Conventional treatments of vowel harmony processes routinely make two important assumptions: first, only vowels are implicated in the harmonic process and second, the phonologically relevant harmony features have a transparent (intrinsic) phonetic interpretation (IPI). Consonants are typically treated only insofar as they interfere with such harmony (van der Hulst & van der Weijer 1995 provide a concise overview of harmony processes and their interpretation). Phonetic data on ‘advanced tongue root’ [ATR] harmony in the Tugen dialect of Kalenjin appears to challenge both these assumptions.

It is often thought that the ability to use prosodic features accurately is mastered in early childhood. However, research to date has produced conflicting evidence, notably about the development of children's ability to mark prosodic boundaries. This paper investigates (i) whether, by the age of eight, children use temporal boundary features in their speech in a systematic way, and (ii) to what extent adult listeners are able to interpret their production accurately and unambiguously. The material consists of minimal pairs of utterances: one utterance includes a compound noun, in which there is no prosodic boundary after the first noun, e.g. ‘coffee-cake and tea’, while the other utterance includes simple nouns, separated by a prosodic boundary, e.g. ‘coffee, cake and tea’. Ten eight-year-old children took part, and their productions were rated by 23 adult listeners. Two phonetic exponents of prosodic boundaries were analysed: pause duration and phrase-final lengthening. The results suggest that, at the age of 8, there is considerable variability among children in their ability to mark phrase boundaries of the kind analysed in the experiment, with some children failing to differentiate between the members of the minimal pairs reliably. The differences between the children in their use of boundary features were reflected in the adults' perceptual judgements. Both temporal cues to prosodic boundaries significantly affected the perceptual ratings, with pause being a more salient determinant of ratings than phrase-final lengthening.

The mid-frequencies and bandwidths of formants 1–5 were measured at targets, at plus 0.01 s and at minus 0.01 s off the targets of vowels in a 100-word list read by five male and five female speakers, for a total of 3390 10-variable spectrum specifications. Each of the six Polish vowel phonemes was represented approximately the same number of times. The 3390* 10 original-data matrix was processed by probabilistic neural networks to produce a classification of the spectra with respect to (a) vowel phoneme, (b) identity of the speaker, and (c) speaker gender. For (a) and (b), networks with added input information from another independent variable were also used, as well as matrices of the numerical data appropriately normalized. Mean scores for classification with respect to phonemes in a multi-speaker design in the testing sets were around 95%, and mean speaker-dependent scores for the phonemes varied between 86% and 100%, with two speakers scoring 100% correct. The individual voices were identified between 95% and 96% of the time, and classifications of the spectra for speaker gender were practically 100% correct.

The present study explores the phonetic and phonological grounds on which postalveolar fricatives in Polish can be analysed as retroflex, and considers whether postalveolar fricatives in other Slavic languages are retroflex as well. Velarization and incompatibility with front vowels are introduced as articulatory criteria for retroflexion, based on cross-linguistic data. According to these criteria, Polish and Russian have retroflex fricatives (i.e., /[small s with hook]/ and /[small z with retroflex hook]/), whereas Bulgarian has a laminal palatoalveolar fricative ((/[small Esh]/). In addition, it is illustrated that palatalization of retroflex fricatives in Slavic languages (and in general) causes a phonetic and phonological change to a non-retroflex fricative.

Several researchers have noted that intervocalic consonants are unusually long in Navajo (Sapir & Hoijer 1967, Young & Morgan 1987, McDonough & Ladefoged 1993). This paper explores intervocalic consonant duration in the Lheidli dialect of Dakelh (Carrier) in order to determine whether the long intervocalic consonants found in Navajo are characteristic of other Athabaskan languages as well. It is shown that Lheidli intervocalic consonants are substantially longer overall than (a) consonants in other positions within Lheidli, (b) vowels within Lheidli, and (c) singletons and geminates in other non-Athabaskan languages. Furthermore, intervocalic consonant duration is at least in part a function of morphological structure, with intervocalic consonants lengthening to signal a stem morpheme boundary. The data presented here provide new evidence for the existence of a language-specific phonetic component of grammar as well as for the interaction between phonetics and morphology.

Ibibio is a Lower Cross (Delta Cross, Cross River, New Benue-Congo, Niger-Congo) language spoken mainly in Akwa Ibom State and in parts of Cross River State, both located in the southeastern part of Nigeria. The number of speakers is estimated at about four million (Essien 1991). Previous work on Ibibio phonetics includes Connell (1992, 1994, 1995) and Urua (1996/97, 2000, 2002). The variety presented here is spoken in Uruan area and Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom State and the recording is that of the author, a female university teacher from Uruan.

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by 53 million speakers in India, according to census figures from 1991, predominantly in the state of Tamil Nadu. There are also sizeable communities of Tamil speakers elsewhere, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, in all of which it has the status of a national language. Tamil is diglossic, the formal or ‘literary’ variety still largely conforming to standards set in the thirteenth century by the Tamil grammarian Pavanandi. It is used in almost all written media, and also for certain high-register functions. In all other situations colloquial Tamil is used and is characterized by considerable regional and social variation.

Italian is spoken in Italy, in parts of Switzerland and Croatia, and in diaspora communities across the world. The standard language as spoken in Italy has three main regional varieties: Northern, Central and Southern. But contemporary ‘mainstream Italian’ – not following the standard in all respects – appears to be a variety under construction by speakers wishing to give themselves a national appeal, a process driven by the media and by workplace mobility. Our speaker is representative of this group. She is a woman in her thirties who was brought up in a middle-class household in Rome, and has travelled extensively in Italy and abroad. She aims at a cultivated accent with no strong regional features, sometimes called a ‘RAI’ accent (RAI /rai/ is the national broadcaster). The style she uses is a somewhat coloured ‘storytelling’ style.

The International Phonetic Association's by-laws recognize as Life Members those members who have paid membership dues over 30 years. The awarding of Life Membership is intended to honour the impressive records of service of long-time IPA members and to acknowledge their contribution in a symbolic and in a practical way.