Positional Effects on the Characterization of Ejectives in Waima’a

Stevens, Mary and Hajek, John (2008): Positional Effects on the Characterization of Ejectives in Waima’a. Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, 22. - 26. September 2008. Interspeech <9, 2008, Brisbane> (ed.) , In: Proceedings of Interspeech 2008, [Bonn]: ISCA. pp. 1124-1127

Abstract

This paper presents results from an ongoing investigation into stop consonants in Waima’a, focusing on the issue of tense v. lax ejectives. Sources tend to describe ejectives in a given language as either tense or lax; however ejectives in Waima'a, do not fit squarely into either category [4]. Here we compare ejectives in word-initial and word-medial contexts, to specifically address the role of word-position in the tense/lax distinction. Results show that word-position affects the duration of all stop types analyzed, i.e. unaspirated, postaspirated, & ejective stops. Variability amongst the ejective tokens suggests that the notion of a tense/lax dichotomy should be replaced instead with that of a tense/lax continuum.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)
• Keywords: ejectives, stop contrasts, tense, lax, Waima'a
• Faculties: Languages and Literatures > Department 2 > Speech Science
• Subjects: 400 Language > 400 Language
• Place of Publication: [Bonn]
• Language: English