Liaison sans enchaînement: An acoustic and frequency pilot study
Abstract
Liaison without enchaînement is a phenomenon found most often in political speech. However, in discussions of liaison in French phonology, it is often ignored or trivialized. The present study seeks to rectify this by taking the steps to explore a few facets of the phenomenon. This study acoustically analyzes the durations of liaison consonants and the vowels which precede them. It was discovered that due to pre-pausal lengthening, liaison non-enchaînée consonants are categorically longer than liaison enchaînée consonants. From the evidence of the acoustic study, it was also postulated that prosodically liaison is restricted within the domain of the Intonational Phrase. The next major part of the work looks at the frequency of optional liaison and liaison without enchaînement in order to determine if there has been a change in frequency over time. It was discovered that since the 1980s the realization of optional liaison seems to have increased while the frequency of liaison non-enchaînée has remained stagnant.
Degree
M.A.
Advisors
Niepokuj, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Linguistics
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