Academic Paper |
|
|
|
|
| Title: | Low Vowels and Transparency in Kinande Vowel Harmony |
| Author: | Bryan W. Gick |
| Email: | click here to access email |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia |
| Author: | Douglas Pulleyblank |
| Email: | click here to access email |
| Homepage: | http://www.arts.ubc.ca/ling/pblk/ |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia |
| Author: | Fiona Campbell |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia |
| Ngessimo Mutaka | |
| Institution: | University of Yaounde I |
| Linguistic Field: | Phonetics; Phonology |
| Subject Language: |
Nande
|
| Abstract: | This paper addresses theoretical issues confronting cross-height harmony systems through an experimental study of Kinande, a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using a combination of acoustic analysis and lingual ultrasound imaging, we evaluate previous proposals concerning the phonetic correlates of the harmonic vowel feature and the transparency of low vowels. Results indicate that (i) although a multivalued scalar acoustic feature in F1/F2 space is not adequate to distinguish all vowel categories in Kinande, the cross-height feature does correlate acoustically with F1, (ii) the cross-height feature of Kinande involves systematic tongue-root articulations and (iii) low vowels in Kinande are not neutral to harmony in the way reported in earlier work, but exhibit significant and systematic tongue-root advancement and retraction according to the dictates of harmony. |
|
|
|
|
This article appears in Phonology Vol. 23, Issue 1, which you can read on Cambridge's site or on LINGUIST . |
|
|
|
|
Back
Add a new paper Return to Academic Papers main page Return to Directory of Linguists main page |
|
|
About LINGUIST
|
Contact Us
|
Report Broken Link
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents. |
|
