The syllable as a prosodic unit in Japanese lexical strata: evidence from text-setting Rebecca L...
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The syllable as a prosodic unit in Japanese lexical strata: evidence from text-setting Rebecca L Starr National University of Singapore Stephanie S Shih University of California, Merced LabPhon 14 National Institute for Japanese Linguistics 25 – 27 July 2014 Un- der the sea su- ba- ra- shii 1
The syllable as a prosodic unit in Japanese lexical strata: evidence from text-setting Rebecca L Starr National University of Singapore Stephanie S Shih
The syllable as a prosodic unit in Japanese lexical strata:
evidence from text-setting Rebecca L Starr National University of
Singapore Stephanie S Shih University of California, Merced LabPhon
14 National Institute for Japanese Linguistics 25 27 July 2014 Un-
der the sea su- ba- ra- shii 1
Slide 3
The Mora in Japanese Japanese = prototypical example of a
mora-based language e.g., kai.zen = [ka] [i] .[ze] [n] o Rhythmic
timing depends on mora units (Homma 1981; Port et al. 1987; cf.,
Beckman 1982) o Phonological/morphological implications: e.g.,
accent placement, compensatory lengthening o Traditional Japanese
poetry = mora counting e.g., haiku 5 7 5 mora form 2
Slide 4
Syllable usually treated as unnecessary or unimportant in
Japanese phonology (Labrune 2012). Kubozono (1999; et seq.) :
Japanese is (in part) a syllable-based language. o accent
placement, word formation, etc. The Syllable in Japanese? 3
Slide 5
Labrune (2012): no positive psycholinguistic evidence for the
cognitive reality of the syllable in Japanese. The Syllable in
Japanese? 4
Slide 6
Major lexical strata in Japanese (It and Mester 1999) : Yamato
(native Japanese) Ex: suki (to like) Sino-Japanese (Chinese origin)
Ex: ningen (human) Foreign (~85% English origin) Ex: benchi (bench)
Mimetic Ex: fuwafuwa (fluffy) Lexical Strata in Japanese 5
Slide 7
Strata characterized by different phonotactics, and
phonological rules (It and Mester 1999). o e.g., long a never
occurs in Sino-Japanese words. Because Chinese and English are
syllable-based, is it possible that the syllable is a more salient
unit in the Sino and Foreign strata? Alternatively, does widespread
knowledge of English contribute to increased salience of the
syllable in just the Foreign stratum? Lexical Strata in Japanese
6
Slide 8
Text-setting: the pairing of language and music in song.
Typologically, text-setting makes use of salient prosodic units
particular to a language. o English: syllables, lexical and phrasal
stresses (Halle & Lerdhal 1993; Shih 2008; Hayes 2009; a.o.) o
Cantonese: tonal melodies matched in musical melodies (Yung 1991)
Similar claims for metrical typology (Hanson and Kiparksy 1996)
Evidence from Text-Setting 7
Slide 9
Japanese text-setting: Claimed to operate as a mora-based
system (Kubozono 1999; Hayes and Swiger 2008; cf. Manabe 2009) =
each mora must receive (at least) one note. e.g., do.ra.go-n
bo-o.ru (Dragonball Z theme, 1989) x x x x x x x = 7 notes Evidence
from Text-Setting 8
Slide 10
BUT, multi-moraic notes show up frequently in modern Japanese
songs. Similar findings in poetry (Tanaka 2012) In these settings,
it is the syllable that receives at least one note. e.g., do- ra-
gon boo-ru x x x x x = 5 notes Evidence from Text-Setting 9
Slide 11
What constraints govern moraic vs. non- moraic text-setting
variation in Japanese? Do Japanese listeners perceive the syllable
as an acceptable segmentation unit in text- setting? o Is it as
acceptable as the mora? Main Research Questions 10
Slide 12
Moraic vs. syllabic treatments in Japanese text- setting are
conditioned by lexical, phonological, and stylistic constraints. o
Strata in the Japanese lexicon o Information density o Phonological
factors (e.g., sonority) o Stylistic factors (e.g., musical genre)
Japanese listeners fully accept syllable-based text-setting. o
Particularly when a moraic setting is impractical. Main Claims
11
Slide 13
Corpus study Experiment (prelim. results) Two Approaches
12
Slide 14
