LING550 : CLMS Project on PolishThibaut Labarre

12/11/2011Univeristy of Washington

1 Chosen Language

PolishISO 639-3: pol

2 Why this language ?

I chose this language because it is spoken by my grandfather and some relatives.

3 Brief description of the language

Polish belongs to the Lechitic Subgroup of the West Slavic languages which are Indo-Europeanlanguages.

Polish is the official language of Poland. It is also spoken in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Be-larus, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kaza-khstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United Arab Emiratesand the United States.

The total number of polish speakers in all countries is 43 millions of which 38 millions are nativespeakers (2000 to 2008 estimates).

4 The phonology of Polish

The Polish phonology has a complex phonemic inventory that consists of 36 contrastive conson-nants and 6 contrastive oral vowels. Polish also has 2 nasal vowels.

4.1 Polish vowels

Polish has 6 contrastive oral vowals and 2 nasal vowels. The oral vowel inventory consists of themonophtong forms of the high front unrounded vowel /i/, the high central unrounded vowel /1/, themid front unrounded vowel /E/, the low front unrounded vowel /æ/, the mid back rounded vowel/O/ and the high back rounded vowel /u/. The length of vowels is not phonemic in Polish. Two ofthese have allophones only in the presence of palatalized consonants (Cavar, 2005). In this case /E/is pronounced as a higher variant [e] and /æ/ as a fronted variant [æff ].

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Polish also has two open-mid nasal vowels, the nasalized back rounded vowel /O/ and the nasalizedfront unrounded vowel /E/ Jassem (2003:105). Gussman, (2007:2) describes these two vowels asin fact the open-mid vowels [E] and [O] followed by a nasalized labio-velar glide [w] or sometimesby a nasalized palatal glide [j].

4.2 Polish consonnants

Polish is very rich in terms of consonants since it has 36 contrastive consonnant phonemes. Palatal-ization plays an important role in Polish. For the purpose of my study, I will only distinguish bi-labial palaticized consonnants since according to Gussmann 2007, palatalized non-labials appearprimarily in loan words.

Among the sonorants we find 5 nasal stops, 2 liquids and 2 approximants. They tend to be de-voiced after a voiceless obstruent.

The 4 non palatalized nasal stops distinguish between places of articulation and palatalization forthe bilabial nasal stop : a bilabial /m/, a dental /n/, a palatal /ñ/ and a velar /N/. Before a fricative orat the end of a word, the dental nasal will be pronounced as a nasal glide [j].

The 2 liquids are distinguished by their manner of articulation : a lateral alveolar consonant /l/and an alveolar trill /r/.

The 2 approximants are distinguished by their place of articulation : a labiovelar /w/ and a palatal/j/.

Among the obstruents, each unvoiced consonant has its voiced counterpart except for the frica-tive velar /x/.

The 8 stops are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : a bilabial unvoiced /p/and voiced /b/, a dental unvoiced /t/ and voiced /d/, a palatal unvoiced /c/ and voiced /é/, a velarunvoiced /k/ and voiced /g/.

The 9 fricatives are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : a labiodental un-voiced /f/ and voiced /v/, an alveolar unvoiced /s/ and voiced /z/, a postalveolar unvoiced /S/ andvoiced /Z/, a alveolopalatal unvoiced /C/ and voiced /ý/ and finally a velar /x/ that has no voicedcounterpart. When /x/ is followed by a voiced obstruent, it has a voiced allophone [G].

The 6 affricates are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : an alveolar unvoiced/ţ/ and voiced /dz/, a postalveolar unvoiced /Ù/ and voiced /Ã/, an alveolopalatal unvoiced /tC/ andvoiced /dý/.

We have to add to this set the palatalized consonant variants that are described by Gussmann2007 : the bilabial stops that can be unvoiced /pj/ or voiced /bj/, the labiodental fricative that can

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either be unvoiced /fj/ or voiced /vj/ and the nasal stop /mj/.

4.3 Other aspects of the phonology of Polish

4.3.1 Prosody

In Polish the main stress is on the next to final syllable. There can also appear secondary stress onwords of 4 syllables or more. Secondary stress will then be on the even syllables counting from thelast syllable : the second syllable will have primary stress, the fourth, the sixth, the eighth will havesecondary stress. Some loan words are exceptions to this rule as are some verbs with conditionalendings.

4.3.2 Phonotactics

Polish allows for complex consonant clusters. In some cases it leads to allophonic devoicing orvoicing of obstruents.

In Sobolewski 2007, it is stated that obstruents are always devoiced when final in a word. Thisrule doesn’t apply when the word is followed by a word starting with a voiced consonnant.

There are phonotactic constraints where a certain consonnant selects for a vowel. For examplea postalveolar unvoiced fricative /S/ can be followed by a high central unrounded vowel /1/ and analveolopalatal unvoiced fricative /C/ by a high front unrounded vowel /i/ whereas the opposite isnot possible as noted by Cavar 2005.

4.4 Examples of allophonic changes

The fricative velar /x/ is turned into the voiced allophone /G/ before a voiced obstruent. The exam-ples, from Grzegorz 2008 show the word for ’bread’ where this does not happen as opposed to thephrase ’a roof of a house’ where the allophone is used.

chleb /xlEp/ ’bread’ → [xlEp]dach domu /daxdOmu/ ’a roof of a house’ → [daGdOmu]

A voiced obstruent in Polish can be devoiced when final. This example from Sobolewski 2007shows the voiced bilabial stop /b/ turned into its devoiced counterpart /p/ in the final position ofthe word for ’do’.

rob /rub/ ’do’ (imperative) → [rup]

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4.5 IPA Charts

4.5.1 Vowels

This chart of the Polish vowels is largely inspired by Cavar 2005 with the addition of the 2 nasalvowels (on the right when they exist).

