Bert Remijsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 138366 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bert Remijsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bert |
| FAMILY NAME | Remijsen |
| SIGNATURE | REMIJSEN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9191-2125 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Ghost segments in Sengwer nouns
Like other Kalenjin languages, Sengwer has a complex and understudied noun morphology which makes use of an abundance of affixes as well as word-internal tone and ATR changes. In addition, its nominal inflectional paradigms are teeming with unexpected stem-final segments which appear in certain morphological conditions but are absent in others. The phonological composition of this stem-final latent material is not predictable and varies from noun…
Voice quality and tone as independent dimensions of contrast in Dinka
Languages with independently contrastive Voice Quality and Tone are rare, and the evidence base on them is limited. As a result, key hypotheses on how their phonetic realizations interact with one another and with the vowel system remain tentative. Against the background of this evidence base, it is worthwhile to conduct a production study in which Voice Quality, Tone, and Vowel Quality are orthogonally crossed. This paper presents the results of…
Nuer has a floating suprasegmental component consisting of quantity and tone
It is well-attested that floating tones can associate across a word boundary, but it is typologically unusual for floating weight units to do so. The Nuer language presents a floating suprasegmental component (FSC), which is part of lexical morphemes, and includes a unit of quantity and a High tone. This component is located at the left edge of nouns and is realised primarily across a word boundary on a preceding vowel. This article examines the …
Perceptual Sensitivity to Tonal Alignment in Nuer
This paper examines the perceptual threshold in patterns of tonal timing (alignment) of Falling versus Low tones. The results indicate a remarkable sensitivity among the listeners. In a perception experiment with 30 participants, we tested how native speakers of the West Nilotic language Nuer responded to stimuli in which the timing of the F0 fall that distinguishes Low versus Fall following a High target is manipulated. We measured the threshold…
Floating quantity in Shilluk: Supplementary material
Floating quantity in Shilluk
It is well known that floating tones can associate both within a word and across a word boundary. In relation to floating quantity, however, there is extensive evidence for association within a word, but not across a word boundary. This research report presents evidence for the latter configuration in Shilluk, a West Nilotic language. Shilluk noun forms may end in floating quantity, and this quantity is realized only on following vocalic prefixes…
Ternary vowel length in Shilluk
Ternary or three-level vowel length is typologically rare, and supporting evidence is limited. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the hypothesised case of this configuration in Shilluk. We first describe the role of vowel length in Shilluk phonology and morphology, and then report on an acoustic study in which minimal sets for vowel length (short, long, overlong) are measured for vowel duration, coda duration, vowel quality …
Contrastive tonal alignment in falling contours in Shilluk
It has been assumed that tonal alignment is not contrastive in contour tones (e.g. Hyman 1988, Odden 1995, Yip 2002). However, Remijsen (2013) and DiCanio et al. (2014) have recently reported evidence for this configuration. In relation to this controversy, we report on an acoustic analysis of the tone system of Shilluk. The dataset is built around the contrast of Low vs . Early-aligned High Fall vs . Late-aligned High Fall vs . High in closed mo…
Tonal alignment is contrastive in falling contours in Dinka: Online Supplementary Materials
Tonal alignment is contrastive in falling contours in Dinka
This study investigates a contrast in tonal alignment that involves falling contours in Dinka. This contrast calls into question the assumption that tonal alignment cannot distinguish contour tones of the same shape within the syllable domain (e.g. Odden 1995). A qualitative description and a small-scale perception study are followed by a detailed production study. The results indicate that the main correlate of the contrast is indeed tonal align…
Shilluk
Shilluk is a Western Nilotic language spoken in Southern Sudan. In the study of sound systems, the Western Nilotic languages are of particular interest on account of their rich systems of suprasegmental distinctions. For example, Dinka, another Western Nilotic language, has three levels of vowel length, a voice quality distinction (modal vs. breathy), and - depending on the dialect - three or four distinctive tone patterns (Andersen 1987, Remijse…
On the distinction between regular and irregular inflectional morphology: Evidence from Dinka
Discussions of the psycholinguistic significance of regularity in inflectional morphology generally deal with languages in which regular forms can be clearly identified and revolve around whether there are distinct processing mechanisms for regular and irregular forms. We present a detailed description of Dinka's notoriously irregular noun number inflection and suggest that no pattern can usefully be designated as regular. Psycholinguistic studie…
