This paper reports on an acoustic investigation of inter-consonantal intervals in plosive sequences in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic (TLA). TLA permits a wide range of two, three, and four-consonant strings within and across word boundaries. Previous descriptive work has suggested that TLA is characterized by widespread, partly optional vowel epenthesis throughout these sequences. We conducted a production study to investigate the phonetic and phonological properties of inter-consonantal intervals (ICIs) in these sequences, including their durations and voicing characteristics, as well as the voicing of surrounding plosive hold phases. Our aim was to assess the extent of ‘variable epenthesis’ and narrow down the range of possible accounts for it. Unlike many previous studies, we did not rely on native speaker intuitions and made minimal use of manual categorical coding, instead focusing on modelling distributions of continuous acoustic parameters. The central question we address is whether our data contain patterns that can only be explained with reference to phonological vowel insertion—given that variable epenthesis can also be accounted for in terms of vocoid intrusion alone (Hall, 2006). Our study improves our understanding of consonant articulations in Arabic, and of epenthesis and related phenomena.

中文翻译：

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的黎波里塔尼亚语利比亚阿拉伯语中的辅音间隔：解释可变的附加音

本文报告了对的黎波里塔尼亚语利比亚阿拉伯语 (TLA) 爆破音序列中辅音间隔的声学调查。TLA 允许在单词边界内和跨单词边界的范围广泛的两个、三个和四个辅音字符串。先前的描述性工作表明，TLA 的特点是在这些序列中具有广泛的、部分可选的元音附加词。我们进行了一项生产研究，以调查这些序列中辅音间隔 (ICI) 的语音和语音特性，包括它们的持续时间和发声特征，以及周围爆破音保持阶段的发声。我们的目的是评估“变量插入”的范围并缩小可能的解释范围。与以往的许多研究不同，我们不依赖母语人士的直觉，并尽可能少地使用手动分类编码，而是专注于对连续声学参数的分布进行建模。我们要解决的核心问题是，我们的数据是否包含只能参考语音元音插入来解释的模式——考虑到变量插入也可以仅根据 vocoid intrusion 来解释（Hall，2006）。我们的研究提高了我们对阿拉伯语的辅音发音以及附加词和相关现象的理解。我们要解决的核心问题是，我们的数据是否包含只能参考语音元音插入来解释的模式——考虑到变量插入也可以仅根据 vocoid intrusion 来解释（Hall，2006）。我们的研究提高了我们对阿拉伯语的辅音发音以及附加词和相关现象的理解。我们要解决的核心问题是，我们的数据是否包含只能参考语音元音插入来解释的模式——考虑到变量插入也可以仅根据 vocoid intrusion 来解释（Hall，2006）。我们的研究提高了我们对阿拉伯语的辅音发音以及附加词和相关现象的理解。