<OT> New Posting: ROA-715

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ROA 715-0205

Some Aspects of Prominence in Assamese and Assamese English

Shakuntala Mahanta <shakuntala.mahanta at let.uu.nl>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=715


Abstract:
This dissertation establishes the pattern of prominence
in Assamese and Assamese English. It shows for the first
time that Assamese exemplifies a left-to-right trochaic
system with an iterative binary rhythm. However, this rhythmic
profile is disturbed by the occurrence of closed syllables
deemed to be heavy.


To support our intuitive judgments of prominence in Assamese
with acoustic evidence, we conducted some experiments on
PRAAT (a computer software for speech analysis). In chapter
3, we report the preliminary experiments which reveal that
the acoustic correlate of primary prominence could very
well be syllable duration and a low tone. Moreover, our
intuitive judgments of prominence were vindicated by the
surface phonetic realization of the F0 contours in our acoustic
experiments. In a sequence of two light syllables, a distinct
low tone on the first light syllable indicated primary prominence
. In a light and heavy sequence, the F0 contour manifested
as a plateau, instead of a falling trough, indicating the
assignment of prominence to the following heavy syllable.
In addition, the syllable duration of the prominent syllable
was consistently longer than the other syllable. The fact
that vowel duration was not found to be a significant correlate
of prominence in the language is not surprising, as vowel
length is not phonemic in the language. However, a clear
picture of the correlate of secondary prominence did not
emerge. Our tentative hypothesis regarding acoustic correlates
for prominence is:


1) Syllable duration, computed after eliminating variability
dependent on utterance length.


2) Low tone associated on non-final feet, as the right edge
of the word is associated with a high tone.


In chapter 4, the pattern of prominence is analyzed within the 
framework of Optimality Theory. We rank a set of universal
constraints, to arrive at an optimality theoretic grammar
of the language. These constraints also help us to establish
the prosodic typology of the language. The language seems
to allow only moraic trochees, which consists of two types
of feet, LL (two light syllables) and H (a single heavy
syllable). This is ensured by a high ranked FEET TYPE TROCHAIC
and FEET BINARITY. While rhythmic prominence is accounted
for by the domination of PARSE SYLLABLE over ALL FEET LEFT.
Partial sensitivity to syllable weight is accounted for
by the undominated *CLASH over WSP.


Chapter 5 takes a brief look at Assamese English. It shows
that the
prominence pattern of Assamese English is identical with
that of Assamese, and the English vowel system is re-interpreted
by the Assamese speakers to fall in line with that of Assamese.


 

Comments: 
Keywords: prominence, F0, feet, Assamese
Areas: Phonology
Type: Masters Dissertation

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=715