Brett Baker
Biographic Data
| ID | 3748406 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brett Baker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brett |
| FAMILY NAME | Baker |
| SIGNATURE | BAKER B |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7012-4442 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 128 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Medial consonant lengthening in Eastern Middle Paman
sponsorship: JCV's work was supported by grant C14/24/046, granted by the University of Leuven's research council. BB and RBN's work was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project [grant number DP190100646] "1 potato, 2 wotatoes, 3 otatoes: Lexical access in Australian languages" (CIs Mark Harvey, Robert Mailhammer, Brett Baker, Rikke Bundgaard-Nielsen). CH acknowledges the support of Lockhart River Council. (University of Leu…
Stop contrast acquisition in child Kriol
Many Aboriginal Australian communities are undergoing language shift from traditional Indigenous languages to contact varieties such as Kriol, an English-lexified Creole. Kriol is reportedly characterised by lexical items with highly variable phonological specifications, and variable implementation of voicing and manner contrasts in obstruents (Sandefur, 1986). A language, such as Kriol, characterised by this unusual degree of variability present…
Same vowels but different contrasts
Cross-Sectional Study Using Virtual Reality to Measure Cognition
Dual-task research is limited in its transferability to authentic contexts because laboratory conditions do not replicate real-world physical activity and decision-making scenarios. Creating valid, reliable methodologies to assess physiological and behavioral responses under varying physical and cognitive demands using virtual reality (VR) environment addresses this limitation. This study determined the feasibility of using VR to investigate the …
Japanese Perceptual Epenthesis is Modulated by Transitional Probability
Perceptual epenthesis is the perception of illusory vowels in consonantal sequences that violate native phonotactics. The consensus has been that each language has a single, predictable candidate for perceptual epenthesis, that vowel which is most minimal (i.e., shortest and/or quietest). However, recent studies have shown that alternate epenthetic vowels can be perceived when the perceptual epenthesis of the minimal vowel would violate native co…
Pause acceptability indicates word-internal structure in Wubuy
Words in polysynthetic languages, such as the Australian language Wubuy, can be semantically complex and translate into whole phrases in analytic languages such as English. This raises questions about whether such words are like words in English, or whether they are more like phrases. In the following, we examine Wubuy speakers' knowledge of word-internal morphological complexity in a word-preference task, in which we test the acceptability of co…
Anti-scope prefix order and zero-marked obliques
A number of indigenous languages of northern Australia have complex systems of noun class prefixation incorporating the formal realization of case or topicality, as well as class. The markers of case and topicality occur inside the marking of class, in an unexpected position according to considerations of scope. In addition, where case is marked, zero marking is associated with oblique case roles while core roles are associated with substantive m…
Epenthetic prefixation in Alawa and Marra
Languages adopt a number of strategies to avoid dispreferred phonotactic structures. The general pattern is that such strategies involve minimum departure from the input form. One of these strategies is epenthesis. With epenthesis, the minimum departure from the input form is usually the addition of a singleton consonant or a singleton vowel. We show that Alawa and Marra have epenthetic CV syllables in prefix complexes, and that this epenthesis o…
Australia and New Guinea
The languages of Australia constitute a single genetic group. They are non-tonal, in that tone is not lexically contrastive in any Australian language, and they tend to have stress systems where the location of stress is largely determined by the edges of morphemes. Their intonation systems are not unlike those of some European languages, though with phonetic rather than phonological effects of post-focal compression for the most part. The large …
The genetic position of Anindilyakwa
In this paper, we demonstrate that Anindilyakwa, spoken on Groote Eylandt, East Arnhem Land, is genetically closely related to Wubuy (Gunwinyguan). Anindilyakwa has long been believed to be a family-level isolate, but by a rigorous application of the Comparative Method we uncover regular sound correspondences from lexical correspondence sets, reconstruct the sound system of the proto-language, and suggest how the proto-phoneme inventory derives f…
The Oxford Handbook of Language Prosody
This handbook presents detailed accounts of current research in all aspects of language prosody, with chapters written by leading experts from various disciplines. The last four decades have seen major theoretical and empirical breakthroughs in the field, many of them informed by interdisciplinary approaches, as reflected in this volume. Following an introductory chapter covering the fundamentals of language prosody research, Parts II and III exp…
