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Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...

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author. Fur<strong>the</strong>r details on <strong>the</strong> map-task speech materials are found <strong>in</strong> sections<br />

4.2.1 (CSw) <strong>and</strong> 4.3.1 (Faroese).<br />

4.1.1.2 SOFI data — Gräsö <strong>and</strong> Western Ål<strong>and</strong><br />

The speech materials analysed for <strong>the</strong> Swedish Gräsö <strong>and</strong> Western<br />

Ål<strong>and</strong> dialects were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from <strong>the</strong> SOFI archives (ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed by<br />

Department of dialectology at <strong>the</strong> Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics<br />

<strong>and</strong> Folklore Research <strong>in</strong> Uppsala, Sweden). These record<strong>in</strong>gs consist of<br />

on-location <strong>in</strong>terviews with subjects, carried out <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1960’s <strong>and</strong> 70’s.<br />

This material, <strong>the</strong>refore, consists of unscripted (spontaneous) speech.<br />

The <strong>in</strong>terviews were carried out <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> subjects’ own homes, by various<br />

<strong>in</strong>terviewers. The record<strong>in</strong>gs differ <strong>in</strong> quality depend<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> resonance<br />

characteristics of <strong>the</strong> record<strong>in</strong>g location, as well as <strong>the</strong> level of background<br />

noise. Information on <strong>in</strong>dividual subjects <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir record<strong>in</strong>gs is<br />

provided <strong>in</strong> sections 4.5.1 (Gräsö) <strong>and</strong> 4.6.3.1 (Ål<strong>and</strong>).<br />

The SOFI data were transliterated <strong>and</strong> word-labelled partly by <strong>the</strong><br />

author <strong>and</strong> partly by a native Swedish speaker 1 . Segmentation of <strong>the</strong> relevant<br />

stop data was carried out by <strong>the</strong> author.<br />

4.1.2 Segmentation <strong>and</strong> measurement criteria<br />

Lisker <strong>and</strong> Abramson (1964) <strong>in</strong>troduced voice onset time, VOT, as a<br />

parameter for describ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> voic<strong>in</strong>g conditions <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> production of a<br />

stop. VOT is a measure of when voice onset occurs relative to a stop’s<br />

release. A negative VOT implies that voic<strong>in</strong>g is <strong>in</strong>itiated before <strong>the</strong> stop<br />

is released, which means that <strong>the</strong> stop will be voiced or have a voic<strong>in</strong>g<br />

lead. A positive VOT implies that voic<strong>in</strong>g is <strong>in</strong>itiated after <strong>the</strong> stop is released,<br />

which leads to <strong>the</strong> production of a postaspirated stop. As a parallel<br />

to this, voice offset time, VOffT, has been used to describe <strong>the</strong> tim<strong>in</strong>g<br />

relations of voice offset relative to <strong>the</strong> stop closure gesture when preaspiration<br />

is produced (cf., e.g., Engstr<strong>and</strong> 1987b, P<strong>in</strong>d 1982, 1995).<br />

The measurements of <strong>the</strong> present data have made use of VOT <strong>and</strong><br />

VOffT with a small modification. Through auditory analysis of <strong>the</strong> preaspiration<br />

data, it has become clear that a full voice offset does not have<br />

to occur to achieve a preaspiration percept. Instead, it seems that <strong>in</strong>tro-<br />

1 A student of l<strong>in</strong>guistics at Stockholm University.<br />

– 107 –

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