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

Lenis Fortis Fortis
geminate singleton geminate
Bilabial gabba gapa happa
Dental gadda gata hattur
Palatal haggi haki bakki
Velar hagga haka hakka
Each of these words was recorded once for each subject. Thus a total
of 144 observations were made, 48 for each of three stop categories: reflexes
of ON lenis geminates (e.g., gabba), fortis singletons (e.g., gapa)
and fortis geminates (e.g., happa). Indriðason et al. measured vowel
duration, preaspiration duration (where applicable), stop occlusion duration,
and postaspiration duration (i.e., VOT). Regarding their segmentation
criteria, it appears that voice offset and voice onset were used to delimit
the onset of preaspiration and the cessation of postaspiration, respectively.
Thus, the periods of breathy voice that often precede a preaspiration
and follow a postaspiration were apparently not considered.
As expected, the results of Indriðason et al. showed that both the
lenis geminates and the fortis geminates are produced similarly by
Northern and Southern speakers with regard to aspiration. Thus all the
speakers lack both preaspiration and postaspiration in gabba type words,
and all speakers produce happa type words with long preaspiration intervals
and without postaspiration. However, the Northern and Southern
speakers differed in their production of reflexes of ON fortis singletons
(e.g., gapa). 1 The results of the measurements of Indriðason et al. for
these stops is shown in Table 4–16.
Two main differences are apparent. First, the vowels of the Northern
speakers are considerably shorter than those of the Southern speakers.
Second, the mean postaspiration durations (i.e., VOTs) for the Northern
speakers are considerably longer than those for the Southern speakers.
As noted, these measurements do not include the breathy voice interval
that tends to be present in the vowel following a postaspirated stop.
Therefore, the degree to which the Northern Icelandic speakers postaspirate
their word-medial fortes may be underestimated.
1 As described in section 3.2, postaspiration also occurs after nasals and, in some cases,
after laterals. However, such contexts are not considered in Indriðason et al. (1991).
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