An acoustic study of trans-vocalic ejective pairs in Cochabamba Quechua

Abstract

Cochabamba Quechua disallows pairs of ejectives within roots (*[k’it’ɑ]), but this structure may arise across word boundaries, e.g. [misk’it’ɑntɑ] ‘good bread’. This paper presents an acoustic study of these phonotactically legal, trans-vocalic ejective pairs that occur at word boundaries. It is found that Cochabamba Quechua speakers de-ejectivize one of the two ejectives in such phrases a significant portion of the time, and that, in correct productions with two ejectives, the period between the two ejectives is lengthened by increasing the duration of the vowel and the closure duration of the second ejective.