Three corpora of Japanese songs compared: Corpus Study Anime
theme songsnativeLate 1980s 90s Disney songstranslatedLate 1980s
90s Christmas songstranslatedLate 19 th c. 21 st c. 13
Slide 15
Four Variables Coda-N Vi (ai, ui, ei, oi) Long Vowels
Inter-voiceless-consonant i and u 14
Slide 16
Example Moraic Syllabic ningen (human)ni-n-ge-nnin-gen sekai
(world) se-ka-i se-kai hoshii (want)ho-shi-i ho-shii suki
(like)s-ki, s-kis( )ki Example settings 15
Slide 17
Santa appears in moraic and syllabic settings within the same
song: sa n ta no o ji sa n ga de mo so no san ta wa (I Saw Mommy
Kissing Santa Claus, 1952, trans. 1962) Example Clip 16
Slide 18
Results: Difference by lexical stratum Coda-N ViLong Vowels
Inter-voiceless i and u 17 Syllabic Moraic
Slide 19
Results: Differences by corpus 18
Slide 20
Results: Regression modeling o Generalized linear mixed-effect
model (glmer). o Significantly more syllabic settings in translated
song corpora than native corpus. o Significantly more syllabic
settings in Foreign stratum words. o No reliable difference between
Sino and Yamato strata words. o Other phonological factors also
significant for certain variables: e.g., sonority scale for
diphthongs (e.g., ai vs. ei; Prince 1983) 19
Slide 21
Syllabic text-setting is present in both translated and native
corpora, but is more common in translated corpora. Foreign stratum
words use significantly less moraic text-setting. Certain
phonological contexts encourage syllabic text-setting (e.g.,
preferred consonant clusters, decreasing sonority). Summary of
Results 20
Slide 22
Experiment Corpus study demonstrates that trained composers use
both moraic and syllabic settings and prefer to use syllabic
settings for Foreign stratum words. Do ordinary Japanese speakers
follow the same patterns? What about Japanese learners? Perceptual
experiment to test acceptability of different text-setting styles.
21
Slide 23
Novel methodology: Vocaloid Creating stimuli involving multiple
sung arrangements presents a challenge. We used Yamahas Vocaloid 3
software, which produces synthesized sung Japanese. 22 sakura
Slide 24
Factors Linguistic variables: Coda-N Vi (limited to ai) Strata:
Foreign vs. Sino Not possible to make minimal pairs with Yamato
Selected near-minimal pairs. Ex: benchi / bengi 23
Predictions Native Japanese will prefer Syll. to Split-Syll.
Syllabic: (min-to da-yo-ne) 6 moras for only 5 notes. Since there
is no moraic solution, listeners will be okay with syllabic.
Split-syllabic: (mi-in-to da-yo) 5 moras for 5 notes, but
arrangement is non-moraic anyway. Turns short vowel into long
vowel. Listeners will prefer both syllable-based settings over the
bad settings, which do not correspond to any proposed salient
prosodic unit. 25
Slide 27
Methodology Motsu-kun is learning to arrange lyrics to a
melody. Help him improve by rating his work! (minto dayone) Asked
to rate on 1-4 Likert scale. 26
Slide 28
Participants & Implementation 18 native Japanese speakers
Asked for frequency of English use 10 Japanese learners (Eng &
Chi native spkrs) Asked for length of Japanese study Survey
conducted online using Qualtrics. Still recruiting participants:
http://bit.ly/1oblYNz http://bit.ly/1oblYNz Data analyzed using
lmer (linear mixed-model regression) in R. 27
Slide 29
Findings 28
Slide 30
Key Findings Native speakers rated Syllabic (min-to) just as
highly as Moraic setting (mi-n-to). Split-Syll. (mi-in-to) was
rated significantly lower than Syll., but significantly higher than
Bad1 or Bad2. Conclusions: o Native listeners prefer a one-to-one
correspondence between note and prosodic unit, whether mora or
syllable. o When there is room in the melody for a moraic setting,
syllable-based is dispreferred, but not totally rejected. 29
Slide 31
Key Findings Japanese learners rate Moraic, Syll., and
Split-Syll. settings as equally good. Moraic settings, which do not
occur in English and Chinese, are just as highly rated as familiar
syllable- based settings. Learners must be acquiring familiarity
with moraic segmentation as part of the Japanese learning process.
