Neutralization is complete in Catalan vowel reduction
Dylan Herrick
Mie University
[email protected]
Abstract
This paper presents a quantitative study of vowel reduction in six varieties of Catalan, a
Romance language spoken in northeastern Spain in the autonomous region of Catalonia.
For each of the varieties, the study: a) verifies the impressionistic descriptions reported in
the literature, b) provides quantitative acoustic data for both the stressed and unstressed
vowel inventories, and c) shows that neutralization is complete in Catalan vowel reduction.
The varieties examined represent Western, Central, and Balearic Catalan.
1.
Introduction
The goal of this paper is to test whether the neutralization of unstressed vowels found in Catalan
vowel reduction is complete or incomplete. Incomplete neutralization arises when small systematic
phonetic differences can be found between phonemes which, impressionistically, appear to have
neutralized. As an example consider word final devoicing. Many languages disallow a voicing
contrast for obstruents in word-final position, and voiced obstruents surface as their voiceless counterpart.
(For example, in Catalan, we find the pair of [ »aR´p] ‘Arab’ and [´»Rabik] ‘Arabic’ in which /b/ is
devoiced in [»aR´p] where it is word-final but not in [´»Rabik] where /b/ is word-medial.)
Impressionistically, this appears to be a complete loss of voicing, but surprisingly, phonetic studies show
that there is often a gradient loss of voicing which, in some cases, may even be recoverable by the listener
(Slowiaczek and Dinnsen 1985; for German see e.g. Port and O’Dell 1986; for Catalan see Charles-Luce
and Dinnsen 1987). Returning to the topic of vowel reduction, the impressionistic data show that
neutralization is complete in Catalan. However, up to this point, there have been no acoustic studies
which demonstrate (or which could demonstrate) that neutralization is complete. This paper provides
quantitative acoustic data which supports the impressionistic observation that neutralization is complete.
This paper examines six varieties of Catalan vowel reduction – each with a distinct number of
stressed vowels or a distinct neutralization pattern among the unstressed vowels. Apart from the vowel
system differences, there are only a few lexical differences and even fewer syntactic or morphological
differences for each variety. The consonantal system is almost identical for all varieties as well.
Vowel system differences form the primary diagnostic for distinguishing regional varieties of Catalan,
and the fact that this variation is limited almost exclusively to the vowel systems acts as a control and
makes Catalan an ideal case study for phonological vowel reduction and neutralization in unstressed
vowels.
In order to test the degree of neutralization, all the attested stressed vowels for each variety were
recorded first in a stressed context and then second, through morphological manipulation of the test
words, in an unstressed context. This gives data for the corresponding unstressed version of each
stressed vowel, so if /e, E a/ are all supposed to neutralize to [´] in unstressed position (as in Central
Catalan – the standard) we have data for the [´] which corresponds to stressed /e/, stressed /E/, and
stressed /a/. This data allows us to test whether the neutralization is complete for each of these vowels;
if the different schwas ([´]) show statistically significant differences, then the neutralization is
incomplete, but if there are no significant differences, then the neutralization is complete. In this study,
the quantitative acoustic data show no significant differences among vowels which are reported to
neutralize -- in other words, neutralization among unstressed vowels in Catalan is complete.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows; the next section presents the basic
impressionistic data for each variety, section three presents the methodology for data collection and
measurement, section four gives the results, and section five presents the conclusion and some
commentary.
2.
The impressionistic data for each variety
This paper examines six regional varieties of Catalan; the Catalan of Bages, Girona, Palma,
Lloseta, Ciutadella, and Lleida. These varieties belong to three major dialects of Catalan; Bages and
Girona represent Central Catalan (and Bages represents Standard Catalan), Palma, Lloseta, and Ciutadella
represent Balearic Catalan, and Lleida represents Western Catalan. Each variety has a slightly different
vowel system and this section provides a basic impressionistic description of the vowel inventory and
neutralization patterns for each variety. The map in (1) below shows the approximate location of the
hometowns for the eighteen speakers analyzed in this study. Sections 2.1-2.6 provide a brief description
for each variety, and section 2.7 summarizes the differences (in the vowel systems) between each variety.
