Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

Vowel length in Luganda.

Authors: Irene Vogel; Laura Spinu;

Vowel length in Luganda.

Abstract

Luganda, a language of Uganda, is like other Bantu languages in exhibiting a contrast between short and long vowels. In many positions, however, this contrast is neutralized, for example, before NC clusters, where it is reported that only long vowels appear. This paper investigates the extent to which such long vowels, which are also nasalized, are similar in duration to contrastively long vowels. Based on recordings of four native speakers of Luganda living in the US (two female), we compare the durations of vowels in the following contexts: (i) vowels before NT and ND clusters (N = nasal, T = voiceless stop, D = voiced stop); (ii) short vowels before T, D, N; and (iii) long vowels before T, D, N. Analysis is in progress and will also examine the acoustic properties of different vowels. Preliminary results show that the overall duration patterns of Luganda are consistent with those reported for several other Bantu languages. That is, vowels are indeed lengthened before NT/ND clusters; however, their average duration is somewhat shorter than that of contrastive long vowels (i.e., V: 149 ms; V before NC: 298 ms; V: 392 ms). Implications for the implementation of the vowel length contrast are discussed.

Related Organizations
  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    2
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
2
Average
Average
Average
Upload OA version
Are you the author of this publication? Upload your Open Access version to Zenodo!
It’s fast and easy, just two clicks!