Full-text resources of CEJSH and other databases are now available in the new Library of Science.
Visit https://bibliotekanauki.pl

Results found: 3

first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last

Search results

Search:
in the keywords:  devoicing
help Sort By:

help Limit search:
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
|
2016
|
vol. 14
|
issue 1
15-29
EN
The study investigates the perception of devoicing of English /w, r, j, l/ after /p, t, k/ as a word-boundary cue by Polish listeners. Polish does not devoice sonorants following voiceless stops in word-initial positions. As a result, Polish learners are not made sensitive to sonorant devoicing as a segmentation cue. Higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency Polish learners of English participated in the task in which they recognised phrases such as buy train vs. bite rain or pie plot vs. pipe lot. The analysis of accuracy scores revealed that successful segmentation was only above chance level, indicating that sonorant voicing/devoicing cue was largely unattended to in identifying the boundary location. Moreover, higher proficiency did not lead to more successful segmentation. The analysis of reaction times showed an unclear pattern in which higher-proficiency listeners segmented the test phrases faster but not more accurately than lower-proficiency listeners. Finally, #CS sequences were recognised more accurately than C#S sequences, which was taken to suggest that the listeners may have had some limited knowledge that devoiced sonorants appear only in word-initial positions, but they treated voiced sonorants as equal candidates for word-final and word-initial positions.
EN
Maltese is a peripheral dialect of Arabic heavily influenced by Sicilian and Italian (see e.g. Krier 1976). Maltese is believed by some to be an offshoot of Sicilian Arabic, but this is subject to debate in the literature (see Isserlin 1977; Brincat 1995; Agius 1996; La Rosa 2014; Avram forthcoming). A characteristic of Maltese phonology is the devoicing of obstruents in word-final position (Cohen 1966; Borg 1975, 1997b). The present paper looks into the possible origins of this phonological rule, i.e. whether it may have been inherited from Sicilian Arabic, whether it is the outcome of an internal development or whether it is a change triggered by contact with Sicilian and Italian. The evidence examined includes transcriptions of personal names and place-names in Greek and Latin documents (see e.g. Cusa 1868; Caracausi 1983; Avram 2012, 2016, forthcoming), the earliest texts in Maltese, and early Arabic loanwords in Sicilian (De Gregorio & Seybold 1903). Also discussed are insights provided by research on language contacts (see e.g. Thomason & Kaufman 1988) and on second language phonology (see e.g. Flege & Davidian 1984; Fullana & Mora 2009). It is suggested that, as in other peripheral dialects of Arabic, word-final obstruent devoicing in Maltese is a contact-induced change.
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.