Wyniki wyszukiwania - Biblioteka Nauki

1

Comparing and Contrasting Natural Phonology, Optimality Theory and the Theory of Phonology as Human Behavior

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Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2009

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tom 45

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nr 1

169-189

EN

This paper compares and contrasts the theories of Natural Phonology, Optimality Theory and Phonology as Human Behavior from diverse theoretical and methodological aspects including: the interaction between the opposing forces of markedness (the human factor) and faithfulness (the communication factor); the sentence-oriented versus sign-oriented approaches; and the concepts of naturalistic versus generative research paradigms. Despite these basic differences, similarities are also found in their shared functional basis which is discussed in the context of the natural phonological processes of Natural Phonology. I will further show how each theory views the notion of language universals. The concepts of combinatory phonology, phonotactics, and diachronic, developmental and clinical phonology will be discussed as measures of defining and determining the concept of language universals. The author maintains that biological, physiological, cognitive, psychological, sociological and other universals of human behavior are merely reflected in language rather than being specific "language universals" per se.

2

Phonology as Human Behaviour: Clinical Phonetics, Phonology and Prosody

100%

Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2009

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tom 45

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nr 2

327-352

EN

This paper introduces the theory of Phonology as Human Behaviour (PHB); summarises the basic theoretical and methodological tenets of the theory and shows how it has been applied to clinical phonetics, phonology and prosody. The theory of PHB, developed by William Diver and his students of the Columbia School, combines aspects of the "communication factor" inherent in Prague School phonology with aspects of the "human factor" inherent in André Martinet's functional diachronic phonology. The major parameters of the theory are presented according to the Saussurean-based semiotic definition of language as a sign system used by human beings to communicate. The fundamental axiom underlying the theory is that language represents a compromise in the struggle to achieve maximum communication with minimal effort. The major contribution of the theory is that it provides a motivation to explain the non-random distribution of phonemes within the speech signal in language in general and in typical and atypical speech in particular.

3

Looking at Sign Language as a Visual and Gestural Shorthand

100%

Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2008

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tom 44

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nr 1

103-119

EN

In this paper I will compare and contrast sign language (used by the deaf community) and spoken language from the point of view of semiotics and linguistics. Both signed and spoken languages can be defined as: a system of systems - revolving around the notion of the linguistic sign - used by human beings to communicate. Both languages also share a common goal: to achieve maximum communication with minimal effort. Where they differ, however, is in the way they produce the meaningful signs to create an efficient system of communication and in the nature of these meaningful signs regarding arbitrariness versus iconicity. Spoken language is based on phonemes that are in opposition to each other which are arbitrary and possess no meaning of their own - but combine into larger meaningful units such as morphemes, words, etc. Thus spoken language is fundamentally auditory and arbitrary (Tobin 1990, 1997, 2007a, b). Sign language is based on units that represent a combination of hand-shapes and gestures which have an orientation and movement to various parts of the body - all of which not only possess meaning - but are iconic rather than arbitrary in nature. Thus sign language is fundamentally visual and iconic (Fuks 2008; Fuks and Tobin 2008). Therefore it is our contention that the traditional concepts of spoken language are neither appropriate nor suitable for sign language and a different approach to analyze sign language will be suggested in this paper.

4

Common Semantic Denominators of the Internal Vowel Alternation System in English

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Even-Simkin E. , Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2011

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tom 47

308

EN

The Internal Vowel Alternation (IVA) system is commonly referred to as arbitrarily appearing in a small number of the so-called irregular noun plurals (e.g. goose–geese, mouse–mice) and past tense verb forms (e.g. sing–sang, take–took) in Modern English. But, historically, IVA was a prevalent and productive process in Old English in both the nominal and the verbal systems. In this paper, we will postulate that the IVA is a full-fledged sign system composed of a signal (signifiant) that is connected to a meaning (signifié) in the Saussurean sense. It has already been demonstrated that the IVA nominal and verbal forms are systematic phonologically (Even-Simkin & Tobin 2009). In this paper we will present the semantic systems underlying the IVA forms. Beedham (2005:114) argues that "[a]ll linguistic forms must fit into the system somehow, and they all must have a meaning, it is simply a case of working out how they fit in and what the meaning is". In this semantic analysis of the IVA forms we will show that the English IVA systems are both motivated and systematic semantically – i.e. that differences in form always imply differences in meaning (Bolinger 1977). We will maintain that each IVA pattern reflects a fundamental common semantic denominator. Thus our study connects the form (phonology) and the meaning (semantics) of the phenomenon of IVA as a full-fledged system of linguistic signs in English.

