Review: Asu, Eva Liina, Pärtel Lippus, Karl Pajusalu, Pire Teras. “Eesti keele hääldus” ("The pronunciation of the Estonian language"). Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2016. (Eesti keele varamu II). 288 pp. (original) (raw)

Comparing palatography patterns of Estonian consonants across time

2015

The few known palatographic studies on Estonian consonants date back to the 1970s, and no research in articulatory phonetics has been practised throughout the following four decades. Recently, the Estonian EPG corpus was recorded using a contemporary EPG system. In the paper we introduce first results on contemporary palatography patterns of Estonian sonorants and compare these to results from Arvo Eek’s seminal studies in the 1970s.

The Acoustic Characteristics of Monophthongs and Diphthongs in the Kihnu ­Variety of Estonian

Linguistica Uralica, 2012

A Ab bs st tr ra ac ct t. . This paper presents the first acoustic study of monophthongs and diphthongs in the Kihnu variety of Estonian. The focus is on six diphthongs which have arisen after the diphthongization of long open and mid vowels. The comparison of their components with monophthongs revealed that the target values of the diphthongs are close to the corresponding monophthongs. There was some variation due to coarticulatory influences between the diphthong components. It was shown that the duration of both target vowels in the diphthong is longer in the third quantity than in the second quantity. The analysis also revealed that there is an acoustic basis for postulating the existence of two triphthongs in Kihnu. Formant trajectory length proved to be a useful measure for comparing monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs.

Spectral properties of Estonian palatalization

ICPhS, 2019

This paper studies Estonian palatalization by describing the spectral centre of gravity (COG) of palatalized and non-palatalized Standard Estonian consonants [l t n s]. 43 subjects were asked to read carrier sentences in which palatalization differentiated meaning in minimal pairs. COG was measured from the beginning and middle of the consonant. When compared to non-palatalized [s], the COG of palatalized fricative was lower in the beginning; by the midpoint the values were similar. For palatalized [t] and [n] the COG was lower than in non-palatalized productions in both of the measurement points. Palatalized [l] had higher COG values throughout the consonant. There was a significant gender and vocalic context effect on the COG of the palatalized consonant.

Estonian word prosody on the Procrustean bed of morae

Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics (ESUKA – JEFUL), 9(1), 209-244, 2018

The paper analyses existing moraic conceptions of Estonian quantity. Main features of functional, generative and phonetically-instructed moraic accounts of Estonian are considered. In most generative accounts, morae simultaneously represent several layers of functionally and structurally diverse information. This brings along a considerable increase in formal analytical machinery and internal controversies. In a structural functional framework, morae can be used to formalise the prosodic contrast of long and short stressed syllables in Estonian. Its relevance is traced in actual functioning of the prosodic system. This contrast is built upon the segmental contrast of short and long phonemes and, in turn, serves as a basis for a contrast of two distinctive foot accents, light and heavy. As an example, a formal morphonological algorithm of calculating Estonian foot accents, which also shows the place of a syllable weight contrast, is proposed in the paper.

Intonational phonology of Estonian statements with low level nuclei. Speech, Music and Hearing

This paper investigates low level nuclei in Estonian statements. The intonational phonology of such nuclei is discussed on the basis of tightly controlled data where it appears that similar low level accents occur also in prenuclear position. This leads to the conclusion that the most appropriate analysis is to treat such nuclei as low targets (L*) preceded by a high unstressed syllable (H).

An acoustic study of the Estonian Swedish lateral [ɬ]

This pilot study investigates the Estonian Swedish (ES) voiceless lateral [ɬ], which is rare among the Scandinavian dialects and is a development mainly of historic /sl/ clusters. Six elderly ES speakers were recorded, and the phonological and phonetic (duration, relative intensity) properties of [ɬ] studied and compared to other ES consonants and [ɬ] in Icelandic. The results suggest that ES [ɬ] is a single consonant rather than a consonant cluster. It behaves much like initial [s] in duration, although a tendency to anticipatory voicing in its latter part may point to its 'approximant' status. Furthermore, ES [ɬ] is similar in intensity to the Icelandic [ɬ]. It has a phonemic status and it can be both short and long. Laterals as well as other phonetic aspects of ES are in urgent need of further research.