Ander Beristain

Saint Louis University | SLU

Tautosyllabic segment sequences exhibit greater gestural overlap than heterosyllabic ones. In Spanish, it is presumed that word-final consonants followed by a word-initial vowel undergo resyllabification, and generative phonology assumes that canonical CV.CV# and derived CV.C#V onsets are structurally identical. However, recent studies have not fou...

Segment-to-segment timing overlap between Vowel-Nasal gestures in /VN/ sequences varies cross-linguistically. However, how bilingual speakers may adjust those timing gestures is still unanswered. Regarding timing strategies in a second language (L2), research finds that native (L1) strategies can be partially transferred to the L2, and that higher...

Gestural timing overlap between a vowel and subsequent nasal consonant results in the vowel being articulatorily nasalized. Research has shown that such degree of coarticulation varies cross-linguistically (e.g., English exhibits a greater gestural timing overlap than Spanish). This phenomenon has mainly been investigated in monolingual samples, an...

This dissertation investigates language-specific acoustic and aerodynamic phenomena in language contact situations. Whereas most work on second language and bilingual phonology has focused on individual consonants and vowels, this project examines patterns of coarticulation in the two languages of Spanish-English and French-English bilingual speake...

In Basque word-final stop consonants have very low lexical frequency, but very high token frequency in discourse, since final /-t/ and /-k/ appear in very common suffixes. Here we undertake an acoustic investigation of the phonetic realization of word-final stops, with a focus on consonant clusters that arise across word boundaries. Our analysis is...

First project presented with my Undergraduate Research Assistants

This paper focuses on the spectral properties of anterior sibilant fricatives in Northern Peninsular Spanish, and sibilant-merging and non-merging varieties of Basque. Non-merging varieties of Basque have two voiceless anterior sibilant fricatives, characterized as apico-alveolar and lamino-alveolar. In other Basque varieties, however, these two ph...

In this article, we examine some aspects of the interaction between Standard Basque (see also Jauregi & Epelde in LME 2019) and traditional varieties of the Basque language. The questions that arise in this context are, on the one hand, the possible “substrate” effects of local varieties on the pronunciation of Standard Basque, so that Standard Bas...

The contrast between /ʎ/ and /ʝ/ has been lost in most Spanish varieties. This merger (yeísmo) has also been claimed to have spread to Basque. I study the palatal merger in Azpeitia Basque and Spanish, where simultaneous (2L1 Basque, Spanish) and early-sequential (L1 Basque, L2 Spanish) groups were tested in both languages. Comparing the two bilin...

Basque has a phonological contrast between voiceless /ptk/ and voiced /bdg/ in onset position. Word-finally there is only /t/ and /k/. These word-final consonants, although rare stem-finally, have great textual frequency, since they are found in several frequent inflectional suffixes. We examine the realization of final /t k/ before a vowel across...

This is the second half of the dialectal dictionary. Like in the previous work, the dictionary focuses on the accent and phonology of Azpeitia Basque. In the dictionary, nouns and adjectives are shown in three different forms: uninflected, absolutive singular and absolutive plural. Regarding verbs, two different forms are used throughout the dictio...

This study explores the development of perception and production of three Basque sibilant fricatives (apico-alveolar, lamino-alveolar, and post-alveolar) by L1 English speakers in the classroom. These sounds show striking similarities with English sibilant fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/. Learners produced a reading-aloud task and an ABX perceptual task. Pr...

This dictionary focuses on the accent and phonology of Azpeitia Basque. the diction- ary provides a statement of the main phonological rules of such variety. In the diction- ary, nouns and adjectives are shown in three different forms: uninflected, absolutive singular and absolutive plural. the three forms are used to indicate any change in stress....

Basque dialects differ substantially in their accentual properties. Previous work has focused mainly on phonological aspects of this prosodic diversity, such as the systems of rules for accent assignment. Less attention has been paid to variation in the acoustic realization of word-accent. Here we examine the realization of lexical accentual promin...

The aim of this project is two-fold: (1) To identify the main acoustic differences in the production of /s̺ / and /ts̻ / by L1-Basque and L2-Basque speakers in Gernika Basque and Batua speakers in Bizkaia; and (2) to determine a possible influence from Spanish. The participants are five females: one L1-Gernika Basque speaker, and four L2-Batua spea...

Here we examine the substrate influence of local Basque varieties on Standard Basque prosody. We focus on the singular/plural distinction, which in many traditional varieties is conveyed by differences in accentuation and in Standard Basque, instead, is expressed by differences in the segmental shape of suffixes. The results of our preliminary inve...

We report on an experiment on the acoustic cues of stress in the Basque variety of Azpeitia. We use singular/plural minimal pairs to examine acoustic differences between stressed and unstressed vowels. Both pitch and intensity appear to cue lexical stress. In particular, in the context that we have examined, stressed syllables show a pitch rise. On...

Lan honetan, Azpeitiko hizkeraren azentuaren ezaugarri akustikoak aztertzen ditugu. Singular/plural hitz pareak erabili ditugu bokal azentudunen eta azentugabeen arteko diferentzia akustikoak miatzeko. Emaitzek erakusten dute tonuak eta intentsitateak azentu-gunea adierazten dutela. Bereziki, aztertu dugun testuinguruan, silaba azentu-dunek tonu go...