Bengali ( /baŋla/) is an Indo-European language (Indic branch) spoken by over 175 million people in Bangladesh and eastern India (Dasgupta 2003: 352; Lewis 2009). The speech illustrated below is representative of the standard variety widely spoken in Dhaka and other urban areas of Bangladesh.

The place of articulation of the Korean plain affricate /c/ and the obstruents /t, s/ is articulatorily and acoustically examined in the intervocalic positions /a―a, a―i, a―u/ taken from four subjects in three dialects. The articulatory data of direct palatograms and linguograms have shown that in these contexts, the plain affricate is not post-alveolar as usually assumed in the literature, but alveolar, just like the alveolar consonants /t, s/, despite some speaker variation regarding the active articulator (tip, blade, anterodorsum). The examination of LPC data has also shown that the affricate is alveolar, like the consonants /t, s/, both for its stop part and for its frication part. The phonetic results are then confirmed by the review of Skalicková's (1960) palatogram of the affricate, and the comparison of X-ray data of the affricate /c/ to those of the Korean obstruents /t, s/ (Skalicková 1960), the Korean vowel /i/ (Han 1978) and post-alveolars in other langauges such as Czech (Danes et al. 1954) and Polish (Wierzchowska 1980). Based on the present phonetic results, we propose that, following IPA usage, the Korean plain affricate is transcribed as /ts/.

In this illustration, we present a transcription and discussion of the variety of English spoken by people of European descent in New Zealand. Locally, such people are referred to as being Pākehā, using the Māori word. Pākehā speech is illustrated here in the speech of three educated women. Thus some of the features which might be expected from New Zealanders do not occur in these recordings, although the speakers are all clearly New Zealanders.

The Welsh language has a complex vowel inventory with up to thirteen monophthongs and the same number of diphthongs. According to descriptive reports, systematic differences are found between the two main varieties of Welsh, Northern and Southern Welsh (Ball & Williams 2001, Jones 1984). However, few studies have attempted to verify these claims instrumentally, and little is known about the acoustic properties of Welsh vowels. The present study is the first systematic acoustic investigation of the monophthongs and diphthongs of Northern and Southern Welsh and includes measurements of formant trajectory length and spectral rate of change for the diphthongs (Fox & Jacewicz 2009).

The results largely confirm claims about contrastive vowel categories in Northern and Southern Welsh. In contrast to auditory-based accounts, however, pairs of Northern Welsh vowels were found to differ, not only in terms of duration, but also vowel quality. The diphthongs, in turn, revealed interesting cross-dialectal differences in spectral dynamics across their trajectories. The results have implications for notions of contrastivity in languages with large vowel inventories.

Particular voice qualities are often associated in people's minds with particular languages. This is evident in the literature which has been covered and reviewed by Laver (1975: Ch. 2). These qualities have been variously referred to with such terms as ‘organic basis or basis of articulation’ (Sweet, 1906: 74), ‘articulatory setting’ (Honikman, 1964), ‘a quasi-permanent quality’ (Abercrombie, 1967: 91) and ‘voluntary long-term muscular settings of the larynx and vocal tract’ (Laver, 1970: 525).

This paper aims to examine spatio-temporal variability during the production of the lingual consonants /t, d, s, z, k, g l, n, XXX/ in a sample of Greek spontaneous speech. It provides a description of the range of segmental variability and explores the relationship between articulatory and temporal variability. It also discusses instances of common connected speech processes including assimilations and deletions. Data from two Greek speakers producing a monologue was recorded with the technique of electropalatography (Reading EPG system). The results indicated that segmental variability ranges over a continuum from over-articulated to under-articulated forms, i.e. fully articulated tokens to very open articulations. In addition, duration dependent variability was found to be a function of the production characteristics of the consonant. Evidence of both gradient and categorical changes in spontaneous speech were suggested by the data and are discussed with reference to current theoretical frameworks.

Cypriot Greek is the dialect of Modern Greek spoken on the island of Cyprus by approximately 650,000 people and also by the substantial immigrant communities of Cypriots in the UK, North America, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. Due to lengthy isolation, Cypriot Greek is so distinct from Standard Greek as to be often unintelligible to speakers of the Standard. Greek Cypriot speakers, on the other hand, have considerably less difficulty understanding Greeks, since Standard Greek is the official language of Cyprus, and as such it is the medium of education and the language of the Cypriot media. However, in every day situations Cypriot Greek is the only variety used among Cypriots. Cypriot Greek is not homogeneous but exhibits considerable geographical variation (Newton 1972). The variety described here is that used by educated speakers, particularly the inhabitants of the capital, Nicosia. Although influenced by increasing contact with Standard Greek, Cypriot Greek retains most of its phonological and phonetic characteristics virtually intact. There is no established orthography for Cypriot Greek; however, certain, rather variable, conventions have emerged, based on Greek historical orthography but also including novel combinations of letters in order to represent sounds that do not exist in the Standard (e.g. σι for [∫]); a version of these conventions has been adopted here for the sample text. The transcription is based on the speech of an educated male speaker from Nicosia in his mid-thirties, who read the text twice at normal speed and in an informal manner, he also assisted in rendering the text from Standard to Cypriot Greek.

