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