Tokyo-Frankfurt Phonetics-Phonology Colloquium: 2nd edition

by Tina Bögel Comment Closed
We are happy to announce the second edition of the Tokyo-Frankfurt Phonetics-Phonology Colloquium Room: Online (please contact Alina at gregori@lingua.uni-frankfurt.de for access) Date: February 6th Time: 9-12 The colloquium is a collaboration between the Phonology groups at International Christian University in Tokyo and Goethe University Frankfurt, lead by Seunghun Lee and Frank Kügler. It brings together Early Career Researchs to exchange and discuss about the Phonological topics. Program: 09.00 Seunghun J. Lee (ICU) & Frank Kügler (GU) Opening 09.05 Ren Hasegawa (ICU) Tonal Iconicity Study of Xitsonga: observing correlation of weight, speed and height 09.30 Manuel Lipstein (GU) Timing or privativity? New perception data on the representation of Urban East Norwegian tonal accents 10.00 Haruka Yatabe (ICU) Disyllabic words in Niigata Japanese follow a Prosodic Template 10.30 Sotaro Arakaki (ICU) The Phonetic Analysis of...
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Talk by Caroline Féry

by Tina Bögel Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Caroline Féry in the Phonology Colloquium. Room: IG 4.301 Date: Wednesday January 28th Time: 16-18 ct. Title: On Negative Verum Answers Abstract: Höhle (1988, 1992) introduced the notion of Verum Fokus, nowadays often called Polarity Focus, see also (Lohnstein 2012, Goodhue 2018 and many others). The focus is put on the affirmative or negative content of a sentence and is expressed by a nuclear accent on the finite part of the verb (or on Comp), see (1B). (1) A: I asked Hanna what Karl is doing these days and she made the silly claim that he is writing a screenplay. B: Das stimmt. Karl schreibt ein Drehbuch. ‘It is true. Karl is writing a screenplay.’ I am interested in cases such as (2B), also from Höhle (1988), in which the sentence is negated, but the nuclear accent is still on the finite verb. (2) A: I hope Anna finally writes a book. B: Aber Karl sagte mir, sie schreibt nicht an einem Buch. ‘But Karl told me she...
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Talk by Aleksandra Ćwiek (ZAS Berlin)

by Anna Pressler Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Aleksandra Ćwiek in the Phonology Colloquium. Room: IG 4.301 Date: Wednesday May 21st 2025 Time: 16-18 ct Title: Vocal iconicity and... what beats the bouba-kiki effect? Abstract:  Iconicity is a fundamental phenomenon where a form resembles its meaning, bridging perception and communication across modalities. While iconicity has been widely accepted in gesture and sign language research, the iconic potential of vocal communication has often been questioned. This talk delves into vocal iconicity, showcasing that sounds can convey meaning far beyond traditional language boundaries. Drawing on cross-linguistic research on novel vocalizations, I demonstrate the expressive power of vocal iconicity. The second part of the talk explores cross-modal correspondences, where sensory modalities interact to form iconic mappings, such as associating shapes with sounds. I begin by presenting the classic bouba-kiki paradigm, which demonstrates a cross-modal correspondence between vision and sound bridged across cultures by iconicity. I then move on to a recent study revealing that trilled [r] is associated...
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Talk by Brechtje Post (Cambridge University)

by Anna Pressler Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Brechtje Post in the Phonology Colloquium. Room: IG 4.301 Date: May 14th 2025 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: Linguistic phonetic biases in first and second language acquisition Abstract:  In acquiring ambient language, infants have to learn: - phonetic skills (negotiate universal phonetic constraints in flux) - language-specific phonological structure - language-specific linguistic-phonetic ‘devices’ to signal this structure - the complex mappings between structure and these ‘devices’ - ‘linguistic-phonetic biases’ which specify the mapping between abstract structures and the phonetic forms, or devices, used to implement them These all shape acquisition pathway individually and cross-linguistically for children and adult learners. However, these ‘devices’ may be used as a multiple signifier in a particular language, e.g. the role of duration in English where it cues e.g. voice (‘pre-fortis clipping’) as well as vowel quality, but also the marking of prosodic heads and edges. How do infants and other language learners juggle these when their languages place competing demands on these ‘devices’? And more broadly,...
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Talk by Constantijn Kaland (Universität zu Köln)

by Tina Bögel Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Constantijn Kaland in the Phonology Colloquium. Room: IG 4.301 Date: December 3, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Categorizing productions of prosody and intonation" Abstract: In recent years, there is an increased interest in the application of cluster analysis in the analysis of f0 contours. Studies have used this technique to explore previously under-documented languages and to confirm and refine intonation theory of well-studied languages. Cluster analysis is useful, because it is able to group contours based on their numerical similarity, facilitating the analysis and interpretation of f0 variation. While the output of the clustering does not constitute intonational phonology, it is informative to our understanding of phonological categories. The R application 'Contour Clustering' primarily focuses on f0 contours, and recent updates also allow for the inclusion of other prosodic cues such as intensity and duration (https://constantijnkaland.github.io/contourclustering/). In this way, the methodological approach offers an effective way of scrutinizing prosodic variation of all kinds. It poses no limits to the type of data (spontaneous to...
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