Luanyjang Dinka
Dinka is a Western Nilotic language within the Nilo-Saharan family. There are over two million speakers (Gordon 2005). The Dinkas live along the banks of the White Nile and its tributaries in Southern Sudan. There are also communities elsewhere within Sudan, in particular in the capital Khartoum, and abroad. Cows play a key role in the Dinka economy, and also in the sociocultural system. Four major dialect areas are commonly distinguished: Padang…
Why are three-level vowel length systems rare? Insights from Dinka (Luanyjang dialect)
Introduction: Between stress and tone
In any study of empirical phenomena, the unusual holds particular attraction. The Bird of Paradise with its amazing feathers, the monolithic baobabs and the joint nursing of emperor penguins are phenomena that catch the imagination of the specialist and the interested lay person alike. The scientific study of ‘outliers’ holds particular promise, often revealing a system's complexity that is not evident when studying simpler phenomena
Stress, tone and discourse prominence in the Curaçao dialect of Papiamentu
This paper investigates the word-prosodic system of the Curaçao dialect of Papiamentu. Curaçao Papiamentu has both lexically distinctive stress and, independently, a word-level tone contrast. On the basis of a detailed acoustic investigation of this tonal contrast, we propose a privative phonological interpretation of the tone contrast, similar to proposals for the Scandinavian word-accent systems (Riad 1998, to appear). As compared to previous t…
Peacemaker for religious conflicts? The value of pela relationships in Ambon
Since early 1999, religious riots between Muslim and Christian communities have split the Central Moluccan population. While the inter-religious clashes have been covered by all international news agencies, the fact that the representatives of a local student movement have claimed a feature of local Moluccan tradition as a potential peacemaker for the religious conflicts is less well known outside the area. The students propounded that the tradit…
Aspects of the prosody of Kuot, a language where intonation ignores stress
This article describes the basic system of intonation and lexical stress in Kuot, a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Kuot employs pitch (F 0 variation) primarily to express structural information about the clause. Some intonation contours express functions that are commonly expressed by intonation crosslinguistically, such as final vs. nonfinal clauses and parts of clauses, and yes / no questions. In addition, Kuot has …
Dialectal Variation in the Lexical Tone System of Ma'ya
This paper deals with dialectal variation in the lexical tone system of Ma'ya, an Austronesian language featuring three lexically contrastive tonemes (High, Rise, and Fall). Representative acoustic data were collected from the Misool, Salawati, and Laganyan dialects, and on the basis of these data, an account is given of their tone systems, and of how these tone systems compare to one another. The objective of this investigation is to gain insigh…
Why are three-level vowel length systems rare? Insights from Dinka (Luanyjang dialect)
Tonal alignment is contrastive in falling contours in Dinka
This study investigates a contrast in tonal alignment that involves falling contours in Dinka. This contrast calls into question the assumption that tonal alignment cannot distinguish contour tones of the same shape within the syllable domain (e.g. Odden 1995). A qualitative description and a small-scale perception study are followed by a detailed production study. The results indicate that the main correlate of the contrast is indeed tonal align…
Contrastive tonal alignment in falling contours in Shilluk
It has been assumed that tonal alignment is not contrastive in contour tones (e.g. Hyman 1988, Odden 1995, Yip 2002). However, Remijsen (2013) and DiCanio et al. (2014) have recently reported evidence for this configuration. In relation to this controversy, we report on an acoustic analysis of the tone system of Shilluk. The dataset is built around the contrast of Low vs . Early-aligned High Fall vs . Late-aligned High Fall vs . High in closed mo…
Luanyjang Dinka
Dinka is a Western Nilotic language within the Nilo-Saharan family. There are over two million speakers (Gordon 2005). The Dinkas live along the banks of the White Nile and its tributaries in Southern Sudan. There are also communities elsewhere within Sudan, in particular in the capital Khartoum, and abroad. Cows play a key role in the Dinka economy, and also in the sociocultural system. Four major dialect areas are commonly distinguished: Padang…
Aspects of the prosody of Kuot, a language where intonation ignores stress
This article describes the basic system of intonation and lexical stress in Kuot, a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Kuot employs pitch (F 0 variation) primarily to express structural information about the clause. Some intonation contours express functions that are commonly expressed by intonation crosslinguistically, such as final vs. nonfinal clauses and parts of clauses, and yes / no questions. In addition, Kuot has …