Front Central BackHigh i 1 uMid E E O OLow æ

4.5.2 consonnants

This chart of the Polish consonnants is largely inspired by Jassem 2003 with the addition of thebilabial palatalized consonnants as shown in Cavar 2005 and as described in Gussmann 2007.

Bilabial Palatal. Labial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Alveolopalatal Palatal VelarStop p b pj bj t d c é k gFricative fj vj f v s z S Z C ý xAffricate ţ dz Ù Ã tC dýNasal m mj n ñ NLateral lTrill r

Front BackApproximant j w

5 Phonological comparison and error prediction

In this section, we will study the differences between Polish and American English Phonology.We will try to predict which perception errors will arise when an American English trained voicerecognition system treats Polish input.

5.1 Differences in phoneme inventory

5.1.1 Vowels

There are 15 vowels in American English (Lagefoged 2006) and 8 in Polish. In American English,contrary to Polish, vowel length is contrastive and diphtongs exist.

English has no nasalized vowels. So the Polish nasalized front unrounded vowel /E/ and backrounded vowel /O/ will most certainly cause transcription errors and map respectively to a midfront unrounded to close-low front unrounded diphtong [Eæ] and to the perception of a bilabialnasal stop after the back rounded vowel [Om].

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Apart from nasal vowels, Polish vowels can be mapped to American English ones except for thehigh central unrounded vowel /1/, that might be perceived as a mid front unrounded [e] or a longclose-high close-front unrounded [I:].

SummaryPolish → English/1/ → [I:]nasalized vowelsE → [Eæ]O → [Om]

5.1.2 Consonnants

Polish has 13 more consonnants than the 23 American English consonnants (Lagefoged 2006).Polish also has a consonnant length contrast that does not exist in English. We can predict a certainnumber of phonological error and contrastive consonnants that collapse into one single AmericanEnglish category.

The palatal unvoiced /c/ and voiced /é/ stops have no equivalent in American English. A possi-ble error would be that these stops would be mapped to their velar equivalents [k] and [g] with theadjunction of the high front unrounded vowel [i].

For fricatives, the alveolopalatal unvoiced /C/ would collapse into the postalveolar [S] and thevoiced counterpart /ý/ into the postalveolar [Z]. The velar /x/ would be mapped to the unvoicedglottal [h].

There are no affricates in American English. So the 6 Polish affricates might be decomposedby the voice recognition system into a corresponding stop and fricative in that order. The alveolarunvoiced /ţ/ would thus be decomposed into the unvoiced dental succession of a stop followed bya fricative [ts].

When it comes to nasal stops, the palatal /ñ/ does not have any equivalent in American English.It might be mapped to the alveolar equivalent [n] with the adjunction of the high front unroundedvowel [i].

The same will happen for all the Palatalized consonnants since English American does not havepalatalization as a contrastive feature. The bilabial stops that can be unvoiced /pj/ or voiced /bj/,the labiodental fricative that can either be unvoiced /fj/ or voiced /vj/ and the nasal stop /mj/ will bemapped to the same unpalatalized consonnant followed by the high front unrounded vowel [i].

It is also worth noting two slight differences that might not lead to phonological errors but maybe useful for phonotactic considerations. The Polish alveolar trill liquid /r/ is different from theAmerican English one which is closer to a tap. The other difference is that the Polish bilabial /p/,

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dental /t/ and velar /k/ unvoiced stops do not mark aspiration as American English ones do in initialor final positions.

SummaryPolish → Englishfricatives/C/ → [S]/ý/ → [Z]/x/ → [h]Stops/c/ → [ki]/é/ → [gi]Affricates/ţ/ → [ts]/dz/ → [dz]/Ù/ → [tS]/Ã/ → [dZ]/tC/ → [tS]/dý/ → [dZ]Nasals/ñ/ → [ni]Palatalized/pj/ → [pi]/bj/ → [bi]/fj/ → [fi]/vj/ → [vi]/mj/ → [mi]

5.2 Differences in allophones

5.2.1 Vowels

In American English, vowels are nasalized before nasal consonnants (Lagefoged 2006). As wehave discussed in the previous section, this can lead to the addition of ghost nasals when transcrib-ing Polish nasal vowels.

The Polish allophones in the presence of palatalized consonants /E/, pronounced as a higher variant[e], and /æ/, as a fronted variant [æff ] will cause the American English transcriber to differentiatethe two phonemes.

The Polish labiovelar approximant /w/, when placed after a vowel, might be identified to the Amer-ican English allophonic change of quality of a vowel before an /l/ and lead to the addition of an /l/in the transcription.

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5.2.2 Consonnants

The allophonic variation of the fricative velar /x/ is turned into the voiced allophone /G/ before avoiced obstruent could cause the American English transcriber to map it to a velar voiced stop [g].

Polish voiced consonnants are devoiced in word-final position whereas voiced consonnants canoccur in such positions in American English. It could cause overdifferentiation errors.

5.3 Differences in other aspects of phonology

5.3.1 Prosody

Both American English and Polish stress are mainly marked by the increase of fundamental fre-quency (Jassem 2003). It is possible that American English also relies on vowel length to markstress.

The rules of stress marking in American English are more complex than in Polish. AmericanEnglish (Lagefoged 2006) is a stress-timed language whereas Polish is a syllable-timed language.

5.3.2 Phonotactics

The main phonotactic feature of Polish that can cause transcription error is the possibility to haveconsonnant clusters that are not accounted for in American English. It seems probable that thevoice recognition system will add ghost mid central vowels [@] between these consonnants.

It is also worth noting that voicing assimilation occurs left to right in American English whenit happens right to left in Polish.

6 Analysis of regognizer output

6.1 Vowels

Elglish translation My transcription Recognizer’s output Notes01-beaten bit1 bitI expected recognizer error02-bedding-coll bEt1 bEtI03-entities b1t1 bItI04-whips bæt1 bAtI unexpected mappingof æ to A05-shoes but1 butI unexpected conversion of o to u06-womens-high-boots-augm bOt1 boUtI recognized as a diphtongue

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6.2 Consonants

Elglish translation My transcription Recognizer’s output Notes01a-ball-dance bæl bAl01b-a-post pæl pAl02a-volume tOm toUm02b-house dOm doUm03a-fang kjEu dZEw unexpedted mapping03b-stock-exchange gjEudæ jEwdA unexpected disapearance04a-hen kuræ kuôA expected error04b-mountain guræ guôA05a-carts-gen-pl fur fuô05b-a-sack vur vuô06a-scythe kOsæ koUsA06b-goat kOzæ koUzA07a-muffler Sæl SAl07b-regret-n Zæl ZAl08a-livid Sinæ SinA08b-winter Zimæ ZimA09a-a-trowel kjElnjæ dZElnA unexpected disapearance09b-waiter kElnEr kElnEô10a-dear-nom-pl drOgjE dôoUjE10b-way-acc-sing drOgE dôoUgE10c-way-acc-sing drOgE dôoUgEw somewhat predictable11a-cash-register kæsæ kAsA11b-groats kæSæ kASA11c-Cate kæSjæ kASA unexpected disapearance12a-letter-z zEt zEt12b-letter-z-with-overdot ZEt ZEt12c-letter-z-with-accent ZjEt ZEt unexpected disapearance13a-sphere kulæ kulA13b-he-revels xulæ hulA expected error14a-hangovers kæÙE kAtsE expected14b-of-ducks-adj-pl kæÙjE kAtSE somewhat expected14c-hangman-voc kæÙjE kAtSE15a-agarics riÃE ôIdzE expected15b-games-of-bridge briÃE bôIdZE15c-he-goes iÃE idZE

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Elglish translation My transcription Recognizer’s output Notes16a-Irene-dim irEnkæ iôEnkA16b-wee-fem mælEnkæ mAlEnkA16c-hand rENkæ ôENkA reconsidered transcription17a-dishes dænjæ dAnA17b-Denmark dænjæ dAnjA reconsidered transcription18a-pain bul bul18b-forest bur buô19a-May-gen mæjæ mAjA19b-small-fem mæwæ mAwA20a-horse-s-gen kOjski koUjsdZi20b-morsels kOski koUwsdZi somewhat expected

6.3 Consonant clusters

Elglish translation My transcription Recognizer’s output Notes01-with-the-trout spstrOkjEm spstôoUNjEm enexpected error02-respect-n vzglOnt vzgloUnt unexpectedly accurate03-rainy ÃÃ1st1 dZdZIstI unexpectedly accurate

6.4 Analysis

6.4.1 Vowels

As was expected, the Polish high central unrounded vowel /1/ was perceived as a close-high close-front unrounded [I] by the recognizer. We had also somewhat expected the nasalized vowels tocause errors but had not predicted the right outcome. There was no example of the nasalized frontunrounded vowel /E/, but the nasalized back rounded vowel O was parsed as a diphtongue of theclose-mid back rounded vowel followed by the close-mid back unrounded vowel [oU] in AmericanEnglish.

The other vowel errors were unexpected. The Polish low front unrounded vowel /æ/ is perceived ascloser to the American English low back unrounded vowel [A]. The Polish mid back rounded vowel/O/, just like its nasalized counterpart, is recognized consistently as a diphtongue of the close-midback rounded vowel followed by the close-mid back unrounded vowel [oU]. The recognizer mapstwo contrastive Polish phonemes to that same diphtongue which would cause problems in under-standing.

It is interesting to note that the Polish high back rounded vowel /u/ is recognized as a labiove-lar approximant [w] in American English in word final positions or before a voiced stop d. Thereare not enough examples to posit a generalization though.

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6.4.2 Consonants

As was exepected, the palatalized consonants cause the recognizer to fail. But the results are notat all close to what we had hypothesized. For example the palatalized velar unvoiced stop /kj/ ismapped to a dental voiced stop followed by a postalveolar voiced fricative [dZ] and the palatal-ization of the velar voiced stop /g/ simply makes it fade into a palatal approximant [j] through therecognizer. When it comes to the palatalized dental nasal /nj/ or alveolar unvoiced /Sj/ and voiced/Zj/ fricatives , they are simply mapped to their unpalatalized counterparts [n], [S] and [Z].

As was expected, the Polish alveolar trill liquid /r/ isn’t recognized properly. It is consistentlymapped to the alveolar approximant [ô].

As was expected, the velar /x/ is mapped to the unvoiced glottal [h].

As was expected, the 6 Polish affricates are decomposed by the voice recognition system intoa corresponding stop and fricative in that order. The alveolar unvoiced // is thus decomposed intothe unvoiced dental succession of a stop followed by a fricative [ts].

Contrary to what we thought, the consonant clusters do not lead to any additional error in recogni-tion.

7 Checked resources

7.1 Books

Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press

Jassem, Wiktor (2003), ”Polish” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33

Encyclopedia of language linguistics 2nd edition

International encyclopedia of linguistics 2nd edition

7.2 Articles

Hodne, B. (1985), YET ANOTHER LOOK AT INTERLANGUAGE PHONOLOGY: THE MOD-IFICATION OF ENGLISH SYLLABLE STRUCTURE BY NATIVE SPEAKERS OF POL-ISH. Language Learning, 35: 405417. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01084.x

Marzena Zygis [Rochon] and Silke Hamann 2003), Perceptual and acoustic cues of Polish coronalfricatives

Grant McGuire (2007), English listeners’ perception of Polish alveopalatal and retroflex voicelesssibilants: A pilot study 1

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7.3 Online

”ethnologue report for language code: Pol.” ethnologue, languages of the world., October 2011.http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=pol

”indo-european composite.” multitree: A digital library of language relationships., October 2011.http://multitree.org/trees/Indo-European%3A%20Composite.