Fact or furphy? The continuum in Kriol
Word Structure in Australian languages
The Obstruent Inventory of Roper Kriol
Roper Kriol is a major variety of the largest Indigenous Australian language, Kriol, yet its phonology remains under-described and it has never been examined instrumentally. Reports suggest high variability. We present a lexical survey with native Kriol speakers followed by two acoustic studies of the obstruent inventory with literate speakers, and finally an acoustic analysis of naturally occurring speech. We conclude that the obstruent inventor…
Complex Predicates
The interpretation of complex nominal expressions in Southeast Arnhem Land languages
In this chapter, I examine the function of noun class prefixes in several non-Pama-Nyungan languages. In these languages, prefixes show several alternants. I show that these alternants are distributed according to discourse functions “topic” and “focus”, making them somewhat like articles in European languages (or better, the topic marking clitics in Japanese and Korean). The topic marker is also found in a number of polarity contexts: under the …
Discourse and grammar in Australian languages
One of the major functions of grammar for its speakers is the production of coherent and contextually meaningful discourse. Linguists have long been interested in the reciprocal questions of how grammatical structures are employed to express discourse structure and coherence, and how the pressures of communication in actual language use may influence the development of grammar. As a discourse unfolds, entities are introduced, reintroduced and ref…
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages is the first major survey to address the issue of the effects of information packaging on Australian languages, widely known for nonconfigurationality. The papers are based on individual fieldwork and describe a wide range of Australian languages of different types, ranging from the polysynthetic languages of Arnhem Land and the Kimberley to the classical types represented by Walpiri. Topics covered i…
Vowel harmony, directionality and morpheme structure constraints in Warlpiri
Stem forms and paradigm reshaping in Gunwinyguan
In this chapter I address the internal subgrouping of the Gunwinyguan (GN) family, originally proposed by O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1996). The most recent and extensive argument for this family is Alpher, Evans, and Harvey (in press; henceforth AEH). AEH's primary evidence for the existence of this group comes from a shared set of finite verb paradigms. According to the authors, languages belong to this family (see 1.1) below can be shown t…
Linguistic identification in the determination of nationality
Word Structure in Australian Languages∗
In this paper we propose a new model for the analysis of complex word forms in Australian languages. We propose that complex words should be categorized in terms of their phonological patternings. We show that complex words exhibit two distinct types of phonological patternings. One type of complex word shows the same patterns as simplex words. We call morphological relations within this type of word, root-level relations. In the other type of co…
Edge-Crispness Effects in Moraic Structure
Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Structure (1997)
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages is the first major survey to address the issue of the effects of information packaging on Australian languages, widely known for nonconfigurationality. The papers are based on individual fieldwork and describe a wide range of Australian languages of different types, ranging from the polysynthetic languages of Arnhem Land and the Kimberley to the classical types represented by Walpiri. Topics covered i…
The Oxford Handbook of Language Prosody
This handbook presents detailed accounts of current research in all aspects of language prosody, with chapters written by leading experts from various disciplines. The last four decades have seen major theoretical and empirical breakthroughs in the field, many of them informed by interdisciplinary approaches, as reflected in this volume. Following an introductory chapter covering the fundamentals of language prosody research, Parts II and III exp…
The genetic position of Anindilyakwa
In this paper, we demonstrate that Anindilyakwa, spoken on Groote Eylandt, East Arnhem Land, is genetically closely related to Wubuy (Gunwinyguan). Anindilyakwa has long been believed to be a family-level isolate, but by a rigorous application of the Comparative Method we uncover regular sound correspondences from lexical correspondence sets, reconstruct the sound system of the proto-language, and suggest how the proto-phoneme inventory derives f…
Vowel harmony, directionality and morpheme structure constraints in Warlpiri
Linguistic identification in the determination of nationality
Word Structure in Australian Languages∗
