Suomen segmenttikestojen määräytymisestä

• Kari Suomi

Avainsanat: aksentti, prosodiikka, segmenttikestot

Abstrakti

Determination of segment durations in Finnish (englanti)

4/2006 (110)

Determination of segment durations in Finnish

The article examines the determination of segment durations within the words first (primary-stressed) foot in Finnish, with a particular view on the interaction between segment durations and the tonal realisation of sentence accent; in earlier studies, segment durations have not been systematically examined from this perspective. It has been previously established that accent is realised as a uniform tonal rise-fall tune irrespective of word structure in such a way that the rise occurs during the words first mora (M1) and at least most of the fall during the second mora (M2). Consequently, in e.g. CV.CV (or CM1.CM2) words the rise occurs during the first syllable and the fall during the second syllable, while in CVV.CV and CVC.CV (or CM1M2.CM3) words, both the rise and most of the fall occur on the first syllable. For this moraic alignment and uniformity of the accentual tune to be possible, durational variations are necessary within and across different word structures. This article looks closely at such durational variations. It is shown that there are four non-contrastive and complementary duration degrees for single vowels ([very short], [short], [longish] and [long]) within the foot, and that the distribution of the degrees can be specified in terms of moraic affiliation. For double vowels three duration degrees can be established; two of these, however, can be interpreted as combinations of single vowel durations.

For consonant durations the picture remains less clear, because consonants have not been studied in as varied contexts as vowels from the perspective of the interaction between segment durations and accent. Nevertheless, two duration degrees can be established for both single and double consonants. When a consonant constitutes M2, it is lengthened, relative to a non-moraic position of the same consonant, always in strongly accented words, but in unaccented words only if it is a resonant (i.e., a consonant with a relatively short intrinsic duration). The phenomenon of second-mora lengthening has been often invoked in descriptions of Finnish, as applying to both vowels and consonants; the article argues that also the first mora is lengthened in some contexts, and that both of these lengthenings are motivated by requirements of the tonal realisation of accent.

Kari Suomi