(1)
Map showing approximate geographical location for the two major varieties (islands not to scale)
Eastern Catalan
KEY TO NUMBERS
Western Catalan
11-14 = speakers from
Bages (and Berguedà)
Bages
Central
Catalan
Girona
41-43 = speakers from
Palma
47-49 = speakers from
Lloseta / Alaró
Lleida
Ciutadella
Lloseta
Palma
2.1
31-33 = speakers from
Girona
Balearic
Catalan
51-53 = speakers from
Ciutadella
(61-63 = speakers from
Lleida
Bages Catalan – Central Catalan
The variety of Catalan spoken in the county (comarca) of Bages (and Berguedà) is
representative of the standard variety of Catalan which allows seven vowel phonemes /i, e, E, a, ç, o, u/
to appear in stressed position and three vowels /i, ´, u/ to appear in unstressed position. By comparing
the stressed and corresponding unstressed vowels found in the data (2) below we can see that in
unstressed position the vowel /i/ surfaces as [i], the vowels /e, E, a/ merge and surface as schwa [´], and
the vowels /ç, o, u/ merge and surface as [u]. This gives us the basic vowel inventory for stressed and
unstressed vowels in Bages Catalan (representative of standard Central Catalan) which is shown in (3),
and the mapping pattern for neutralization shown in (4). Since the table showing the neutralization
pattern also contains the stressed and unstressed vowel inventories, only the neutralization table will be
shown for the remaining varieties (constructing vowel inventories such as that shown in (3) will be an
exercise left to the reader). The neutralization tables can be found in section 2.7 following the brief
introduction to each regional variety.
(2) Data illustrating vowel reduction in Bages Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed (dim.)
a.
i »biƒa
i
bi»ƒEt´
b.
e »pes´
´ p´»sEt´
c.
E »bEk´
´ b´»kEt´
d.
a »bak´
´ b´»kEt´
e.
ç »pçk´
u pu»kEt´
f.
o »bok´
u bu»kEt´
g.
u »buk
u bu»kEt´
GLOSS
/(dim.)
‘piece’/(dim.)
‘grant’/(dim.)
‘cow’/(dim.)
‘few/(dim.)
‘mouth’/(dim.)
(a type of) ‘boat’/(dim.)
(3) Inventory of Bages Catalan vowels (Central Catalan)
a. Stressed vowels
b. Unstressed vowels
i
e
E
a
ç
o
u
i
u
´
(4) Neutralization in Bages Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
ç
o
u
2.2
i
´
u
Girona Catalan
The Girona dialect is also traditionally grouped with Central Catalan, but it represents a
non-standard variety which allows only six vowels in stressed position and three vowels in unstressed
position.1 The main difference between Girona and Bages Catalan is that the /o/~/ç/ distinction has been
neutralized – in Girona Catalan there is only a single mid-rounded back vowel which is often described as
being indeterminate between the two (Recasens 1986, 1991), and following Recasens (1986), this
mid-rounded back vowel will be transcribed with the symbol /O/ to indicate its indeterminate height.
This is illustrated in (5) below, and the neutralization patterns (essentially the same as Bages Catalan) are
shown in (9) (in section 2.7, together with the neutralization patterns for the other varieties).
(5)
a.
b.
c.
d.
1
Loss of /ç/ and /o/ in Girona Catalan
Bages Catalan
Girona Catalan
[o]
[»bok´]
[»bOk´]
[o]
[»bot´]
[»bOt´]
[ç]
[»pçk´]
[»pOk´]
[ç]
[»pçt´]
[»pOt´]
GLOSS
‘mouth’
‘shoe’
‘few’
‘foot’
This is not the only variety of Catalan spoken in the Girona area. In fact, in a number of towns, speakers possess a
standard seven vowel system instead of the six vowel system described above.
2.3
Palma Catalan – Balearic Catalan
The next three varieties are all classified as Balearic Catalan. The principle characteristic of this variety is
that it allows schwa in stressed position thereby allowing eight stressed vowels; however, where we find a stressed
schwa in the Palma and Ciutadella varieties, the Lloseta variety possesses only open [E] (Moll 1991).
(6)
a.
b.
Stressed schwa in Balearic Catalan
STRESSED [´]
NO STRESSED [´]
Palma/Ciutadella
Lloseta
[»p R´]
[»p´R´]
[»b´k]
[»b k]
Gloss
‘pear’
‘(I) drink’
Palma Catalan allows schwa in stressed position (see (6) above). In addition, unstressed /ç/ and
/o/ map to [o] rather than [u] (as opposed to Bages and Girona Catalan – see (7). There is also some
reported variation with respect to the unstressed pronunciation of /e/ and /E/. For some speakers, these
vowels are occasionally pronounced as [e] in unstressed position (Mascaró 2002). This gives the vowel
inventories and the neutralization pattern shown in (10). (See section 2.7.)