But learners do not pick up that Split-Syll (mi-in-to) is
dispreferred. Not as sensitive to vowel length? Dont care about
one-to-one match between notes and prosodic unit? 30
Slide 32
Key Findings Trend, but no significant differences between
Foreign and Sino strata (contrary to corpus findings). No effects
of English exposure or whether currently living in Japan. More
participants needed. 31
Slide 33
Conclusions: Experiment Positive evidence for the cognitive
reality of the syllable in Japanese: Japanese listeners fully
accept syllable-based segmentation in contexts where moraic
segmentation is impractical. When moraic segmentation is available,
syllable- based segmentation is dispreferred, but rated more highly
than settings which segment along non-salient prosodic boundaries.
32
Slide 34
Overall Conclusions Both syllabic and moraic text-setting
styles are prevalent and acceptable in Japanese. Text-setting style
is conditioned by factors such as phonological context and
(possibly) lexical stratum. Native listeners prefer a one-to-one
correspondence between notes and prosodic units, whether mora or
syllable. 33
Slide 35
Acknowledgements to Noriko Manabe, Reiko Kataoka, Roey Gafter,
Junko Ito, Mie Hiramoto, Yosuke Sato, Sakiko Kajino, Nala Lee, and
Jason Ginsburg for their input and assistance. . contact:
[email protected][email protected] Thank you! 34
Slide 36
Beckman, Mary. 1982. Segment Duration and the 'Mora' in
Japanese. Phonetica. 39. 113-135. Halle, John and Fred Lerdahl.
1993. A Generative Text-setting Model. Current Musicology. 55:
3-21. Hanson, Kristin and Paul Kiparsky. 1996. A Parametric Theory
of Poetic Meter. Language. 72(2). 287-335. Hayes, Bruce. 2009.
Textsetting as Constraint Conflict. In Jean-Louis Aroui and Andy
Arleo (ed). Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms: From language to
metrics and beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 43-62. Hayes, Bruce
and Tami Swiger. 2008. Two Japanese Childrens Songs. MS. University
of California, Los Angeles. 12 pages. Homma, Yayoi. 1981.
Durational relationship between Japanese stops and vowels. Journal
of Phonetics 9 (3): 273 281. It, Junko & Armin Mester. 1999.
Japanese Phonology. In John Goldsmith (ed). The Handbook of
Phonological Theory. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 818-838. Kubozono,
Haruo. 1999. Mora and Syllable. In Natsuko Tsujimura (ed). The
Handbook of Japanese Linguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 31-61.
Labrune, Laurence. 2012. Questioning the universality of the
syllable: evidence from Japanese. Phonology 29:1, 113 - 152.
Manabe, Noriko. 2009.Western Music in Japan: The evolution of
styles in childrens songs, hip-hop, and other genres. Ph.D.
dissertation, CUNY Graduate Center. Pellegrino, Francois, Coupe,
Christophe, and Egidio Marsico. 2011. A Cross-Language Perspective
on Speech Information Rate. Language. 87(3). 539 558. Port, Robert.
F., Dalby, Jonathan & O'Dell, Michael. (1987). Evidence for
mora-timing in Japanese. Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America. 81. 1574 1585. Prince, Alan. 1983. Relating to the Grid.
