Silence and the sounds surrounding it

Astrid Kraehenmann
Aditi Lahiri Henning Reetz Marion Jaeger

...the fundamental aspect of music is duration. The only characteristic which both sound and silence share is duration. Silence is important, as it is the opposite of sound and, therefore, a necessary partner of sound.
Cage (1977:81) on Erik Saties use of pauses in his music

Freudental

July 3, 2004

Erik Satie (1866-1925)

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Outline
1. Manuscripts of Notker der Deutsche (950-1022) reflecting Old Alemannic (OHG) phonology 2. Acoustics of New High Alemannic (Swiss German) a) production data revealing phonological patterning and supporting length representation b) perception data revealing importance of primary cue 3. Articulation of phrase-initial length contrast a) a strong argument for length representation b) a strong argument against a functionalist view of phonology 4. Summary of main points
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Claims
Notkers writings reflect a very recently established length contrast in word-initial dental stops The acoustics of the present-day Swiss German contrast a) beg for a uniform phonological representation in all word positions b) are the only correlates being relied on in perception The articulation of the phrase-initial length contrast is upheld against considerable odds

Notkers Anlautgesetz
<b d g> <p t k> after sonorant sounds elsewhere

Notkers Anlautgesetz
n du ugen begnnet h pegnne du snna gt er frrost kt

begin

suggests an allophonic alternation Martianus Capella manuscript

Codex Sangallensis 872, 11th cent.
5 6

go

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Notkers Anlautgesetz
Un!de dz keluben Uus mg tz sn? tz ter tg pegnda S mnig tg ist

this

day

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Notkers Anlautgesetz
PGmc source *b *g *d *th Total 451 313 142 3635 violating Anlautgesetz 12 (2.6%) 5 (1.6%) 97 (68.3%) 114 (4.2%) Swiss German correspondence /p/ (almost all) /k/ (all) /tt/ (all) /t/ (almost all)

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Notkers Anlautgesetz
PGmc source *b *g *d *th spelling <b~p> <g~k> < t > <d~t> follow Swiss German Anlautgesetz correspondence yes yes no yes /p / /k / /tt/ /t/

Notkers Anlautgesetz: summary

1. a systematic difference in spelling for word-initial dental stop: from *th > adherence to Anlautgesetz, alternating from *d > non-adherence to Anlautgesetz, non-alternating 2. a systematic difference in present-day correspondence: *th lenis /t/ *d fortis /tt/ What was Notkers phonological system? What is the basis for the allophonic alternation and the non-alternation?
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Notkers phonological system

1st Consonant Shift Rhotasization West Germanic Gemination 2nd Consonant Shift bb dd gg > pp tt kk Defricativization of *th

Notkers phonological system

alternation is between short and long: / p t k / > [ pp tt kk ] syntactic gemination non-alternation for underlying length: / tt / > [ tt ]

no distinctive voicing within fricatives no vcl short stops left no distinctive voicing left push chain shift *d < t > tt

Corroborating evidence for analysis: correspondence to present-day descending systems only the dentals show this patterning later loan word incorporation leading to extension of contrast to labials and velars
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only length is still contrastive word-medially and word-finally

Swiss German obstruents

(Kraehenmann 2003) pp p ff f pf tt t ss s ts kk k xx x kx

Swiss German stops word-medially

CD CD CD

SS S

[sippE] [sipE]

[mattE] [matE]

[jakkE] [jakE]

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CD

CD

CD

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Swiss German stops word-finally

Swiss German stops word-initially: V#_

[alpp] [xalp]

[altt] [valt]

[vkk] [v:k]

[ppa:R] [pa:R]

[ttaNkx] [taNkx]

[kka:R] [ka:R]

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Intervocalic: V_V
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

long short

Sonorants: S_V
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

long short

Mean closure duration (ms)

171

107

*
47 58

148

*
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Mean closure duration (ms)

137 90

*
116 44

*
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*
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V#_V \ttaNkx\ \taNkx\

V_V \mattE\ \matE\

VV_#V \tta:tt\ \Ra:t\

S#_V \ttaNkx\ \taNkx\

S_V \hoRttE\ \hoRtE\

S_#V \altt\ \valt\

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Swiss German stops word-initially: C #_

Obstruents: C_V
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

long short

Mean closure duration (ms)

76

67

78

76

[ppa:R] [pa:R]

[ttaNkx] [taNkx]

[kka:R] [ka:R]

C#_V \ttaNkx\ \taNkx\

C_V \akxtE\

C_#V \heft\

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Obstruents: V_C
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

long short

Summary acoustics: within phrase

maintenance of phonological and acoustic length in intersonorant context neutralization of phonological and acoustic length if an obstruent is adjacent
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Mean closure duration (ms)

77

82

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V#_C (\psyxE\)

V_C \Svips\

VV_#C \tta:tt\ \Ra:t\

V# __V
R N C O R N R N O R N N R C O R N

S# __V
R N O R N

X X X X X V V C V

X X X X V V C V

X X X X X V S C V

X X X X V S C V

tsv a i
two

a Nkx

tsv a i
two

t a Nkx
thanks
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f i l
a lot of

a Nkx

f i l
a lot of

t a Nkx
thanks
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tanks

tanks

C# __V
R N C O R N N R C O R N

Summary acoustics-phonology: interaction within phrase

maintenance of phonological and acoustic length whenever the extra position of a geminate can be syllabified neutralization of phonological and acoustic length when only one of the geminate positions can be syllabified
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X X X X X X V S C C V

X X X X X V S C C V

e l f
eleven

a Nkx

e l f
eleven

t a Nkx
thanks

tanks

Swiss German stops phrase-initially

Phrase-initial stops
no CD measurement is possible because no detectable starting point of closure

?
\sippE\ \ppa:R\

[ppa:R]?[pa:R] [ttaNkx]?[taNkx] [kka:R]?[ka:R] [pa:R] [taNkx] [ka:R]

?
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But can it be perceived?

