Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Volume 41 Issue 1

Issue of Phonetica

Submit manuscript

Contents
Journal Overview

Paper

November 19, 2009

An Ethological Perspective on Common Cross-Language Utilization of F₀ of Voice

John J. Ohala

Page range: 1-16

Abstract

The author suggests that the following seemingly disparate phenomena have an underlying relationship: (a) cross-language similarities in the intonation contours for statements versus questions, (b) cross-cultural similarities in the vocal expression via intonation of attitude and affect, (c) cross-language patterns in the use of tone, vowels, and consonants in ‘sound symbolic’ vocabulary, (d) cross-species use of F₀ in threatening or non threatening vocalizations, (e) cross-cultural and cross-species use of certain facial expressions (involving distinct mouth shape), and (f) the existence of sexual dimorphism in the vocal anatomy of humans (and certain non humans). He argues that all arise due to an innately specified ‘frequency code’, which associates high acoustic frequency with the primary meaning of ‘small vocalizer’ and thus such secondary meanings as ‘subordinate, submissive, non threatening, desirous of the receiver’s goodwill, etc’ and associates with low acoustic frequency the primary meaning of ‘large vocalizer’ and such secondary meanings as ‘dominant, aggressive, threatening, etc’

November 19, 2009

F₀ Timing in Danish Word Perception

Nina Thorsen

Page range: 17-30

Abstract

(1) When vowel and consonant duration cues are ambiguous between /ku·lÓ™/ and /kulÓ™/ an early F₀ rise, relative to the vowel-consonant boundary, will tend to favor identification of stimuli as /ku lÓ™/, while a later F₀ rise increases the number of /kulÓ™/ judgments somewhat. (2) When vowel duration cues are ambiguous between /’bilisd/ and /bi’lisd/ an F₀ rise before the intervocalic consonant will significantly increase the number of/’bilisd/ identifications, whereas an F₀ rise after the consonant yields more judgments of /’bilisd/. The latter result corroborates the acoustic observation that initial voiced consonants in stressed syllables dissociate tonally from the vowel and join up with the preceding material, if any, to the effect that tonally the stress seems to begin with the vowel.

November 19, 2009

Vowel Intrinsic Pitch in Connected Speech

Robert Ladd, Kim E.A. Silverman

Page range: 31-40

Abstract

We investigated whether ‘intrinsic pitch’ (IP) effects occur in connected speech. Fundamental frequency differences between German high and low vowels were measured in two different experimental conditions: (1) a typical laboratory task in which a carrier sentence served as a frame for test vowels; (2) a paragraph reading task in which test vowels occurred in a variety of prosodic environments. By comparing test vowels in comparable segmental and prosodic environments, it was shown that the IP effect does occur in connected speech, but that the size of the differences between high and low vowel fundamental frequency is somewhat smaller than in carrier sentences. Some tentative hypotheses are presented concerning the influence of prosodic environment on the magnitude of IP differences.

November 19, 2009

Zur Frage des visuellen und phonologischen Zugangs zum mentalen Lexikon

Stefan Gfroerer, Hartmut Günther, Leonhard Weiss

Page range: 41-49

Abstract

In a lexical decision experiment we investigated whether the mental lexicon is accessed directly by a visual code or by phonological mediation. Subjects were asked to make lexical decisions where phonological coding was either beneficial or detrimental. It was found that subjects used phonological coding when it was helpful and abandoned this strategy when it was a hindrance. These results support the hypothesis that lexical decisions can be based on variable coding operations. The fact that subjects were faster in classifying words when they did not rely on phonological codes is consistent with the assumption of faster visual access to the mental lexicon. Taken as a whole, these results are consistent with models which assume phonological coding to take place after lexical access as well as with models postulating parallel access to the mental lexicon. They are not compatible with models postulating mandatory prelexical phonological coding.

Further Section

Publicly Available November 19, 2009

Libri

Page range: 50-59

Download PDF

Publicly Available November 19, 2009

Publications Received for Review

Page range: 60-60

Download PDF

About this journal

Aims & Scope
Contemporary interdisciplinary research on phonetics employs a wide range of approaches, from instrumental measures to perceptual and neurocognitive procedures, to computational modelling, for investigating the properties and principles of phonetics in communicative settings across the world’s languages. It also ranges across styles, types of language users, and communicative modalities (speech, sign, song). Phonetica is an international forum for phonetic science that covers all aspects of the subject matter, from phonetic and phonological descriptions, to articulatory and signal analytic measures of production, to perception, acquisition, and phonetic variation and change. Phonetica thus provides a platform for a comprehensive understanding of producer-perceiver interaction across languages and dialects, and of learning throughout the lifespan and across contexts. Papers published in this journal report expert original work that deals both with theoretical issues, new empirical data, and innovative methods and applications that help to advance the field.

Article formats
- Research Article
- Review Article
- Discussion
- Book Notice
- Book Discussion

Phonetica was published by Karger Publishers up to and including 2020. If you or your institution subscribed to Phonetica during that period, you might still have access to the volumes published by Karger on the Karger platform if you cannot access them here. To explore options of getting access on the DeGruyter platform, please contact orders@degruyter.com.