The more we learn the less we know

# The more we learn the less we know
## (Un)resolved questions on the voicing effect
### Stefano Coretta
### Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, LMU Munich
### 28th July 2021, PhoPho Colloquium at the University of Potsdam

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# ~ Voicing effect ~

![](img/voicing-effect.png)

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# What is "voicing"?

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# Voicing as a physical property

![](img/periodic-waveform.png)

]

<br>

![](img/thomas2016-vocal-folds.jpg)

.f6.pull-right[CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 James Thomas]
]

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# Voicing as a lexical contrast

<br>

**Spanish**
  - /t/ = [t]
  - /d/ = [d], [ð], [θ]
]

**Nalögo** .f6[(Alfarano 2021)]
  - /t/ = [t], [tʰ], [ɾ]
  - /d/ = [ⁿd], [d]
]

]

<br>

.bg-washed-green.bw2.br3.center[
.f1.small-caps[voicing]
]

<br>

.f2.center.small-caps[voiceless ~ voiced]

]

---

???

https://app.sli.do/event/bhuf7xqj

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# Myths

<br>

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 1**. The voicing effect is a very common phenomenon.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 2**. Polish and Czech do not show a voicing effect.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 3**. The magnitude of the voicing effect in English is greater than that of other languages.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 4**. The voicing effect is modulated by phonological contexts in systematic ways.
]

---

# How common is the voicing effect?

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---

# Myths

<br>

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 1**. The voicing effect is a very common phenomenon.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 2**. Polish and Czech do not show a voicing effect.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 3**. The magnitude of the voicing effect in English is greater than that of other languages.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 4**. The voicing effect is modulated by phonological contexts in systematic ways.
]

---

# Polish and Czech: do they or do they not?

<br>

|            | Absence of a VE         | Presence of a VE            |
|:-----------|:------------------------|:----------------------------|
| **Polish** | Jassem & Richter (1989) | Slowiaczek & Dinnsen (1985) |
|            | Keating (1984)          | Nowak (2006)                |
|            | Strycharczuk (2012)     | Malisz & Klessa (2008)      |
|            |                         | Coretta (2019)              |
|            |                         |                             |
| **Czech**  | Keating (1984a)         | Machač & Skarnitzl (2007)   |

---

# Myths

<br>

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 1**. The voicing effect is a very common phenomenon.
]

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 2**. Polish and Czech do not show a voicing effect.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 3**. The magnitude of the voicing effect in English is greater than that of other languages.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 4**. The voicing effect is modulated by phonological contexts in systematic ways.
]

---

# Cross-linguistic differences

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# Direct comparative studies

.f2[
- **Chen 1970**
  - English, French, Russian, Korean
- **Mack 1982**
  - English, French, English/French bilinguals
- **Laeufer 1992**
  - English and French.
- **Tanner et al. 2019**
  - Varieties of English.
- **Coretta in progress**
  - English, Italian, Polish.
]

---

![:scale 80%](img/mar-eff-by-lang.png)

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> .f1[The voicing effect is phonologised in English.]

<br>

.pull-right.f3[— de Jong 1991, de Jong 2004, Solé, Beddor & Ohala 2007, Sanker 2019, ...]

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# Phonologisation

Phonologisation is the creation of a new phonemic contrast, or in other words when a contextual allophone becomes *contrastive* (i.e. a phoneme).

]

]

A process is phonologised when it goes from being applied post-lexically to being applied lexically.

]

]

Phonologisation occurs when the constraint ordering of the (post-lexical) phrasal domain is copied over onto the (lexical) word and stem domains.

]

]

Phonologisation occurs when a physio-anatomical ("mechanic") phenomenon comes under the control of the speaker/hearer and becomes part of their grammar (more specifically, part of the *phonetic module* of the grammar).

]

]

Every type of sound variation/alternation is "phonologised" (i.e. neuro-cognitive permanence) as soon as it is experienced by the speaker/hearer *and* stored in memory.

]

— Sóskuthy 2013:183

]

---

# Myths

<br>

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 1**. The voicing effect is a very common phenomenon.
]

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 2**. Polish and Czech do not show a voicing effect.
]

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 3**. The magnitude of the voicing effect in English is greater than that of other languages.
]

.bg-washed-green.b--dark-green.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 4**. The voicing effect is modulated by phonological contexts in systematic ways.
]

---

# Contextual effects (in English)

**Greater effect with fricatives than with stops**

- House & Fairbanks (1953),  Laeufer (1992), Zimmerman & Sapon (1958).

**Greater effect with stops than with fricatives**

- Tanner et al. (2019).
]

**Nasals exercise an intermediate effect** between that of voiceless and voiced stops but closer to that of the latter

- House & Fairbanks (1953), Zimmerman & Sapon (1958).

**Vowels are longer when followed by nasals than when followed by voiced stops**

- Peterson & Lehiste (1960).

**Vowels have the same duration** when followed by nasals and voiced stops.

- Lisker (1974).

]

---

# Contextual effects (in English)

**Narrow focus increases the effect of voicing in English but not in Arabic**

- de Jong 2004.
- de Jong & Zawaydeh 2002.

**The ratio of vowel-to-consonant duration is the same across speaking rates**

- Port & Dalby 1982.

## BUT...

**Vowel duration is a more robust cue than vowel-to-consonant ratio**

- Luce & Charles-Luce 1985.

**The ratio of vowel-to-consonant duration DOES change across speaking rates**

- Ko 2018.

---

# Contextual effects (in English)

- Greater effect in **pre-pausal** words (Umeda 1975).

- Greater effect in **stressed vowels** (Davis & Summers 1989).

- Greater effect in **word-final syllables** (Abdelli-Beruh 2004).

- Greater effect in word-initial syllables along the hierarchy **trisyllabic > disyllabic > monosyllabic** (Port 1981).

- Greater effect in **lower vowels** (Laeufer 1992).

<br>

---

# Myths

<br>

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 1**. The voicing effect is a very common phenomenon.
]

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 2**. Polish and Czech do not show a voicing effect.
]

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 3**. The magnitude of the voicing effect in English is greater than that of other languages.
]

.bg-washed-yellow.b--yellow.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Myth 4**. The voicing effect is modulated by phonological contexts in systematic ways.
]

---

# .small-caps[(attempted) meta-analysis]

???

13 studies. 17 effect estimates (13 word-final, 4 non-word-final).

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![:scale 80%](img/ve-en-shrink.png)

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![:scale 80%](img/ve-en-marginal.png)

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# HIC SVNT LEONES

<br>

.bg-washed-red.b--dark-red.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**HIGHEST PRIORITY**. Investigation of **un(der)-studied and un(der)-represented** languages.
]

.bg-washed-blue.b--dark-blue.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Direct comparison** in cross-linguistic studies.
]

.bg-washed-blue.b--dark-blue.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Replication** of prior studies with more appropriate sample sizes.
]

.bg-washed-blue.b--dark-blue.ba.bw2.br3.shadow-5.ph4.mt3[
**Share data and materials** (experimental materials, statistical analysis code, etc).
]

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![:scale 40%](img/thanks.jpg)

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# References can be found here:

## https://stefanocoretta.github.io/biblio/