15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-15)Barcelona, Spain |
The Estonian quantity degrees (Q) are phonological two-syllable prosodic
units the distinct durational patterns of which are based on various
combinations of duration ratios of foot-internal neighbouring phonemes.
In order to test this definition, the durations of word types
C1V1V2C2V3
(Q2) and C1V1V2:C2V3 (Q3) separated
from a text read as a dialogue
with three different speech rates were measured. The discrimination
of the duration ratios of successive phonemes and their relevance for
the identification of the quantity degrees were examined by perception
tests. Listeners cannot determine by merely the durational relationships
of the first syllable whether the syllable belongs either to one or
the other word form (quantity degree), although they can discriminate
whether the coda vowel is longer or shorter than the nucleus vowel.
The duration ratios between the stressed syllable coda and nucleus,
and the coda and the unstressed syllable nucleus are complementary
cues for the perception of Qs.
Bibliographic reference. Eek, Arvo / Meister, Einar (2003): "Domain of the Estonian quantity degrees: evidence from words containing diphthongs", In ICPhS-15, 2039-2042.