”polish - wolfram alpha.” wolfram alpha: Computational knowledge engine., October 2011.http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=polish.

8 Chosen resources

Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press

Jassem, Wiktor (2003), ”Polish” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33

Malgorzata E. Cavar (2005) ATR in Polish. Indiana University Linguistics Club Working PapersVol. 5.

Nawrock, Grzegorz (2008) Laryngeal articulations of /x/ in Southern Polish, ZAS Papers in Lin-guistics 49

Sobolewski, Dorota (2007) De la prononciation du Franais Langue trangre par une locutrice su-doise et une locutrice polonaise

Peter Lagefoged (2006), A course in Phonetics, 6th Edition

Grant McGuire (2007) English listeners’ perception of Polish alveopalatal and retroflex voicelesssibilants: A pilot study1, UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report

Sebastian Kobia (2010) Phonological error mapping: an English Polish contrastive study, Uni-versity of Central Lancashire

Grzegorz Krynicki (2006) Contrasting selected aspects of Polish and English Phonetics, Onlineressource (11/04/2011)

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9 Source Code

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\begin{document}

\begin{center}\Large {\bf LING550 : CLMS Project on Polish}\large\\[8pt] Thibaut Labarre\\12/11/2011 \\ Univeristy of Washington\\[8pt] \Large % For the paragraph spacing\end{center}

\section{Chosen Language}

Polish \\ISO 639-3: pol

\section{Why this language ?}

I chose this language because it is spoken by my grandfather and some relatives.

\section{Brief description of the language}

Polish belongs to the Lechitic Subgroup of the West Slavic languages which are Indo-European languages.

Polish is the official language of Poland. It is also spoken in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

The total number of polish speakers in all countries is 43 millions of which 38 millions are native speakers (2000 to 2008 estimates).

\section{The phonology of Polish}

The Polish phonology has a complex phonemic inventory that consists of 36 contrastive consonnants and 6 contrastive oral vowels. Polish also has 2 nasal vowels.

\subsection{Polish vowels}

Polish has 6 contrastive oral vowals and 2 nasal vowels. The oral vowel inventory consists of the monophtong forms of the high front unrounded vowel /i/, the high central unrounded vowel /\textipa{\textbari}/, the mid front unrounded vowel /\textipa{E}/, the low front unrounded vowel /\textipa{\ae}/, the mid back rounded vowel /\textipa{\textopeno}/ and the high back rounded vowel /u/. The length of vowels is not phonemic in Polish. Two of these have allophones only in the presence of palatalized consonants (Cavar, 2005). In this case /\textipa{E}/ is pronounced as a higher variant [e] and /\textipa{\ae}/ as a fronted variant [\textsubplus{\textipa{\ae}}].\\\\Polish also has two open-mid nasal vowels, the nasalized back rounded vowel /\textipa{\˜\textopeno}/ and the nasalized front unrounded vowel /\textipa{\˜E}/ Jassem (2003:105). Gussman, (2007:2) describes these two vowels as in fact the open-mid vowels \textipa{[E]} and \textipa{[\textopeno]} followed by a nasalized labio-velar glide \textipa{[\super{\˜w}]} or sometimes by a nasalized palatal glide \textipa{[\super{\˜j}]}.

\subsection{Polish consonnants}

Polish is very rich in terms of consonants since it has 36 contrastive consonnant phonemes. Palatalization plays an important role in Polish. For the purpose of my study, I will only distinguish bilabial palaticized consonnants since according to Gussmann 2007, palatalized non-labials appear primarily in loan words.

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\\\\Among the sonorants we find 5 nasal stops, 2 liquids and 2 approximants. They tend to be devoiced after a voiceless obstruent.\\\\The 4 non palatalized nasal stops distinguish between places of articulation and palatalization for the bilabial nasal stop : a bilabial /m/, a dental /n/, a palatal /\textipa{\textltailn}/ and a velar /\textipa{N}/. Before a fricative or at the end of a word, the dental nasal will be pronounced as a nasal glide \textipa{[\˜j]}.\\\\The 2 liquids are distinguished by their manner of articulation : a lateral alveolar consonant /l/ and an alveolar trill /r/.\\\\The 2 approximants are distinguished by their place of articulation : a labiovelar /w/ and a palatal /j/.\\\\Among the obstruents, each unvoiced consonant has its voiced counterpart except for the fricative velar /x/.\\\\The 8 stops are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : a bilabial unvoiced /p/ and voiced /b/, a dental unvoiced /t/ and voiced /d/, a palatal unvoiced /c/ and voiced /\textipa{\textbardotlessj}/, a velar unvoiced /k/ and voiced /g/.\\\\The 9 fricatives are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : a labiodental unvoiced /f/ and voiced /v/, an alveolar unvoiced /s/ and voiced /z/, a postalveolar unvoiced /\textipa{S}/ and voiced /\textipa{Z}/, a alveolopalatal unvoiced /\textipa{C}/ and voiced /\textipa{\textctz}/ and finally a velar /x/ that has no voiced counterpart. When /x/ is followed by a voiced obstruent, it has a voiced allophone \textipa{[\textgamma]}.\\\\The 6 affricates are differentiated by voicing and their place of articulation : an alveolar unvoiced /\textipa{\texttslig}/ and voiced /\textipa{\textdzlig}/, a postalveolar unvoiced /\textipa{\textteshlig}/ and voiced /\textipa{\textdyoghlig}/, an alveolopalatal unvoiced /\textipa{\texttctclig}/ and voiced /\textipa{\textdctzlig}/.\\\\We have to add to this set the palatalized consonant variants that are described by Gussmann 2007 : the bilabial stops that can be unvoiced /p\super j/ or voiced /b\super j/, the labiodental fricative that can either be unvoiced /f\super j/ or voiced /v\super j/ and the nasal stop /m\super j/.

\subsection{Other aspects of the phonology of Polish}

\subsubsection{Prosody}

In Polish the main stress is on the next to final syllable. There can also appear secondary stress on words of 4 syllables or more. Secondary stress will then be on the even syllables counting from the last syllable : the second syllable will have primary stress, the fourth, the sixth, the eighth will have secondary stress. Some loan words are exceptions to this rule as are some verbs with conditional endings.

\subsubsection{Phonotactics}

Polish allows for complex consonant clusters. In some cases it leads to allophonic devoicing or voicing of obstruents.\\\\In Sobolewski 2007, it is stated that obstruents are always devoiced when final in a word. This rule doesn’t apply when the word is followed by a word starting with a voiced consonnant.\\\\There are phonotactic constraints where a certain consonnant selects for a vowel. For example a postalveolar unvoiced fricative /\textipa{S}/ can be followed by a high central unrounded vowel /\textipa{\textbari}/ and an alveolopalatal unvoiced fricative /\textipa{C}/ by a high front unrounded vowel /i/ whereas the opposite is not possible as noted by Cavar 2005.

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\subsection{Examples of allophonic changes}

The fricative velar /x/ is turned into the voiced allophone /\textipa{\textgamma}/ before a voiced obstruent. The examples, from Grzegorz 2008 show the word for ’bread’ where this does not happen as opposed to the phrase ’a roof of a house’ where the allophone is used.\\\\chleb /xl\textipa{E}p/ ’bread’ $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[xlEp]}\\dach domu /daxd\textipa{\textopeno}mu/ ’a roof of a house’ $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[da\textgamma d\textopeno mu]}\\\\A voiced obstruent in Polish can be devoiced when final. This example from Sobolewski 2007 shows the voiced bilabial stop /b/ turned into its devoiced counterpart /p/ in the final position of the word for ’do’.\\\\r\’ob /rub/ ’do’ (imperative) $\rightarrow$ [rup]

\subsection{IPA Charts}

\subsubsection{Vowels}

This chart of the Polish vowels is largely inspired by Cavar 2005 with the addition of the 2 nasal vowels (on the right when they exist).

\begin{center}

\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | c | }\hline

& {\itshape Front} & {\itshape Central} & {\itshape Back}\\\hline{\itshape High} & i & \textipa{\textbari} & u\\\hline{\itshape Mid} & \textipa{E} \textipa{\˜E} & & \textipa{\textopeno} \textipa{\˜\textopeno}\\\hline{\itshape Low} & \textipa{\ae} & &\\\hline\end{tabular}

\end{center}

\subsubsection{consonnants}

This chart of the Polish consonnants is largely inspired by Jassem 2003 with the addition of the bilabial palatalized consonnants as shown in Cavar 2005 and as described in Gussmann 2007.

\begin{adjustwidth}{-0.5in}{-0.5in}

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\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | c | c | c | c | c | c | }\hline

& {\itshape Bilabial} & {\itshape Palatal. Labial} & {\itshape Labiodental} & {\itshape Dental} & {\itshape Alveolar} & {\itshape Alveolopalatal} & {\itshape Palatal} & {\itshape Velar} \\\hline{\itshape Stop} & p b & p\super j b\super j && t d &&& c \textipa{\textbardotlessj} & k g \\\hline{\itshape Fricative} && f\super j v\super j & f v & s z & \textipa{S} \textipa{Z} & \textipa{C} \textipa{\textctz} && x \\\hline{\itshape Affricate} &&&& \textipa{\texttslig} \textipa{\textdzlig} & \textipa{\textteshlig} \textipa{\textdyoghlig} & \textipa{\texttctclig} \textipa{\textdctzlig} && \\\hline{\itshape Nasal} & m & m\super j && n && \textipa{\textltailn} && \textipa{N} \\\hline{\itshape Lateral} &&&& l &&&& \\\hline{\itshape Trill} &&&&& r &&& \\\hline& \multicolumn{4}{| c |}{\itshape Front} & \multicolumn{4}{c |}{\itshape Back} \\\hline{\itshape Approximant} & \multicolumn{4}{| c |} j & \multicolumn{4}{c |} w \\\hline\end{tabular}

\end{adjustwidth}

\section{Phonological comparison and error prediction}

In this section, we will study the differences between Polish and American English Phonology. We will try to predict which perception errors will arise when an American English trained voice recognition system treats Polish input.

\subsection{Differences in phoneme inventory}

\subsubsection{Vowels}

There are 15 vowels in American English (Lagefoged 2006) and 8 in Polish. In American English, contrary to Polish, vowel length is contrastive and diphtongs exist.\\\\English has no nasalized vowels. So the Polish nasalized front unrounded vowel /\textipa{\˜E}/ and back rounded vowel /\textipa{\˜\textopeno}/ will most certainly cause transcription errors and map respectively to a mid front unrounded to close-low front unrounded diphtong \textipa{[E\ae]} and to the perception of a bilabial nasal stop after the back rounded vowel \textipa{[\textopeno m]}.\\\\Apart from nasal vowels, Polish vowels can be mapped to American English ones except for the high central unrounded vowel /\textipa{\textbari}/, that might be perceived as a mid front unrounded [e] or a long close-high close-front unrounded \textipa{[I:]}.\\\\{\bf Summary}\\{\it Polish} $\rightarrow$ {\it English}

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\\/\textipa{\textbari}/ $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[I:]}\\nasalized vowels\\\textipa{\˜E} $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[E\ae]}\\\textipa{\˜\textopeno} $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[\textopeno m]}

