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Colloquium Talk with Gillian Gallagher

Oct 30, 2020 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Zoom,

Phonetic variability and natural class phonotactics
Gillian Gallagher, NYU

Phonological patterns are stated over classes of sounds, usually defined based on a shared phonetic property. Phonetic sound changes and phonetic variation, however, are both extremely common, and easily result in a language showing a phonological pattern over a class of segments that cannot be easily defined given the synchronic phonetic system. In this talk, I look at such a case in South Bolivian Quechua, where the etymological plain uvular stop /q/ has lenited to a sonorant , among several other variants. Despite this change in phonetics, the sound still patterns with the other stops with respect to phonotactic restrictions. Like other stops, this sound is absent from coda position, and like other stops, this sound is prohibited from cooccurring with a following aspirate or ejective.

I present the results of acoustic analysis of spontaneous speech, leading to a description of the lenition pattern across speakers and phonological contexts, and explore the consequences of phonetic variation for an inductive learning model of phonotactics. I then present the results of an experiment supporting the cognitive reality of phonotactic restrictions on /q/.

Faculty host: Kie Zuraw.

Zoom link will be available one week before the talk. Email the Colloquium Committee at uclacolloquium@gmail.com to be added to the listserv. For guest outside of UCLA, please submit an RSVP for colloquiums you would like to attend.

Details

Date:
Oct 30, 2020
Time:
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Event Category:

Venue

Zoom