In this paper we propose a new model for the analysis of complex word forms in Australian languages. We propose that complex words should be categorized in terms of their phonological patternings. We show that complex words exhibit two distinct types of phonological patternings. One type of complex word shows the same patterns as simplex words. We call morphological relations within this type of word, root-level relations. In the other type of co…
The Obstruent Inventory of Roper Kriol
Roper Kriol is a major variety of the largest Indigenous Australian language, Kriol, yet its phonology remains under-described and it has never been examined instrumentally. Reports suggest high variability. We present a lexical survey with native Kriol speakers followed by two acoustic studies of the obstruent inventory with literate speakers, and finally an acoustic analysis of naturally occurring speech. We conclude that the obstruent inventor…
Same vowels but different contrasts
Japanese Perceptual Epenthesis is Modulated by Transitional Probability
Perceptual epenthesis is the perception of illusory vowels in consonantal sequences that violate native phonotactics. The consensus has been that each language has a single, predictable candidate for perceptual epenthesis, that vowel which is most minimal (i.e., shortest and/or quietest). However, recent studies have shown that alternate epenthetic vowels can be perceived when the perceptual epenthesis of the minimal vowel would violate native co…
Epenthetic prefixation in Alawa and Marra
Languages adopt a number of strategies to avoid dispreferred phonotactic structures. The general pattern is that such strategies involve minimum departure from the input form. One of these strategies is epenthesis. With epenthesis, the minimum departure from the input form is usually the addition of a singleton consonant or a singleton vowel. We show that Alawa and Marra have epenthetic CV syllables in prefix complexes, and that this epenthesis o…
Edge-Crispness Effects in Moraic Structure
Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Structure (1997)
Linguistic identification in the determination of nationality
Word Structure in Australian Languages∗
In this paper we propose a new model for the analysis of complex word forms in Australian languages. We propose that complex words should be categorized in terms of their phonological patternings. We show that complex words exhibit two distinct types of phonological patternings. One type of complex word shows the same patterns as simplex words. We call morphological relations within this type of word, root-level relations. In the other type of co…
Stem forms and paradigm reshaping in Gunwinyguan
In this chapter I address the internal subgrouping of the Gunwinyguan (GN) family, originally proposed by O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1996). The most recent and extensive argument for this family is Alpher, Evans, and Harvey (in press; henceforth AEH). AEH's primary evidence for the existence of this group comes from a shared set of finite verb paradigms. According to the authors, languages belong to this family (see 1.1) below can be shown t…
Vowel harmony, directionality and morpheme structure constraints in Warlpiri
The interpretation of complex nominal expressions in Southeast Arnhem Land languages
In this chapter, I examine the function of noun class prefixes in several non-Pama-Nyungan languages. In these languages, prefixes show several alternants. I show that these alternants are distributed according to discourse functions “topic” and “focus”, making them somewhat like articles in European languages (or better, the topic marking clitics in Japanese and Korean). The topic marker is also found in a number of polarity contexts: under the …
Discourse and grammar in Australian languages
One of the major functions of grammar for its speakers is the production of coherent and contextually meaningful discourse. Linguists have long been interested in the reciprocal questions of how grammatical structures are employed to express discourse structure and coherence, and how the pressures of communication in actual language use may influence the development of grammar. As a discourse unfolds, entities are introduced, reintroduced and ref…
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages
Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages is the first major survey to address the issue of the effects of information packaging on Australian languages, widely known for nonconfigurationality. The papers are based on individual fieldwork and describe a wide range of Australian languages of different types, ranging from the polysynthetic languages of Arnhem Land and the Kimberley to the classical types represented by Walpiri. Topics covered i…
Complex Predicates
Word Structure in Australian languages
The Obstruent Inventory of Roper Kriol
Roper Kriol is a major variety of the largest Indigenous Australian language, Kriol, yet its phonology remains under-described and it has never been examined instrumentally. Reports suggest high variability. We present a lexical survey with native Kriol speakers followed by two acoustic studies of the obstruent inventory with literate speakers, and finally an acoustic analysis of naturally occurring speech. We conclude that the obstruent inventor…
Fact or furphy? The continuum in Kriol
Pause acceptability indicates word-internal structure in Wubuy