\subsubsection{Consonnants}

Polish has 13 more consonnants than the 23 American English consonnants (Lagefoged 2006). Polish also has a consonnant length contrast that does not exist in English. We can predict a certain number of phonological error and contrastive consonnants that collapse into one single American English category.\\\\The palatal unvoiced /c/ and voiced /\textipa{\textbardotlessj}/ stops have no equivalent in American English. A possible error would be that these stops would be mapped to their velar equivalents [k] and [g] with the adjunction of the high front unrounded vowel [i].\\\\For fricatives, the alveolopalatal unvoiced /\textipa{C}/ would collapse into the postalveolar \textipa{[S]} and the voiced counterpart /\textipa{\textctz}/ into the postalveolar \textipa{[Z]}. The velar /x/ would be mapped to the unvoiced glottal [h].\\\\There are no affricates in American English. So the 6 Polish affricates might be decomposed by the voice recognition system into a corresponding stop and fricative in that order. The alveolar unvoiced /\textipa{\texttslig}/ would thus be decomposed into the unvoiced dental succession of a stop followed by a fricative [ts].\\\\When it comes to nasal stops, the palatal /\textipa{\textltailn}/ does not have any equivalent in American English. It might be mapped to the alveolar equivalent [n] with the adjunction of the high front unrounded vowel [i].\\\\The same will happen for all the Palatalized consonnants since English American does not have palatalization as a contrastive feature. The bilabial stops that can be unvoiced /p\super j/ or voiced /b\super j/, the labiodental fricative that can either be unvoiced /f\super j/ or voiced /v\super j/ and the nasal stop /m\super j/ will be mapped to the same unpalatalized consonnant followed by the high front unrounded vowel [i].\\\\It is also worth noting two slight differences that might not lead to phonological errors but may be useful for phonotactic considerations. The Polish alveolar trill liquid /r/ is different from the American English one which is closer to a tap. The other difference is that the Polish bilabial /p/, dental /t/ and velar /k/ unvoiced stops do not mark aspiration as American English ones do in initial or final positions.\\\\{\bf Summary}\\{\it Polish} $\rightarrow$ {\it English}\\fricatives\\/\textipa{C}/ $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[S]}\\/\textipa{\textctz}/ $\rightarrow$ \textipa{[Z]}\\/x/ $\rightarrow$ [h]\\Stops

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\\/c/ $\rightarrow$ [ki]\\/\textipa{\textbardotlessj}/ $\rightarrow$ [gi]\\Affricates\\/\textipa{\texttslig}/ $\rightarrow$ [ts]\\/\textipa{\textdzlig}/ $\rightarrow$ [dz]\\/\textipa{\textteshlig}/ $\rightarrow$ [t\textipa{S}]\\/\textipa{\textdyoghlig}/ $\rightarrow$ [d\textipa{Z}]\\/\textipa{\texttctclig}/ $\rightarrow$ [t\textipa{S}]\\/\textipa{\textdctzlig}/ $\rightarrow$ [d\textipa{Z}]\\Nasals\\/\textipa{\textltailn}/ $\rightarrow$ [ni]\\Palatalized\\/p\super j/ $\rightarrow$ [pi]\\/b\super j/ $\rightarrow$ [bi]\\/f\super j/ $\rightarrow$ [fi]\\/v\super j/ $\rightarrow$ [vi]\\/m\super j/ $\rightarrow$ [mi]\\

\subsection{Differences in allophones}

\subsubsection{Vowels}

In American English, vowels are nasalized before nasal consonnants (Lagefoged 2006). As we have discussed in the previous section, this can lead to the addition of ghost nasals when transcribing Polish nasal vowels.\\\\The Polish allophones in the presence of palatalized consonants /\textipa{E}/, pronounced as a higher variant [e], and /\textipa{\ae}/, as a fronted variant [\textsubplus{\textipa{\ae}}] will cause the American English transcriber to differentiate the two phonemes.\\

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\\The Polish labiovelar approximant /w/, when placed after a vowel, might be identified to the American English allophonic change of quality of a vowel before an /l/ and lead to the addition of an /l/ in the transcription.

\subsubsection{Consonnants}

The allophonic variation of the fricative velar /x/ is turned into the voiced allophone /\textipa{\textgamma}/ before a voiced obstruent could cause the American English transcriber to map it to a velar voiced stop [g].\\\\Polish voiced consonnants are devoiced in word-final position whereas voiced consonnants can occur in such positions in American English. It could cause overdifferentiation errors.

\subsection{Differences in other aspects of phonology}

\subsubsection{Prosody}

Both American English and Polish stress are mainly marked by the increase of fundamental frequency (Jassem 2003). It is possible that American English also relies on vowel length to mark stress.\\\\The rules of stress marking in American English are more complex than in Polish. American English (Lagefoged 2006) is a stress-timed language whereas Polish is a syllable-timed language.

\subsubsection{Phonotactics}

The main phonotactic feature of Polish that can cause transcription error is the possibility to have consonnant clusters that are not accounted for in American English. It seems probable that the voice recognition system will add ghost mid central vowels [\textipa{\textschwa}] between these consonnants.\\\\It is also worth noting that voicing assimilation occurs left to right in American English when it happens right to left in Polish.