Linguistic Inquiry. 11:511-562. Shih, Stephanie. 2008.
Text-Setting: a (musical) analogy to poetic meter. Paper presented
at New Research Programs in the Linguistics of Literature.
University of California, Berkeley. Tanaka, Shinichi. 2012.
Syllable Neutralization and Prosodic Unit in Japanese Senryu Poems.
Paper presented at Metrics, Music and Mind. Rome, Italy. Yung,
Bell. 1991. The Relationship of Text and Tune in Chinese Opera. In
J. Sundberg; L. Nord; and R. Carlson (ed). Music, Language, Speech,
and Brain. London: Macmillan. 408-418. Select references 35
Slide 37
11 songs total: o Totoro (1988) o Dragonball Z (1989) o Kikis
Delivery Service (1989) o All-Purpose Cultural Cat-Girl Nuku Nuku
(1990) o Gundam F91 (1991) o Bubblegum Crash (1991) o Slayers
(1995) o Sailor Moon (1995) o Tenchi Universe (1995) o Slayers Next
(1996) o Boys Before Flowers (1996) Anime Corpus 36
Slide 38
Films: o The Little Mermaid (1989 translation) o Beauty and the
Beast (1991) o Aladdin (1992) o The Lion King (1994) o The Little
Mermaid (1997 translation) 17 songs total Disney Corpus 37
Slide 39
10 songs total: Hark the Herald Angels Sing (1888) O Holy Night
(1909) Silent Night (1909) Jingle Bells (1958) Santa Claus is
Coming to Town (1959) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1959) I Saw
Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (1962) Winter Wonderland (1962) The
Christmas Song (1996) We Wish You a Merry Christmas (2005)
Christmas Corpus 38
Slide 40
Excluded: o Code-switching involving two or more consecutive
words in English with different parts of speech. o Ex: Its my day o
Content that was spoken rather than sung. o Discourse particles
like aa. o Nonsense words for which a stratum could not be
determined. o Mimetic stratum words (not enough for analysis).
Coding Methodology 39
Slide 41
Native speakers LMER REML criterion at convergence: 422.5
Scaled residuals: Min 1Q Median 3Q Max -2.12822 -0.70806 -0.07082
0.59577 2.71389 Random effects: Groups Name Variance Std.Dev.
participant (Intercept) 0.2245 0.4739 Residual 0.4958 0.7041 Number
of obs: 180, groups: participant, 18 Fixed effects: Estimate Std.
Error df t value Pr(>|t|) (Intercept) 1.861e+00 1.703e-01
5.663e+01 10.929 1.33e-15 *** settings2 5.556e-01 1.660e-01
1.570e+02 3.347 0.00102 ** settingb1 9.444e-01 1.660e-01 1.570e+02
5.690 6.05e-08 *** settingb2 1.972e+00 1.660e-01 1.570e+02 11.883
< 2e-16 *** settingm -2.778e-01 1.660e-01 1.570e+02 -1.674
0.09619 Experiment: statistical models 40
Slide 42
Learners LMER REML criterion at convergence: 240.9 Scaled
residuals: Min 1Q Median 3Q Max -2.3779 -0.7192 0.0632 0.5096
2.3131 Random effects: Groups Name Variance Std.Dev. participant
(Intercept) 0.1830 0.4278 Residual 0.5378 0.7334 Number of obs:
100, groups: participant, 10 Fixed effects: Estimate Std. Error df
t value Pr(>|t|) (Intercept) 1.7555 0.2375 42.1900 7.391
3.92e-09 *** settingb1 0.7500 0.2319 83.9900 3.234 0.00175 **
settingb2 1.7238 0.2339 84.0200 7.369 1.09e-10 *** settingm -0.1369
0.2324 84.0000 -0.589 0.55744 settings2 0.2131 0.2324 84.0000 0.917
0.36181 stratsino 0.1200 0.1467 83.9900 0.818 0.41560 Experiment:
statistical models 41