| Description |
The goal of the present study is to measure voice onset time (VOT) in the oral stop series in Omaha, a North American Indian language of the Siouan family. The question addressed is: Does acoustic analysis using modern instrumentation support that the phonetic stop categories in Omaha are voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated at bilabial, dental, and velar places of articulation as documented in Dorsey's Dhegiha language transcriptions (c. 1890) and attested by other linguists? Then, provided that for each place of articulation, three distinct groups of VOT values form, do these values correlate with VOTs for other languages which contain the three categories listed above, or to other categories of stops? Finally, how can this information be used to improve existing Omaha language revitalization programs and Omaha language lessons? Results showed that even with a variety of cross analyses, there is evidence that the purported three way contrast does consist of voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated categories in contemporary Omaha. This can be applied to the Omaha curriculum as a pronunciation guide for students and non-native speaking teachers of Omaha. |
