AN ACOUSTIC AND ARTICULATORY STUDY OF BININJ GUN WOK STOP CONSONANTS

Hywel Stoakes1, Janet Fletcher1 & Andrew Butcher2
1The University of Melbourne; 2Flinders University

ID 1413
[full paper]

It has previously shown that there is a clear duration difference between the long and short stop series in Bininj Gun Wok, a language spoken in Northern Australia. The stops are phonologically categorized as fortis and lenis. This investigation looks at some non-durational phonetic correlates of the contrast between lenis and fortis consonants. H1-H2, H1-A2 and H1-A3 measurements were made using acoustic recordings and the closed quotient CQ was measured using an electroglottograph. Although there were differences in H1-H2, voice quality was not found to be a consistent cue to a contrast across all measures.