Lee, Hyunjung. 2020. An acoustic and aerodynamic study of four-way stop contrast in Marathi. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 26.3. 523-543. The present study examined the acoustic and aerodynamic properties of the four-way stop contrast in Marathi. This study focused on classifying ‘voicing and aspiration’, clarifying the disagreement across previous studies regarding acoustic measures. Three native Marathi speakers participated in both acoustic and aerodynamic studies. In the acoustic study, measures included CD (closure duration), ACT (after closure time), SA (superimposed aspiration), f0 of the following vowel portion, and the amplitude differences between the first harmonic and the second harmonic (H1-H2) at the vowel onset. The acoustic findings suggest that the combination of the durational properties CD and ACT distinguish the stop category, indicating that CD distinguishes voiced stops from voiceless ones, and that ACT distinguishes aspirated from non-aspirated stops. For the measures of f0 and H1-H2, while f0 did not effectively differentiate the four-way stop contrast, the measured H1-H2 values confirmed the breathiness of the voiced aspirated stop in addition to the SA measurement. The aerodynamic study also supports the distinct properties across the four stop categories, providing information on the subglottal and supraglottal systems. The results suggest that multiple acoustic cues, CD and ACT, distinguish the atypical four-way stop contrast in Marathi. (Incheon National University, Assistant Professor)

Keywords: stop consonant, four-way contrast, Marathi, acoustic study, aerodynamic study