2026 Fall

09/17  12:10-13:10  Jian-Leat Siah (UCLA, USA)

Venue: HB 207 (人社二館 207), NYCU.

Registration link:  https://forms.gle/N1ya6R9Ar4Z6zJbu6

"How language experience reshapes the P-Map: The case of final nasalization in Serudung Murut"

Abstract: This study experimentally tests Steriade (2008)’s P-Map hypothesis, according to which learners are biased toward alternations that minimize perceptual deviations between input and output forms. In the case of word-final voiced obstruents, the P-Map predicts that final devoicing should be the uniquely preferred repair strategy cross-linguistically. Experimental results from American English listeners in a perceptual AXB task support this prediction. However, results from Serudung Murut (Austronesian) listeners, whose phonological grammar employs (laryngo-)nasalization to avoid voiced stops in word-final position, demonstrate that the perceptual biases posited by the P-Map can be reshaped through exposure to alternations that contradict the perceptual rankings. This synchronic restructuring of the P-Map is especially evident among speakers with advanced proficiency, highlighting the role of language experience in phonological learning. We further propose a new diachronic account of final nasalization, in which nasal venting serves as the critical initiating factor. Overall, the findings suggest that the P-Map functions as a soft bias in guiding phonological learning and in shaping typological patterns. 

10/27  12:10-13:10 Prof. Taehong Cho (Hanyang Institute, South Korea)

Venue: HB 207 (人社二館 207), NYCU.

Registration link:  https://forms.gle/4M1irQXwRpEgQfVy7

"From Universals to Variation: Phonetic Grammar through Prosody"

11/13  12:10-13:10 Prof. Kikuo Maekawa (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Japan)

Venue: HB 207 (人社二館 207), NYCU.

Registration link:  https://forms.gle/yemup5WZbhB31Fbv6

"A Phonetically Motivated Interpretation of the Japanese Vowel System"

Abstract: The classification of Japanese vowels within the IPA vowel chart has long been debated. However, the more fundamental question may be whether the IPA classification system, based on Daniel Jones's cardinal vowel theory, is appropriate for Japanese at all. (The applicability of this system to Chinese is also an interesting question that I hope to discuss with Chinese phoneticians.) Using the Real-time MRI Articulatory Movement Database (rtMRIDB, Maekawa 2025), we found that the five Japanese vowels are distributed almost linearly in articulatory space, unlike French oral vowels. In particular, /e/ and /u/, as well as /a/ and /o/, exhibit very similar tongue configurations, despite being clearly separated in the acoustic F1–F2 space. Examination of lip articulation reveals that /u/ and /o/ involve greater lip protrusion and smaller lip distance than the other vowels, suggesting that lip articulation plays a more important role than hitherto assumed. Articulatory synthesis using VocalTractLab (Birkholz 2013), together with perceptual experiments, indicates that adjusting the lips alone can transform a synthesized /e/ into a vowel perceived as /u/, whereas transforming a synthesized /a/ into a vowel perceived as /o/ requires both lip adjustment and tongue-dorsum raising. These findings suggest that Japanese vowels form three basic groups in terms of tongue articulation, arranged along a high-front to low-back dimension: /i/ – /e, u/ – /a, o/. This organization is difficult to represent within the conventional IPA vowel chart but can be described more naturally using a principal-component-based model of tongue articulation (Maeda 1990; 本多 2018), supplemented by a parameter of lip articulation.

References: Birkholz, P. (2013). “Modeling consonant-vowel coarticulation for articulatory speech synthesis,” PLoS ONE, 8 (4): e60603. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060603

Maeda, Shinji (1990). “Compensatory articulation during speech: Evidence from the analysis and synthesis of vocal-tract shapes using an articulatory model.” Hardcastle and Marchal (eds.) Speech Production and Speech Modeling, 131-149. Netherland: Kluwer.

Maekawa, Kikuo (2025). “Real-time MRI articulatory movement database and its application to articulatory phonetics.” Acoustical Science and Technology, 46 (1), 45-54.

本多清志(2018). 『実験音声科学：音声事象の成立過程を探る』（日本音響学会編 音響サイエンスシリーズ19）コロナ社.

11/19  12:10-13:10 Prof. Jiwon Hwang (Stonybrook University, USA)

Venue: HB 207 (人社二館 207), NYCU.

Registration link:  https://forms.gle/SAeCYt87beGB63d59

"Prosodic and social variation in domain-initial denasalization in Korean"

Abstract: In this talk, I examine how prosodic structure and social factors condition domain-initial denasalization in Korean, a phonetic pattern commonly attributed to domain-initial strengthening. The study draws on a large-scale corpus of spontaneous conversations involving over 2,000 Korean speakers. Acoustic analyses reveal that prosodically conditioned changes in nasal-stop nasality are not accompanied by proportional changes in following-vowel nasalization, suggesting a complex relationship between stop denasalization and carryover vowel nasalization. The results also reveal systematic variation associated with age group, region, and gender. I discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of domain-initial strengthening and Korean denasalization as an ongoing sound change.

12/17 12:10-13:10 Dr. Jennifer Kuo (Cornell University, USA)

Venue: TBA