In this thesis I present articulatory processes to challenge the restrictive grammar of Element Theory. Backley’s work presents the many advantages of this new grammar and its implementations in...Show moreIn this thesis I present articulatory processes to challenge the restrictive grammar of Element Theory. Backley’s work presents the many advantages of this new grammar and its implementations in phonological analyses. However; ET’s purely acoustic origins reflects signs of substantial restriction when the grammar is utilized to describe purely articulatory processes such as nasal place assimilation. In some cases a possible solution can be presented in the segmental structure where in other cases the theory as represented in Backley (2011) just reasons to be too restrictive.Show less
This thesis aims to elucidate which approach is the most advantageous in the analysis of acceptability judgments of native speakers: whether it is a categorical or a gradient approach....Show moreThis thesis aims to elucidate which approach is the most advantageous in the analysis of acceptability judgments of native speakers: whether it is a categorical or a gradient approach. Acceptability judgments have often been recognized as a relevant source of language knowledge (Chomsky, 1965; Sorace & Keller, 2005; Schütze & Schütze, 2011). Judgment elicitation procedures consist of asking speakers directly about their opinion on linguistic elements, such as sounds, words and sentences. However, interrogating participants directly about their language knowledge is not as simple as it seems. Several confounding factors, such as the order of presentation of the stimuli, and the repetition of instructions (Sprouse, 2007; Schütze, 2016) can interfere with such judgments, casting doubt on the reliability of the data. This thesis discusses some theories and methods involved in judgment elicitation procedures, in order to be able to examine whether categorical or gradient procedures are more successful in tapping into speakers’ knowledge while circumventing potentially confounding factors. Additionally, two empirical studies are discussed in detail, as examples of categorical and gradient approaches in the analysis of speakers’ innate language knowledge; one on syntax (Sprouse, 2007) and one on phonology (Turton, 2017).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The laryngeal specification of obstruents, especially in Germanic, has been the subject of extensive study. However, most work has focussed on the laryngeal contrast in stops, while fricatives have...Show moreThe laryngeal specification of obstruents, especially in Germanic, has been the subject of extensive study. However, most work has focussed on the laryngeal contrast in stops, while fricatives have received comparatively little attention. This thesis presents a detailed examination of fricatives in Germanic languages from the perspective of Element Theory (ET), which, following the ‘laryngeal realism’ approach, distinguishes between H-languages (‘aspiration languages’) and L-languages (‘voicing languages’). The results of this examination show that fricatives do not always show the same behaviour as stops. First, in laryngeal contrasts, stops can always be distinguished by a laryngeal specification, whereas this is not always the case for fricatives, as voiced fricatives are sometimes not laryngeally specified. This is particularly true in North Germanic languages, since many voiced fricatives are better described as approximants, i.e. sonorants. Furthermore, while the stops in German and Dutch employ a laryngeal contrast, fricatives are argued to possibly differ in length instead. Second, the distribution of fricatives in syllable structure does not always parallel that of stops. Fricatives are pervasive in rhymal adjunct positions, whereas stops are primarily favoured in onsets. Of the fricatives, sibilants are the most ubiquitous in the rhymal adjunct position, and can in some cases even occur in the rhymal adjuncts of empty-headed syllables.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
Secondly, ^^Directionality in sound change, the phenomenon that a segment can change into a certain other segment but not vice versa, has generally been assumed, but has not been studied...Show moreSecondly, ^^Directionality in sound change, the phenomenon that a segment can change into a certain other segment but not vice versa, has generally been assumed, but has not been studied systematically. Previous studies are mainly concerned with a general discussion on the role of phonology in sound change, often attributing directionality in sound change to phonetic bias. On the basis of a sample of 5,769 historical sound changes, the current study shows that directionality in sound change is not a prominent phenomenon in absolute terms. In general, lenition is more frequent than fortition. There are two main findings. Firstly, laterals are likely to change into approximants, but not vice versa. Secondly, an asymmetry was found for segments changing into /h/ or /ʔ/. Adopting the framework of Element Theory, a phonological analysis was presented to account for those directionality patterns. Firstly, vowel elements do not add (L)Show less
Most researchers agree that frequency plays a role during the processing or accessing of words. Hay (2001) argues that there is a type of frequency called relative frequency which has an important...Show moreMost researchers agree that frequency plays a role during the processing or accessing of words. Hay (2001) argues that there is a type of frequency called relative frequency which has an important effect on the processing of derived forms through a two-route model of morphological processing. She argues that complex forms with a frequency lower than the frequency of their base forms (e.g. uncommon) are more likely to be perceived as decomposable than a complex form with a higher frequency than the frequency of their base words (e.g. uncanny). She reports the results of an experiment which provides evidence for this view. Since it is reasonable to assume that these relative frequency effects also occur in other languages, I replicated her experiment for Dutch. The results of my experiment suggest that relative frequency effects are observed in the processing of Dutch derived forms.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis discusses the subsegmental structure of glides and liquids. These segments are characterised by two seemingly contrastive characteristcs: phonological uniformity and phonetic diversity....Show moreThis thesis discusses the subsegmental structure of glides and liquids. These segments are characterised by two seemingly contrastive characteristcs: phonological uniformity and phonetic diversity. It will become apparent that these two contrastive characteristics make glides and liquids unlike other natural classes, which instead show both phonological and phonetic uniformity. This different nature of glides and liquids makes it difficult to establish which phonological features are present in the subsegmental structure of these segments, since it will be shown that features are unable to capture both the phonological uniformity and phonetic diversity at the same time. In order to overcome this problem, this thesis will argue in favour of abandoning a feature-based approach to subsegmental structure and instead resorting to an element-based approach. Unlike features, element are able to capture phonological uniformity and phonetic diversity at the same time. Moreover, it will be shown that the phonetic details and phonological behaviour of glides and liquids supports an element-based approach.Show less
Recently, Buizza and Plug (2012) researched one particular allophone of the phoneme /t/ in RP English. This particular pronunciation of /t/, in which the /t/ receives an s-like secondary...Show moreRecently, Buizza and Plug (2012) researched one particular allophone of the phoneme /t/ in RP English. This particular pronunciation of /t/, in which the /t/ receives an s-like secondary articulation, has received little scholarly attention to date. B&P conclude that this variant of /t/ can be regarded as fortition, in the sense that this pronunciation makes the /t/ more prevalent in strong positions in the syllable. The main element of this thesis is an empirical study based on the study carried out by Buizza and Plug (2012). It consists of a small-scale reproduction of their research in which I analyse spontaneous speech using the speech-analysis programme Praat (Boersma & Weenink 2017). The goal of this thesis was twofold: (i) to see whether I obtained similar results as B&P and (ii) to extend our knowledge on this variant of the RP English /t/, which could in turn deepen our understanding on developments of the RP English /t/. In doing so, I help investigate how the distinction between fortition and lenition can be researched. I conclude that my results partly reflect the results in B&P, although the distribution of [ts] over the positions considered is slightly different. This can in part be explained by the smaller scale and by the choices that I made during the categorization of the data. I also add that, in researching sound changes such as fortition and lenition, it might be worth looking at the influence of surrounding words.Show less
![Time for /t/ - An Empirical Study of the Affricated Fortis Alveolar Plosive [ts] in RP English](/sites/all/themes/scholarly/img/closed_access.png?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=247a3cc4083c09b7a68f&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=10)