Shilluk
Shilluk is a Western Nilotic language spoken in Southern Sudan. In the study of sound systems, the Western Nilotic languages are of particular interest on account of their rich systems of suprasegmental distinctions. For example, Dinka, another Western Nilotic language, has three levels of vowel length, a voice quality distinction (modal vs. breathy), and - depending on the dialect - three or four distinctive tone patterns (Andersen 1987, Remijse…
On the distinction between regular and irregular inflectional morphology: Evidence from Dinka
Discussions of the psycholinguistic significance of regularity in inflectional morphology generally deal with languages in which regular forms can be clearly identified and revolve around whether there are distinct processing mechanisms for regular and irregular forms. We present a detailed description of Dinka's notoriously irregular noun number inflection and suggest that no pattern can usefully be designated as regular. Psycholinguistic studie…
Floating quantity in Shilluk
It is well known that floating tones can associate both within a word and across a word boundary. In relation to floating quantity, however, there is extensive evidence for association within a word, but not across a word boundary. This research report presents evidence for the latter configuration in Shilluk, a West Nilotic language. Shilluk noun forms may end in floating quantity, and this quantity is realized only on following vocalic prefixes…
Dialectal Variation in the Lexical Tone System of Ma'ya
This paper deals with dialectal variation in the lexical tone system of Ma'ya, an Austronesian language featuring three lexically contrastive tonemes (High, Rise, and Fall). Representative acoustic data were collected from the Misool, Salawati, and Laganyan dialects, and on the basis of these data, an account is given of their tone systems, and of how these tone systems compare to one another. The objective of this investigation is to gain insigh…
Dialectal Variation in the Lexical Tone System of Ma'ya
This paper deals with dialectal variation in the lexical tone system of Ma'ya, an Austronesian language featuring three lexically contrastive tonemes (High, Rise, and Fall). Representative acoustic data were collected from the Misool, Salawati, and Laganyan dialects, and on the basis of these data, an account is given of their tone systems, and of how these tone systems compare to one another. The objective of this investigation is to gain insigh…
Stress, tone and discourse prominence in the Curaçao dialect of Papiamentu
This paper investigates the word-prosodic system of the Curaçao dialect of Papiamentu. Curaçao Papiamentu has both lexically distinctive stress and, independently, a word-level tone contrast. On the basis of a detailed acoustic investigation of this tonal contrast, we propose a privative phonological interpretation of the tone contrast, similar to proposals for the Scandinavian word-accent systems (Riad 1998, to appear). As compared to previous t…
Peacemaker for religious conflicts? The value of pela relationships in Ambon
Since early 1999, religious riots between Muslim and Christian communities have split the Central Moluccan population. While the inter-religious clashes have been covered by all international news agencies, the fact that the representatives of a local student movement have claimed a feature of local Moluccan tradition as a potential peacemaker for the religious conflicts is less well known outside the area. The students propounded that the tradit…
Aspects of the prosody of Kuot, a language where intonation ignores stress
This article describes the basic system of intonation and lexical stress in Kuot, a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Kuot employs pitch (F 0 variation) primarily to express structural information about the clause. Some intonation contours express functions that are commonly expressed by intonation crosslinguistically, such as final vs. nonfinal clauses and parts of clauses, and yes / no questions. In addition, Kuot has …
Introduction: Between stress and tone
In any study of empirical phenomena, the unusual holds particular attraction. The Bird of Paradise with its amazing feathers, the monolithic baobabs and the joint nursing of emperor penguins are phenomena that catch the imagination of the specialist and the interested lay person alike. The scientific study of ‘outliers’ holds particular promise, often revealing a system's complexity that is not evident when studying simpler phenomena
Why are three-level vowel length systems rare? Insights from Dinka (Luanyjang dialect)
On the distinction between regular and irregular inflectional morphology: Evidence from Dinka
Discussions of the psycholinguistic significance of regularity in inflectional morphology generally deal with languages in which regular forms can be clearly identified and revolve around whether there are distinct processing mechanisms for regular and irregular forms. We present a detailed description of Dinka's notoriously irregular noun number inflection and suggest that no pattern can usefully be designated as regular. Psycholinguistic studie…
Luanyjang Dinka
