Revisiting the Pressure Impulse in Australian Languages: Bininj Gun-wok

Abstract

This study is an aerodynamic analysis of medial stop articulation in Bininj Gun-wok (also known as Bininj Kunwok). Like many northern Australian languages, BGW has two stop series found in word medial, intervocalic position, at all places of articulation with no con- trast for voicing or voice onset time. Acoustic and aerodynamic recordings of four speakers of the Kunwinjku dialect of Bininj Gun-wok were recorded under field conditions in a remote community of Arnhem Land. Three repetitions of real Kunwinjku words were recorded within a carrier phrase. The analysis includes the measurement of peak intra-oral pressure (Po) over time which is termed the Pressure Impulse (PI) after Malécot. Results show that peak pressure and consonant duration are independent pa- rameters and that while lenis and fortis stops differ in terms of duration and peak intra-oral pressure, they attain the maximum pressure peak at a similar time after closure. Pressure Impulse measurements also differentiate the stop types and furthermore, results show that there may be differences within the long stop category contrasting fortis stops with geminates (homorganic clusters).

Publication
In Proceedings of the 15th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology