A Systematic Investigation of Mid-Vowel Sounds in Kinshasa Lingala: A Case of Extreme Contrast Reduction
Date
2018-09-20
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the claims in the literature that Kinshasa Lingala (KL) speakers have merged /ɛ/ and /e/, and /ɔ/ and /o/, implying that the [±ATR] contrast between [-ATR] of mid-vowels no longer exists. This claim was tested with three production tests with native and loan data, and two perception tests on the contrast between /ɛ/ and /e/, and /ɔ/ and /o/. Picture Elicitation Task and Picture Audio Contrastive Task were used to elicit the data. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was used to compare the measurements values of F1 and F2 of a vowel with the F1 and F2 of another vowel in a pair to determine their statistical differences. Lobanov (1971) z-score was used to normalize the data. The results show that KL speakers have merged /ɛ/ and /e/ in their sociolect, in both production and perception, while the contrast survives in loan data, which were used as a test of recoverability for the underlying contrast between the vowels. Therefore, the front phonetic space of KL displays absolute neutralization in KL, that is, the contrast between /ɛ/ and /e/ survives underlyingly, while it is neutralized in surface representation. Moreover, the results show that /ɔ/ and /o/ still contrast both underlyingly and on surface; but the said contrast is deactivated in perception. Evidence for the underlying contrast comes from vowel split in KL, suggesting a near-merger in the back phonetic space of KL. The results of two-way GEE, specifically Simple Effect Testing (SET) which aimed to determine the effect of syllable onset type and age group broken down by vowel respectively, show that the production of /ɛ, e/ is impacted by the onset of the syllable. /ɛ/ is phonetically implemented as [e̝] after an obstruent, while it is implemented as [e̞] after sonorants or nasal +voiced stops. Likewise, /ɔ/ is implemented as [o̞] after nasal + stops. This phonetic realization suggests an exemplar cloud in the phonetic space of KL in which the underlying forms /ɛ, e/ are realized as either [e], [e̞], or [e̝] in KL, while /ɔ, o/ are implemented as either [ɔ], [o], and [o̞].
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Keywords
Contrast Reduction, Absolute Neutralization, Near Merger, Mid-Vowels, Kinshasa Lingala
Citation
Kabasele, P. M. (2018). A Systematic Investigation of Mid-Vowel Sounds in Kinshasa Lingala: A Case of Extreme Contrast Reduction (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/33055