Different Strategies of Articulatory-Acoustic Transition from a Vowel to a Stop Consonant (Based on the Shor and Russian Languages)

Despite extensive work on segmenting sound units, the problem of defining boundaries between phones remains unresolved. Researchers in experimental phonetics continue to debate segmentation methods that are effective for some languages but not applicable to others. Recent advances in understanding speech production offer new perspectives on established segmentation practices. During the closure phase, voiced occlusive consonants contain non-slit, muted components, while voiceless occlusive consonants include voiced components produced by incomplete closure of the true vocal folds in certain areas. This articulation generates vibrations not typically associated with voiceless tuning. Additionally, the noisy voiceless occlusive consonant is not consistently realized as homorganic throughout its duration; elements of quasi-voicing are present in its spectrum. The muted component of the vowel in the transitional section also requires attention. When interpreting this, it is necessary to determine whether the transitional segment is a muted vowel, a muted consonant, or a voiced component of a voiceless consonant. Currently, the only method for making this determination is acoustic: 1) extract the fragment of interest from a word followed by a consonant; 2) normalize the waveform in a computer program; 3) listen to the normalized stimulus and make a decision. Based on linguistic material from native speakers of the Shor and Russian languages, the authors propose a classification of different strategies for segmenting speech material in these transitional areas. The first strategy, subgroup A, involves a full-sounding vowel component, a muted vowel component, and a voiced stop consonant (V + Vќ + C2); subgroup B involves a full-sounding vowel component, a muted vowel component, and a voiceless stop consonant (V + Vќ + C1). The second strategy, subgroup A: full-sounding vowel + strongly tense voiced component of a voiced stop consonant + voiced stop consonant (V + CѴ2 + C2); subgroup B: full-sounding vowel + voiced component of a voiceless stop consonant + voiceless stop consonant (V + Cњ1 + C1).

Shor language, Russian language, vowels, consonants, articulatory-acoustic correspondences, transitional sections