Words in polysynthetic languages, such as the Australian language Wubuy, can be semantically complex and translate into whole phrases in analytic languages such as English. This raises questions about whether such words are like words in English, or whether they are more like phrases. In the following, we examine Wubuy speakers' knowledge of word-internal morphological complexity in a word-preference task, in which we test the acceptability of co…
Anti-scope prefix order and zero-marked obliques
A number of indigenous languages of northern Australia have complex systems of noun class prefixation incorporating the formal realization of case or topicality, as well as class. The markers of case and topicality occur inside the marking of class, in an unexpected position according to considerations of scope. In addition, where case is marked, zero marking is associated with oblique case roles while core roles are associated with substantive m…
Epenthetic prefixation in Alawa and Marra
Languages adopt a number of strategies to avoid dispreferred phonotactic structures. The general pattern is that such strategies involve minimum departure from the input form. One of these strategies is epenthesis. With epenthesis, the minimum departure from the input form is usually the addition of a singleton consonant or a singleton vowel. We show that Alawa and Marra have epenthetic CV syllables in prefix complexes, and that this epenthesis o…
Australia and New Guinea
The languages of Australia constitute a single genetic group. They are non-tonal, in that tone is not lexically contrastive in any Australian language, and they tend to have stress systems where the location of stress is largely determined by the edges of morphemes. Their intonation systems are not unlike those of some European languages, though with phonetic rather than phonological effects of post-focal compression for the most part. The large …
The genetic position of Anindilyakwa
In this paper, we demonstrate that Anindilyakwa, spoken on Groote Eylandt, East Arnhem Land, is genetically closely related to Wubuy (Gunwinyguan). Anindilyakwa has long been believed to be a family-level isolate, but by a rigorous application of the Comparative Method we uncover regular sound correspondences from lexical correspondence sets, reconstruct the sound system of the proto-language, and suggest how the proto-phoneme inventory derives f…
The Oxford Handbook of Language Prosody
This handbook presents detailed accounts of current research in all aspects of language prosody, with chapters written by leading experts from various disciplines. The last four decades have seen major theoretical and empirical breakthroughs in the field, many of them informed by interdisciplinary approaches, as reflected in this volume. Following an introductory chapter covering the fundamentals of language prosody research, Parts II and III exp…
Cross-Sectional Study Using Virtual Reality to Measure Cognition
Dual-task research is limited in its transferability to authentic contexts because laboratory conditions do not replicate real-world physical activity and decision-making scenarios. Creating valid, reliable methodologies to assess physiological and behavioral responses under varying physical and cognitive demands using virtual reality (VR) environment addresses this limitation. This study determined the feasibility of using VR to investigate the …
Japanese Perceptual Epenthesis is Modulated by Transitional Probability
Perceptual epenthesis is the perception of illusory vowels in consonantal sequences that violate native phonotactics. The consensus has been that each language has a single, predictable candidate for perceptual epenthesis, that vowel which is most minimal (i.e., shortest and/or quietest). However, recent studies have shown that alternate epenthetic vowels can be perceived when the perceptual epenthesis of the minimal vowel would violate native co…
Same vowels but different contrasts
Stop contrast acquisition in child Kriol
Many Aboriginal Australian communities are undergoing language shift from traditional Indigenous languages to contact varieties such as Kriol, an English-lexified Creole. Kriol is reportedly characterised by lexical items with highly variable phonological specifications, and variable implementation of voicing and manner contrasts in obstruents (Sandefur, 1986). A language, such as Kriol, characterised by this unusual degree of variability present…
Medial consonant lengthening in Eastern Middle Paman
sponsorship: JCV's work was supported by grant C14/24/046, granted by the University of Leuven's research council. BB and RBN's work was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project [grant number DP190100646] "1 potato, 2 wotatoes, 3 otatoes: Lexical access in Australian languages" (CIs Mark Harvey, Robert Mailhammer, Brett Baker, Rikke Bundgaard-Nielsen). CH acknowledges the support of Lockhart River Council. (University of Leu…
Linguistics (19 works) · Computer Science (17 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (13 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (12 works) · Australian Indigenous Culture and History (9 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Phonology (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (7 works)