Ian Clayton - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ian Clayton
Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic, have also been anecdo... more Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic, have also been anecdotally observed in the English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. This paper presents the first sociophonetic study of preaspirated stops in Hebrides English. Analysis of speech produced by 24 male and female Gaelic-English bilinguals aged 19-75 found that, while most participants produced at least some tokens of preaspiration, only older female speakers from the island of Lewis preaspirated the majority of their voiceless stops. These findings suggest that preaspiration is both geographically concentrated in Lewis and an obsolescent feature in Hebrides English generally. The effects of place of articulation, vowel quality, and stress on the duration and frequency of preaspiration are also discussed.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2013
ABSTRACT Scottish Gaelic, an endangered Celtic language, demonstrates alternations in word-initia... more ABSTRACT Scottish Gaelic, an endangered Celtic language, demonstrates alternations in word-initial consonants, as in "pòg" [phok] 'kisses' vs "phòg" [fok] 'kissed.' This process, called lenition, leads to apparent neutralizations of Gaelic segments, for example of the [f] of " phòg" with [f] of "foghlam" [foɫəm] "education," which is not caused by lenition. A perception experiment can show whether listeners hear any residual difference between lenited segments (e.g., [f]<-[ph]) and the phonetically similar segments ([f]<-[f]). This project used a gating study to investigate when in the word listeners determine which type of sound they are hearing. Preliminary results from 17 native Gaelic listeners indicate that listeners cannot distinguish lenited from phonetically matched consonants (e.g., the two types of [f]) from cues in the consonant itself, but can distinguish both from the unlenited phonologically matched consonants (e.g., [ph]) very accurately. Listeners become able to distinguish lenited from phonetically matched segments (the two types of [f]) during either the following vowel or the segment after that, depending on what coarticulatory cues with the latter parts of the word are available. Thus, listeners need enough acoustic information to provide lexical disambiguation in order to determine the morphological source of lenited sounds.
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic (Ní Chasaide 1985, Cla... more Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic (Ní Chasaide 1985, Clayton 2010, Nance & Stuart-Smith 2013), have also been reported in the English spoken in the Hebrides island chain (Borgstrøm 1940, Wells 1982, Shuken 1984). However, a detailed description of preaspiration in Hebrides English has previously been unavailable. This paper presents the results of a phonetic study of preaspirated voiceless stops in Hebrides English, based on the speech of 24 English–Scottish Gaelic bilinguals from nine regions within the Hebrides island chain. The paper describes the effect of linguistic features on the duration and frequency of preaspiration, including place of articulation, word position, and vowel context. The paper also considers the role of social factors, including speakers’ geographic origin, age, and gender, finding that preaspiration is more frequent among women and among older speakers, especially older female speakers from Lewis. The paper conclude...
Page 1. 1 Preaspirated Stops: a perceptually “suboptimal” phonological structure?Ian Clayton Univ... more Page 1. 1 Preaspirated Stops: a perceptually “suboptimal” phonological structure?Ian Clayton University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill LASSO 2009 September 26 Brigham Young University Page 2. 2 1. Introduction (1) Some ...
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.
Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic, have also been anecdo... more Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic, have also been anecdotally observed in the English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. This paper presents the first sociophonetic study of preaspirated stops in Hebrides English. Analysis of speech produced by 24 male and female Gaelic-English bilinguals aged 19-75 found that, while most participants produced at least some tokens of preaspiration, only older female speakers from the island of Lewis preaspirated the majority of their voiceless stops. These findings suggest that preaspiration is both geographically concentrated in Lewis and an obsolescent feature in Hebrides English generally. The effects of place of articulation, vowel quality, and stress on the duration and frequency of preaspiration are also discussed.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2013
ABSTRACT Scottish Gaelic, an endangered Celtic language, demonstrates alternations in word-initia... more ABSTRACT Scottish Gaelic, an endangered Celtic language, demonstrates alternations in word-initial consonants, as in "pòg" [phok] 'kisses' vs "phòg" [fok] 'kissed.' This process, called lenition, leads to apparent neutralizations of Gaelic segments, for example of the [f] of " phòg" with [f] of "foghlam" [foɫəm] "education," which is not caused by lenition. A perception experiment can show whether listeners hear any residual difference between lenited segments (e.g., [f]<-[ph]) and the phonetically similar segments ([f]<-[f]). This project used a gating study to investigate when in the word listeners determine which type of sound they are hearing. Preliminary results from 17 native Gaelic listeners indicate that listeners cannot distinguish lenited from phonetically matched consonants (e.g., the two types of [f]) from cues in the consonant itself, but can distinguish both from the unlenited phonologically matched consonants (e.g., [ph]) very accurately. Listeners become able to distinguish lenited from phonetically matched segments (the two types of [f]) during either the following vowel or the segment after that, depending on what coarticulatory cues with the latter parts of the word are available. Thus, listeners need enough acoustic information to provide lexical disambiguation in order to determine the morphological source of lenited sounds.
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic (Ní Chasaide 1985, Cla... more Preaspirated voiceless stops, a well-documented feature of Scottish Gaelic (Ní Chasaide 1985, Clayton 2010, Nance & Stuart-Smith 2013), have also been reported in the English spoken in the Hebrides island chain (Borgstrøm 1940, Wells 1982, Shuken 1984). However, a detailed description of preaspiration in Hebrides English has previously been unavailable. This paper presents the results of a phonetic study of preaspirated voiceless stops in Hebrides English, based on the speech of 24 English–Scottish Gaelic bilinguals from nine regions within the Hebrides island chain. The paper describes the effect of linguistic features on the duration and frequency of preaspiration, including place of articulation, word position, and vowel context. The paper also considers the role of social factors, including speakers’ geographic origin, age, and gender, finding that preaspiration is more frequent among women and among older speakers, especially older female speakers from Lewis. The paper conclude...
Page 1. 1 Preaspirated Stops: a perceptually “suboptimal” phonological structure?Ian Clayton Univ... more Page 1. 1 Preaspirated Stops: a perceptually “suboptimal” phonological structure?Ian Clayton University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill LASSO 2009 September 26 Brigham Young University Page 2. 2 1. Introduction (1) Some ...
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.
English World-Wide
This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spok... more This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.