Marina SnesarevaPhD student

Moscow State Universitymsnesareva@gmail.com

Palatalisation in focus –

unvoiced consonants in fluent L2 Irish

1st Conference of Celtic StudiesPoznań, October 18-19, 2014

Outline1. Instead of introduction. Irish and English in contact: social changes and their impact on language proficiency; code-switching; differences between older and younger speakers.2. English influence in Irish (pronunciation, incl. native speakers).

3. Palatalisation in Irish: general remarks; degrees of palatalisation in dialects; positions of greatest contrast.4. Data, method of analysis.5. Research findings: deviation types and their frequency; deviations in positions of greater contrast; deviations in other positions; deviations: sound position in the word.6. Preliminary conclusions.7. Note on further research.8. Materials and further reading.

Irish and English in contactSocial changes and their impact on language proficiencyCode-switchingDifferences between older and younger speakers

Social changes“Social interaction systems have altered very considerably in the period since 1960... Until this point, social networks tended to be localized: since 1960, they have become increasingly more differentiated”.

“Not only is the number of marriages between fluent Irish-speakers in decline, but there is also evidence to suggest that some parents with high ability of Irish have become less efficient in reproducing children with equally high levels of Irish in recent decades”.

(Ó Riagáin 1997: 273-274)Even when Irish is spoken in the family, it is often used daily by only one parent (Ní Chonchúir 2012: 114).

Social changes: English taking over

“One wonders if the English-language television does not now talk more to Gaeltacht children than their parents do, assessed in hours per day. Certainly it talks to them long enough to guarantee their fluency in English by the age of 5 and to provide prime subject matter for conversation with their friends” (Hindley 1990: 200).

Media, film industry, Internet, social networks – most is in English.

Result: “spontaneous English speakers” even in Irish-speaking families (Lenoach 2012: 61).

Code-switchingMost Irish speakers can now easily mix both languages.

Stenson (1991: 573): “Irish/English code-switching is... quite smooth, produced without noticeable hesitations between elements of one language and those of another”.

BUT Lenoach (2012: 53): “It seems that this is not always the case with young speakers. In a large number of cases the switch between the two languages is not smooth, the minor language is not fluent spoken, not to mention the difficulties in their main language”.

Code-switching“In case of Irish, it is common to speak English without switching, it would not be understood and (thus) is not permitted to mix it with a lot of Irish; it is common to switch to English when speaking Irish as... it would be understood and (thus) is permitted” (Ó Curnáin 2012: 355).

Irish speakers: generation differences

“Among the native and fluent speakers, one distinguishes between older fluent and younger fluent speakers; the latter typically speak a somewhat changed form of the language which is still accepted by the whole community” (Grinevald 1997: 259).

Result: word-for-word translations from English among young speakers; understanding gap between younger and older generations; pupils think traditional Irish is ‘weird’; language standard (acceptability) is declining (Ó Curnáin 2009; Ní Chonchúir 2012).

English influence in IrishCan be found on all levels, including pronunciationIn contact situation native speakers are also affected

Pronunciation level“English phonetics is influencing quite a number of speakers, even in case of native language speakers” (Lenoach 2012: 45).

The influence is especially common in case of Irish palatalised consonants as the palatal vs. non-palatal distinction is not present in English (Ó Béarra 2007: 264).

Palatalisation in IrishGeneral remarks, palatalisation and its roleDegrees of palatalisation in dialectsPositions of contrast

General remarks

(Hickey 2014: 40)

• In Irish palatalisation is systemic:

• Palatal vs. non-palatal is a binary opposition in Irish phonology. And yet it “has different realisations for various sounds and shows different degrees of manifestation depending on syllable position and the stressed or unstressed nature of syllables” (Hickey 2014: 43).

Degrees of palatalisation

For most Irish consonants there are only two manifestations of polarity (palatal and non-palatal) which are binary in nature, i.e. a consonant is either palatal or not.

However, coronal nasals (N) and liquids (L) can show differing degrees of palatalisation (in Western and Northern Irish dialects):

(Hickey 2014: 46)

Positions of greatest contrast

Word-initially before a stressed vowel:

lá ‘day’ vs. leá ‘melting’Intervocalically after a word-initial stressed vowel:

banbh ‘piglet’ vs. bainne ‘milk’Word-finally after a stressed vowel:dál ‘people, tribe’ vs. dáil ‘assembly’

These do not apply to all consonants.

Positions of contrast for R-sounds

As a non-initial segment of syllable onset:

bríste ‘trousers’ vs. bróga ‘shoes’ Intervocalically after a stressed

vowel:boireann ‘rocky country’ vs. baracáid

‘barricade’ In word-final position:beoir ‘beer’ vs. beár ‘bar (in pub)’

Data and method of analysisData used in this paperMethod employed – computer speech analysis (Praat)

Data usedSemi-spontaneous speech samples, total spoken time 42 min 15 sec.

