LINGUIST List 19.2014|
Tue Jun 24 2008
Calls: Phonology,Phonetics/Germany; General Ling/Germany
Editor for this issue: F. Okki Kurniawan
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Insertions and Deletions in Speech
van de vijver,
DGfS Workshop 'rhythm beyond the word'
Message 1: Insertions and Deletions in Speech
From: Marzena Zygis <marzenazas.gwz-berlin.de>
Subject: Insertions and Deletions in Speech
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Full Title: Insertions and Deletions in Speech
Date: 04-Mar-2009 - 04-Mar-2009
Location: Osnabrueck, Germany
Contact Person: Marzena Zygis
Meeting Email: insertions at zas.gwz-berlin.de
Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics; Phonology
Call Deadline: 01-Sep-2008
This workshop will provide a forum for phonologists, phoneticians, and
morphologists to discuss the forms and functions of deletions and insertions
found cross-linguistically, as well as their consequences for phonological
systems. The workshop is part of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (German Linguistics Society), hosted by the
University of Osnabrueck, Germany.
Call for Papers
Phonetics as well as phonology have treated insertions and deletions
differently: while for phonetics, insertions and deletions mark the endpoints of
gradual processes, for phonology, epenthesis and deletions are categorical
processes with different functions.
Insertions have been interpreted as a syllable structure repair mechanism
(insertion of /t/ as onset in Axinica Campa), prosodic boundary markers (glottal
stop insertion in German and English) or as hiatus preservation (Skerre). Other
types of insertions such as /t/-epenthesis in nasal-fricative sequences in
US-English (/prins/ is pronounced as [prints]) do not seem to have a specific
function; in fact, in South African English, these insertions are unattested
(Fourakis & Port, 1986). The epenthesis process can be easily explained as a
phonetic by-product of the phasing of articulatory gestures. Likewise, it
appears that certain phonological insertions are not incidental and can be
accounted for articulatorily or acoustically (inserting a consonantal onset like
/w/ before /u/ or /j/ before /i/ in Nhanda, Shona). However, it has been found
that glottals and selected coronal consonants are the most frequently inserted
segments across languages, a fact which cannot readily be explained phonetically.
Phonologically, deletions, too, are claimed to serve the purpose of optimizing
the syllable structure (cluster simplification in Polish) or adjusting prosodic
requirements (/s/ is deleted word-finally but not utterance-finally in Castilian
Spanish). However, we can also find the opposite effect whereby the syllable
onset is being made less optimal by weakening of the unstressed syllable
nucleus. In German, we found vowel deletions in unstressed syllables causing
complex onsets and moreover, confusion between competing forms differing only
with respect to this unstressed vowel (i.e. geleiten 'to accompany' can be
pronounced as gleiten 'to slide') in faster rates of speech. Thus, the altered
form poses a question about the costs of deletions.
The following speakers have confirmed their participation:
Mirjam Ernestus (MPI, Nijmegen)
Tracy Alan Hall (Indiana University)
Paul de Lacy (Rutgers University)
Daniel Recasens (University of Barcelona)
Adrian Simpson (University of Jena)
Christian Uffmann (University of Sussex)
Questions which are of particular interest for the workshop are:
(i) What segments and in which contexts are prone to undergo reductions? Can we
state cross-linguistic tendencies? Why are certain segments not reduced? What
role does word frequency play in reduction processes?
(ii) Why are glottal and coronal sounds most frequently inserted? What context
conditions which insertions? What is the function of insertions?
(iii) To what extent do reductions and insertions depend on morpho-prosodic
structure, accent and phonotactics of a given language?
(iv) Can we find a relation between insertions and reductions? Are the inserted
elements also the best candidates for reduction? What is the relevant context?
All submitted abstracts should be written in English and limited to two
single-spaced pages, complete with examples and bibliography. All texts should
be formatted for an A4 page, with 1-inch/2.5-cm margin all around. Each abstract
should start with the title (centered) at top, followed by 6 single-spaced blank
lines, above the main text. Please use Arial font size 12 throughout. To display
phonetic/foreign language characters, please use Doulos SIL fonts.
Abstract submission is by email-attachment only. Please submit two versions of
your abstract, one with the title only for anonymous review and one with the
title of your talk in the first line, your name in the third and affiliation in
the 4th line below the title. Leave two more blank lines before you start with
the main text.
Please send both versions as pdf and .doc as attachments to your email.
