Peak timing in two dialects of Connaught Irish (original) (raw)
Related papers
Speech Prosody 2016, 2016
Connaught and Ulster Irish (Gaelic) use two diverse intonation patterns in declaratives: Connaught typically uses a sequence of falling (H*+L) accents, while Ulster typically employs a sequence of rising (L*+H) accents. In this paper the Fujisaki model is used to simultaneously capture the timing and scaling of these nuclear (i.e. IP-final) accents with the timing (T) and amplitude (Aa) accent command parameters. The speech materials include a set of simple declaratives with a nuclear syllable followed by 0, 1 and 2 tail syllables (henceforth N0, N1 and N2). The results demonstrate that the nuclear accents in both Connaught and Ulster Irish are sensitive to tail length with respect to timing but not scaling. Thus, the f0 inflection is timed earlier, i.e. pushed leftwards, in the absence of a tail. The scaling is rather impervious to tail length. The timing and scaling parameters of the accent command were compared with hand-measured contour-derived measurements. Overall, high correlations between the two sets of measurements indicate that the Fujisaki model adequately captures the finegrained aspects of the nuclear accent realisation in varying tail length conditions.
Nuclear accents in four Irish (Gaelic) dialects
Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of …, 2007
In this paper the distribution of nuclear accents in declaratives of four major dialects of Irish is described. The findings show considerable variation, particular between northern and southern dialects. Speakers of the northern dialect of Donegal show a propensity for rising ...
Syllable onsets in Irish English
WORD
This study is intended to present a unified discussion of a number of phenomena which are different in Irish English (hereafter IrE) and Received Pronunciation (hereafter RP) as described in Gimson (1980:89ff.). It is also designed to show that these phenomena are in fact related to each other, not only due to their position in syllable nuclei but also on the level of phonological abstractness. The first phenomenon concerns the sequence which developed from Middle English /iu/ and /eu/. In both of these diphthongs the first element developed into a voiced palatal continuant losing its vocalic character, and yielding finally the sequence /ju:/ (Dobson 1968:705ff., Welna 1978:224). The frequency of this sound in French loan-words and the fact that Middle English /u:/ had been shifted first to /qu/ and later to /au/ as a result of the Great Vowel Shift seems to have led to /ju:/ standing as the pronunciation of the letter u and to be used as the English rendering of any later loan-words containing long /u:/. It also affected the pronunciation of the /u:/ sounds of loans established in Middle English, for example university with initial /u:/ (from Old French université, Onions 1966:961). The dating of the collapse of /eu/ and /iu/ can be given as mid 16th century, interpreting the orthoepic evidence of Bullokar who confirms in a rhyme that they were pronounced the same (Dobson 1968:802) and the merger was complete by the mid 17th century when it probably had developed from /iu/ to /ju:/. The importance of these considerations for the issue at hand is to establish that /ju:/ was the pronunciation of the Middle English diphthongs at the time of the most extensive Anglification of Ireland in the 17th and early 18th century (Bliss 1979: 19ff.). The remarks below refer to present-day IrE and to the variety of it which I term urban middle class. This general designation, while without validity for many areas of IrE phonology such as the realization of stressed vowels, can be permitted here because the peculiarities of IrE described below are found in all varieties of IrE with the sole exception of contact IrE (that of the 'Gaeltacht' or Irish-speaking areas) and of course of Ulster which is radically different from the English of the Republic of Ireland.
A phonetic comparison of two Irish English varieties
Proceedings of 11th International Conference of Experimental Linguistics, 2020
This research offers a preliminary survey on vowels and diphthong variation between two Irish English varieties: Galway (GW) and Letterkenny (LK). The results showed only a smaller difference between GW and LK with respect to the monophthongs, whereas a larger difference was found for the MOUTH diphthong. Despite the great amount of literature on English dialects, a phonetic investigation of these specific varieties is still lacking. This study may open the path to further investigations of sociophonetic values and the stereotypes associated with different varieties, in particular those of the northern regions.
9th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2018, 2018
This paper explores the influence of IP (i.e. Intonational Phrase) length on the scaling of the IP-initial and IP-final tonal targetspeaks (and valleys) in three Irish dialects. The analysis covers a set of matched neutral (i.e. broad focus) declaratives of two IP lengths (with 2 and 3 accent groups, respectively) produced by native speakers of two Connaught dialects, C-CF and C-IM and the Ulster dialect of U-GD. The data was analysed for H and L tone scaling in the phraseinitial and final accents. Additionally, the ratio of the final to the initial peak height was calculated (and the final to initial L height in the case of the U-GD dialect). The results show little to no influence of IP length in the Connaught dialects on any of the peak metrics. However, for the U-GD dialect there is a strong influence of IP length on the initial accent (L*+H) where both the L* and H elements are substantially raised. The final accent behaves rather differently being remarkably invariant in both IP length conditions.
Issues in the vowel phoneme inventory of western Irish1
2010
The vowels of the various dialects of Irish, including that of Cois Fhairrge examined here, are related to each other by a series of morphophonemic processes such as the lengthening of short vowels before certain word-final sonorants, and final palatalization or velarization: these are used to establish relationships between long and short and back and front vowels. The effect of additional factors such as r-lowering and nasal rising is considered and an attempt is made to predict alternations between back and front vowels given an outset position. In conclusion an analysis of four surface diphthongs is offered whereby they all can be shown to be derived synchronically from a single underlying form. In the various studies of Irish dialects which have appeared over the last forty years2 the vowels of the various dialects are presented as simple taxonomies without due consideration of the relationships in which they stand to each other and to a series of morphophonemic and morphologic...
2020
This thesis presents research into the variety of Irish English spoken in the Múscraí area of County Cork, Republic of Ireland. The focus of the research is to examine phonological features of Irish English which may have been influenced by Irish and how these interact with speakers' levels of Irish fluency and to a lesser extent, to their gender. The use of dental stops [tt dt ] as realisations of /θ/ and /ð/ in THINK/THIS lexical sets are considered, as they are seen as a hallmark feature of West Irish Englishes (Hickey, 2004). In addition to th-stopping, levels of rhoticity and vowel epenthesis (both classed as supraregional features of Irish English by Hickey (2004)) are also examined. All data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews with participants living or working in the West Cork Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area). Analysis consisted of examination of questionnaire results and transcription of all interviews, followed by comparison of use of the focus vari...
Palatalization in Dublin Irish: the extent of phonetic interference
In: Procedia - social and behavioral sciences 236 (2016), p. 213-218. This paper focuses on palatalization in Irish spoken by Dublin-based bilinguals with English as their first language. It has already been pointed out that English phonetics affects Irish speakers even when Irish is their first language, especially in case of palatalization. The extent of English influence on palatalization in Dublin Irish and the possible reasons behind its inconsistent use acquire special prominence not only in terms of phonetics, but also because in Irish palatalization performs phonological functions.