Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T04:59:46.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Voice onset time in Persian initial and intervocalic stop production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2009

Mahmood Bijankhan
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Tehranmbjkhan@ut.ac.ir, norbakhsh@ut.ac.ir
Mandana Nourbakhsh
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Tehranmbjkhan@ut.ac.ir, norbakhsh@ut.ac.ir

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine voice onset time as a phonetic correlate of voicing distinction in standard Persian. Issues pertinent to VOT are also addressed: namely, the effect of place of articulation, vowel context and sex of speakers. The VOTs were measured from recordings of five male and five female speakers reading 65 words that contained a full set of Persian oral stops in word initial and intervocalic positions. This acoustic experiment indicated that VOT distinguishes voiced from voiceless stops. The results also revealed that Persian uses mainly {voiceless unaspirated} and {voiceless aspirated} categories for [±voice] distinction in initial position and {voiced} and {voiceless aspirated} categories in intervocalic position. Vowel context also affected VOT values but the only significant difference was due to high vowels, which caused the preceding voiceless stop to have a longer VOT. Examining sex differences in the VOT values indicated that for voiced items females produced longer VOTs than males. However, voiceless items displayed no significant sex differences for VOT values. Fundamental frequency (F0) of the onset of the following vowel was also examined as another cue to voice distinction. Although the F0 values of voiceless tokens were higher than those of the voiced ones in each voiced–voiceless category, the results suggest that F0 is not a major cue distinguishing the two stop categories.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Phonetic Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, Arthur S. 1977. Laryngeal timing in consonant distinctions. Phonetica 34, 295303.Google Scholar
Beckman, Jill N. & Ringen, Catherine O.. 2004. Contrast and redundancy in OT. In Schmeiser, Benjamin, Chand, Vineeta, Kelleher, Ann & Rodriguez, Angelo J. (eds.), 23rd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 23), 101–114. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Bijankhan, Mahmood & Nourbakhsh, Mandana. 2008. An acoustic analysis of uvular consonant in initial and intervocalic positions in standard Persian. Abstracts of the 1st International Conference on Languages and Dialects in Iran, 17. University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan.Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & Weenik, David. 2007. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 4.6.12) [Computer program]. http://www.praat.org/ (27 July 2007).Google Scholar
Catford, J. C. 1992. A practical introduction to phonetics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Chang, Steve S., Ohala, John J., Hansson, Gunnar & James, Benjamin. 1999. Vowel-dependent VOT variation: An experimental study. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 105 (2) pt. 2, 1400. [Abstract]Google Scholar
Cho, Taehong & Ladefoged, Peter. 1999. Variation and universal in VOT: Evidence from 18 languages. Journal of Phonetics 27, 207227.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam & Halle, Morris. 1968. The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Docherty, Gerard J. 1992. The timing of voicing in British English obstruents. Berlin: Foris.Google Scholar
Fitch, Hollis L., Halwest, Terry, Erickson, Donna M. & Liberman, Alvin M.. 1980. Perceptual equivalence of two acoustic cues for stop-consonant manner. Perception and Psychophysics 27 (4), 343350.Google Scholar
Haggard, Mark, Ambler, Stephen & Callow, Mo. 1970. Pitch as a voicing cue. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 47 (2), 613617.Google Scholar
Hayward, Katrina. 2000. Experimental phonetics. Harlow: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Heselwood, Barry & Mahmoodzade, Zahra. 2007. Vowel onset characteristics as a function of voice and manner contrasts in Persian coronal stops. Leeds Working Paper in Linguistics and Phonetics 12, 125142.Google Scholar
Hodge, C. T. 1957. Some aspects of Persian style. Language 33, 183193.Google Scholar
