Pre-boundary lengthening in a cross-linguistic perspective

跨语言视角下的前边界延长

• 批准号: 416902968
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Sabine Zerbian
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Linguistik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/416902968?language=en
• 关键词: Pre; boundary; lengthening; cross; linguistic

The project investigates the phenomenon of segmental lengthening preceding a prosodic boundary, commonly referred to as ‘pre-boundary lengthening’ (henceforth, PBL). Unlike in prior studies, this phenomenon is approached from a cross-linguistic perspective, comparing the lengthening domains of languages with different prosodic systems. This contributes to the question in how far aspects of PBL are universal, language-specific and/or tied to the word-prosodic system of a language. The project also investigates the temporal dynamics of lengthening among adjacent segments in the PBL domain, exploring the underlying mechanisms in the planning of duration in speech.PBL has been attested in various languages, which led to the suggestion that it is a universal tendency in speech production. However, it has also been found that PBL is implemented in language-specific ways, which suggests that it is a mechanism that is learnt by speakers, and raises the question whether and how it is linked to the word-prosodic system of a language. Furthermore, it has been attested that listeners employ PBL as a cue for the detection of a prosodic boundary, which may lead to structural disambiguation.Despite the existence of PBL in various languages and its attested relevance for perception, questions concerning the delineation of its domain of application, its temporal dynamics, and its cross-linguistic differences remain unanswered. As for the PBL domain, two major views on its specification are distinguished in the literature: structure-based and content-based views. Structure-based views assume that a specific linguistic constituent, such as the word rime, serves as the domain. The word rime is the stretch starting with the nuclear vowel of the last main stress syllable going up to the end of the prosodic phrase. Content-based views, on the other hand, assume structural variability of the PBL domain: the extent of the domain depends on properties of the final segment or syllable. As for the temporal dynamics within the PBL domain, prior studies found an increase of segmental lengthening towards the end of the prosodic phrase.The overall objective of the project is to test the aforementioned hypotheses across languages, thereby identifying the PBL domain of the respective language as well as the dynamics within the domain. The investigation focuses on three languages: German, French, and Tswana. These languages are chosen because they comprise typologically different prosodic systems that potentially influence the implementation of PBL. Detailed knowledge about the domain and dynamics in the production of PBL within and across languages is of paramount importance for investigating the processing of PBL in monolingual and bilingual speakers and for an understanding of the mechanisms for the computation of duration in speech.

该项目研究了韵律边界之前的音段延长现象，通常被称为“前边界延长”（以下简称PBL）。与以往的研究不同，本文从跨语言的角度来研究这一现象，比较了不同韵律系统的语言的延长域。这就引出了PBL在多大程度上是通用的、语言特定的和/或与语言的单词韵律系统相关联的问题。该项目还研究了PBL域中相邻段之间延长的时间动态，探索了语音持续时间规划的潜在机制。PBL已经在各种语言中得到证实，这导致了它是语音生产的普遍趋势的建议。然而，研究也发现PBL是以特定语言的方式实现的，这表明它是一种由说话者学习的机制，并提出了它是否以及如何与语言的单词韵律系统联系在一起的问题。此外，已经证明听者使用PBL作为线索来检测韵律边界，这可能导致结构歧义消除。尽管PBL在各种语言中都存在，并且证实了它与感知的相关性，但有关其应用领域的界定、时间动态和跨语言差异的问题仍未得到解答。对于PBL领域，文献中对其规范主要分为两种观点：基于结构的观点和基于内容的观点。基于结构的观点假设一个特定的语言成分，比如单词time，作为域。单词rime是从最后一个主重读音节的核元音开始，一直延伸到韵律短语的末尾。另一方面，基于内容的视图假定PBL域的结构可变性：域的范围取决于最后一个音段或音节的属性。对于PBL域内的时间动态，先前的研究发现，在韵律短语的末尾，音段拉长的现象有所增加。该项目的总体目标是跨语言测试上述假设，从而确定相应语言的PBL域以及域内的动态。调查的重点是三种语言：德语、法语和茨瓦纳语。选择这些语言是因为它们包含不同类型的韵律系统，这些韵律系统可能会影响PBL的实现。对语言内部和跨语言PBL产生的领域和动态的详细了解对于研究单语和双语者的PBL处理以及理解语音持续时间的计算机制至关重要。