This paper reconciles the standpoint that language users do not aim at improving their sound systems with the observation that languages seem to improve their sound systems. If learners optimise their perception by gradually ranking their cue constraints, and reuse the resulting ranking in production, they automatically introduce a PROTOTYPE EFFECT, which can be counteracted by an ARTICULATORY EFFECT. If the two effects are of unequal size, the learner will end up with a sound system auditorily different from that of her language environment. Computer simulations of sibilant inventories show that, independently of the initial auditory sound system, a stable equilibrium is reached within a small number of generations. In this stable state, the dispersion of the sibilants of the language strikes an optimal balance between articulatory ease and auditory contrast. Crucially, these results are derived within a model without any goal-oriented elements such as dispersion constraints.

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The evolution of auditory dispersion in bidirectional constraint grammars

Structure in talker-specific phonetic realization: Covariation of stop consonant VOT in American English

This paper examines four acoustic properties (duration F0, F1, and F2) of the monophthongal vowels of Iberian Spanish (IS) from Madrid and Peruvian Spanish (PS) from Lima in various consonantal contexts (/s/, /f/, /t/, /p/, and /k/) and in various phrasal contexts (in isolated words and sentence-internally). Acoustic measurements on 39 speakers, balanced by dialect and gender, can be generalized to the following differences between the two dialects. The vowel /a/ has a lower first formant in PS than in IS by 6.3%. The vowels /e/ and /o/ have more peripheral second-formant (F2) values in PS than in IS by about 4%. The consonant /s/ causes more centralization of the F2 of neighboring vowels in IS than in PS. No dialectal differences are found for the effect of phrasal context. Next to the between-dialect differences in the vowels, the present study finds that /s/ has a higher spectral center of gravity in PS than in IS by about 10%, that PS speakers speak slower than IS speakers by about 9%, and that Spanish-speaking women speak slower than Spanish-speaking men by about 5% (irrespective of dialect).

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Context-specific acoustic differences between Peruvian and Iberian Spanish vowels.

Sociophonetic inquiry into sexuality and the voice has often focused on the perception of men’s sexuality on the basis of disembodied voices. However, inconsistencies across these studies limit our ability to unite their findings into a cohesive model of gay-sounding speech. This paper focuses on variability among gay-sounding speakers by analyzing the voices of female-to-male transgender individuals, or trans men. Trans men who make use of testosterone typically experience a significant drop in vocal pitch, yet may maintain stylistic traits acquired while living in a female social role. An acoustic and perceptual analysis of trans and non-trans men’s voices reveals that even as trans men may be perceived as gay-sounding, their sociolinguistic styles also differ from those of gay-sounding non-trans men. These findings support the notion that gay-sounding speech does not constitute a single phonetic style, but rather numerous deviations from the hegemonic norm.

Hegemonic masculinity and the variability of gay-sounding speech: The perceived sexuality of transgender men

Do differences in male versus female /s/ reflect biological or sociophonetic factors?

Results of an acoustic study of voiceless fricatives in seven languages are presented. Three measurements were taken: duration, center of gravity, and overall spectral shape. In addition, formant transitions from adjacent vowels were measured for a subset of the fricatives in certain languages. Fricatives were well differentiated in terms of overall spectral shape and their co-articulation effects on formant transitions for adjacent vowels. The center of gravity measurement also proved useful in differentiating certain fricatives. Duration generally was less useful in differentiating the fricatives. In general, results were consistent across speakers and languages, with lateral fricatives displaying the greatest interlanguage variation in their acoustic properties and /s/ providing the greatest source of interspeaker variation.

/pdf/a-cross-linguistic-acoustic-study-of-voiceless-fricatives-3uzdj4w2mq.pdf

A cross-linguistic acoustic study of voiceless fricatives

This work presents results of an acoustic study of fricatives in 7 languages (Aleut, Chickasaw, Hupa, Montana Salish, Scottish Gaelic, Toda, and Western Apache), all of which contrast fricatives made at several places of articulation. Measurements of the frequency of spectral peaks and centroid frequencies indicate many similarities between the languages in the acoustic properties defining the fricatives. Some of the principal findings are the following. Alveolar sibilants typically have the highest spectral peak and centroid frequency. Lateral and palatoalveolar fricatives have spectral peaks and centroids intermediate in frequency between alveolar sibilants and backer fricatives. Among the back fricatives, peaks and centroids of uvulars are characteristically lower than those of velars. Rounding of back fricatives induces further lowering of peaks and/or centroids. Contrasts in backness and rounding among the back fricatives are also associated with differences in F2 of the following vowels: F2 values a...

Paul Barthmaier

Papers

A cross-linguistic acoustic study of voiceless fricatives

A cross‐linguistic acoustic study of fricatives