Alessandro Vietti

An Acoustic Analysis of /r/ in Tyrolean.

This paper offers a preliminary contribution to the phonetic description and acoustic characterization of /r/ allophony in Tyrolean dialect, an under-researched South Bavarian Dialect spoken in the North of Italy. The analysis of target words containing /r/ in different phonotactic contexts, produced by six Tyrolean female speakers, confirms the high degree of intraspeaker variation in the production of /r/ with a uvular place of articulation. The distributional analysis of the allophones in our sample shows a preference among all the speakers for a fricative manner of articulation followed by approximants and taps and, to a lesser extent, by trills (with a very small amount of vocalized variants). These results are in line with previous research in the South-Tyrolean community. Due to the high variability of rhotic sounds, we further investigate and report on some of their shared acoustic features such as duration across the different phonotactic contexts and Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio for the different allophones attested.

/r/ as Language Marker in Bilingual Speech Production and Perception.

Across languages of the world /r/ is known for its variability. Recent literature incorporates sociolinguistic factors, such as bilingualism, in order to explain /r/ variation. The current study investigates to what extent /r/ is a marker of a bilingual’s dominant language. Specifically, the effects of several sociolinguistic and phonotactic factors on the production and perception of /r/ are investigated, such as the bilingual speaker’s linguistic background, the language spoken as well as syllable position and place of articulation. To this end a reading task is carried out with bilingual speakers from South Tyrol (Italy). The major languages spoken in this region are Tyrolean (German dialect) and Italian. The recorded reading data is subsequently used in a perception experiment to investigate whether South Tyrolean listeners can identify the dominant language of the speaker on the basis of the presence of /r/ and the /r/ variant. Results show that listeners can identify the dominant language of the bilingual speakers on the basis of /r/. Specifically, the more Italian dominant the sociolinguistic background of the speaker, the more /r/ is produced frontally and the more that speaker is perceived as Italian dominant.

Which Language R You Speaking? /r/ as a Language Marker in Tyrolean and Italian Bilinguals

Across languages of the world the /r/ sound is known for its variability. This variability has been investigated using articulatory models as well as in sociolinguistic studies. The current study investigates to what extent /r/ is a marker of a bilingual’s dominant language. To this end, a reading task was carried out by bilingual speakers from South Tyrol, who produce /r/ differently according to whether they dominantly speak Tyrolean or Italian. The recorded reading data were subsequently used in a perception experiment to investigate whether South Tyrolean bilingual listeners are able to identify the dominant language of the speaker. Results indicate that listeners use /r/ as a cue to determine the dominant language of the speaker whilst relying on articulatory distinctions between the variants. It is furthermore shown that /r/ correlates with three interdependent variables: the sociolinguistic background of the speakers, their speech production, and how their speech is perceived.