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Perception results
100 80
63

p = 0.1075
60 64 63 46 48

Summary acoustics: phrase edges

maintenance of phonological and acoustic length word-finally

% correct

60 40 20 0

? neutralization word-initially
cannot be perceived

pp p

tt

kk k
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is it produced?
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O R N X X X C V

__V
O R N X X C V C O R N X X V

__V
O R N X X C V

a Nkx

t a Nkx
thank
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a Nkx

t a Nkx
thank
40

tank

tank

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Phonetically driven Phonology

The functionalist view (e.g. Hayes 1999): Phonological processes occur in order to make sounds > easier to articulate (production) > and/or easier to recognize acoustically (perception) if a distinction cannot be heard, a speaker has every reason not produce it
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Electropalatography
(Kraehenmann & Jaeger 2003)

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V# /tt/

/tt/

V# /t/

/t/

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44

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Articulation
Mean gesture duration (ms)
240 200 160 120 80 40 0
78 149 228

/tt/ /t/

Summary articulation: phrase-initially

maintenance of length contrast yes

*
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72

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V# _

[ _

C# _

the phonological distinction is articulated, but cannot be perceived in the acoustic signal advantage of articulation in this special case: a period of silence becomes measurable
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O R N X X X C V

__V

Conclusion
A functionalist view of phonology cannot explain the phonology-phonetics interaction of Swiss German stops: > phonological length correlates with acoustic length

> phonological length is implemented in articulation, i.e. longer closure gesture > analysis is fully compatible with representation in terms of length, but incompatible with a moraic representation
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> phonological length correlates with the

articulatory gesture of closure

> phrase-initially, articulation and acoustics

are not isomorphous, but functionalism would predict this
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a Nkx

tank

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Conclusion
A moraic representation of length cannot explain why > long segments in all word positions pattern the same > word-initial geminates are also articulated longer phrase-initially Acoustic correlates of a phonological distinction can be non-identical to articulatory correlates Historical data is not just orthographic
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Selected references
Abramson, A.S., 1986. The perception of word-initial consonant length: Pattani Malay, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 16, 8-16. Abramson, A.S., 1987. Word-initial consonant length in Pattani Malay, International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 11, 68-70. Abramson, A.S., 1991. Amplitude as cue to word-initial consonant length: Pattani Malay, International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 12, 98-101. Abramson, A.S., 1999. Fundamental frequency as cue to word-initial consonant length: Pattani Malay, International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 14, 591-594. Braune, W. & Mitzka, W., 1967. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. Tbingen: Niemeyer. Fulop, S., 1994. Acoustic correlates of the fortis/lenis contrast in Swiss German plosives, Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics 16, 55-63. Hayes, B., 1999. Phonetically driven phonology: the role of OT and Inductive Grounding, in M. Darnell et al. (eds.), Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics , 243-285. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Iverson, K.G. & J.C. Salmons, 1995. Aspiration and laryngeal representation in Germanic, Phonology 12, 369-396. Jellinek, M.H., 1897. Zu Notkers Anlautsgesetz, Anzeiger fr deutsches Altertum 41, 84-87. Kohler, K.J., 1984. Phonetic explanation in phonology: the feature fortis/lenis, Phonetica, 41, 150-174. Kienle, R. von, 1969. Historische Laut- und Formenlehre des Deutschen. Tbingen: Niemeyer.
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Kraehenmann, A. & Jaeger, M., 2003. Phrase-initial geminate stops: evidence for phonological representation, Proceedings of the 15th ICPhS , 2725-2728. Kraehenmann, A., 2001. Swiss German stops: Geminates all over the Word, Phonology 18.1, 109-145. Moulton, W.G., 1979. Notkers Anlautgesetz, in I. Rauch & G.F. Carr (eds.) Linguistic Method: Essays in Honor of Herbert Penzl , 242-251. The Hague: Mouton. Moulton, W.G., 1987. Zum Konsonantismus des Althochdeutschen: orthographisch, phonologisch pdagogisch, in R. Bergmann et al. (eds.) Althochdeutsch , 72-85. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. Page, R., 1999. On Notkers Anlautgesetz, in G. Carr et al. (eds.) Interdigitations: essays for Irmengard Rauch , 305-309. New York: Peter Lang. Penzl, H., 1955. Zur Erklrung von Notkers Anlautsgesetz, Zeitschrift fr deutsches Altertum 86, 196-210. Penzl, H., 1968. Die Phoneme in Notkers alemannischem Dialekt, in F.A. Raven et al (eds.) Germanic Studies in Honor of Edward Henry Sehrt , 133-150. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press. Penzl, H., 1971. Lautsystem und Lautwandel in den althochdeutschen Dialekten . Munich: Max Hueber. Steraide, D. 1997. Phonetics in phonology: the case of laryngeal neutralization. Ms., University of California, Los Angeles. Weinberg, I., 1911. Zu Notkers Anlautgesetz. Tbingen: M.C.B. Mohr.

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