This dissertation investigates the phonetic and phonological characteristics of Danish stop consonants, with particular focus on their diachronic origin and synchronic variation. Using data... Show moreThis dissertation investigates the phonetic and phonological characteristics of Danish stop consonants, with particular focus on their diachronic origin and synchronic variation. Using data-oriented and statistical methods, it fills empirical gaps in phonetic research on Danish stops and in doing so contributes to our understanding of the overall sound system of the language.The dissertation reports the results of a number of studies which combine spontaneous speech corpora with state-of-the-art techniques in statistical modeling. Topics considered include intervocalic voicing, which is shown to be rare in all stops and in almost all phonetic contexts, and affrication of aspirated stop releases, which is shown to be strongly dependent on place of articulation. The dissertation also investigates a range of phonetic parameters in a legacy corpus of traditional varieties of Jutland Danish, with the results showing systematic regional variation even in minute acoustic details. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Gooskens, C.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van; Golubović, J.; Schüppert, A.; Swarte, F.; Voigt, S. 2017
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language... Show moreBy means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school. Show less
Barddal, Johanna; Arnett, Carlee; Carey, Stephen Mark; Eythorsson, Thorhallur; Jenset, Gard B.; Kroonen, G.J.; Oberlin, Adam 2016
This thesis investigates doubling and agreement in Romance and Germanic nominal constituents. In Swedish, Norwegian, and Faroese, the definite article is doubled in case an adjective modifies the... Show moreThis thesis investigates doubling and agreement in Romance and Germanic nominal constituents. In Swedish, Norwegian, and Faroese, the definite article is doubled in case an adjective modifies the noun. This doubling is known as double definiteness. This thesis proposes that double definiteness is the result of an intriguing interaction between syntax and morphology. The absence of double definiteness in other Germanic languages is attributed to morphological variation. The thesis mainly, however, deals with the distinction between strong and weak adjectival inflection in Germanic and its absence in the Romance. This thesis proposes that agreement on attributive adjectives is always licensed indirectly, through the help of a mediating element. In the case of Germanic weak adjectival inflection, this mediating element is partially deactivated for independent reasons. In the case of Germanic strong adjectival inflection as well as Romance adjectival inflection, this mediating element is however always fully active. On the theoretical level, this thesis proposes that the syntactic configuration in which agreement can occur is best defined in terms of dominance. It is argued that a definition in terms of dominance is both theoretically simpler as well as empirically more adequate than a definition in terms of c-command. Show less
