Voicing assimilation in Catalan and English

Abstract

The present study intends to analyze the process of voicing assimilation across different speaking rates in Catalan and English. More specifically, it aims at observing and characterizing voicing assimilation when two consonants that have a different phonological specification for voicing co-occur across word boundaries. Furthermore, this study intends to evaluate current descriptive frameworks, in order to see how they account for the data obtained in the experiment. An experiment was carried out using simultaneous acoustic, electroglottographic and electropalatographic data. The sequences were of 4 types: 1) Obstruent sequences where C1 was phonologically voiceless and C2 was phonologically voiced, e.g., 'fat gap', 'this doll'. 2) Obstruent sequences where C1 was phonologically voiced and C2 was phonologically voiceless, e.g., 'sad gap', 'his toll'. 3) Sequences of sonorant plus voiceless obstruent, e.g., 'full cap', 'long sip'. 4) Sequences of voiceless obstruent plus sonorant, e.g., 'thick lap', 'this nut'. It was found that in Catalan obstruent sequences that differ in their phonological specification for voicing, speakers tend to anticipate the voicing gesture of C2 to C1, both in stop sequences and in fricative - stop sequences. Thus, the process is regressive and categorical, which is congruent with a rule of voicing assimilation in Catalan. Evidence was also found that speakers can display partial anticipation of the voicing gesture of C2, which shows that voicing assimilation may also be a gradient process in this language. Thus, the voicing assimilation rule seems to be optional. The Catalan data thus seem to reflect two different processes. On one hand, complete regressive voicing assimilation in obstruent sequences seems to be the result of a rule involving higher-level reorganization of motor commands. On the other hand, cases of partial assimilation may result from phonetic implementation factors. In English, it was found that there is no phonological rule of voicing assimilation in obstruent sequences. Rather, the coordination of oral and glottal gestures during the maximal constriction is a gradient process that may result from anticipatory overlap - sensitive to time constraints - and inertial effects . In sequences of consonants where nasals and laterals combine with obstruents, the voicing gesture seems to be switched at the transition from C1 to C2 in both languages. In addition, evidence was found for complete assimilation of voicing in Catalan obstruent - sonorant sequences, suggesting the extension of the regressive voicing assimilation rule for obstruents to these sequences, at least for some speakers. Finally, it is suggested that Articulatory Phonology and Keating's Windows Theory account for the coordination of oral and glottal gestures in Catalan and English.

Date of Award	26 Apr 2002
Original language	Undefined/Unknown
Supervisor	M. Jose Sole Sabater (Director)