(7) Data illustrating vowel reduction in Palma Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed (dim.)
a.
ç »pçk´
o po»kEt´
b.
o »bok´
o bo»kEt´
2.4
GLOSS
‘few/(dim.)
‘mouth’/(dim.)
Lloseta Catalan – Balearic Catalan
Lloseta Catalan is just like Palma Catalan, but it lacks stressed schwa. This variety is spoken in
the towns of Lloseta, Alaró, and Binissalem (on the island of Mallorca). Historically, stressed schwa
merged with mid-low [E], so that Lloseta Catalan has a stressed inventory of seven vowels
/i, e, E, a, ç, o, u/. Otherwise, it is like Palma Catalan, so it has an unstressed inventory of four (or five
– due to possible reduction to [e] instead of [´]) vowels /i, (e), ´, o, u/. The stressed and unstressed
vowel inventories and the neutralization patterns are shown in (11) of section 2.7.
2.5
Ciutadella Catalan – Balearic Catalan
Ciutadella Catalan, like Palma Catalan, possesses the stressed schwa phoneme giving eight
vowels /i, e, E, a, ´, ç, o, u/ in stressed position. It differs from Palma Catalan, however, in that only
three vowels /i, ´, u/ (instead of four or five) are allowed in unstressed position; the stressed vowel
inventory is like Palma Catalan, but the unstressed inventory is like Central Catalan. The stressed and
unstressed vowel inventories and the neutralization patterns are shown in (12) of section 2.7.
2.6
Lleida Catalan – Western Catalan
Lleida Catalan is representative of Western Catalan. This variety of Catalan is particularly
interesting because, unlike the other five varieties, it does not allow schwa to appear in either stressed or
unstressed position. In stressed position, we still find seven vowels /i, e, E, a, ç, o, u/; however, five
vowels /i, e, a, o, u/ are allowed in unstressed position. The stressed and unstressed vowel inventories
and the neutralization patterns are shown in (13) of section 2.7.
2.7
Summary
Table (8) lists the number of stressed and unstressed vowels, and the presence or absence of
stressed and unstressed schwa for each variety. Catalan has traditionally been divided into two major
varieties – Oriental and Occidental – based primarily on geography and the status of schwa (Occidental
Catalan does not allow schwa at all). Of the varieties examined here, Lleida Catalan belongs to
Occidental Catalan while the remainder belong to Oriental Catalan. These two major varieties are
usually further subdivided and this is reflected in the column labeled “Minor Variety”. The column
labeled “region” indicates the general area the speakers were from. The neutralization patterns (also
indicating the stressed and unstressed vowel inventories) follow table (8).
Minor
Variety
No. of
stressed
vowels
No. of
unstressed
vowels
stressed
schwa?
unstressed
schwa?
Bages
Girona
Palma
Lloseta
Ciutadella
Lleida
Major
variety
Summary of the differences between each variety.
Region
(8)
Oriental
Oriental
Oriental
Oriental
Oriental
Occidental
Central
Central
Balearic
Balearic
Balearic
Western
7
6
8
7
8
7
3
3
4 (5)
4 (5)
3
5
no
no
yes
no
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
(9) Neutralization in Girona Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
i
´
O
u
u
(10) Neutralization in Palma Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
´
ç
o
u
i
(e)
´
o
u
(11) Neutralization in Lloseta Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
ç
o
u
i
(e)
´
o
u
(12) Neutralization in Ciutadella Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
´
ç
o
u
i
´
u
The [e] in (10) and (11) is in parentheses because in Palma and Lloseta Catalan, speakers vary as
to the conditions in which they produce [e] in unstressed position. Likewise, the dashed lines indicate
that there is variation for the reduction to [e] in these varieties of Balearic Catalan.
(13) Neutralization in Lleida Catalan
Stressed
Unstressed
i
e
E
a
ç
o
u
i
e
´
o
u
As a final note to this section, the literature reports several exceptions to vowel reduction for all
of the regional varieties described above. These exceptions come in three classes: lexical exceptions,
morphological exceptions, and phonologically conditioned exceptions; and they will not be addressed
here. See Mascaró ( 2002) for a more detailed discussion of exceptions to vowel reduction.
3.
Methodology
This section briefly presents the methodology for selecting and recording informants, making
and digitizing the recordings, and measuring the formant values for the target vowels.