\section{Analysis of regognizer output}

\subsection{Vowels}

\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | l |}\hlineElglish translation & My transcription & Recognizer’s output & Notes \\\hline01-beaten & bit\textipa{1} & bit\textipa{I} & expected recognizer error\\02-bedding-coll & b\textipa{E}t\textipa{1} & b\textipa{E}t\textipa{I} & \\03-entities & b\textipa{1}t\textipa{1} & b\textipa{I}t\textipa{I} & \\04-whips & b\textipa{\ae}t\textipa{1} & b\textipa{A}t\textipa{I} & unexpected mappingof \textipa{\ae} to \textipa{A}\\05-shoes & but\textipa{1} & but\textipa{I} & unexpected conversion of o to u\\06-womens-high-boots-augm & b\textipa{\textopeno}t\textipa{1} & bo\textipa{U}t\textipa{I} & recognized as a diphtongue\\\hline\end{tabular}

\subsection{Consonants}

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\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | l |}\hlineElglish translation & My transcription & Recognizer’s output & Notes \\\hline01a-ball-dance & b\textipa{\ae}l & b\textipa{A}l & \\01b-a-post & p\textipa{\ae}l & p\textipa{A}l & \\02a-volume & t\textipa{\textopeno}m & to\textipa{U}m & \\02b-house & d\textipa{\textopeno}m & do\textipa{U}m & \\03a-fang & k\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E}u & d\textipa{Z}\textipa{E}w & unexpedted mapping\\03b-stock-exchange & g\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E}ud\textipa{\ae} & j\textipa{E}wd\textipa{A} & unexpected disapearance\\04a-hen & kur\textipa{\ae} & ku\textipa{\*r}\textipa{A} & expected error\\04b-mountain & gur\textipa{\ae} & gu\textipa{\*r}\textipa{A} & \\05a-carts-gen-pl & fur & fu\textipa{\*r} & \\05b-a-sack & vur & vu\textipa{\*r} & \\06a-scythe & k\textipa{\textopeno}s\textipa{\ae} & ko\textipa{U}s\textipa{A} & \\06b-goat & k\textipa{\textopeno}z\textipa{\ae} & ko\textipa{U}z\textipa{A} & \\07a-muffler & \textipa{S}\textipa{\ae}l & \textipa{S}\textipa{A}l & \\07b-regret-n & \textipa{Z}\textipa{\ae}l & \textipa{Z}\textipa{A}l & \\08a-livid & \textipa{S}in\textipa{\ae} & \textipa{S}in\textipa{A} & \\08b-winter & \textipa{Z}im\textipa{\ae} & \textipa{Z}im\textipa{A} & \\09a-a-trowel & k\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E}ln\textipa{\super j}\textipa{\ae} & d\textipa{Z}\textipa{E}ln\textipa{A} & unexpected disapearance \\09b-waiter & k\textipa{E}ln\textipa{E}r & k\textipa{E}ln\textipa{E}\textipa{\*r} & \\10a-dear-nom-pl & dr\textipa{\textopeno}gj\textipa{E} & d\textipa{\*r}o\textipa{U}j\textipa{E} & \\10b-way-acc-sing & dr\textipa{\textopeno}g\textipa{E} & d\textipa{\*r}o\textipa{U}g\textipa{E} & \\10c-way-acc-sing & dr\textipa{\textopeno}g\textipa{\˜E} & d\textipa{\*r}o\textipa{U}g\textipa{E}w & somewhat predictable \\11a-cash-register & k\textipa{\ae}s\textipa{\ae} & k\textipa{A}s\textipa{A} & \\11b-groats & k\textipa{\ae}\textipa{S}\textipa{\ae} & k\textipa{A}\textipa{S}\textipa{A} & \\11c-Cate & k\textipa{\ae}\textipa{S}j\textipa{\ae} & k\textipa{A}\textipa{S}\textipa{A} & unexpected disapearance\\12a-letter-z & z\textipa{E}t & z\textipa{E}t & \\12b-letter-z-with-overdot & \textipa{Z}\textipa{E}t & \textipa{Z}\textipa{E}t & \\12c-letter-z-with-accent & \textipa{Z}\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E}t & \textipa{Z}\textipa{E}t & unexpected disapearance\\13a-sphere & kul\textipa{\ae} & kul\textipa{A} & \\13b-he-revels & xul\textipa{\ae} & hul\textipa{A} & expected error\\14a-hangovers & k\textipa{\ae}\textipa{\textteshlig}\textipa{E} & k\textipa{A}ts\textipa{E} & expected\\14b-of-ducks-adj-pl & k\textipa{\ae}\textipa{\textteshlig}\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E} & k\textipa{A}t\textipa{S}\textipa{E} & somewhat expected\\14c-hangman-voc & k\textipa{\ae}\textipa{\textteshlig}\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E} & k\textipa{A}t\textipa{S}\textipa{E} & \\15a-agarics & ri\textipa{\textdyoghlig}\textipa{E} & \textipa{\*r}\textipa{I}dz\textipa{E} & expected\\15b-games-of-bridge & bri\textipa{\textdyoghlig}\textipa{E} & b\textipa{\*r}\textipa{I}d\textipa{Z}\textipa{E} & \\15c-he-goes & i\textipa{\textdyoghlig}\textipa{E} & id\textipa{Z}\textipa{E} & \\\hline\end{tabular}

\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | l |}\hlineElglish translation & My transcription & Recognizer’s output & Notes \\

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\hline16a-Irene-dim & ir\textipa{E}nk\textipa{\ae} & i\textipa{\*r}\textipa{E}nk\textipa{A} & \\16b-wee-fem & m\textipa{\ae}l\textipa{E}nk\textipa{\ae} & m\textipa{A}l\textipa{E}nk\textipa{A} & \\16c-hand & r\textipa{E}\textipa{N}k\textipa{\ae} & \textipa{\*r}\textipa{E}\textipa{N}k\textipa{A} & reconsidered transcription \\17a-dishes & d\textipa{\ae}n\textipa{\super j}\textipa{\ae} & d\textipa{A}n\textipa{A} & \\17b-Denmark & d\textipa{\ae}nj\textipa{\ae} & d\textipa{A}nj\textipa{A} & reconsidered transcription\\18a-pain & bul & bul & \\18b-forest & bur & bu\textipa{\*r} & \\19a-May-gen & m\textipa{\ae}j\textipa{\ae} & m\textipa{A}j\textipa{A} & \\19b-small-fem & m\textipa{\ae}w\textipa{\ae} & m\textipa{A}w\textipa{A} & \\20a-horse-s-gen & k\textipa{\˜\textopeno}jski & ko\textipa{U}jsd\textipa{Z}i & \\20b-morsels & k\textipa{\˜\textopeno}ski & ko\textipa{U}wsd\textipa{Z}i & somewhat expected\\\hline\end{tabular}

