Affricate contrasts in Déline Slavey

Dene or North Slavey is a Dene (Athabaskan) language with nine affricates: /ts, tsʰ, ts', t∫, t∫ʰ, t∫', tɬ, tɬʰ, and tɬ'/. This paper provides a first investigation into the acoustics of these sounds using ~2000 tokens from eight speakers from Déline, NT, Canada. Within the lateral series, [tɬ] was found to be realized in a number of ways including [tɬ], [tɬl], [tl], and [tɬɮ], with phonetic voicing to varying degrees in the release. In contrast, [tɬʰ] was generally produced with a brief period of aspiration following the frication portion of the affricate, while ejectives were often followed by a brief period of silence between the frication and the vowel onset. COG measurements of [tɬ] (from the voiceless portion of the release) were lower than the alveolar and post-alveolar affricates, averaging 3500 Hz (s.d. = 2175 Hz). However, COG variation across and within speakers and words suggests varying place of articulation. Place of articulation may be less crucial to the identification of these sounds than manner cues such as the lateral component. Further work is underway to investigate differences in the distribution of energy in the frication and F0 perturbations between the different phonation types, and to investigate the alveolar and post-alveolar affricates in more depth.

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