Speaker: Amy Li (MIT)
Title: Searching for Phonetic Correlates of Velar Palatalization
Time: Monday, November 18th, 5-6:30pm
Location: 32-D831
Abstract: In this presentation, I will discuss a collection of experiments (completed, ongoing, and proposed) that relate to the following central question: what phonetic properties set apart a language undergoing velar palatalization from a language not undergoing the change at a particular time?. I plan to discuss the following:
- A recent experiment I conducted comparing acoustic properties between a language that has undergone velar palatalization (Mandarin) and a language that has not (Cantonese).
- Shao et al. (2023), which compares acoustic properties and EMA articulation trajectories within one language (Italian) across two contexts, one which involves velar palatalization and one which does not. The leading hypothesis supported by statistical analysis so far is that closure duration or closure ratio (ratio of closure duration to total duration) of velar stops is shorter or lower in languages/contexts that palatalize than in other languages/contexts. However, the details relating closure ratio/duration to the articulation change involved in velar palatalization remain to be worked out.
- Finally, I will propose new acoustic and articulation experiments that further explore this and other hypotheses.