Special sessions

Special Session 1 (Satellite Event): Sociophonetic variability in the English varieties of Australia (SocioPhonAus4)

A  SocioPhonAus4 event will be held as part of SST2024 with a dedicated oral session and a keynote speaker.

Organisers:

Gerry Docherty (Griffith University)

Janet Fletcher (University of Melbourne)

Debbie Loakes (University of Melbourne)

Information about SocioPhonAus4, including invitation for paper submissions, can be viewed here.

Special Session 2: The phonetic expression of phonological length

Organisers:

Francesco Burroni (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

John Hajek (University of Melbourne)

Angelo Dian (University of Melbourne)

Many languages utilise distinctions between short and long consonants and/or vowels to convey lexical differences. For instance, Italian contrasts /papa/ “Pope” with /papːa/ “baby food”, and Thai contrasts /pàk/ “to stick in” with /pàːk/ “mouth”. These differences, known as ‘length contrasts’, are found across diverse language families including Indo-European, Japonic, Austronesian, Afroasiatic, Turkic, Otomanguean, and non-Pama-Nyungan languages.

However, many aspects of how these length contrasts are realised phonetically remain debated. Questions arise about whether speakers focus on relative rather than absolute durational properties within words, if non-durational acoustic and articulatory dimensions are used in language- or dialect-specific ways to enhance length contrasts, and how vowel and consonant length interact, as shown by languages of Australia and Europe among others. Experimental research in this area, especially for Australian languages, is limited.

Scholars are invited to contribute to exploring phonological length and its phonetic realisation. Submissions are encouraged to delve into linguistic, acoustic, perceptual, and physiological perspectives on length contrasts, as well as investigate their implications for language processing and evolution. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, this thematic session aims to advance understanding of phonological length phenomena and contribute to theoretical and empirical insights in phonetics and related disciplines.