\subsection{Consonant clusters}

\begin{tabular}{ | l | c | c | l |}\hlineElglish translation & My transcription & Recognizer’s output & Notes \\\hline01-with-the-trout & spstr\textipa{\˜O}k\textipa{\super j}\textipa{E}m & spst\textipa{\*r}o\textipa{U}\textipa{N}j\textipa{E}m & enexpected error\\02-respect-n & vzgl\textipa{\˜O}nt & vzglo\textipa{U}nt & unexpectedly accurate\\03-rainy & \textipa{\textdyoghlig}\textipa{\textdyoghlig}\textipa{1}st\textipa{1} & d\textipa{Z}d\textipa{Z}\textipa{I}st\textipa{I} & unexpectedly accurate\\\hline\end{tabular}

\subsection{Analysis}

\subsubsection{Vowels}

As was expected, the Polish high central unrounded vowel /\textipa{\textbari}/ was perceived as a close-high close-front unrounded \textipa{[I]} by the recognizer. We had also somewhat expected the nasalized vowels to cause errors but had not predicted the right outcome. There was no example of the nasalized front unrounded vowel /\textipa{\˜E}/, but the nasalized back rounded vowel \textipa{\˜\textopeno} was parsed as a diphtongue of the close-mid back rounded vowel followed by the close-mid back unrounded vowel \textipa{[oU]} in American English.\\\\The other vowel errors were unexpected. The Polish low front unrounded vowel /\textipa{\ae}/ is perceived as closer to the American English low back unrounded vowel \textipa{[A]}. The Polish mid back rounded vowel /\textipa{\textopeno}/, just like its nasalized counterpart, is recognized consistently as a diphtongue of the close-mid back rounded vowel followed by the close-mid back unrounded vowel \textipa{[oU]}. The recognizer maps two contrastive Polish phonemes to that same diphtongue which would cause problems in understanding.\\\\It is interesting to note that the Polish high back rounded vowel /u/ is recognized as a labiovelar approximant [w] in American English in word final positions or before a voiced stop d. There are not enough examples to posit a generalization though.\\

\subsubsection{Consonants}

As was exepected, the palatalized consonants cause the recognizer to fail. But the results are not at all close to what we had hypothesized. For example the palatalized velar unvoiced stop /k\textipa{\super j}/ is mapped to a dental voiced stop followed by a postalveolar voiced fricative \textipa{[dZ]} and the palatalization of the velar voiced stop /g/ simply makes it fade into a palatal approximant [j] through the recognizer. When it comes to the palatalized dental nasal /n\textipa{\super j}/ or alveolar unvoiced /\textipa{S}\textipa{\super j}/ and voiced /\textipa{Z}\textipa{\super j}/ fricatives , they are simply mapped to their unpalatalized counterparts [n], \textipa{[S]} and \textipa{[Z]}.\\\\

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As was expected, the Polish alveolar trill liquid /r/ isn’t recognized properly. It is consistently mapped to the alveolar approximant \textipa{[\*r]}.\\\\As was expected, the velar /x/ is mapped to the unvoiced glottal [h].\\\\As was expected, the 6 Polish affricates are decomposed by the voice recognition system into a corresponding stop and fricative in that order. The alveolar unvoiced // is thus decomposed into the unvoiced dental succession of a stop followed by a fricative [ts].\\\\Contrary to what we thought, the consonant clusters do not lead to any additional error in recognition.

\section{Checked resources}

\subsection{Books}

\begin{description}\item Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press\item Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish" Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33\item Encyclopedia of language & linguistics 2nd edition\item International encyclopedia of linguistics 2nd edition\end{description}

\subsection{Articles}

\begin{description}\item Hodne, B. (1985), YET ANOTHER LOOK AT INTERLANGUAGE PHONOLOGY: THE MODIFICATION OF ENGLISH SYLLABLE STRUCTURE BY NATIVE SPEAKERS OF POLISH. Language Learning, 35: 405417. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01084.x\item Marzena Zygis [Rochon] and Silke Hamann 2003), Perceptual and acoustic cues of Polish coronal fricatives\item Grant McGuire (2007), English listeners’ perception of Polish alveopalatal and retroflex voiceless sibilants: A pilot study 1\end{description}

\subsection{Online}

\begin{description}\item "ethnologue report for language code: Pol." ethnologue, languages of the world., October 2011. \url{http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=pol}\item "indo-european composite." multitree: A digital library of language relationships., October 2011. \url{http://multitree.org/trees/Indo-European%3A%20Composite.}\item "polish - wolfram alpha." wolfram alpha: Computational knowledge engine., October 2011. \url{http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=polish.}\end{description}

\section{Chosen resources}

\begin{description}\item Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press\item Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish" Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33\item Malgorzata E. Cavar (2005) ATR in Polish. Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers Vol. 5.\item Nawrock, Grzegorz (2008) Laryngeal articulations of /x/ in Southern Polish, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 49

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\item Sobolewski, Dorota (2007) De la prononciation du Franais Langue trangre par une locutrice sudoise et une locutrice polonaise\item Peter Lagefoged (2006), A course in Phonetics, 6th Edition\item Grant McGuire (2007) English listeners’ perception of Polish alveopalatal and retroflex voiceless sibilants: A pilot study1, UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report\item Sebastian Kobia (2010) Phonological error mapping: an English Polish contrastive study, University of Central Lancashire\item Grzegorz Krynicki (2006) Contrasting selected aspects of Polish and English Phonetics, Online ressource (11/04/2011)\end{description}

\newpage\section{Source Code}

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