Topic
Mora
About: Mora is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 54 publications have been published within this topic receiving 870 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: This paper examined the durations of vowels and coda consonants in CV, CVC, CVV and CVVC syllables in Hindi, Malayalam and Levantine Arabic, and found that segments that were represented as mora sharing are significantly shorter than segments that occupied an independent mora.
Abstract: In some languages, syllable weight depends exclusively on vowel length, while in others, coda consonants add weight to syllables. In this paper we assume that syllable weight is reflected in moraic structure, and that weight-bearing coda consonants are the exclusive dependents of a mora, while weightless consonants share a mora with the preceding vowel. We consider whether the durations of vowels and coda consonants reflect the distinction between a segment which occupies its own mora and a segment that shares a mora. We examine three patterns of coda weight, reflected in stress assignment: in Hindi, codas always contribute to syllable weight; in Malayalam, coda consonants are always weightless; and in Levantine Arabic, coda weight is contextually determined, with word-internal codas contributing to syllable weight following a short vowel, but weightless following a long vowel. These phonological patterns translate into different moraic representations of CVC and CVVC syllables across the different languages. We examine the durations of vowels and coda consonants in CV, CVC, CVV and CVVC syllables in Hindi, Malayalam and Levantine Arabic, and find that in all three languages, segments that we represent as mora-sharing are significantly shorter than segments that we represent as occupying an independent mora. The striking differences in durational patterns across the three languages correlate with the different moraic representations proposed on the basis of phonological patterning.
180 citations
TL;DR: This article examined segment durations in 20 minimal-paired words in Japanese to identify regular patterns of acoustic manifestations of mora timing in Japanese and found that segments consistently stretch or compress, providing temporal compensation within a mora and between moras, to attain targeted length at the word level.
Abstract: Segment durations in 20 minimal‐paired words in Japanese were examined to identify regular patterns of acoustic manifestations of mora timing in Japanese. The results indicate that segments consistently stretch or compress, providing temporal compensation within a mora and between moras, to attain targeted length at the word level. A segment is 11% longer in the pre‐geminate‐stop position than in the pre‐single‐stop position; in the word final position, a segment is 9% shorter following a geminate stop than a segment following a single stop; and [t] in the same phonotactic environment shows varied durations according to different moraic conditions. Fricatives followed by a devoiced vowel are considerably longer than any other inherently long, nonmoraic segments, and are comparable to moraic segments and the average mora duration. Syllable durations are not isochronous, varying by as much as 50%. The word duration is affected more by the number of component sounds and their inherent durations in two‐mora than in three‐or four‐mora words. When the word durations are converted into ratios, they are markedly similar to the mora values. The results suggest a timing control mechanism adjusting segments to obtain targeted word durations. These phenomena describe mora timing in Japanese.
143 citations
TL;DR: The authors used reiterant speech to test a number of durational characteristics of a stress-timed language (English), a syllable timed language (Spanish) and a verb-stressed language (French).
Abstract: Building on the results of a previous study, reiterant speech is used to test a number of durational characteristics of a stress-timed language (English), a syllable-timed language (Spanish) and a mor
126 citations
TL;DR: In many languages the issue arises as to whether an onglide patters as part of the syllable onset or forms the first part of a (rising) diphthong with the immediately following vowel as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In many languages the issue arises as to whether an onglide patters as part of the syllable onset or forms the first part of a (rising) diphthong with the immediately following vowel If it is part of the syllable onset, the structure of a CGV syllable would be as in (1), but if it forms the first part of a diphthong the structure of a CGV syllable could either be as in (2a) with a monomoraic diphthong (where the glide is ‘co-moraic’ with the following vowel) or as in (2b) with a bimoraic diphthong (C = consonant, G = glide, V = vowel, μ = mora, and σ = syllable)
99 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2023 | 27 |
| 2022 | 42 |
| 2021 | 7 |
| 2020 | 6 |