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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The data indicate that there is little tendency for voicelessness in sonorants preceding word-initial fortis stops for any of the subjects. Several instances have been noted, though, in which a slight frication noise occurs on the nasal–stop juncture. The most straightforward interpretation of this noise is that it is a short period of voicelessness before the full stop closure. The noise is quite hard to notice in auditory analysis, and can be confusing when it shows up on a spectrogram, as in Figure 4–7. 4.2.3 Word-medial and word-final fortis stops The data on CSw word-medial and word-final have been divided into five main groups, according to (i) the syllable type in which the stops occur, (ii) whether they occur in content or function words, and (iii) the syllable’s type of lexical stress. Table 4–3 displays an overview of these groups. The first group (exemplified by the word båten) contains content words in which a fortis stop occurs in a VC syllable with primary or secondary lexical stress. Examples of such words include djup ‘deep,’ båtar ‘boats,’ segelbåt ‘sail boat,’ rakt ‘straight,’ and spikrakt ‘straight as an arrow (lit. “nail”).’ In spikrakt the first syllable has primary stress and the second syllable has secondary stress. The target syllable in these examples appears in boldface. Such words will henceforth be referred to as båten type words. Table 4–3. Words used to represent the different word categories discussed in connection with the CSw data analysis. Word type exemplifier Lexical stress – 118 – Syllable type Content vs. function båten prim./sec. VC(C) content mot prim. VC function vatten prim./sec. VC / VCC content att prim. VC / VCC function norrut unstressed VC cont./func. The second group (exemplified by mot ‘against’) contains function words in which a fortis stop occurs in a VC syllable. There are only three words in the data at hand that have been assigned to this group

(although there are several tokens of each). The words are mot ‘against,’ åt ‘(un)to’ and utan ‘without, instead’ and will henceforth be referred to as mot type words. The third group (exemplified by vatten ‘water, lake’) contains content words in which a fortis stop occurs in a VC syllable with primary or secondary lexical stress. Such conditions are met in words such as upp ‘up,’ vatten, fortsätter ‘continues’ and bukt ‘bay.’ These words will be referred to as vatten type words. The fourth group (exemplified by att ‘that, to (inf. marker)’) contains function words in which a fortis stop occurs in a VC syllable. There are five words (each with several tokens) in the present data that have been assigned to this group: att, ett ‘a (indef. article),’ också ‘also,’ nåt ‘something,’ and liksom ‘like.’ Such words will be referred to as att type words. The fifth, and last, group (exemplified by norrut ‘northwards’) contains words in which a fortis stop occurs in a lexically unstressed syllable. There are both content and function words in this group and the syllable type may be either VC or VC. Examples of such words include: norrut, havet ‘the sea,’ kommit ‘(have) come’ and inåt ‘inwards.’ Such words will henceforth be referred to as norrut type words. In some cases, a stop that occurs word-medially in a postvocalic context is excluded from the analysis. This applies to contexts in which the stop occurs after a morpheme boundary (e.g. in påtår ‘second helping’ and otaliga ‘many, uncountable’) and in which the stop occurs before a stressed vowel (e.g. hotell ‘hotel’ and afrikanskt ‘African’). These types of context trigger the production of the type of stop that occurs word-initially rather than word-medially. 4.2.3.1 Data overview In total, the five word types discussed in the preceding section yielded 1051 sequences of CSw word-medial and word-final vowel + fortis stops (see Table 4–4). In 960 cases, the subjects produced a full stop closure, allowing measurements of preaspiration and, if a vowel followed, postaspiration. In 48 cases, the subjects did not produce a full closure, which made it impossible to obtain measurements of pre- and postaspiration. In a further 29 cases, no identifiable stop correlates were – 119 –

(although <strong>the</strong>re are several tokens of each). The words are mot ‘aga<strong>in</strong>st,’<br />

åt ‘(un)to’ <strong>and</strong> utan ‘without, <strong>in</strong>stead’ <strong>and</strong> will henceforth be referred to<br />

as mot type words.<br />

The third group (exemplified by vatten ‘water, lake’) conta<strong>in</strong>s<br />

content words <strong>in</strong> which a fortis stop occurs <strong>in</strong> a VC syllable with primary<br />

or secondary lexical stress. Such conditions are met <strong>in</strong> words such<br />

as upp ‘up,’ vatten, fortsätter ‘cont<strong>in</strong>ues’ <strong>and</strong> bukt ‘bay.’ These words<br />

will be referred to as vatten type words.<br />

The fourth group (exemplified by att ‘that, to (<strong>in</strong>f. marker)’) conta<strong>in</strong>s<br />

function words <strong>in</strong> which a fortis stop occurs <strong>in</strong> a VC syllable. There are<br />

five words (each with several tokens) <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> present data that have been<br />

assigned to this group: att, ett ‘a (<strong>in</strong>def. article),’ också ‘also,’ nåt ‘someth<strong>in</strong>g,’<br />

<strong>and</strong> liksom ‘like.’ Such words will be referred to as att type<br />

words.<br />

The fifth, <strong>and</strong> last, group (exemplified by norrut ‘northwards’) conta<strong>in</strong>s<br />

words <strong>in</strong> which a fortis stop occurs <strong>in</strong> a lexically unstressed syllable.<br />

There are both content <strong>and</strong> function words <strong>in</strong> this group <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

syllable type may be ei<strong>the</strong>r VC or VC. Examples of such words <strong>in</strong>clude:<br />

norrut, havet ‘<strong>the</strong> sea,’ kommit ‘(have) come’ <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>åt ‘<strong>in</strong>wards.’ Such<br />

words will henceforth be referred to as norrut type words.<br />

In some cases, a stop that occurs word-medially <strong>in</strong> a postvocalic<br />

context is excluded from <strong>the</strong> analysis. This applies to contexts <strong>in</strong> which<br />

<strong>the</strong> stop occurs after a morpheme boundary (e.g. <strong>in</strong> påtår ‘second help<strong>in</strong>g’<br />

<strong>and</strong> otaliga ‘many, uncountable’) <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> which <strong>the</strong> stop occurs before<br />

a stressed vowel (e.g. hotell ‘hotel’ <strong>and</strong> afrikanskt ‘African’). These<br />

types of context trigger <strong>the</strong> production of <strong>the</strong> type of stop that occurs<br />

word-<strong>in</strong>itially ra<strong>the</strong>r than word-medially.<br />

4.2.3.1 Data overview<br />

In total, <strong>the</strong> five word types discussed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> preced<strong>in</strong>g section<br />

yielded 1051 sequences of CSw word-medial <strong>and</strong> word-f<strong>in</strong>al vowel +<br />

fortis stops (see Table 4–4). In 960 cases, <strong>the</strong> subjects produced a full<br />

stop closure, allow<strong>in</strong>g measurements of preaspiration <strong>and</strong>, if a vowel followed,<br />

postaspiration. In 48 cases, <strong>the</strong> subjects did not produce a full closure,<br />

which made it impossible to obta<strong>in</strong> measurements of pre- <strong>and</strong> postaspiration.<br />

In a fur<strong>the</strong>r 29 cases, no identifiable stop correlates were<br />

– 119 –

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