here - Linguistic Society of America

Ann Bunger (University of Delaware) Session 23Dimitrios Skordos (University of Delaware)John Trueswell (University of Pennsylvania)Anna Papafragou (University of Delaware)Crosslinguistic differences in event description and inspection in preschool speakers of English and GreekTypological biases in the description of motion events affect the way that adults from different language communities inspect eventsduring language planning. In this study, we demonstrate crosslinguistic differences in motion event description and inspection that beginby as early as 3 years. English- and Greek-speaking preschoolers viewed and described motion events in an eyetracking study.Consistent with adult production patterns, English speakers were more likely than Greek speakers to provide information about mannersof motion. Comparison of eyegaze patterns in the Linguistic and Nonlinguistic tasks also revealed effects of language background on therelation between event apprehension and description.Rachel Steindel Burdin (The Ohio State University) Session 42Linguistic and religious factors in the production of a rise-fall contour in Jewish EnglishAccess to Yiddish and Orthodoxy have both been cited as factors in the use of Jewish English features. This study looks at one rise-fallcontour, and finds that its phonetics differ between speakers depending on their exposure to Yiddish, and may vary based on thesubjects’ positions on Orthodoxy, with the subjects who expressed anti-Orthodox sentiments using more Yiddish-like contours than theothers, despite the fact that the more Yiddish-like version of the contour may also be a marker of Orthodox identity. This dual use of thiscontour supports the idea of Jewish English as a repertoire of features that can be drawn from to show a range of Jewish identities.Alison Burns (University of Glasgow) Session 71Wifies and quinies: a socio-onomastic study of field-names in AberdeenshirePrevious studies have demonstrated the importance of onomastic evidence for the social position of women (Clark 1978, 1982; Hough2002, 2008; Falck-Kjallquist 2006; Jesch 2008). There have as yet been no such studies within Scotland. This paper will present someevidence for the position of women in a rural farming community by using field-name evidence from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.Becky Butler (Cornell University) Session 34A gestural interpretation of variation and variability in minor syllablesThis acoustic study of two languages – Khmer and Bunong – indicates that a single gestural account of minor syllables, i.e. the first halfof sesquisyllables, is not possible; therefore, forms described as “minor syllables” do not constitute a coherent phonological class.Results suggest that the systematic variation in the types of segments appearing in minor syllables cross-linguistically results from thefact that minor syllables in some languages (Khmer) do not have a gestural target, whereas in other languages (Bunong) they do. Thisinterpretation also explains why the presence of the minor syllable vowel is consistent in Bunong but variable in Khmer.Tara McAllister Byun (New York University) Session 17Peter Richtsmeier (Purdue University)Edwin Maas (University of Arizona)Covert contrast in child phonology is not necessarily extragrammaticalWhat appear to be substitution errors in child speech are often found to feature covert contrast (CC), i.e. measurable but sub-perceptiblebetween-category differences. CC has historically been treated as an extragrammatical phenomenon. However, recent work suggeststhat CC is far more pervasive than previously realized. Does it follow, then, that virtually all child speech patterns are the product ofextragrammatical performance pressures? Using evidence from the acquisition of initial clusters and voicing contrasts, we will argue thatin a model informed by exemplar theory (e.g. Pierrehumbert, 2001), the existence of CC does not preclude a phonological analysis ofchild patterns.Michael Cahill (SIL International) Session 34Polar question intonation in five Ghanaian languagesContra Ohala 1984 and Bollinger 1978, Rialland (2007, 2009) notes that African languages commonly have falling final pitch inpolar (yes/no) questions. She proposes a cluster of properties for this “lax question prosody.” A study of five Ghanaian languages(Buli, Deg, Safaliba, Adele, Chumburung) partly validates this. All these languages have falling pitch (but not always final L),and final vowel lengthening. Three languages add a sentence-final /-áà/. Two languages have “breathy termination.” Anadditional characteristic of these languages is that polar questions always have higher pitch than statements, suggesting thatraising may be universal, even in “lax prosody” languages.136