Dinka is a Western Nilotic language within the Nilo-Saharan family. There are over two million speakers (Gordon 2005). The Dinkas live along the banks of the White Nile and its tributaries in Southern Sudan. There are also communities elsewhere within Sudan, in particular in the capital Khartoum, and abroad. Cows play a key role in the Dinka economy, and also in the sociocultural system. Four major dialect areas are commonly distinguished: Padang…
Shilluk
Shilluk is a Western Nilotic language spoken in Southern Sudan. In the study of sound systems, the Western Nilotic languages are of particular interest on account of their rich systems of suprasegmental distinctions. For example, Dinka, another Western Nilotic language, has three levels of vowel length, a voice quality distinction (modal vs. breathy), and - depending on the dialect - three or four distinctive tone patterns (Andersen 1987, Remijse…
Tonal alignment is contrastive in falling contours in Dinka: Online Supplementary Materials
Tonal alignment is contrastive in falling contours in Dinka
This study investigates a contrast in tonal alignment that involves falling contours in Dinka. This contrast calls into question the assumption that tonal alignment cannot distinguish contour tones of the same shape within the syllable domain (e.g. Odden 1995). A qualitative description and a small-scale perception study are followed by a detailed production study. The results indicate that the main correlate of the contrast is indeed tonal align…
Contrastive tonal alignment in falling contours in Shilluk
It has been assumed that tonal alignment is not contrastive in contour tones (e.g. Hyman 1988, Odden 1995, Yip 2002). However, Remijsen (2013) and DiCanio et al. (2014) have recently reported evidence for this configuration. In relation to this controversy, we report on an acoustic analysis of the tone system of Shilluk. The dataset is built around the contrast of Low vs . Early-aligned High Fall vs . Late-aligned High Fall vs . High in closed mo…
Ternary vowel length in Shilluk
Ternary or three-level vowel length is typologically rare, and supporting evidence is limited. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the hypothesised case of this configuration in Shilluk. We first describe the role of vowel length in Shilluk phonology and morphology, and then report on an acoustic study in which minimal sets for vowel length (short, long, overlong) are measured for vowel duration, coda duration, vowel quality …
Floating quantity in Shilluk: Supplementary material
Floating quantity in Shilluk
It is well known that floating tones can associate both within a word and across a word boundary. In relation to floating quantity, however, there is extensive evidence for association within a word, but not across a word boundary. This research report presents evidence for the latter configuration in Shilluk, a West Nilotic language. Shilluk noun forms may end in floating quantity, and this quantity is realized only on following vocalic prefixes…
Perceptual Sensitivity to Tonal Alignment in Nuer
This paper examines the perceptual threshold in patterns of tonal timing (alignment) of Falling versus Low tones. The results indicate a remarkable sensitivity among the listeners. In a perception experiment with 30 participants, we tested how native speakers of the West Nilotic language Nuer responded to stimuli in which the timing of the F0 fall that distinguishes Low versus Fall following a High target is manipulated. We measured the threshold…
Ghost segments in Sengwer nouns
Like other Kalenjin languages, Sengwer has a complex and understudied noun morphology which makes use of an abundance of affixes as well as word-internal tone and ATR changes. In addition, its nominal inflectional paradigms are teeming with unexpected stem-final segments which appear in certain morphological conditions but are absent in others. The phonological composition of this stem-final latent material is not predictable and varies from noun…
Voice quality and tone as independent dimensions of contrast in Dinka
Languages with independently contrastive Voice Quality and Tone are rare, and the evidence base on them is limited. As a result, key hypotheses on how their phonetic realizations interact with one another and with the vowel system remain tentative. Against the background of this evidence base, it is worthwhile to conduct a production study in which Voice Quality, Tone, and Vowel Quality are orthogonally crossed. This paper presents the results of…
Nuer has a floating suprasegmental component consisting of quantity and tone
It is well-attested that floating tones can associate across a word boundary, but it is typologically unusual for floating weight units to do so. The Nuer language presents a floating suprasegmental component (FSC), which is part of lexical morphemes, and includes a unit of quantity and a High tone. This component is located at the left edge of nouns and is realised primarily across a word boundary on a preceding vowel. This article examines the …
Linguistics (13 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (13 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · History (6 works) · Mathematics (6 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (5 works) · Acoustics (4 works)