5

Is There Compensatory Vowel Lengthening in the Language Acquisition of a Child with a Cochlear Implant

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Adi-Bensaid L. , Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2010

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tom 46

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nr 3

255-274

EN

Compensatory vowel lengthening (CVL) is found in both adult and children's language. CVL is a process where the loss of a segment is compensated elsewhere by lengthening. It occurs mostly in languages with phonemic vowel length (de Chene and Anderson 1979). We examine CVL in the acquisition of Israeli Hebrew (IH), a language without phonemic vowel length, in a child with a cochlear implant (CI). Preliminary findings reveal: (1) a preference for the vowel /a/; (2) longer vowel duration before: (a) sonorant codas than obstruent codas; and (b) deleted sonorant codas than before preserved sonorant codas and open syllables. There is no significant difference in vowel duration before preserved and deleted obstruent codas and open syllables. We hypothesize that CVL appears in IH-speaking children but in sonorant codas only. The findings are discussed in terms of the representation of CVL in children's grammars as well as auditory deprivation, which may affect auditory perception and motor coordination.

6

Correlation Between Vowel Centralisation and Incomplete Stop Articulation in Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

51%

Połczyńska M. , Tobin Y. , Sapir S.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2009

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tom 45

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nr 2

281-299

EN

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often results in dysarthria, a motor speech disorder. Two processes often linked with TBI dysarthria are vowel centralisation and incomplete stop articulation. It is not clear to what extent these two processes are interrelated and to what extent they might serve as indices of the severity of dysarthria secondary to TBI. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that patients who centralise vowels will also have difficulties producing stop consonants with complete stricture. Polish dysarthric speakers post TBI (n=6) and ten age-matched healthy controls with normal speech (n=10) performed the Polish Dysarthria Test for TBI Patients (PDTTP) (Połczyńska-Fiszer and Pufal 2006). Three of the TBI subjects had moderate dysarthria and three mild dysarthria. The test investigates phonemes in isolation as well as in diverse phonetic contexts in different elicitation tasks, including spontaneous speech. The data from the PDTTP were transcribed phonetically and analysed acoustically. Vowel centralisation and incomplete stop articulation appear to be strongly correlated (r=0.90). It was found that the degree of TBI dysarthria correlates with the frequency of occurrence of these two processes. Thus, the two processes may serve as important indices of severity of dysarthria in TBI.

7

Why Does the Vowel Space Area as an Acoustic Metric Fail to Differentiate Dysarthric from Normal Vowel Articulation and what can be Done About It?

51%

Sapir S. , Połczyńska M. , Tobin Y.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2009

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tom 45

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nr 2

301-311

EN

Background. The vowel space area (VSA) has been used as an acoustic metric of dysarthric vowel articulation, but with varying degrees of success. Here we test the hypothesis that the failure of the VSA to differentiate dysarthric from normal vowel articulation has to do in part with statistical "noise" that is introduced by insensitivity of Euclidean distances that define the VSA to vowel centralisation.Methods. Differences in vowel production between 5 dysarthric young men post traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 5 young men who served as healthy controls (HC) were tested with four acoustic metrics: the triangular VSA, constructed with the first (F1) and second (F2) formants of the vowels /i/, /u/, /a/, and the Euclidean distances (EDs) between the vowels /i/ and /u (EDiu), /i/ and /a/ (EDia), and /a/ and /u/ (EDau) that define the VSA. The formant frequencies of these metrics were logarithmically scaled to reduce irrelevant interspeaker variability.Results. The VSA failed to differentiate between the TBI and HC groups, as did the the EDia, and EDau. In contrast, the EDiu effectively differentiated between groups, both statistically (unpaired t-test, p=0.0174) and in terms effect size (1.88, large). The significant difference was in the expected direction, indicating vowel centralisation and articulatory undershoot in the TBI speakers.Conclusion. The VSA is likely to perform poorly as an acoustic metric of dysarthric speech because of "noise" introduced by Euclidian distances (EDs) metrics that are not sensitive to the articulatory abnormality (in this study, the EDia and EDau). Thus, rather than using the VSA, it might be more beneficial to use only those EDs that are likely to be sensitive to vowel centralisation, as might be the case with the EDiu.