Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

(48) Mean vowel durations for Turkish syllables 1 and 2
Vowel Duration
Mean Vowel Duration
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
105.5
97.9
Speaker 1
Syllable Type
133.6
Syllable 1 105.5 133.6
Syllable 2 97.9 121.2
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
78.4
CVt CVn
72.8
Speaker 3
97.5
CVt CVn
Syllable 1 78.4 97.5
Syllable 2 72.8 87
Syllable Type
121.2
87
Syllable 1
Syllable 2
Syllable 1
Syllable 2
Vowel Duration
Vowel Duration
320
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
66.1
63.4
Speaker 2
Syllable 1 66.1 82
Syllable 2 63.4 76.8
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
91.6
Syllable Type
82
CVt CVn
83.6
Speaker 4
107.6
CVt CVn
Syllable 1 91.6 107.6
Syllable 2 83.6 96.8
Syllable Type
Mean vowel duration differences between syllables 1 and 2 were uniformly greater for
syllables closed by nasals than for those closed by voiceless stops. This is presumably
due to the fact that in Turkish vowels are longer in general before nasals than before
voiceless stops, and that all things being equal longer entities tend to exhibit more
durational variation than shorter entities. In this connection it is also worth noting that
Speaker 2 has substantially smaller differences between vowels in initial and non-initial
76.8
96.8
Syllable 1
Syllable 2
Syllable 1
Syllable 2