ACCENTUAL PROMINENCE AND CONSONANT LENGTHENING AND STRENGTHENING IN MAWNG Janet Fletcher, Hywel Stoakes, Deborah Loakes, and Ruth Singer School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne janetf; hstoakes; dloakes; rsinger@unimelb.edu.au ABSTRACT In this paper we investigate the contribution of consonant duration to the signaling of accentual prominence in Mawng, a language spoken in Northern Australia. We compare consonants in VC sequences where the vowel is part of an accented or tonic syllable vs. non-tonic (non-prominent) VC sequences. We further analyse the contribution of vowel-consonant timing to prominence, through an analysis of VC ratios. Similar to other Australian Indigenous languages, post-tonic sonorant consonants show stronger prominence- related lengthening effects than accented vowels. Keywords: Accentual prominence, consonant lengthening, prosodic structure, obstruents, sonorants. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Accentual prominence in Australian Languages Australian Indigenous languages are usually described as stress languages although this has come into question in recent years [4, 13]. Most experimental studies of Australian languages show that pitch is the major acoustic cue to accentual prominence (see the summary in [4]). One typologically unusual feature of some of these languages is that accentual prominence or main word stress is not cued strongly by the usual acoustic features associated with accentual prominence in stress languages i.e. spectral tilt differences, higher intensity, or shaper vowel quality [see 6 compared with 7 for Warlpiri, and Gupapuyngu; 13 for Pitjantjatjara]. In some languages accented syllables are associated with longer acoustic vowel durations e.g. Dalabon [6], Pitjantjatjara [13], and Burarra [7], whereas others show limited lengthening [e.g. Warlpiri, Kayardild, Iwaidja Dalabon and Kundedjnjenghmi [4]; Warlpiri Gupapuyngu [7]; and Wunambal [9]. By contrast, in languages like Warlpiri, accentual prominence in words with initial main stress is associated with “strengthening” and lengthening of the post-accent consonant in ˈC 1 VC 2 V words (i.e. C 2 ) [e.g. 10 for Warlpiri]. Similar patterns have also been observed in a Northern Australian language, Bininj Gun-wok particularly in ˈC 1 VNC 2 V sequences [8]. One of the hypotheses that has emerged from previous research is that post-accent or post-tonic consonant lengthening may be related to the so- called ‘place-of-articulation imperative’ [3]. There is a need to protect and preserve vowel-consonant transitions, particularly in vowel-sonorant sequences where coarticulatory spread may lead to blurring of the vital cues to place of articulation contrasts [3,4]. As suggested in [4], longer sonorants also allow for fuller realization of the intonational peak accent that cues main stress and accentual prominence in all these languages. In this context, it is also worth considering the relationship of V->C timing in the form of duration ratios to investigate their potential contribution to temporal organization in Australian languages [e.g. 12]. One might expect the relative contribution of consonants to be greater in accentually prominent (i.e. post-tonic) contexts versus non-prominent contexts given the relatively high functional load of consonants versus vowels in these languages. Therefore it could be argued that the consonant should be lengthened rather than the vowel. In [12: 196] it was suggested that this is the case in the three Australian languages examined in this study, but it was also suggested that results were inconclusive due to the fact that segmental materials were not tightly controlled. It remains to be seen whether post-tonic consonant lengthening is a widespread cue to accentual prominence in all Australian languages. In this paper, we explore acoustic durational patterns associated with accentuation in the Northern Australian language, Mawng, generally analysed as a stress language [11]. We also hope to contribute to the understanding of temporal organisation of sequences in Australian languages by including an analysis of Vowel-Consonant