print version © Copyright 1998 John Kevin Varden
web version Copyright 2009 J. Kevin Varden
Copyright Statement - Abstract
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Washington
1998
Approved by: Sharon Hargus, Ph. D.,
Chairperson of Supervisory Committee
Committee members:
Kate Davis
Ellen Kaisse
Carol Stoel-Gamon
Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Linguistics
Copyright Statement - top
Doctoral Dissertation
In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral degree at the University of Washington, I agree that the Library shall make its copies freely available for inspection. I further agree that extensive copying of this dissertation is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with "fair use" as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for copying or reproduction of this dissertation may be referred to UMI Dissertation Services 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 or to the author.
Abstract - top
University of Washington
On High Vowel Devoicing In Standard Modern Japanese:
Implications For Current Phonological Theory
by John Kevin Varden
Chairperson of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Sharon Hargus
Department of Linguistics
This dissertation examines the phonological rule of High Vowel Devoicing (HVD) in Standard Modern Japanese, the dialect of the Kanto plane region. The data herein support the analysis of loss of high vowel voicing as both phonological and phonetic processes (Maekawa 1990; Kondo 1997; Tsuchida 1997). Phonological devoicing involves spread of the feature [+spread glottis] from the preceding obstruent, although it was noted in this dissertation that oral closure may also be playing a role. Phonetically, gestural overlap (as per Browman & Goldstein 1990; 1992) of the vowelÕs voicing gesture by the preceding glottal spread is also supported by the data (Tsuchida 1997 and references therein). However, while the data of Tsuchida (1997) limited gestural loss of voicing of high vowels to the environment of between voiceless fricatives, the data here suggests that this overlap occurs with high vowels in all devoicing environments.
Characterization of the various stages of vowel reduction within in a Feature Geometry framework are presented. It is also noted that the typical ÔdevoicedÕ vowel is actually fricativized (that is, becomes a vowel-colored fricative), with the frication produced by airflow through a narrowed oral tract providing the energy for vocal resonance. The presence of fricativized voiced vowels in the current data set suggests independent manipulation of the features controlling glottal spread and oral closure; i.e. [spread glottis] and [continuant].
The data presented here also uphold the contention that the rule of HVD is losing its dependence on Speech Rate (SR); especially for words containing only one devoicable vowel (the single devoicing environment of Kondo 1994, 1997), high vowels are being devoiced even at very slow SRs. For the current data, the variable having the largest effect on whether or not a vowel will devoice is the mora (1st or 2nd) containing the vowel. This supports a finding of Kuriyagawa & Sawashima (1991). In addition, the gender of the participant had a large effect on the frequency of devoicing, although much individual variation was noted as well. SR had a lesser influence, while the token containing the vowel had less influence still.