3.1
Speakers
For each of the different regional varieties studied, three native speakers were recorded uttering
nonsense verbs containing the stressed (and corresponding unstressed) vowels of their variety. All
recordings were made in Catalonia, all speakers were female college students (between 18 and 25), and a
‘native’ was defined as someone who spoke Catalan as her primary language and came from a family in
which both parents spoke Catalan as their primary language. The region each informant is associated
with is the region in which that informant spent her childhood (in all cases up until at least 17 years old).
3.2
Recorded materials
For the recordings, speakers were shown several nonsense verbs (in the 2nd p. sg. form) – one for
each of the vowels allowed in stressed position in their variety (seven for Central and Western, six for
Girona, and eight for Balearic Catalan), and they were asked to conjugate each verb into the third person
singular form and repeat it ten times using the carrier phrase ella sempre _____ a la nit ([e¥´ sempR´
_____ ´l´nit] “she always ____ at night”). After this, the speakers were asked to conjugate the verbs into
their infinitival forms and repeat them ten times each within a very similar carrier phrase la frase es
sempre _____ la nit ([l´ fRaz´ es sempR´ _____ ´l´nit]“the phrase is always ____ at night”. (The
vowels immediately preceding and following the target word are schwas – the hope is that this helps
neutralize any possible coarticulation effects.)
The third person forms were of the shape [»bVp´] (where the target vowel ‘V’ is stressed), and
the infinitival forms were of the shape [bV»pa] (target vowel unstressed). More concretely, when native
speakers were shown bapes [»bap´s], they had to produce the third person singular form bapa ([»bap´])
and the corresponding infinitival form bapar ([b´»pa]). For Central Catalan, this gives a total of 140
vowel tokens per speaker; 70 stressed tokens (10 for each vowel) and 70 unstressed tokens (10 tokens for
each of the corresponding unstressed vowels). Thus, even though /e, E, a/ reduce to [´] there are 10
tokens for [´] corresponding to /e/, 10 more corresponding to /E/, and another 10 corresponding to /a/.
This allows us to confirm whether /e, E, a/ do in fact reduce to the same vowel ([´]) or not.
3.3
Measurements and equipment
All subjects were recorded on a DAT tape recorder using a headset microphone. Recordings
were digitized at 44.1kHz, (Hahn) band-pass filtered from 0-6000Hz, and measured by LPC analysis with
a 25ms window using the PRAAT phonetics software package (Boersma and Weenink 2002). The
location for measurement of the three vowel formants (F1-F3) was determined as follows: if F1 had a
single peak, F1-F3 were measured at the point where F1 reached its peak; if no unique max could be
found for F1 (if F1 contained multiple peaks or if F1 were a constant cline), the measurement was made
at the peak (or valley) of F2. If there was no unique max or min for F2, the measurement was made at the
mid-point of the vowel (as determined by eye).
All data are presented in the Equivalent Rectangular Bandwidth (ERB) scale. ERB is an
auditory scale (similar to the Bark scale) which, between the range of 200 and 10000 Hertz, models
human perception better than the Bark scale (Moore and Glasberg 1997).
4.
Results
The data show that the impressionistic descriptions of the stressed vowel inventories are roughly
correct for all (speakers and) regional varieties; however, there are small differences in the F1 and F2
values for the vowels which are supposed to neutralize in unstressed position. A statistical analysis of
the data reveals no significant differences for F1 or F2 for the vowels which are supposed to neutralize.
In other words, neutralization in Catalan vowel reduction is complete, and the location of the neutralized
vowels supports the impressionistic description of the unstressed vowel inventories. (See (18) on the
last page.)
4.1
Basic data
The average F1 and F2 values (in ERB) for each variety are presented in (14) below. The six
varieties are listed as columns and show the average F1 and F2 values for each vowel in each variety.
The eight possible stressed vowels have been listed in rows – beginning with /i/ and ending with /u/.
Only Palma and Ciutadella Catalan allow stressed schwa, so the message “no stressed schwa” has been
inserted in the stressed schwa boxes for the other varieties. In addition, Girona Catalan has only one
back, rounded, mid vowel, so this has been centered for the two back mid vowel rows. Interestingly, the
F1 for the Girona /O/ falls in between the back mid vowels of the other varieties.
(14) F1 and F2 data for stressed vowels of each variety in ERB
a. Bages
b. Girona
c. Palma
d. Lloseta
e. Ciutadella f. Lleida
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
9.3
23.5
9.3
23.3
8.9
23.0
8.7
23.5
9.3
23.4
9.5
23.1
i
i
0.9
0.4
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.9
0.4
0.7
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.7
10.8 22.2 10.3 22.0 11.2 21.6 10.4 22.5 11.2
21.9
10.9 21.4
e
e
0.4
0.4
0.8
0.3
0.6
0.4
1.0
0.4
0.7
0.4
0.7
0.6
13.2 21.5 13.1 21.3 13.6 21.0 13.4 21.4 13.5
21.3
13.2 21.0
E
E
0.2
0.4
0.2
0.5
0.4
0.8
0.4
0.6
0.2
0.6
0.4
0.3
14.8 18.7 14.6 19.0 14.5 18.8 14.8 19.3 14.6
19.4
14.2 18.5
a
a
0.3
0.4
0.7
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.8
0.3
0.7
0.4
0.7
0.4
no stressed
no stressed 11.8 17.7 no stressed
12.3
18.4
no stressed
´
´
schwa
schwa
0.4
0.5
schwa
0.3
0.9
schwa
13.5 16.6
13.6 17.0 14.1 17.7 13.6
17.5
13.1 16.5
ç
ç
12.0 15.7
0.4
0.5
0.7
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.6
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.7
0.9
11.2 15.4
11.3 15.7 11.3 15.1 11.4
15.8
10.9 15.5
o
o
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.5
9.9
13.6 10.2 14.3
9.7
14.1
9.8
13.6
9.7
14.7
9.9
14.5
u
u
0.8
0.8
0.4
0.7
1.0
0.2
0.7
0.3
0.7
0.4
0.6
0.3
(*Vowel plots illustrating the stressed and corresponding unstressed vowels are shown in (18).)
4.2
Neutralization
The data show small differences in the F1 and F2 values for the vowels which are reported to
neutralize in unstressed position. As a concrete example, consider the vowel plot for speaker 11 in (15).
This variety is Bages Catalan, so in unstressed position, we expect to find neutralization to schwa for the
unstressed vowels corresponding to /e, , a/ (and neutralization to [u] for /, o, u/). The squares indicate
the average F1 and F2 values for the seven stressed vowels, and the circles represent the average value for
the corresponding unstressed vowels. Although the vowels neutralizing to [u] are close together, there
are clear differences between the vowels neutralizing to schwa. The data is shown in (16) below, and
the three-speaker data for each variety is shown in (17).
(15)
F1 x F2 vowel plot for speaker 11
u
i
e
o
´
E
ç
a
(16)
Speaker 11 – Navarcles, Bages – Standard Catalan
Stressed
e
E
a
Unstressed
F1
F2
F3
F1
F2
F3
10.7
0.2
13.1
0.2
15.2
0.3
23.0
0.6
21.8
0.3
19.0
0.3
25.1
0.3
25.1
0.5
24.6
0.4
13.5
0.5
13.8
0.4
13.9
0.4
18.0
0.6
18.7
0.5
18.3
0.3
23.8
0.4
24.1
0.3
24.4
0.5
´
´
´
The different versions of schwa are clearly identifiable – in (15), the circles are not overlapping,
and (16) shows numerical differences between the F1 and F2 averages. Impressionistically, the
unstressed schwas sound the same; however, the vowel plots and the data averages suggest that these
schwas might be distinct. Since we have quantitative data for each of the stressed and corresponding
unstressed vowels, we can use statistical measures to test whether or not these differences are systematic
(significant and indicative of incomplete neutralization) or not (non-significant and indicative of complete
neutralization). An ANOVA with post-hoc tests (a Tamhane test) comparing all vowel pairs indicates
that the three different unstressed realizations of schwa (corresponding to stressed /e, E, a/) for speaker 11
are not significantly different (p < .01).
complete.
That is, the neutralization of unstressed vowels for speaker 11 is
(17) Data for the corresponding unstressed vowels (listed in the same order as (14) by vowel phonemes)
a. Bages
b. Girona
c. Palma
d. Lloseta
e. Ciutadella f. Lleida
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
F1
F2
9.6
23.0
9.5
22.9
9.0
22.4
8.7
23.1
9.1
22.8
9.5
22.5
/i/
/i/
0.4
0.4
0.6
0.7
0.4
1.2
0.3
0.9
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.7
12.6 17.6 12.2 17.9 11.2 17.9 11.0 17.9 11.9
18.1
11.1 20.8
/e/
/e/
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.3
0.6
0.4
0.7
0.4
0.6
0.7
0.6
12.6 17.8 12.0 17.9 10.8 17.4 10.8 17.4 11.8
18.0
10.9 20.9
/E/
/E/
0.9
1.0
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
12.8 17.6 12.2 17.8 11.6 17.5 11.2 17.6 11.9
18.0
13.3 17.9
/a/
/a/
0.9
0.9
0.5
0.7
0.8
0.5
0.4
0.6
0.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
no stressed
no stressed 11.8 17.9 no stressed
11.9
18.2
no stressed
/´/
/´/
schwa
schwa
0.8
0.6
schwa
0.4
0.7
schwa
9.9
14.4
11.4 15.9 11.2 15.4
9.9
14.6
10.8 15.4
/ç/
/ç/
10.2 14.5
0.4
0.8
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.6
0.6
0.8
0.5
0.7
0.4
0.7
11.4 16.0 11.3 15.6
9.8
14.6
10.7 15.5
9.9
14.3
/o/
/o/
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.6
0.5
0.8
0.4
0.4
0.8
0.7
9.9
14.2 10.2 14.3
9.7
14.6
9.4
13.8
9.9
14.5
9.8
15.0
/u/
/u/
0.5
0.7
0.3
0.7
0.6
0.4
0.3
0.5
0.5
0.9
0.6
1.0
I performed the same statistical tests for the vowels which are reported to neutralize for all the
speakers and for all six different varieties and the result was always the same. There were no
statistically significant differences (p < .01) between any of the vowels which were expected to neutralize.
Another way of putting this is to say that the impressionistic descriptions found in the literature accurately
describe the neutralization patterns found in Catalan.
As a final note, the statistical tests do show significant differences (in either F1, F2, or both)
between all the stressed vowels in all six varieties (and for all eighteen speakers). Furthermore, the
vowel plot for speaker 11 begs the question of whether the stressed and unstressed versions of /u/ (and /i/)
are significantly different – it turns out that there are no significant differences between the stressed and
unstressed versions of /u/ (and also /i/), but the unstressed versions of /u/ was significantly different from
/o/ (and /i/ was significantly different from /e/) for all speakers and varieties.
5.
Conclusions
Recent theories of phonological vowel reduction (such as Crosswhite to appear, and Flemming
to appear) have forged a tighter link between phonetics and phonology. A consequence of tightening
this interface is that certain predictions can only be tested with quantitative acoustic data. The fact that
such data are not readily available highlights a considerable gap in the literature (on vowel reduction).
The results of this paper, combined with an analysis of F1 raising in Catalan (Herrick 2003), both support
the recent theories of phonological vowel reduction and help to fill an existing gap in the literature.
References:
Boersma, P. and D. Weenink. 2002. Praat ver. 4.0.16, http://www.praat.org.
Charles-Luce, J. and D. Dinnsen. 1987. A reanalysis of Catalan devoicing. Journal of Phonetics 15:187-190.
Crosswhite, K. to appear. Vowel reduction. In Hayes, Bruce, Robert Kirchner, and Donca Steriade (eds.) Phonetic
bases of markedness. Cambridge: Cambridge, University Press.
Flemming, E. to appear. Contrast and perceptual distinctiveness. In Hayes, Bruce, Robert Kirchner, and Donca
Steriade (eds.), Phonetic bases of markedness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herrick, D. 2003. An acoustic analysis of phonological vowel reduction in six varieties of Catalan. Doctoral
dissertation. UC Santa Cruz.
Mascaró, Joan. 2002. El sistema vocàlic. Reducció vocàlica. In Gramàtica del català contemporani ed. by Joan Solà
et al. Editorial Empúries: Barcelona. 89-123.
Moll, F. de B. 1991. Gramàtica històrica catalana. Universitat de València: València.
Moore, B., and B. Glasberg. 1996. A revision of Zwicker’s loudness model. Acta Acustica 82:335-345.
Port, R. and O'Dell, M. 1986. Neutralization of syllable-final voicing in German. Journal of Phonetics, 13:455-471.
Recasens, D. 1986. Estudis de fonètica experimental del català oriental central. Barcelona, l’Abadia de Montserrat.
Recasens, D. 1991. Fonètica descriptiva del català (assaig de caracterització pronúncia del vocalisme i
consonantisme del català al segle XX). Institut d’estudis catalans, biblioteca filològica, XXI: Barcelona.
Slowiaczec, L. & D. Dinnsen. 1985. On the neutralizing status of Polish devoicing. Journal of Phonetics 13:325-341.
(18) Vowel plots showing the stressed vowels (squares) and the corresponding unstressed vowels (circles)
*The diamonds in the Palma and Lloseta Catalan vowel plots represent the location of the unstressed [e] –
which appears instead of [´] for some speaker some of the time.