15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-15)

Barcelona, Spain
August 3-9, 2003


Place and Manner Contrasts in Komi-Permyak Obstruents: An Acoustic Study

Alexei Kochetov (1), Alevtina Lobanova (2)

(1) Simon Fraser University, Canada
(2) Perm State Pedagogical University, Russia

In this study we examine the acoustic properties of a relatively complex set of obstruents found in Komi-Permyak: voiceless and voiced denti-alveolar stops and fricatives, apical and laminal post-alveolar affricates and fricatives, and palatal stops. The results show that these consonants are well differentiated by a range of acoustic properties - both durational and spectral - as a combined effect of their differences in place and manner of articulation. The study provides an acoustic record of this endangered Finno-Ugric language. It also presents an example of how a language can exploit non-linear articulatory/acoustic relations to maintain a marked set of phonological contrasts.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Kochetov, Alexei / Lobanova, Alevtina (2003): "Place and manner contrasts in Komi-Permyak obstruents: an acoustic study", In ICPhS-15, 2721-2724.