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.

Traditionally, phonological theory has held that the CV syllable is the basic syllable type across the world's languages. Recently however, Breen & Pensalfini (1999) have challenged the primacy of the CV syllable in phonological theory with data from Arrernte, an Aboriginal language spoken in central Australia. In this study, we set out to see if there is any acoustic phonetic basis to Breen & Pensalfini's claim. We examine real-word data from one speaker of Arrernte, five speakers of English, and three speakers each of Yanyuwa and Yindjibarndi (these are two other Aboriginal languages). Using F2 and F3 measures of the consonant, and locus equation measures, we find that CV does show more stability than VC in the English speakers' data, but that for the Aboriginal language speakers' data, there is a parity between the CV and VC measures. We suggest that this greater parity may be a necessary constraint on languages which have multiple places of articulation (six in the case of the Aboriginal languages studied here). We propose an alternative view of suprasegmental organization, and we suggest that more work is needed in order to understand the phonetic bases of suprasegmental structure.

As Ladefoged (1999) points out in his description of American English, there is considerable diversity in the phonetic characteristics of English spoken in North America, such that the commonly used phrase ‘General American English’ is not entirely meaningful. The description of American English provided by Ladefoged was based on a southern California dialect. The purpose of this report is to augment that account with a brief description of southern Michigan speech patterns. According to Labov and colleagues (e.g. Labov, Yeager & Steiner 1972, Labov 1994), southern Michigan, particularly in its urban areas, is part of a relatively large dialect region in the inland northeast United States called ‘Northern Cities’. According to Labov, the Northern Cities dialect cuts an irregular swath through a chain of cities in the inland northeast extending, roughly, from upstate New York (e.g. Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo), through northern Ohio (e.g. Cleveland, Toledo), southern Michigan (e.g. Detroit, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids), northwest Indiana (e.g. Gary, Hammond), northeast Illinois (e.g. Chicago, Rockford) and south-central Wisconsin (e.g. Milwaukee, Madison). Speakers from neighboring regions such as northwest Vermont, northwest Pennsylvania, and north-central/northeast Indiana appear to show some features of the dialect. Labov contends that the vowel shifts that characterize the Northern Cities dialect are observed in their most advanced forms in the largest urban areas of the region, such as Detroit, Buffalo, and Rochester.

The present study is an electropalatographic and acoustic investigation of the fricatives /s, f/ and the affricates /ts, dz, tf, d[zcy ]/ based on data from five speakers of Majorcan Catalan and five speakers of Valencian Catalan. Results show that the articulatory characteristics of fricatives and affricates agree in several respects: the sounds traditionally labeled /f/ and /tf, d[zcy ]/ are alveolopalatal, and are articulated at a less anterior location, are less constricted and show more dorsopalatal contact than the alveolars /s/ and /ts, dz/; the two place categories are closer to each other in Valencian than in Majorcan. Compared to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates are more anterior and more constricted, and show less dorsopalatal contact. Data also show that closure location for /tf, d[zcy ]/ occurs at the alveolar zone, and that articulatory differences among affricates are better specified at frication than at closure. Strict homorganicity between the stop and frication components of affricates appears to hold provided that constriction location at frication is compared with place of articulation at closure offset. In comparison to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates were shorter, and exhibited a longer closure and a shorter frication period, in Majorcan; in Valencian, on the other hand, closures were shortest for /d[zcy ]/, and frication was systematically longer for voiceless vs. voiced affricates. These duration data appear to conform to a universal trend in Valencian but not in Majorcan where voiced affricates are lengthened intentionally. In both Catalan dialects, vowel duration varies inversely with the duration of the affricate and of its closure and frication components. The implications of these articulatory and duration characteristics for the interpretation of sound changes affecting affricates, i.e. place merging, lenition and devoicing, are discussed.

Georgian is a Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language spoken by 4 to 5 million people in the Republic of Georgia, with small diaspora communities spread out in a few republics of the former Soviet Union, Iran, and Turkey. Shanidze (1973) distinguishes six groups of Georgian dialects: Dasavluri (Imeruli, Guruli, Rachuli, Lechkhumuri); Ingilouri; Kartlur-Kakhuri (Kartluri, Kakhuri, Javakhuri, Meskhuri, Kizikuri); Mtiulur-Pshauri (Mtiulur-Gudamakruli, Pshauri); Pkhouri (Khevsuruli, Mokheuri, Tushuri); and Samkhret-Dasavluri (Acharuli, Imerkheuli). The Kartluri dialect is considered the basis of standard or literary Georgian. It is spoken in Kartli, an eastern Georgian province where Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, is located. Standard literary Georgian is discussed here. One male speaker from Tbilisi (the second author) was consulted for all the data presented in the illustration.

