This paper examines the phonetic realization of rising pre-nuclear pitch accents in Persian. In a first experiment, the alignment of f0 valleys and peaks in pre-nuclear pitch accents was analyzed in controlled speech materials as a function of the syllable structure (open vs. closed) and vowel type (short vs. long) of the accented syllable. The results revealed that in words with antepenultimate stress, both the L and the H tones are anchored to specific segmental landmarks irrespective of syllable structure or vowel type. In particular, the L is consistently aligned with the onset of the accented syllable, and the H is placed with similar consistency in the vicinity of the first post-accentual vowel. In a second experiment, the variability in the timing and scaling of L valleys and H peaks was examined as a function of the proximity of the word boundary and of the following accent. The results revealed that while the alignment of the L was unaffected by changes in stress conditions, H peaks were significantly retracted as the syllable approached the end of the word. However, the proximity of the following accent did not produce a significant effect on H alignment. In addition, no significant differences were found on L and H scaling in different stress or tonal crowding conditions. Overall, the results contribute to a growing body of evidence that in the absence of upcoming prosodic pressure, the alignment of pitch targets is specified relative to segmental positions. A comparison between these findings and empirical findings from other languages reveals fine phonetic differences of segmental anchoring that are less likely to be interpreted in terms of distinct association-based phonological representations, and suggests that some aspects of segmental anchoring need to be explained in terms of continuous language-specific alignment rules.

This paper examines potential prosodic cues for level of formality in Japanese conversational speech using speech data gathered via one-on-one interviews. Based on previous work on the phonetic properties of formality in Japanese (Ofuka et al. 2000, Ito 2002), further studies of Korean (Winter & Grawunder 2012) and Catalan Spanish (Hübscher, Borràs-Comes & Prieto 2017), and on a lab-based pilot study, the study examined properties of f0, intensity, pause frequency, and articulation rate via mixed effects regression models and a functional data analysis (Grabe, Kochanski & Coleman 2007, Ramsay 2006). Analysis of the speech data shows significant relationships between a number of prosodic variables and level of formality, and suggests that some of these relationships may apply cross-linguistically.

Among phoneticians, the Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA) is one of the most widely used methods for the componential assessment of voice quality. Whether the ultimate goal of the VPA evaluation is the comparative description of languages or the characterization of an individual speaker, the VPA protocol shows great potential for different research areas of speech communication. However, its use is not without practical difficulties. Despite these, methodological studies aimed at explaining where, when and why issues arise during the perceptual assessment process are rare. In this paper we describe the methodological stages through which three analysts evaluated the voices of 99 Standard Southern British English male speakers, rated their voices using the VPA scheme, discussed inter-rater disagreements, and eventually produced an agreed version of VPA scores. These scores were then used to assess correlations between settings. We show that it is possible to reach a good degree of inter-rater agreement, provided that several calibration and training sessions are conducted. We further conclude that the perceptual assessment of voice quality using the VPA scheme is an essential tool in fields such as forensic phonetics but, foremost, that it can be adapted and modified to a range of research areas, and not necessarily limited to the evaluation of pathological voices in clinical settings.

This study focuses on a corpus assembled from commercial recordings of 1929 and 1932 featuring the two British linguists J. R. Firth (1890–1960) and Daniel Jones (1881–1967). The aim is to analyse and quantify differences in the Received Pronunciation (RP) used by the two men, in relation to sociolinguistic and stylistic variation within RP of the period. A systematic acoustic analysis reveals that whereas the vowel systems of the two speakers are closely similar in most respects, there are significant differences in the realizations of the trap, price and dress qualities. We show that each of these has a well-documented history of variation in RP, and find that in each case Firth is employing the higher-class or more prestigious variant, which is a reversal of expectations based on what is known about the social and regional origins of the two. We consider the possible roles of social background, avoidance of regional features and hypercorrection. The outcomes of our work are (i) an illustration of RP used in the interwar period for the purposes of teaching English as a foreign language, (ii) empirical evidence for internal variation within the accent, (iii) additional insights into the stylistic and social correlates of this variation, and (iv) a demonstration that satisfactory formant analyses can be conducted with recordings from as early as the 1920s. Overall, it is hoped that this case-study will both throw light on the ‘standard’ accent of the era and inspire further sociophonetic investigations with legacy recordings.

Nivaĉle [niβaˈe] (ISO 639-3: cag) is a Mataguayan language spoken in the Argentinean and Paraguayan Chaco by approximately 16,350 speakers in Paraguay (DGEEC 2012) and 553 in Argentina (INDEC 2004–2005).

Fataluku ([fataluku], ISO 639-3: ddg) is a language spoken by approximately 37,000 people on the eastern end of Timor-Leste (Lewis, Simons & Fennig 2016). Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, is an independent nation that occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor in island Southeast Asia, which it shares politically with Indonesia in the west. Timor is located north of Australia, between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Bali in the west and New Guinea in the east.

This paper focuses on the Japhug language (local name /kɯrɯ skɤt/) of Kamnyu village (/kɤmɲɯ/, Chinese Ganmuniao 干木鸟) in Gdongbrgyad area (/ʁdɯrɟɤt/, Chinese Longerjia 龙尔甲), Mbarkhams county (Chinese Maerkang 马尔康), Rngaba prefecture, Sichuan province, China. Japhug belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family, and is one of the four Rgyalrong languages, alongside Tshobdun, Zbu and Situ.