Re: A few phonetics-related q's

Trebor wrote:

> In a word like /anta/, would it be more likely that it's pronounced [anda]
> or [an_0ta]?
It might depend on other tendencies in the language.  Does assimilation in
general tend to be progressive-- i.e are there clusters of the sort /-bk-/ >
[-bg-]-- or regressive, i.e. the cluster /-bk-/ > [-pk-].

Nasal clusters however tend not to behave like stop clusters; the voicing
predominates, so I'd say [anda] is a more likely outcome.

But there are cases where nasals are lost or changed before voiceless
sounds, so even your [an_0ta] is not impossible. It would more likely lead
over time to something like [ahta] or [a?ta] or [at:a].


>
> If a language has a rule (a) /s/ is [S] before /i/ and (b) /s/ is [z]
> intervocalically, would it be more likely that a word like /asi/ be
> pronounced [azi] or [aZi] or even [aSi]?
Let's see if I can get this right.... It depends on the ordering of the
rules (that is, of the events).

Order A:  Rule l. s > S before i
Rule 2. s > z between vowels
OK: Vsi will > VSi, while Vsa, Vsu, etc. will > Vza, Vzu etc. (The first
rule removes -si from the possible environments of rule 2).  [S] and [s]
will presumably be in complementary distribution and so non-phonemic.

Order B.  Rule 1. s > z between vowels
In this case a rule "s > S before i" is impossible, since all instances
of -VsV have been changed to -VzV; if you still want the fricative
pronunciation to occur, then Rule2 will have to be "z > Z before i"  (This
all looks neater if you use distinctive feature notation)

>
> French nasal vowels can differ from their oral counterparts, cf. [i] ~
> [e~].
> Is there an articulatory/acoustic precedence for this? What are some
> oral-nasal correspondances for /i/, /e/, /A/, etc.?
>
I think that's a purely French phenomenon-- nasalized vowels all are lowered
i > E~, y > (the rounded version of E~), o > O~, some merge (e/a both > a~),
etc.  My French is limited and I can't think of an instance of nasalized
/u/, are there any???

In Portuguese, the nasalized vowels are simply that: i :: i~, u :: u~ etc.

The motivation in French might have been that since nasalized vowels derive
from closed syllables ...VN# or ...VNC..., the lowering could be due to
generalized allophonic lowering of vowels in closed syllables.


> How could vowel harmony (any type) develop in a language?
I think it's basically a form of assimilation-- one vowel takes on qualities
of a following (or preceding) vowel; then over time it becomes part of the
morpheme structure rules, i.e. "all lexemes must have harmonizing (rounded,
or front, or back, or high/low) vowels."

Sorry, no info here on African languages.

> "Oysters are a fine thing, so are strawberries: but mashed together?"
You may know that some connoisseurs hold that the proper wine with oysters
is Sauternes, extremely sweet.  I can't abide oysters, so have never put
this to the test. But Sauternes goes nicely with strawberries, so "huitres à
fraises", however outrageous, may not be impossible.  If modern chefs can
combine steak and mango, nothing is forbidden :-)))))

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