Holt, Lori L., Lotto, Andrew J. & Kluender, Keith R.. 2001. Influence of fundamental frequency on stop-consonant voicing perception: A case of learned covariation or auditory enhancement? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 109, 764774.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman & Halle, Morris. 1956. Fundamentals of language. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Jansen, Wouter. 2004. Laryngeal contrast and phonetic voicing: A laboratory phonology approach to English, Hungarian and Dutch. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Groningen. [Groningen Dissertations in Linguistics 47]Google Scholar
Keating, Patricia A. 1980. A phonetic study of voicing contrast in Polish. Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University.Google Scholar
Keating, Patricia A. 1984. Phonetic and phonological representations of consonant voicing. Language 60, 286319.Google Scholar
Keating, Patricia A. 1990. Phonetic representations in generative grammar. Journal of Phonetics 18, 321334.Google Scholar
Keating, Patricia A. 2003. Phonetic and other influences on voicing contrasts. 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 15), 375378.Google Scholar
Keating, Patricia A., Linker, Wendy & Huffman, Marie. 1983. Patterns in allophone distribution of voiced and voiceless stops. Journal of Phonetics 11, 277290.Google Scholar
Kingston, John, Diehl, Randy L., Kirk, Cecilia J. & Castleman, Wendy A.. 2008. On the internal perceptual structure of distinctive features: The [voice] contrast. Journal of Phonetics 36, 2854.Google Scholar
Klatt, Dennis H. 1975. Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration in word-initial consonant clusters. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 18, 686706.Google Scholar
Kohler, Klaus J. 1982. F0 in the production of lenis and fortis plosives. Phonetica 39, 199218.Google Scholar
Kohler, Klaus. J. 1985. F0 in the perception of lenis and fortis plosives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 78 (1), 2132.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, Peter. 2006. A course in phonetics, 5th edn. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, Peter & Cho, Taehong. 2001. Linking linguistic contrast to reality: The case of VOT. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague XXXI, 212225. [Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzel]Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. 1972. Une neutralisation en phonologie persane. In Barrau, Jacques, Lucien Bernot, Georges Condominas, Mariel Jean Brunhes Delamarre, Francis Leroy, Alexis Rygaloff & Jacqueline M. C. Thomas (eds.), Langages et techniques, nature et societé, 145148. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. 1992. Grammar of contemporary Persian Lyon, (S., translator). Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publisher.Google Scholar
Lehiste, Ilse & Peterson, Gordon E.. 1961. Some basic considerations in the analysis of intonation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 33, 419425.Google Scholar
Lisker, Leigh. 1975. Is it VOT or a first-formant transition detector? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 57, 15471551.Google Scholar
Lisker, Leigh. 1986 Voicing in English: A catalogue of acoustic features signaling /b/ versus /p/ in trochees. Language and Speech 29 (1), 311.Google Scholar
Lisker, Leigh & Abramson, Arthur S.. 1964. A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustic measurements. Word 20, 384422.Google Scholar
Löfqvist, Anders, Baer, Thomas, McGarr, Nancy S. & Story, Robin Seider. 1989. The cricothyroid muscle in voicing control. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 85 (3), 13141321.Google Scholar
Maddieson, Ian. 1981. UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database: Data and index (UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 53). Los Angeles, CA: University of California.Google Scholar
Mahootian, Shahrzad. 1997. Persian. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Majidi, Mohammad-Reza & Ternes, Elmar. 1999. Persian. In International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, 427461. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, Richard J., McCrea, Christopher R. & Herring, Kaileen D.. 2008. Voice onset time differences between adult males and females: Isolated syllables. Journal of Phonetics 36, 308317.Google Scholar