The body of your email message should include the following information:
- paper title
- name(s) of the author(s)
- (a single) e-mail address for correspondence
Documents in other formats must be converted before submission. In total you
should submit four documents: name your fully specified abstract with your last
name followed by an underscore and the addition ''wn'' (with name) and the
suffix .pdf, .doc. Also provide a version of your abstract without name and
affiliation in both .pdf and .doc format (e.g., author1_wn.pdf, author1.pdf,
Please send your submission to:
insertions at zas.gwz-berlin.de
Deadline for abstract submissions: September 1st, 2008
Notification of acceptance: September 30th, 2008
Stefanie Jannedy (Center for General Linguistics, Berlin; jannedy at
Marzena Zygis (Center for General Linguistics, Berlin; marzena at
Message 2: DGfS Workshop 'rhythm beyond the word'
From: ruben van de vijver <rubenling.uni-potsdam.de>
Subject: DGfS Workshop 'rhythm beyond the word'
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Full Title: DGfS Workshop 'rhythm beyond the word'
Short Title: DGfS-AG RBW
Date: 04-Mar-2009 - 06-Mar-2009
Location: Osnabrück, Germany
Contact Person: ruben van de vijver
Meeting Email: rubenling.uni-potsdam.de
Web Site: http://
Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
Call Deadline: 01-Sep-2008
The goal of the workshop Rhythm beyond the Word' is to bring together
researchers who focus on the role of rhythm in various subdomains of
linguistics. We invite contributions from scholars working in morphology,
phonology and syntax, psycho- and neurolinguistics, aphasiology and language
Call for Papers
Rhythm beyond the word
We are hosting a workshop entitled Rhythm beyond the word to be held from March
4th till March 6th in Osnabrück, Germany, during th 31st annual meeting of the
DGfS. Send us an abstract if you are interested in presenting a paper on any of
the issues dscribed below. The electronic abstract should be one page text plus
one pages for references and other material (for example, graphics) and in pdf
format. Send it to rubenling.uni-potsdam.de and ralf.vogeluni-bielefeld.de by
September 1st 2008. We expect to be able to provide financial suport for student
- Volker Dellwo
- Dafydd Gibbon
- Carlos Gussenhoven
- Gerrrit Kentner
- Sonja Kotz
- Julia Schlüter
- Maren Schmidt-Kassow
- Petra Wagner
As a well-formedness condition on outputs, rhythm plays an important role in
language acquisition, psycholinguistics, language change, phraseology, and, of
course, in morphology and phonology.
More recent research by a number of authors includes the following findings:
 established that rhythmic constraints affected the morpho-syntactic
development of Early Modern English and Early Modern German; rhythm has an
impact on word order in sentence production;
 showed that the rhythmic characteristics of a language are learned extremely
early in language acquisition; rhythm helps children acquire knowledge of the
word order regularities in their language; It has been shown that 5-days old
infants are able to discriminate their mother tongue from other languages based
on its rhythmic characteristics.
 showed in experimental studies on healthy and patient populations in
neurolinguistics, ''syntactic'' effects observed at the basal ganglia have been
reinterpreted as emerging from the basal ganglia's role as organizing a more
basic function of the basal ganglia: they are responsible for the rhythmic
sequencing of cognitive and motor activities.
Recent experimental work at the University of Potsdam revealed that rhythm
affects production. Speakers avoid rhythmically awkward sequences.
Such effects are unexpected in many current syntactic and psycholinguistic
theories in which phonology only interprets syntactic structure. The impact of
rhythm on the various subdomains of linguistics, as illustrated by the effects
mentioned above, is not integrated in linguistic theory yet. To achieve this
goal an exchange of data and ideas across the various linguistic subdomains is
needed. This impact of rhythm on other dimensions of language is rather
unexpected from the perspective of theories in which phonology only interprets
syntactic structure. Similar challenges arise for some psycholinguistic models
of speech production where phonology is attributed the same role. Some
researchers have even pleaded for rhythmicality as the fundamental principle of
Universal grammar in the Chomskyan sense.
The acquisition of rhythm below the word level is fairly well-studied, but
studies dealing with the acquisition of rhythm in compounds and phrases are
still rare. The same holds of many other areas: our knowledge of the role of
rhythm as a well-formedness condition is still incomplete.
Contributions should address one or more of the following questions - or any
other question pertinent to the theme of the workshop:
- What is the role of rhythm in phonology above the word level?
- How is rhythm above the word level acquired?
- What is the role of rhythm in syntax and morphology, both synchronically and
- What is the role of rhythm in psycho- and neurolinguistics?
- Which role does rhythm play in aphasic speech?
- How does rhythm affect speech perception?
- How can linguistic rhythm be detected and defined?
- Is rhythm really as fundamental for language as recent findings suggest?
 Schlüter, J. (2005). Rhythmic Grammar. Berlin: Mouton, de Gruyter.
 Nazzi, T. & Ramus, F. (2003). Perception and acquisition of linguistic
rhythm by infants. Speech Communication 4: 233-243.
 Schmidt-Kassow, M. (2007). What's beat got to do with it? The influence of
Meter on Syntactic Processing: ERP Evidence from Healthy and Patient
populations. Philosophical Dissertation. University of Potsdam.
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