Cross‐linguistic differences in diphthongs

Voice quality differences and the origin of diphthongs

Introduction. The literature documents a widely-noted correlation between three clusters of features widely-distributed in Southeast Asian languages: a so-called tense register (associated with several distinct voice quality or phonation types (specifically, with creaky, tense, and sometimes harsh voice)), a modal register, which is unmarked, and a breathy-voiced register (associated with breat...

Crosslinguistic research

ction of diphthongs

This paper examines the cross-linguistic phonetic interactions in the production of diphthongs by French-English bilingual children. The study aims to investigate (1) bye) and French tautosyllabic vowel-glide combinations (e.g. /aj/ as in baille onetic implementations, and if so, (2) whether bilingual children maintain two separate categories. Using SSANOVA to compare formant contours, the resu...

Crosslinguistic Notions of (In)definiteness

We argue that both Russellian and Heimian definites exist in natural languages. Our account captures both the commonality and difference between the two. Further, we suggest that the Russel-lian/Heimian distinction extends to indefinites too.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic Differences in Temporal Language and Thought

The idea that language shapes the way we think, often associated with Benjamin Whorf, has long been decried as not only wrong but also fundamentally wrong-headed. Yet, experimental evidence has reopened debate about the extent to which language influences nonlinguistic cognition, particularly in the domain of time. In this article, I will first analyze an influential argument against the Whorfi...