Prosodic Structure in Munster Irish
Citation:
McCabe, Connor Peter, Prosodic Structure in Munster Irish, Trinity College Dublin, School of Linguistic Speech & Comm Sci, C.L.C.S., 2023Download Item:
Abstract:
This thesis centres on prosody (rhythm, intonation, and prominence) in the Munster varieties of Irish (Gaelic). Munster Irish (MI) is distinct from other varieties of the language in having a complex, weight-sensitive system of prominence-assignment in words of more than one syllable described for it, which has received considerable attention in formal phonological literature.
Over four chapters of instrumental phonetic and statistical analysis of acoustic data, three topics in MI prosody relevant to the current and historical characteristics of the variety's lexical and phrasal prominence are addressed, using data from 1928 (naturalistic; digitised wax-cylinder recordings) and 2020-21 (naturalistic and experimentally controlled): (1) The rhythmic and weight properties of word-initial syllables in MI, and whether these are affected by initial mutation (based on a metronome synchronisation experiment examining P-centres); (2) The alignment (or lack thereof) of phonetic measures of syllable prominence with traditional descriptions, and whether speakers consistently produce such patterns independent of lexical knowledge (using naturalistic storytelling data and a nonword production experiment); (3) The coordination of high pitch with metrically strong syllables at the phrase level (using intonation data from naturalistic storytelling, with analysis based on F0 turning points).
The issue of synchronic variability across MI subvarieties, and change between 1928 and 2020-21 is also addressed for both lexical prominence and intonational alignment. The 1928 data are roughly contemporary to several foundational descriptions of MI, including its prosody; this work is the first instrumental phonetic examination of these historical data.
The metronome experiment did not provide evidence for a link between mutation and initial syllables? weight status, although the experiment was interfered with by the change to remote data-collection forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings for lexical prominence based on 28 Bayesian mixed-effect models of intensity, F0 height and range, and vowel duration and quality suggest a frequent mismatch between intensity- and pitch-prominence. Intensity-prominence did often emerge in non-initial heavy syllables, but this was not conclusive. There was no support for the controversial `medium-heavy? weight status often attributed in the literature to the sequence /ax/. For intonation, increased F0 frequently occurred outside of metrically strong syllables for some speakers, while others showed closer alignment between the two; subgrouping along regional lines was robustly evident. For both lexical and phrasal results, there was variability across contemporary speakers/regions, and clear change within regions between 1928 and 2020-21.
The implications of these findings are substantial. Subregional variability indicates that small samples from individual subvarieties should not be taken as representative of `Munster Irish?. Further, change between 1928 and 2020-21 encourages caution in treating present-day data as implicitly compatible with century-old impressionistic dialect descriptions. It is hoped that this will set the stage for future experimental- and instrumental-phonetic research on Irish varieties.
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Postgraduate Ussher Fellowship (TCD)
Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (Irish Research Council)
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https://tcdlocalportal.tcd.ie/pls/EnterApex/f?p=800:71:0::::P71_USERNAME:CMCCABE1Description:
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Author: McCabe, Connor Peter
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Ni chasaide, AilbhePublisher:
Trinity College Dublin. School of Linguistic Speech & Comm Sci. C.L.C.S.Type of material:
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