Source: Raidió na Life Raidió na Life podcasts (programmes Fada is Fairsing, An Oíche Shóisialta), 2012-14

Informants: 8 (4 male, 4 female)# Sex Age Currently lives in1 female 20-30 Dublin2 female 40-50 Glasgow (born in

Dublin)3 male 40-50 Glasgow (born in

Dublin)4 male 30-35 Dublin5 male 40-50 Dublin6 male 25-30 Dublin7 female 30-40 Dublin8 female 25-35 Dublin

Method employedComputer speech analysis, including:monologues transcription;singling out contexts of greatest contrast for each consonant;

tabulation;demarcation of deviations in positions of greatest contrast;

demarcation of deviations in other positions;

computer analysis, including F1 and F2 measurement (for voiced consonants).

Programme used: PraatPraat (Boersma & Weenink 2013)

Research findingsData, figures, number of deviationsDeviations in positions of greater contrastDeviations in other positions

Deviation types and their frequency

Palatalisation absence prevails and is shared by all speakers.

Excessive palatalisation: S1 and S4, S5 (1 word), S6 (1 word), S7 (1 word). t d n lS1 tuilleadh daoine labhairt

(2)S4 naoi (2) bualadh

(2)slua (2)sluaite

S5 daoineS6 daoineS7 eolaíochtTotal: 1 3 2 8

No palatalisaion:positions of greater

contrastS1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8

pp 0/9 0/6 0/9 0/7 0/10 0/1 0/0 0/14bb 0/38 0/27 0/17 0/35 0/23 0/17 0/10 0/7tt 0/49 2/43 0/21 4/120 1/89 0/24 0/41 0/32dd 0/67 1/47 1/45 2/105 0/83 0/33 0/36 1/25kk 2/36 0/21 0/34 1/66 0/30 0/15 0/18 0/27gg 0/46 0/13 0/20 0/47 2/30 0/13 0/25 0/14ff 1/27 2/24 0/13 6/57 0/23 0/12 0/10 0/12vv 2/31 2/40 0/17 2/87 0/36 0/18 0/17 0/32mm 1/41 3/32 0/19 1/95 1/54 0/24 0/22 2/26nn 4/95 2/71 2/66 2/153 3/113 2/47 0/46 3/63ll 19/95 28/82 8/40 14/17

715/75 7/38 0/41 11/50

rr 4/65 1/25 5/34 6/108 3/65 1/21 3/19 2/29

No palatalisaion: other positions

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8pp 1bbttdd 2 2kkggffvvmm 5 7 6 2 3 1nn 7 5 5 3 4 2 1ll 8 2 3 8 2 3 2 4rr 11 13 6 9 6 2 1

Total number of deviations

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8pp 1bbtt 2 4 1dd 3 1 4 1kk 2 1gg 2ff 1 2 6vv 2 2 2mm 6 10 6 3 4 3nn 11 7 7 2 6 6 2 4ll 27 30 11 22 17 10 2 15rr 15 14 11 15 9 1 5 3

Deviations re separate sounds

Deviations in case of sonorants /n/, /l/, /r/ are shared by all speakers and much more frequent

sonorants|d|

v, f|t|k|

g, p(1 speaker only)

No deviations at all in case of /b/

position word (number of examples) sound

word onset déanamh (1), deara (1), dé (1)fear (2), fearr (1)minic (1)mheánscoil (1)teideal (1), teacht (6)

dfmvt

intervocalic Tríonóide (2) dfeicim (1) kLife (5), oifigeach (1) fBaile (3), eile (8), léarscáilíocht (1), oileán (2), uilig (1)

l

beagáinín (1), daoine (2), duine (1), éinne (1), Gearmáinis (1), sine (1), Spáinnis (1), tháinig (1)

n

díospóireachta (2), díospóireachtaí (1), díreach (1), (h)áirithe (2), (h)uaire (1), tíre (2)

r

Deviations: words and positions

position word (number of examples) soundWord final position:

• monosyllabic word

muid (2) dcraic (2) kdóibh (1), libh (3) vfuaim (3), suim (4) mbhfuil (31), bhuel (14), ceoil (6), dtoil (1), fóill (2), níl (17), scoil (2)

l

bliain (3), féin (1), linn (1), shin (1)

n

chuir (1), comhair (1), léir (2), nuair (2), stair (4), uair (2), tír (4)

r

• after -ú [u:]

cosúil (3), difriúil (3), éagsúil (1), suimiúil (3), súil (1)dúinn (1)

ln

• after -á [a:]

chloisteáil (2), coinneáil (1), dáil (2), dteagmháil (4), fáil (5), feiceáil (2), ghabháil (1)

l

amháin (2), amhráin (1), gréasáin (1) n

Deviations: words and positions

position word (number of examples) soundWord final position:

• unstressed

bunscoil (2), freastail (1), meánscoil (4), Teampaill (6)

l

feicim (2), foghlaim (6), measaim (1), sílim (10), tuigim (2)

m

Albain (5), Breatain (2), ealaín (2), Éirinn (11), freisin (1), idirlín (1)

n

ábhair (1), athair (1), b’fhéidir (8), cainteoir (3), cathair (5), ceathair (1), cumadóir (2), féidir (1), Gaeilgeoir (1), labhair (1), láthair (4), leathuair (2), máthair (1), obair (11), soiléir (1)

r

uilig (2) gconsonant cluster

breá (1), freisin (1), láidre (2) rláidre (2) dan-cheangailt (1) lseantuismitheoirí (1), tuismitheoirí (1) mmuidne (2) n

Deviations: words and positions

Deviations in different positions

Deviations in word final position (both in stressed and unstressed syllables) are much more frequent

word final(monosyllabic words)

|word final

(unstressed syllable)|

after á and ú|

intervocalic|

word onset;consonant cluster

To reiteratePreliminary conclusionsSituation of language contact as one of reasonsOther factors: position in the word; adjoining sounds (á, ú)

Preliminary conclusionsAll informants exhibit deviations in palatalisation. Extent of deviations varies.

Variation in pronunciation is present even within one speaker’s data (in some cases even the same word is pronounced differently).

Absence of palatalisation is considerably more common than its excessive use: (a) only S1 and S4 data have more than one example of the latter; (b) S2 and S3 do not have such deviations at all.

Language contact and its impact

Language contact can be named as one of the reasons underlying and, in a way, conditioning the deviations in question as:

(a) the distinction between palatalised vs. non-palatalised consonants is absent in English;

(b) all the informants speak both English and Irish, being more confident in the former (code-switching);

(c) most deviations show palatalisation absence, thus supporting the idea expressed in (a).

Other factorsIn addition to the language contact situation, several other factors should be considered:

(a) sound quality (deviations in case of sonorants, especially /l/, /n/, /r/ are more frequent and shared by all informants);

(b) sound position in the word (deviations in word final syllable are more frequent, even when it is stressed, i.e. even in strong position);

(c) adjoining sounds (quite a number of deviations occur when a consonant, especially /l/ or /n/, is preceded or immediately followed by -ú and -á).

Further researchGetting more data (up to 30+ informants)Preferably similar contexts (field research)Getting data of informants’ L1 (English)

Marina Snesarevamsnesareva@gmail.com

1st Conference of Celtic StudiesPoznań, October 18-19, 2014

Materials and further reading

Boersma P., Weenink D. (2013). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [computer programme, version 2013]. http://www.praat.org/

Grinevald, C. (1997). Language contact and language degeneration. In: The handbook of sociolinguistics, 257-270. MA: Blackwell.

Hickey, R. (2009). Language use and attitudes in Ireland. A preliminary evaluation of survey results. In: Sochtheangeolaíocht na Gaeilge, Léachtaí Cholm Cille 39, 62-89.

Hickey, R. (2010). Contact and language shift. In: The handbook of language contact, 151-169. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Hickey, R. (2011). The dialects of Irish. Study of a changing landscape. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.

Hickey, R. (2014). The sound structure of Modern Irish. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. Hindley, R. (1990). The death of the Irish language: a qualified obituary. London & New

York: Routledge. Lenoach, C. (2012). An Ghaeilge iarthraidisiúnta agus a dioscúrsa. In: An chonair chaoch: an

mionteangachas sa dátheangachas, 19-109. Gaillimh: Leabhar Breac. Ní Chonchúir, A. (2012). Feasacht sochtheangeolaíochta agus riachtanais siollabais

chainteoirí dúchais na Gaeltachta. In: An chonair chaoch: an mionteangachas sa dátheangachas, 110-143. Gaillimh: Leabhar Breac.

Ó Béarra, F. (2007). Late Modern Irish and the dynamics of language change and death. In: The Celtic languages in contact: papers from the workshop within the framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies, 260-269. Potsdam: Potsdam University Press.

Ó Curnáin, B. (2012). An Ghaeilge iarthraidisiúnta agus an phragmataic chódmheasctha thiar agus theas. In: An chonair chaoch: an mionteangachas sa dátheangachas, 284-365. Gaillimh: Leabhar Breac.

Ó Riagáin, P. (1997). Language policy and social reproduction: Ireland 1893-1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ó Sé, L. (2000). Crannóga: an epidemiological approach to the Gaeltacht. BÁC: Johnswood Press.

Stenson, N. (1991). Code-switching vs. borrowing in Modern Irish. In: Language contact in the British Isles. Proceedings of the VIII International Symposium on Language Contact in Europe, 559-579.Tübingen: Niemeyer.