Nye, Gertrude E. 1955. The phonemes and morphemes of modern Persian. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Ohde, Ralph N. 1984. Fundamental frequency as an acoustic correlate of stop consonant voicing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 75, 224230.Google Scholar
Peterson, Gordon E. & Lehiste, Ilse. 1960. Duration of syllable nuclei in English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 32, 693703.Google Scholar
Pisowicz, Andrzej. 1985. Origins of the new and middle Persian phonological systems. Cracow: Jagiellonian University.Google Scholar
Qarib [Gharib], Ma'sume. 1965. Recherches sur la phonétique comparée du persan et du français contemporain. Ph.D. dissertation, Besançon.Google Scholar
Ringen, Catherine O. & Helgason, Pétur. 2004. Distinctive [voice] does not imply regressive assimilation: Evidence from Swedish. International Journal of English Studies 4 (2), 5371.Google Scholar
Robb, Michael, Gilbert, Harvey & Lerman, Jay. 2005. Influence of gender and environmental setting on VOT. Folia Phoniatrica & Logopaedica 57, 125133.Google Scholar
Ryalls, John, Zipprer, Allison & Baldauff, Penelope. 1997. A preliminary investigation of the effects of gender and race on voice onset time. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 40, 642645.Google Scholar
Samareh, Yadollah. 1992. Avashenashi-e Zabane-e Farsi [Persian language phonetics]. Tehran: University Publications Centre.Google Scholar
Smith, Bruce L. 1978. Effects of place of articulation and vowel environment on voiced stop consonant production. Glossa 12, 163175.Google Scholar
Sprouse, Ronald L., Solé, Maria-Josep & Ohala, John J.. 2008. Oral cavity enlargement in retroflex stops. 8th International Seminar on Speech Production, 429–432.Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca. 1997. Phonetics in phonology: The case of laryngeal neutralization. In Gordon, Matthew (ed.), UCLA Working Papers in Phonology 3, 25146.Google Scholar
Stevens, Kenneth N. 1999. Acoustic phonetics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Stevens, Kenneth N. & Klatt, Dennis H.. 1974. Role of formant transitions in the voiced–voiceless distinction for stops. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 55, 653659.Google Scholar
Swartz, Bradford L. 1992. Gender difference in voice onset time. Perceptual and motor skills 75, 983992.Google Scholar
Sweeting, Patricia M. & Baken, Ronald J.. 1982. Voice onset time in a normal-aged population. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 25, 129134.Google Scholar
Trubetzkoy, Nikolay S. 1969. Principles of phonology Baltaxe, (Christiane A. M., translator). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
UVPD (University of Victoria Phonetic Database). 1999. Version 4, Kay Elemetrics corp. N.J.Google Scholar
van Alphen, Petra M. & Smits, Roel. 2004. Acoustical and perceptual analysis of the voicing distinction in Dutch initial plosives: The role of prevoicing. Journal of Phonetics 32, 455491.Google Scholar
Wadnerkar, Meghan.,Cowell, Patricia & Whiteside, Sandra P.. 2006. Speech across the menstrual cycle: A replication study and extension. Neuroscience Letters 408, 2124.Google Scholar
Whiteside, Sandra P., Hanson, Anna & Cowell, Patricia. 2004. Hormones and temporal components of speech sex differences and effects of menstrual cyclicity on speech. Neuroscience Letters 367, 4447.Google Scholar
Whiteside, Sandra P., Henry, Luisa & Dobbin, Rachel. 2004. Sex differences in voice onset time: A developmental study of phonetic context effects in British English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 116, 11791183.Google Scholar
Whiteside, Sandra P. & Irving, Caroline J.. 1998. Speakers’ sex differences in voice onset time: Some preliminary findings. Perceptual and Motor Skills 85, 459463.Google Scholar
Windfuhr, Gernot L. 1979. Persian grammar, history and state of its study. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Yeni-Komshian, Grace H., Caramazza, Alfonso & Preston, Malcolm S.. 1977. A study of voicing in Lebanese Arabic. Journal of Phonetics 5, 3548.Google Scholar
Zav'jalova, V. I. 1961. K xarakteristike persidskix soglasnyx [Toward a characterization of Persian consonants]. Uchenye Zapiski Leningradskogo Pedagogicheskogo Instituta im. A. I. Gercena 294 (12), 4358.Google Scholar
Zue, Victor W. 1976. Acoustic characteristics of stop consonants: A controlled study. Sc.D. thesis, MIT.Google Scholar