY CONSTRAINT RANKING --- p.104
Chapter 4.3.1 --- Predicting tone sandhi patterns in transliterations --- p.104
Chapter 4.3.2 --- Predicting tone sandhi patterns in compounds --- p.110
Chapter 4.3.2.1 --- Intra-speaker variations in compounds: [HL.L]~[HL.H] --- p.110
Chapter 4.3.2.3 --- Inter-speaker variations in compounds: [LL.H]~[LH.L] --- p.113
Chapter 4.3.2.4 --- Tone sandhi in fast speech tempo --- p.117
Chapter 4.4 --- SUMMARY --- p.119
Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- CONCLUSION --- p.120
LIST OF REFERENCES --- p.125

This thesis is concerned with the perception and production of lexical tone. In the first experiment, categorical perception of asymmetric synthetic tone continua was examined in speakers of tonal (Thai, Mandarin, and Vietnamese) and non-tonal (Australian English) languages. It was observed that perceptual strategies for categorisation depend on language background. Specifically, Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners tended to use the central tone to divide the continuum, whereas Thai and Australian English listeners used a flat no-contour tone as a perceptual anchor; a split based not on tonal vs. non-tonal language background, but rather on the specific language. In the second experiment, tonal (Thai) and non-tonal (Australian English) language speaking musicians and non-musicians were tested on categorical perception of two differently shaped synthetic tone continua. Results showed that, independently of language background, musicians learn to identify tones more quickly, show steeper identification functions, and display higher discrimination accuracy than non-musicians. Experiment three concerns the influence of language aptitude, musical aptitude, musical memory, and musical training on Australian English speakers‟ perception and production of non-native (Thai) tones, consonants, and vowels. The results showed that musicians were better than non-musicians at perceiving and producing tones and consonants; a ceiling effect was observed for vowel perception. Musical training per se did not determine acquisition of novel speech sounds, rather, musicians‟ higher accuracy was explained by a combination of inherent abilities - language and musical aptitude for consonants, and musical aptitude and musical memory for tones. It is concluded that tone perception is language dependent and strongly influenced by musical expertise - musical aptitude and musical memory, not musical training as such.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In hierdie studie word die fonologie en die morfologie van Lobedu, 'n dialek van die Noordoostelike dialekbundel van Noord-Sotho, beskryf. Historiese gegewens, soos in hoofstuk 1 weergegee, toon aan dat die Balobedu vroeer uitgebreide kontak met die Bavenda gehad het. Die vokale van Lobedu is anders as hulle standaard ewekniee op die vokaalkaart geposisioneer. In hoofstuk 2 word aangetoon dat die vokaalsisteem in sekere opsigte met 'n vyfvokaalsisteem ooreenstem, maar nogtans oor sewe foneme beskik. Tekens van 'n verskuiwing in die rigting van die meer tipiese sewevokaalsisteem is opgemerk. Die konsonante van Lobedu word gekenmerk deur veral vier a-tipiese artikulasies: dentale klanke vervang die standaard laterale sluitklanke, retroflekse sluitklanke vervang alveolere sluitklanke, oorwegend stemhebbende sluitklanke vervang tipiese Noord-Sotho se geejekteerde klanke, en affriksie by die vrylating van retroflekse plosiewe is prominent. In hoofstuk 3 word gekonsentreer op die toonpatrone wat verskillende naamwoorde en werkwoorde kenmerk. lnteressante verskille tussen standaard Noord-Sotho en Lobedu is gedokumenteer, hoewel daar uiteraard ook heelwat ooreenkomste bestaan. In hoofstuk 4 word die oorsprong van foneme diachronies nagespeur, terwyl alle geidentifiseerde klankveranderinge in hoofstuk 5 opgeneem is. 'n Uitstaande kenmerk van Lobedu is dat die kombinasie van labiale konsonante geheel en al anders as in tipiese Noord-Sotho hanteer word. In hoofstukke 6 tot 8 word die woordkategoriee morfologies beskryf en ontleed. Kenmerke van die werkwoord in die verskillende verbale subkategoriee kom ook aan die orde: Daar word na diachroniese feite verwys ten einde die voorkoms van sekere allomorfe te verklaar, terwyl die herkoms van sekere morfeme na Venda en Tsonga teruggevoer word. Hoofstuk 9 bevat 'n gedetailleerde uiteensetting van die struktuur van die verskillende kopulatiewe. In die finale hoofstuk word tot die slotsom gekom dat Lobedu wel as 'n dialek van Noord-Sotho beskou moat word, ten spyte van aansienlike Venda-beinvloeding. Die voorkoms van a-tipiese kenmerke diskwalifiseer Lobedu nie as 'n Noord-Sotho dialek nie; indien wel, moat die status van verskeie ander Noord-Sotho dialekte ook bevraagteken word. Die Balobedu beskou hulleself as Noord-Sotho manse, en die effektiewe kommunikasie tussen die Balobedu en sprekers van Noord-Sotho bewys dat onderlinge verstaanbaarheid 'n werklikheid is
African Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikatale)