Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10397/67202
PIRA download icon_1.1View/Download Full Text
Title: Laryngeal features are phonetically abstract : mismatch negativity evidence from Arabic, English, and Russian
Authors: Schluter, KT
Politzer-Ahles, S 
Al Kaabi, M
Almeida, D
Issue Date: May-2017
Source: Frontiers in psychology, May 2017, v. 8, 746, p. 1-19
Abstract: Many theories of phonology assume that the sound structure of language is made up of distinctive features, but there is considerable debate about how much articulatory detail distinctive features encode in long-term memory. Laryngeal features such as voicing provide a unique window into this question: while many languages have twoway contrasts that can be given a simple binary feature account [ VOICE], the precise articulatory details underlying these contrasts can vary significantly across languages. Here, we investigate a series of two-way voicing contrasts in English, Arabic, and Russian, three languages that implement their voicing contrasts very differently at the articulatory-phonetic level. In three event-related potential experiments contrasting English, Arabic, and Russian fricatives along with Russian stops, we observe a consistent pattern of asymmetric mismatch negativity (MMN) effects that is compatible with an articulatorily abstract and cross-linguistically uniform way of marking two-way voicing contrasts, as opposed to an articulatorily precise and cross-linguistically diverse way of encoding them. Regardless of whether a language is theorized to encode [VOICE] over [SPREAD GLOTTIS], the data is consistent with a universal marking of the [SPREAD GLOTTIS] feature.
Keywords: Mismatch negativity
Laryngeal state
Voicing
Spread glottis
Aspiration
Phonological feature
Distinctive feature
Phoneme
Publisher: Frontiers Research Foundation
Journal: Frontiers in psychology 
ISSN: 1664-1078 (online)
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00746
Rights: Copyright © 2017 Schluter, Politzer-Ahles, Al Kaabi and Almeida. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The following publication Schluter, K. T., Politzer-Ahles, S., Al Kaabi, M., & Almeida, D. (2017). Laryngeal Features are Phonetically Abstract: Mismatch Negativity Evidence from Arabic, English, and Russian. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 746 is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00746.
Appears in Collections:Journal/Magazine Article

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
fpsyg-08-007461.pdf5.01 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Open Access Information
Status open access
File Version Version of Record
Access
View full-text via PolyU eLinks SFX Query
Show full item record

Page views

281
Last Week
0
Last month
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

Downloads

398
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

13
Last Week
0
Last month
Citations as of Mar 29, 2024

WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations

10
Last Week
0
Last month
Citations as of Mar 28, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.