Nasality, length and diphthongization in Quebec French: An MRI study

魁北克法语中的鼻音、长度和双元音化：一项 MRI 研究

• 批准号: 520195671
• 负责人: Dr. Josiane Riverin-Coutlée, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Phonetik und Sprachverarbeitung
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/520195671?language=en
• 关键词: Nasality; length; diphthongization; Quebec; French

The project consists in a physiological study of a potential case of cue trading between nasality and diphthongization occurring in Quebec French (QF). Cue trading is a mechanism where the relative weight of redundant cues to a phonological contrast is redistributed, eventually causing the sounds of a language to change. The project focuses on the potential enhancement of diphthongization from the attrition of vowel nasalization. In QF nasal vowels, diphthongization is increasingly common while the weakening of nasalization may come about because of a tendency to late velum opening, neither of which are phenomena found in standard Hexagonal French. However, it is so far unclear whether they covary, and whether diphthongization is increasingly important in QF for distinguishing nasal-oral minimal pairs like ‘chance/chasse’ (‘luck/hunt’). One of the reasons why this issue remains unsolved is because it involves nasal vowels, which speakers produce by lowering their velum (or soft palate). Indeed, it is difficult to obtain reliable measures of velum movement from the acoustic signal, while most physiological techniques infer velum movements indirectly and are limited to very small numbers of speakers. To overcome these difficulties, the project will make use of real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to obtain direct accurate measures of how the velum, tongue and lips are synchronized in an unprecedentedly large number of QF speakers (30). Advanced methods of statistical analysis applied to this cutting-edge dataset will reveal: 1) the articulatory relationship between oral and nasal vowels of QF; 2) the extent of nasality attrition in short and long nasal vowels; 3) how closely oral and nasal speech gestures covary in diphthongized nasal vowels. Special attention will be paid to non-random patterns of variation in the data that could support (or refute) the thesis of an ongoing cue trade-off: speakers leading the change are expected to show more diphthongization, weaker nasality and in-phase onset of nasality and diphthongization. The project is important because it examines a possible trade-off between a cross-linguistically rare combination of cues, which opens up new horizons for modelling sound change, and also provides long needed empirical data on QF. The project is a natural extension of the applicant’s expertise in QF phonetics and phonology, as well as language variation and change, combined with that of the host institute in speech physiology and its analysis using real-time MRI.

该项目包括一个潜在的情况下，发生在魁北克法语（QF）的鼻音和双元音之间的线索交易的生理研究。线索交换是一种机制，在这种机制中，多余的线索对语音对比的相对权重被重新分配，最终导致语言的声音改变。该项目的重点是从元音鼻音化的磨损潜在的增强双元音化。在QF鼻元音中，双元音化越来越普遍，而鼻化的减弱可能是由于软腭开放的趋势较晚，这两种现象在标准的Heptonal法语中都没有发现。然而，目前尚不清楚他们是否共变，以及双元音化是否在QF中越来越重要，以区分鼻口最小对，如“机会/追逐”（“运气/狩猎”）。这个问题至今没有得到解决的原因之一是它涉及到鼻元音，说话者通过降低软腭（或软腭）来发出鼻元音。事实上，很难从声学信号中获得软腭运动的可靠测量，而大多数生理学技术间接地推断软腭运动，并且仅限于非常少量的扬声器。为了克服这些困难，该项目将利用实时磁共振成像（MRI）来直接准确测量软腭，舌头和嘴唇如何在前所未有的大量QF扬声器中同步（30）。先进的统计分析方法应用于这个尖端的数据集将揭示：1）QF的口腔和鼻元音之间的发音关系; 2）在短和长鼻元音鼻音磨损的程度; 3）如何密切的口腔和鼻语音手势在双元音化的鼻元音协变。将特别注意的非随机模式的变化的数据，可以支持（或反驳）的论文正在进行的线索权衡：扬声器领导的变化，预计将显示更多的双元音化，较弱的鼻音和鼻音和双元音化的相位发病。该项目很重要，因为它研究了跨语言罕见的线索组合之间可能的权衡，这为模拟声音变化开辟了新的视野，并提供了长期需要的QF经验数据。该项目是申请人在QF语音学和音韵学以及语言变异和变化方面的专业知识的自然延伸，结合了主办机构在语音生理学及其使用实时MRI分析方面的专业知识。