Goizueta is a small town in northwestern Navarre, Spain, bordering Gipuzkoa. According to the most recent official figures, it has slightly over 800 inhabitants, about 95% of whom speak Basque (2001, Instituto de Estadística de Navarra). All inhabitants (except for young children) also speak Spanish. In the school system standard Basque and, to a lesser extent, Spanish are used. Older speakers (those born before 1970 or so) were educated exclusively in Spanish. The local Basque dialect, however, enjoys very high prestige among its speakers, and this is the linguistic variety that is most commonly used in everyday interaction within the town.

This study's objective is to identify the vibratory phase characteristics and corresponding laryngeal configurations of a series of phonation types common in current phonetic usage. The phonation types examined are categorized auditorily following the articulatory framework established by Laver (1968, 1975, 1976, 1980), the general phonetic theory of Abercrombie (1967), and the systematic nomenclature for phonation types provided by Catford (1964). The primary phonation types in this taxonomy are compared laryngographically to determine their larynx waveform characteristics, based on the auditorily controlled performance of a single phonetically trained subject, and are described visually from laryngoscopic observation. This study is intended as a means of establishing a basis for further work in which a larger inventory of speakers of known background and a wider variety of possible phonatory combinations are examined. These preliminary comparisons suggest a set of relationships between phases of the vocal fold vibratory cycle and laryngeal configuration, expressed in terms of contrasting systems of stricture, and support a number of predictions that have been made in the literature on phonatory mechanisms.

Tone is usually described by starting height and direction of movement, but in languages with a crowded tonal space, multiple tones can have similar contours. Even in languages with few tones, details of contour shape may be used by listeners for tone identification. This study examines the effectiveness of using coefficients from polynomial equations to explore small differences in pitch contour shape and to convey this information for statistical analysis. Pitch contours for three tones from Green Mong are used as test cases. All three tones have low falling contours, but each has a distinctive phonation type. Using coefficients, large numbers of tokens can be compared to find consistencies in contour shape within tone categories and differences across categories. Discriminant analyses using the coefficients as predictor variables show that all three tones can be identified at levels well above chance using pitch contour shape alone. Quadratic coefficients improve classification rates over linear coefficients. The results also suggest that phonation type plays the largest role in identifying creaky tones in Green Mong. This technique should prove useful for analysis and synthesis of pitch contours. It seems particularly useful for examining details of contour shape in languages with a crowded tonal space.

In this study, we determine the acoustic correlates of primary and secondary stress in Tongan. Vowels with primary stress show differences in f0, intensity, duration, F1, and spectral measures compared to unstressed vowels, but a linear discriminant analysis suggests f0 and duration are the best cues for discriminating vowels with primary stress from unstressed vowels. Vowels with secondary stress are mainly marked by differences in f0 relative to unstressed vowels. With regard to the effects of stress on the vowel space, we find that all five Tongan vowels are higher in the vowel space (have lower F1) when unstressed. Moreover, there is no reduction in the overall size of the vowel space. We interpret this pattern as evidence that unstressed vowels in Tongan are not prone to centralization, vowel reduction, or undershoot. The results, however, are consistent with a sonority expansion account (Beckman, Edwards & Fletcher 1992), whereby stressed vowels are lowered to enhance sonority.

Tyneside English (TE) is spoken in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city of around 260,000 inhabitants in the far north of England, and in the conurbation stretching east and south of Newcastle along the valley of the River Tyne as far as the North Sea. The total population of this conurbation, which also subsumes Gateshead, Jarrow, North and South Shields, Whitley Bay, and Tynemouth, exceeds 800,000. The transcription is based on the speech of a 24-year old speaker who has lived all of her life in the Tyneside area, mostly in the Walker area of Newcastle. It should be noted that there is considerable phonetic variation in TE as a function of speaker age, sex and socioeconomic class, such that some of the features discussed in this illustration do not apply to the speaker in question; conversely, the speaker uses certain pronunciations which are not necessarily representative of the TE-speaking community as a whole (see Docherty & Foulkes 1999, Watt & Milroy 1999, Watt 2000).

This paper examines the acoustic characteristics of the Cibaeño Dominican Spanish ‘pre-aspirated’ trill. The data are based on narrative speech of ten native speakers from the Cibao region. The findings reveal that the segment is most often produced as a period of pre-breathy voice followed by a single tap, [hr]. The second most frequently occurring production involves pre-breathy voice and a trill. The term pre-breathy-voiced vibrant is proposed as a more appropriate characterization of the Cibaeño Dominican Spanish trill.

The use of High Rising Terminal intonation contours (HRTs) in statements is a particularly salient and often stigmatized feature of a number of varieties of English. In recent years a number of linguists have investigated the feature from pragmatic (ching 1982, Meyerhoff 1991) and sociolinguistic (Guy, Horvath, Vonwiller, Diasley and Rogers 1986, Allen 1990, Britain 1992) perspectives and its use has also stimulated long running debates in the press (New York Times, Fall 1991; Sydney Morning Herald, June 1992) about its origins, functions and appropriateness. In this paper, we combine a brief discussion of its use and dunction with a F0-plot analysis of a number of HRT contours from recordings made in Wellington, New Zealand in 1989.